Lately I’ve been trying to think of some analogies. Here’s a couple I’ve thought of and I’m hoping you can add some more…
1. Sin is like a mosquito bite.
At first, it may not seem like a big deal, and once you are bitten the consequences may not be immediate, but they do come. If the “sin” isn’t treated properly it can take even longer to heal.
Or, how about this one: Sin is like a sunburn — at first you don’t notice that it’s there, but by the time you are feeling the burn it is too late. It takes longer to get rid of the sunburn (repent) than it takes to get the sunburn (sin).
Elder Boyd K. Packer taught, “If we have something difficult to teach, such as honesty or reverence or love, we should begin with the experience of the student and talk about the things he already knows. Then when we make a comparison with what we want him to know, he will perceive the meaning” (read the talk here).
Based on your experience to what would YOU liken sin to better help people understand it?
Sin is like a dimmer switch that makes your world gradually darker and darker until you can’t even see where you are anymore, and the only way to make it lighter again is to gradually turn the switch the other direction.
Elder Jeffery R. Holland of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles said: “You can change anything you want to change and you can do it very fast. That’s another satanic sucker-punch –that it takes years and years and eons of eternity to repent. It takes exactly as long to repent as it takes you to say ‘I’ll change’ –and mean it. Of course there will be problems to work out and restitutions to make. You may well spend –indeed you had better spend– the rest of your life proving your repentance by its permanence. But change, growth, renewal, repentance can come for you as instantaneously as it did for Alma and the Sons of Mosiah.”
Sin is like…
Getting on the wrong bus. At first you may not realize you are heading in the wrong direction. When you finally do, it can be scary to get off, tempted to just stay on and see if it leads you back to where you started.
When you finally get off you are lost and it takes thought and help from others (Heavenly Father, Jesus Christ, Church leaders, parents, friends) to find your way back.