Bondage of Sin

I've finally picked up True Spirituality, by Francis A. Schaeffer and, as is my habit with a new book, before I really dug into it, I skimmed through a couple pages. I think I'm really going to enjoy this, because the first thing that my eyes landed on really struck a chord with me. Chapter 8 begins with:

In the first seven chapters we considered freedom in the present life from the bonds of sin. Now we turn to consider the question of freedom in the present life from the results of the bonds of sin. . . . At this point we begin to come into very sharp conflict with the intellectual thinking of the second half of the twentieth century, and we will see that Christianity has to say to this.

With this chapter we begin our consideration with the question of "true spirituality" in relation to my separation from myself, which is the result of the fall and a result of sin. Now we must keep this in the right order. The sin causes the bondage and the results. Sin causes the bondage, and not the other way around. (p.83)

Sin, then, is the cause of bondage, not circumstances, not our mental health, not the government or poverty, not drugs or food or sex. Sin is the cause of moral evil in every form and the cause of all oppression, whether self-imposed or not. It is not those circumstantial evils that causes bondage, but our sin nature that creates the bondage that births those evils.