He who goes beyond the bounds of true moral liberty, breaks the law of
God and sins. He thereby refuses to God the obedience which to Him is
due. Disobedience involves contempt of authority and of him who
commands. Sin is therefore an offense against God, and that offense is
proportionate to the dignity of the person offended.

The sinner, by his act of disobedience, not only sets at naught the
will of his Maker, but by the same act, in a greater or lesser degree,
turns away from his appointed destiny; and in this he is imitated by
nothing else in creation. Every other created thing obeys. The heavens
follow their designated course. Beasts and birds and fish are intent
upon one thing, and that is to work out the divine plan. Man alone sows
disorder and confusion therein. He shows irreverence for God's presence
and contempt for His friendship; ingratitude for His goodness and
supreme indifference for the penalty that follows his sin as surely as
the shadow follows its object. So that, taken all in all, such a
creature might fitly be said to be one part criminal and two parts
fool. Folly and sin are synonymous in Holy Writ. "The fool saith in his
heart there is no God."

Sin is essentially an offense. But there is a difference of degree
between a slight and an outrage. There are direct offenses against God,
such as the refusal to believe in Him or unbelief; to hope in Him, or
despair, etc. Indirect offenses attain Him through the neighbor or
ourselves.

All duties to neighbor or self are not equally imperious and to fail in
them all is not equally evil. Then again, not all sins are committed
through pure malice, that is, with complete knowledge and full consent.