Article: Never Be Dismayed

"Sin is not “messing up”; sin is never a “mistake.” The choice to dodge her, the choice to preserve myself at her expense—this choice was organic to me, consistent with my character, as natural a sight to someone who really knew me as the sight of an apple on an apple tree. And to someone (like, say, me) who does not really know me, the choice is an exposure, an unearthing, a revelation. I am a sinner not because I chose wrong. But because I am the kind of person who would do that. This is bleak, perhaps—but I think it’s critical. Until we realize this, we don’t know what the story is really about. If we think we’re pretty decent people who occasionally do ugly things, then yes, those ugly things aredisasters, each one a miniature tragedy, each sin a perfect miniature Macbeth. But the story is not about the hypothetical me who could have made the right choice back there. And it’s not even about the me who made the wrong choice instead. It’s about the me who would choose wrong. ... How is this reassuring? How does this circle back to grace?" -read the rest here