What IS sin?

I have been coaching girl's basketball for the last few weeks. Our town has a 6 week spring league for youth and this is my second year coaching 10-11 year old girls.

Imagine my surprise when one of the girls asked me that question as I was going over plays before they went back onto the floor. It through me for a bit of a loop. I forgot that I had a t-shirt on under my open jacket. The shirt had one of those Christian messages on it. This particular one said, "Sin is the leading cause of death" and quoted Romans 6:23 which says, "For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in^a]"> Christ Jesus our Lord."

My mind began to race just a bit. I tried to ignore her question and focus the team back on the plays I was trying to call. Persistent, she asked the question again. Again I attempted to ignore her.

It wasn't that I did not know how to answer her, but I was asked to coach by the town and could not be seen as using this as a chance to evangelize kids without a parents knowledge. When she asked a 3rd time I was seriously flummoxed. I was attempting to form an answer when another 10 year old burst forth with a response, which was far more appropriate for her to do in that situation.

However it got me to thinking...what is sin? Some consider the big "issues" like abortion, murder, rape, etc to be sin. Others look at "little white lies" and say they are ok. Some justify sin for whatever reasons and even mis-quote and interpret Scriptures accordingly.

So what is Sin to you? Are some sins worse than others?