I finally get it. I see the light. Melissa, �I�ve woken up!� Global warming is not a political issue, but a moral one. Within seconds after watching Al Gore�s Oscar-winning documentary �An Inconvenient Truth,� I was on the Internet searching for ways that I could lead a greener, less environmentally devastating existence.

Though billed as the most terrifying film ever, the movie ends with a strong message of hope: that the solution to global warming is within our grasp. All we need is the will to change. Perhaps the inconvenient truth is not that we are consuming ourselves to oblivion, but that we are perfectly capable yet unwilling to prevent it.

In seeing Mr. Gore travel from country to country, repeating the same message again and again, watching some people get it and some people not, I felt a sort of kinship with him. I empathized with both his passion for a higher cause and the inevitable disappointment from rejection. I understood his earnest motivation to further a movement that, if ignored, could have severe implications on a global scale.

And so, following Mr. Gore�s brave example, I�d like to discuss an equally catastrophic, equally inconvenient truth�sin.

I ask, no I beg you, to deny the strong impulse you are now feeling to throw this newspaper in the trash (excuse me, I meant recycling bin). I promise that this will not be a fire-and-brimstone sermon focused on final judgment and hell. My intention is not to point fingers, place blame or guilt you into a belief system. All I ask is to present my case.

Sin can be defined as �willful disobedience.� The first instance occurs in the third chapter of the Bible, when the first woman and man ate the fruit that God had commanded them not to eat. Since then, sin has grown, evolved and adapted in unprecedented ways. In the book of Romans, Paul writes that the law (Mosaic Law) makes us conscious of our sin, our wrong-doings and moral inadequacy. The best-known of these laws is the Ten Commandments.

Have you kept all of the Ten Commandments? Ever told a lie? Honored your mother and father? Jesus ups the standards of these same statutes by equating murder with anger and adultery with lust. These standards make it virtually impossible for us to keep one, much less all of the Ten Commandments. Sin is not just what I commit, it�s who I am.

Don�t believe the Bible? You don�t have to. The world is saturated with injustice, cruelty, hate and perversion. Need more? Look into your heart. Anger, despair, complacence, indifference. All because of sin.

Of course, there is a lot of good in the world and in your heart. Life is a daily struggle to bring out that goodness and make this world a better place. But we can�t deny that there is also a lot of bad, and that bad has a nasty tendency to neutralize our good deeds and our good intentions.

Do you think you are you a good person? Jesus upheld a divine standard to those who considered themselves good. He said in the book of Mark, �Why do you call me good? No one is good, only God.� (The Message)

Once the religious leaders brought before Jesus a woman who had been caught in an illicit affair. She was clearly guilty. No one was denying it. In those days, they were legally permitted to stone her to death. But rather than condemn her, Jesus turned to her accusers and said, �If any one of you is without sin, let him be the first to throw a stone at her.� Jesus shows mercy to those who acknowledge their sin, but he rebukes those who uphold their goodness. Which kind of person are you, the kind that acknowledges your sin, or the kind that denies it?

And who am I to point out others� sin? A sinner. Having grown up in the Catholic Church, I constantly was reminded how wretched a sinner I was. But it wasn�t others� accusations that convinced me. It was the turmoil in my own heart that eventually opened my eyes.

Like Mr. Gore, all I can really do is bring awareness. It is up to you to accept the reality of sin and take action against it, or deny sin and passively watch the inevitable destruction of your body and soul.

If you believe in prayer, pray that people will find the strength to change. (From �An Inconvenient Truth�)