“Therefore, just as through one man sin entered into the world, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men, because all sinned — for until the Law sin was in the world, but sin is not imputed when there is no law. Nevertheless death reigned from Adam until Moses, even over those who had not sinned in the likeness of the offense of Adam, who is a type of Him who was to come.” Romans 5:12-14
Malcolm Muggeridge, the late British author who converted to Christianity, once said that the evening news was proof enough for the reality of sin. Entering the human race through Adam’s rebellion in the Garden, sin pervades our planet, expressing itself most vividly in the twisted, tainted actions of men.
We sin because we are sinners. Every man and woman conceived on planet earth is born with a sin nature - a bent away from God that seeks to live independently of Him, either passively or actively rejecting Him. If you trace your human heritage, you would ultimately arrive at Adam and Eve, the fountainhead of the human race. When they sinned, we all were dragged down with them for our humanity was bound up in them.
The evidence that we are sinners is, as Muggeridge attested, quite obvious. Crime, drugs, war, pestilence, greed, and corruption of every sort is the staple of our media diet. But the greater problem is that we as individuals experience the ravages of sin. After all, a society’s problems are but the culmination of individual ills. Its cure can be found only in Christ.
“...the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelieving so that they might not see the light of the gospel...” 2 Corinthians 4:4