Dennis is well-intentioned but, like many of us when we try to be 'well-intentioned', we dig ourselves deeper into a pit. I am not certain that his ignorance of the term sin is all that unique and I suspect one could find many Catholics who are equally confused, or even more so (Pro-Choice Catholics springs to mind). We all make the error of the original Covenant people; we haggle over the commandments rather than simply obeying them.

To do that which is sinful is to do something against the will of God. If God wills good, than what is against God’s will is bad, “evil” being what it looks like from God’s point of view.

When God said Jews should not eat shellfish, then eating shellfish tells others, “God does not make valid rules.” This will cause your neighbor to doubt, the little ones to stumble, which is evil.

What Mr Prager fails to understand is to debase yourself affects your neighbor. His private masturbation affects how he thinks and how he reacts. Even if the act is never discovered by anyone but the NSA, he is changed for the worse. I will offer that there is no law of God which is not beneficial to the community and without which the community is harmed.