Steven Scott

Let us speak of a matter that carries weight—of a word that loses its shape when we try to define it not by what it is, but by what it leaves behind. When meaning is measured by outcome alone, truth is quietly bent. What remains is not definition, but interpretation—formed by our own hands. We gather our understanding from lived experience, and experience rarely stands untouched. It is filtered through what we have named right and wrong, judged by consequence, softened or sharpened by how the result makes us feel. When the result wounds us, the meaning is often altered to lessen the blow. Thus, good and evil are handled as lightly as daily choices, decided with confidence and little fear. Yet what seems harmless when first tasted may, over time, draw a person down a slope whose end they did not intend to reach. The word is sin. Many who hear it speak of visible acts—violence, deceit, hatred, unrestrained anger. These are not false, but they are incomplete. They are the echo, not...