In order to fully understand sin we need to know a few key points. Sin is a major part of being a Christian. No one is perfect like God and no one will never sin, it is just physically impossible. The first sin which occurred by Adam and Eve was when they disobeyed God’s orders and ate from the tree of Knowledge. We all have done things that we feel ashamed and unhappy about, we cannot rewind time and change history we need to take responsibility and repent our sins. Sins are all around us because every minute of every day someone is sinning. These are some things you could learn about sin.

    Missing the mark is very important key note that everyone needs to know about sinning. "The Hebrew word in the Old Testament most commonly translated as sin is Chata,a word that literally means "to miss" as in an archer missing this target. This concept points us to another key understanding of sin, that sin is missing the goal of living a life that is in harmony with God's Eternal Law". (Article 10 page 55) This quote tells us that when we sin we are not only breaking our relationship with God and going against God but also it causes us to take a detour on our path to our goal of our life. Missing the mark mostly occurred during salvation history. missing the mark sinning did not just occur to average people it happened to some of our heroes of the Old Testament, some examples are Samson, Samuel, Gideon, King David and King Solomon.  Sin can control us and take our over. In some occasion we may want to do the right thing but we end up doing the wrong thing because we are so used to that way of acting. We need to break away from that habit and create a new habit in which we do the right thing over the wrong thing. Sin is very powerful and very hard to control sometimes because we could become so used to doing it, which needs to change now.

    “For the wages of sin is death but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord”.(Article 11 page 62) Sin is a serious thing and should not be brushed off and be treated like it is not important. A little sin like lying could eventually turn into something huge where you completely break the relationship you have with God. The road you take when you sin is a dangerous path and you should evacuate as quick as you possible could. We are have sinned before in our life, this ok because God knows we are not perfect like he is. So when we sin we should as soon as possible or at least once a year repent our sins during the sacrament of reconciliation. It is very important to repent our sins because if our sins add up and add up over time and never are repented that could mean we won’t end up in Heaven with God in the eternal life, we would end up in Hell because of those unrepented sins. It is very important and necessary to repent our sins and then try our hardest to never commit those same exact sins. Reconciliation is key to feeling better and to healing the relationship in which sin damaged.

     “Three elements determine the morality of any human act: (1) the object, that is the specific thing the person is choosing to do, (2) the intention of the person doing the action and, (3) the circumstances surrounding the act.”(Article 12 page61) There are many objects to the criteria that make a sin a sin. These are a few of the criteria for a sin. The person has to know what they are doing or about to do is wrong. The person needs to understand they are going against God. The person needs to realize they are turning away from God. There are some cases where the act is always morally wrong and ALWAYS a sin, such as rape, adultery, murder and blasphemy. Sin should be taken very seriously because it is such a big deal.

     “{Sin is} an offense against God as well as a fault against reason, truth and right conscience. Sin is deliberate thought, word or deed or omission contrary to the Eternal Law of God. In judging the gravity of sin, it is customary to distinguish between mortal and venial sins”. (Article 13 page 66) There are a few different classes of sins. Sins of commission is the direct outcome of free will and having the ability of choosing our thoughts and word and deeds. Sins of omission are sins that are the outcome of a failure to do something that is required by God’s rules and laws to do. Mortal sin are actions that are so serious they completely break our relationship with God, the result from committing this sin God condemns you to eternal death. In order to be a mortal sin it has to do with something of a grave matter, the person has to fully know what they are about to do is something bad and evil and the last thing is the person must give their full consent while committing the act. Venial sin is a less serious sin than moral sin but this will slowly add up to the same damage that is created from the mortal sin. Capital sins are seven particular sin that lead to other sins; pride, covetousness (greed), envy, anger (wrath), gluttony, lust and sloth. There are many different categories of sin some are based off of how serious and some are based off of whether or not they are a sin or not. Some sins are over looked because people don’t think they are a sin, these are mostly sins of omission. A sin is a sin and in God eye it is very important and it should be in our eyes too, even if it is not a moral sin it still should matter in our eyes.

        “Some sins seem to infect societies, sins that become accepted as normal attitudes or action by a significant number of people in that society.” (Article 14 page 69)  There are some sins that are accepted by our society but not by our faith a prime example of this is Abortion. Abortion is becoming legal in many states and people think nothing of having an abortion. This is an act of killing a baby and should never be accepted anywhere.  Our society has decided to make this action ok even though it goes against many of our faith beliefs. Everyone is made in God’s image and is created for a purpose no one has the right to take the life away from someone. Social sins occur when an attitude of the society changes from being totally against something to accepting it and helping promote it. Social sin could eventually become part of a law. When society changes their attitude we need to stand up and change their attitude because obviously they have a wrong and bad attitude towards that subject and they need guidance in getting onto the right path. Help stop social sin.

          Sin is a very important topic and should not be taken lightly and should always be repented. Sins are something every person could learn more about and be educated more on because of how much sinning occurs in our world every minute.

