To catch a glimpse of the truth here we have to reflect on the double face of sin already alluded to, namely the negative aversion and the positive conversion which together produce the privation. No other outside cause can effectively act on the human will except by way of suggestion and persuasion. Here the unanimous tradition for centuries includes the devil, who has a declared interest in the question and the wickedness of other men. The primary effect of sin is an estrangement from God. We speak of His being offended and angry but there again our language is figurative.
Some sin is like a serious fall.
We have gone away from God when we have done it. This penalty should be regarded less as arbitrarily inflicted, as in a human court of law, than as following intrinsically from the wrongdoing. I choose not to look for God, and then, but for His mercy, I surely will not find Him, and perhaps forever, which will be hell. However unfaithful its motives and catastrophic its effects, sin is a reality that does not exceed God s power and mercy to deal with. He is never baffled, thwarted, nor even disappointed.