It was once such a strong word, an ominous and serious word, but the word went away.

It has almost disappeared, the word along with the notion.

That's a quote from Karl Menninger, and the word he's talking about is the word sin.

And he has a point. Outside the Bible, the word he's talking about is the word sin. And he has a point.

Outside the Bible, the word sin is something of an endangered species.

These days, if you want to see the word sin in the wild, your best bet is to check out the dessert menu in your local restaurant.

You know the kind of thing.

This chocolate fudge brownie is positively sinful. It seems that for many of us, the sinfulness of a thing is measured

in calories. I remember reading an article about sin in a national newspaper a few years

back, and it said, in this day and age, sin has lost its sting.

A bit of sinning is much more likely to be seen as a spot of grown-up naughtiness,

the kind of thing that sends a delicious shock through the system.

In other words, it's no big deal.

It's naughty but nice. A bit risque, maybe, but hey, no's no big deal. It's naughty but nice.

A bit risque maybe, but hey, no harm, no foul.

Others have downgraded sin by describing it as if it were a curable moral illness

that can be medicated away with positive thinking or certain kinds of therapy or

certain kinds of education.

To quote one recent author, sin is merely a refusal to grow as a human being.

But what does the biblical concept of sin really mean?

Romans chapter 1 reveals that the essence of sin is substitution. All of us, by nature,

want to substitute ourselves for God. We want to decide for ourselves what we will or won't do.

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