Nick P. said "I believe the Bible shows that there are degrees of sin and varying punishments for that sin."

Brenda said - I believe that all sin is just that...sin. Whatever it is, it is sinful and one is not worse than another. They ALL "cause a degradation of morality that eventually leads to death."

The scripture says that the wages of sin is death - not that the wages of some sins is death & the wages of others is semi-death...

I never heard of degrees of death... Spiritual death is seperation from God; so some are going to be farther away than others? What's the point? When God is revealed to us in all his glory all those who were unrepentant sinners will not be invited to the party - simple as that.

Perhaps God does judge those who have responsibility & knoledge of the truth & deliberately lead others down the wrong path harder than those who are ignorant, but ignorance is no excuse - if you are ignorant of the law for example it doesnt mean the officer will not arrest you when you break it. In fact there is no such thing as claiming ignorance as an excuse according to Rom 1:20.

Although the final destination is death there are different consequenses here on earth for different sins - if you lie to your mother she will probably get dissapointed & lower the trust level you have with her. If you shoplift & are caught you can get arrested & have a tresspass order against you returning to that property.

The bible also says that there is a sin that is unto death & a sin that is not unto death - I take that to mean cirtain sins commited here on earth can have a direct link to the end of your physical life (like overdosing on drugs for example).

Because one of the definitions of sin is "missing the mark of perfection" is along with the scripture in Jas 2:10 why I preach that no sin is worse than another - the scripture in James says that it doesn't matter wich part of the law we break, if we are 99% holy & 1% unholy we might as well be 100% unholy - there is no difference to God if we are 0% holy or 99% holy - if there is 1% unholy it equals unholy because God can't even look at sin according to Hab 1:13 "Thou art of purer eyes than to behold evil, and canst not look on iniquity: wherefore lookest thou upon them that deal treacherously, and holdest thy tongue when the wicked devoureth the man that is more righteous than he?".

That's why we have to be saved by grace & have Jesus' righteousness instead of our own. The whole point of realizing that one sin is not worse than another is because we all sin; we just do different ones - God doesn't want us running around like the pharasee who said "at least I am not like that sinner" becasue we don't do one thing or another - we all do something wrong at sometime in our lives & we all need Jesus' grace & forgiveness - none of us are any better than our neighbor just because we have different sins; perhaps more lucky, but definately not better.

Is all sin equal in God’s sight?

Slade, I agree the wages of sin is death. And that in God’s reckoning one sin is enough to condemn us. Therefore, we have no hope without His grace! In God’s “economy” pertaining to salvation, it makes no difference whether we are guilty of one or all.

At the same time, there are some sins that God particularly says He hates – arrogance and pride, for example. There are some that He says are an abomination, such as those found in Leviticus 18. It’s my opinion God particularly abhors sexual perversions because it is a perversion of His Creation.

If you were to sin, Slade, would you rather be guilty of an intentional or an unintentional sin? Would you rather be guilty of a sin that only affects you or someone you love? I do believe God distinguishes one form of sin from another. His remedy for any sin is grace, but His sacrificial system that was instituted to show man his need for a remedy and to show him how guilty he was seems to differentiate between various types of sin. Thank God there is no sin that He cannot or will not forgive, but it appears to me that some sins are more prone to His judgment, and perhaps more of a judgment against a hardened heart than a particular sin. Yet some sins only lead to further wickedness. I hope I have been able to relay my thoughts in a way that you understand what I am saying.

God bless you!

Chelki

One important comment in regard to the degrees of sin I left out -- Slade, as I see it the degrees have everything to do with our witness, rather than our salvation.

Blessings,

Chelki

Aha - you see that is still our perspective not God's - I know full well about being an uneffective witness due to being a sinner but I still feel that murder is no worse than lying both are sin & both will land you in hell if you don't repent - I believe full well that it is man, not God that declares the severity of one crime over another.

Chelki asked me an interesting question: If you were to sin, Slade, would you rather be guilty of an intentional or an unintentional sin? Would you rather be guilty of a sin that only affects you or someone you love? Well my answer is that I would rather be guilty of none rather than any because they are all equal in my mind - it doesn't matter to me if I am ignorant of it or if I deleberately commit the sin; the pain that I cause the Holy Spirit as I grieve it is enough to deter me from all sins equally. I don't want to commit any sin because I want to please my father. I have committed sin & when I fall, it doesn't matter into wich one, I feel like I am living in Romans chapter 7 where it says that the things I do I don't understand because what I want to do I am not doing & the things I detest is what I am doing - I want to graduate into chapter 8 that says there is no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus who walk not after the flesh but after the spirit. For me some sins are easier to commit than others; some more tempting than others. So I guess I would rather be guilty of a sin that my flesh likes than one that it doesn't like - regardless of who it hurts or involves & most sins I committed were intentional & as a rule most of the ones that were unintentional were easier to repent of then the ones that were intentional. I have no reason to continue doing an unintentional sin after I learn the truth; whereas I am constantly thinking of justifications to continue doing my intentional sins.