Bullying

Bullying is a problem all around the world and affects many children and teens everyday. Sometimes the extent of bullying is so bad that teens take their own life, in attempt to get away from the cruel world. There are so many different ways that a person could be bullied such as through physically touching (punching, hitting, shoving or kicking)  or cyber bullying  (online bullying).
In Transverse City Area Public School  there has been some problems with two teens using twitter as a site to harm people's reputation. In this school they supply their students with net books as a way to help them be more involved in technology, like Bishop Kearney High School. Two twitter accounts were created @TCRumors and @TCGossipHurts to harm students image and say mean things about them. One girl tried to take a stand and not put up with people harming others, she was personally involved because she was mentioned on the site. She talked to a few polices officers but they all said that they couldn't do anything.She said "I realize that most adults don't take this kind of thing seriously. They look at it as something you can ignore, when in reality it is in your face."(Catilyn K.) The school district decided to handle it by creating a anonymous hotline online called "Be  the Solution". This allows students to send this hotline the links or texts that are some how to connected to a form of cyber bullying and can take a stand and try to fix the issues.
A young fun, loving, caring, 14 year old boy took his life after being bullying about his appearance and his sexual orientation. Who has the right to judge other people, why should people be so cruel to another  human being that the human being  is willing to take their own life to get away from the pain and torture. This boy was Jamey Rodemeyer, he was a fun, life loving teenage boy who wasn't sure who he was in this world, but mean and cruel kids in his class decided to make fun of him and verbal abuse him.The police station that is involved with this case is debated whether or not to charge these kids who were involved in bullying this young man with  criminal charges  such as aggravated harassment, harassment, cyber harassment and hate crimes charges because there are currently no laws against bullying. Lady Gaga was Jamey idol he looked up to her and loved her music. She tweeted "Bullying must become illegal. It is a hate crime." and " I am meeting with our President. I will not stop fighting. This must end. Our generation has the power to end it. Trend it #MakeALawForJamey". Lady Gaga is helping and supporting this family in their time of need.
 There is a young girl, Whitney Kropp, whose lives in Ogemaw County,Michigan. who has recently been the victim of a bullying prank. Whitney has been recently voted to be  part of their high school court at the prank. She won her the  position, she was voted for this position to be funny to other students but in reality it hurt her. She said she has been bullied countless of times in the past. She has a positive attitude towards this and believes that it is only high school drama, she said it does hurt to know that she was put in this position as a prank. She didn't always have the positive attitude and one point she was so overwhelmed with this situation that she thought of committing suicide. Many people have stood out and had support for Whitney like a graduate, from the same high school,  who made a you-tube video to support Whitney. Also her sister who is a senior at the same school who started the Facebook support page. The community she lives in paid for her dress, her hairdo and  her dance ticket. Many people have took time to help support this young lady.
Sierra Hixenbaugh ,16 was  young girl who hung herself because of persistent bullying.  People would make rumors about her and call her horrible names that no one deserved to be called. Many people took a stand and  wore purple on a certain day to show support for Sierra. The school Sierra went to,has  current created an anti bullying policy and held a anti -bullying concert for everyone to take a stand and stop bullying. People are trying to prevent this from ever happening again.
After I read all of these stories about bullying and teens thinking the only way to get out of this horrible environment was to kill themselves it made me sick to my stomach. People that pick on others don't feel secure about who they are and what they do ,so they try to make others feel bad about themselves. I sincerely feel bad for all the teens and family of these teens who have been bullied and  I hope that they have a better life.  I think if everyone tries to put more focus on this matter we can all try to prevent this and stop all the harm that comes from these crimes. Everyone need to be kinder and more friendly to others and the world will be a better place. Lets all take the challenge of being kinder and nicer to people around us and to stop bullying from happening to our peers. Everyone deserves respect from each other. Be kind and respect to everyone.
Bishop Kearney  has a policy against bullying that is a very effective system. Bullying is such a huge problem everywhere in the world, so  we need to have consequences for those people who choose to bully just in case it happens. This anti-bullying policy helps the person being bullied and provides consequences to the bully.To some people the consequences such as being expelled or out of school suspension may seem too dramatic but i think that if we stand up to the bullies and prove to them that  it is wrong people will change and bullying will start to decease.

Some quotes of students in my class are  "Bullies are just insecure cowards  standing up to them is all it takes" (Gabe.B) " Bullying hurts everyone. It hurts the victim and destroys the bully's soul" (Nick H.) " Bullying has gotten way to far out of control, it is happening everywhere and anywhere and it is becoming a global issue" (Meghan H.) "Bullying is lame"(Frank B.). These are some fantastic quotes from my fellow student.
My quote is Bullying is a huge problem in our society and legal action should be taken against those who bully others" (Me). I feel that if everyone stands up we can put an end to bullying and never have to experience a friend being harmed or taking their own life. Take a stand against Bullying.