How does sin darken the intellect?
We have all had the experience of being in a dark room — say a theater — and emerging into a bright, sunlit day. Our eyes hurt, and we complain of the harshness of the light. But of course, the light is not harsh, and many of the people around us who have not been in the dark room enjoy the light and are not bothered by it at all. The problem is within us; we have become accustomed to the darkness, and thus the light seems obnoxious. Now, this is an analogy for what happens to us, morally speaking. To the degree that we indulge the dark error of sin, we accustom ourselves to moral darkness. Our thinking becomes distorted, and the light of truth seems obnoxious, even painful and hateful. To those who hate the truth, the truth seems hateful. And unless one rouses themselves to become reacclimated to the light of truth, they retreat even further into the darkness as a preference. Jesus says: “And this is the verdict, that the light came into the world, but people preferred darkness to lig...
