The less we know God, the less we truly know ourselves. It is hardly a surprise, then, that as our culture has drifted further and further from God, the idea of 'sin' has also largely disappeared. People today 'make mistakes' or 'do something stupid' or 'have a brain explosion', but they don't 'sin'. As Christians, we can't help being affected by this cultural drift. We don't like talking about sin. It sounds so negative and life-denying. We would rather concentrate on the positive aspects of the Christian message. But as the great Puritan John Owen said, Christians who don't understand the sin that still dwells within them are foolish and self- deceived.