Sin. We hate it, but we are fascinated by it. Some people think that the Church's rules about sin are arbitrary; they believe that we could vote and have 9 commandments instead of 10. Other people believe that the Thou Shalt Nots are good guidelines to what all the fun things are. But those who have become mired in a serious sin realize the truth: Sin hurts us, and it makes us unhappy.

The Commandments are kind of like a user's guide for our life. For example, think about the user's manual to your car. When it says you have to change the oil in a car and you should refrain from crashing into things, these rules are not given to make us unhappy, but to show us how to make the best use of our car.

In the same way, the commandments show us how to make the best use of our human life. They warn us about roads that appear to lead to happiness but really lead to self-destruction: Alcohol and drugs, abusing our loved ones, sexual relationships with people we are not married to, stealing, staying away from church, lying about serious things.... These things look good at first, but they slowly turn us into slaves of sin. Christ came that we can be free, and that means we must give up whatever makes us a slave.

If you find yourself having trouble with step 1, go on to step 2.

STEP 2 >>