Sickness and suffering take many different forms, but why do they exist and where do they come from? Do they have a root cause, and if so, what is it? Christianity has an answer to these questions, an answer that is unpacked in the Bible, and which can be summed up in one small word of three letters: sin. We see in our world today a widespread flight from moral reality. There are many today who do not like to talk about sin. As a psychologist I have observed that when people do not want to talk about something it is often because they feel threatened by that thing in some way. Not talking about it becomes a defensive manoeuvre by which they may avoid facing it. This widespread aversion to the use of the word ‘sin’ reflects a deep underlying flight from the world of moral reality, an escape into the fantasy that there is no such thing. Whether we like it or not, sin is real, and because sin is real, we have a problem. Everything bad, everything wrong, everything evil, comes from sin. We have a problem, and it’s called ‘sin’. Sin is real: we ourselves sin, and we are surrounded by sin and suffering on every side. Sin is an unmitigated evil. In its every aspect and in its every manifestation sin is directed against God. There is only one way to escape the power and penalty of sin and that is through the Cross of Christ.