Original sin

One of the first things we notice in this life is that it is much easier to do wrong than to do right.  It is easier to say one’s prayers badly than to say them well, and easier still not to say them at all.  It is easier to lose one’s temper than to keep it, to tell a lie sometimes than to speak the truth, and so on.  Don’t think that, as we grow up, it becomes any easier to do what is right.  If anything, it becomes even more difficult because the older one gets the more opportunities one has of doing wrong and of committing sins.

The reason for this is that we were all born with something wrong with our souls, a kind of spiritual disease, which makes it impossible for us not to sin.  Now, we know that in the end only those whose characters are like God’s character will be able to live with him in Heaven.  Heaven is where God is seen, and Jesus has told us that it is the pure in heart who shall see God; and pure in heart means completely holy and spotless like God himself.  And only God can make us like himself.  Without his help you and I would never be fit to spend even half a minute in Heaven, let alone live there for ever.