What exactly does it mean to be a slave to sin?

[Robert_Sock]

Does it involve a sort of “addiction” that Satan then uses for his own instrumental goals?

If so, we may have been responsible for becoming addicted, but with a poor grasps on how easily it was, and therefore we may be less culpable in that once the addiction takes hold, it’s largely beyond our control to change our behavior. Free will would likely become compromised.

What are the mechanisms that create these addictions? Again, can a person have free will and simply say I’m not going to do that anymore, or does Satan have them under a strong spell where escape is difficult.

What does it mean when we say that only God can release us from the hunter’s snare?

 

[BrassAnkles]

St. Paul tells us he did that which he didn’t want to do. I find myself in the same boat as well, ie seeing the good I should do yet embracing the bad.

However, with my walk in Christ I have seen real change and ability to control certain behaviors. The first step to change is always recognizing what is wrong and repenting of it. Over time the sins become more of a personal nature that less and less involve other persons, such as sexual sins, anger, jealousy, lack of mercy, pettiness, etc.

On the other hand a person without the ability to have sins forgiven nor any moral guide such as Christ is more apt to be taken over by whatever defiling desire they might have.

 

[atassina]

Slavery to sin:
Volunteering for you own destruction.

I became a slave to sin.
This means I volunteered to do evil-- and i knowingly, and freely sinned and didn’t care.
I sunk so low that all sins of every type seemed normal to me.
I knew then that i would go to hell if i died.
I almost died twice in a short period of time.
God in his infinite mercy preserved me from physical death and therefore hell.

I truly repented of all my sins in Confession.
The road to desiring nothing else besides God was a long hard walk.
I still bear the inner scars but they have no power over me with the grace of God.

 

[ready]

To me, a slave to sin is a person who serves sin like a slave serves his master. God bless you.

 

[Aloysium]

Addictions are terrible things, but slavery to sin would be much more subtle imho.
It can be thought of as wrongful worship.
It is when we place material goods, pleasure, power and honour above love.

Exodus speaks to me of how God frees us from slavery to sin:
God steps in to break Satan’s implicit control over us, that we might seek freedom in Him.
We are purified during the course of our journey through the desert.
With the commandments, we can switch our allegiance, becoming slaves to goodness, to God.

In Christ, our saviour and redeemer, who takes on and dies to our sins, we grow into loving union with God.