True there are scriptures that say that God hates some sins & that he calls others abominations but if you analyze it closely you will realize that God hates all sin & all sin is abominable in God's eyes. I feel that it sounds like some are worse than others because those are God's "pet peeves" so to speak.

I have a feeling that just about all sin stems from one of 2 sins namely idolatry or pride - either we place something else above God in our heart, leading us to commit all kinds of sin, or we think just like the devil did that we can do God's job of deciding our own destiny better than God can (thereby placing ourselves above God in our own heart). Once God is not our primary focus & we are not worshiping Him as God then it is easy to not follow His instructions. God just now told me that all sin is disobedience wich is basically disobeisance. We disobey because we choose to disregard the sovergnty of God.

As I said before the main reason that we should count all sins equal is because of our witness - if we start acting "holier than thou" because we don't commit one sin or another it will ruin our witness & we are forgetting the commandment of God that we are to humble ourselves like as unto little children. When I was a child I didn't think there were degrees of right & wrong - there was only right & wrong - either my behavior was right or it was wrong, didn't matter what wrong thing I did - it was wrong! It didn't matter if I had crossed the street unattended, stole a pack of chewing gum from the corner store, or made an obscene hand gesture - those were wrong behaviors all of wich would dissapoint my mom if she found out & perhaps even warrant a scolding or some other form of punishment. It wasn't untill a man told me that killing is worse than lying did I ever start to think such a foolish idea; but after reading the bible for myself I realized that God dosn't think that way - at least not the God that I follow, preach, & believe in. God told me that trying to make one sin worse than another is what man calls "splitting hairs" & it is a foolish attempt to sound smart or like you know what you are talking about when you don't & a complete waste of time. God doesn't differenciate between one sin & another - all are abominable, all will shatter a relationship with him, all are darkness & God is light & any one of them will take you to hell at exactly the same speed as any other if you don't repent. If one sin was worse than another then Jesus could not have said that the whole law & the prophets hang on 2 statements - to love god above all else & to love your neighbor as yourself. Every single sin will not be committed as long as we obey those 2 rules - so how can one sin be worse than another?

Remember that passage in James 2:10? Well think about it - some of the old testament laws were very minor sounding to me, like take for example the one about not boiling a kid in it's mother's milk - so if someone followed the rest of the law to the letter like Saul of Tarsus claimed to be unblameable but nevertheless he boiled a kid in it's mother's milk, that person would go to hell if he doesn't have Jesus in his heart. To me that sounds totally unfair, unrighteous, unreasonable - I mean he never killed, he never lied, he never stole, never coveted, never charged interest, always helped the lame & the blind & the widow, never said an evil word to anyone - I mean he was a good person but God said "Well he disobeyed one of my rules so he gets hell as a reward for keeping all the others" - to me thats so rediculous! Now if one sin were worse or better or more severe than another I would be justified in feeling that God is unfair - but if you remember the scripture says that God's ways are not unequal, but it is man's ways that is unequal. God considers all sin equally evil & we do not & that is why we are having this disscussion. There is either darkness or light, good or evil. There is no middle of the fence, no stepping stones or levels or degrees of evil & there is no sin that is worse than another. Remember God said that the last will be first & the first will be last - that tells me that the order that we give things importance will be totally reversed when we see God's order of importance. (maybe the people that we think most deserve heaven will be the ones barely getting in, & the ones that we think mostly deserve hell will be barely deserving it according to God).

Sure I understand that there are different sacrifices to be made for all the different sins but I feel that that is to express what I already said - "Although the final destination is death there are different consequenses here on earth for different sins". Yes different sins incur different judgements but that has to do with making the punishment fit the crime & also reaping what we sow.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Slade,

Slade,

There is the sin offering and the guilt offering for sins. If you find a scriptural reference for the sin offering for the sin of homosexuality, I would like to look it up.

Blessings,

Chelki

I didn't look anything up, but from the top of my head I can't remember any sacrifice - they were to be stoned along with false prophets & witches. But nobody was to be stoned without 2 witnesses (a fair trial).

Ok after reading what I said perhaps I worded it wrong - of course God differenciates between different sins - thats why there are different consequences for different sins; but the reason that I went on this tirade so to speak is because I am adamant about the issue of people thinking that because they are not homosexual or because they are not liars or because they are not adulterers that they are better than those who are - it doesn't matter what your sin is you are a sinner saved by grace - we are all in the same boat so to speak - that is my main point; I want us to be able to show the heathen Jesus, not make him feel uncomfortable because we judged ourself better than them.

Slade,

You are absolutely right! None of us have reason to boast – we are all guilty!

There is a lot to learn from God’s ways and what He reveals about Himself in the Scriptures. He is so infinitely above all that we can imagine or think. These are just some of my thoughts –

I believe God expresses His compassion (even for animals) in these two examples – the kid was not to be boiled in its own mother’s milk and it appears He would not allow an innocent animal to die for such a detestable sin.

Thanks be to Him whose grace covers all of our sin and for the ultimate perfect sacrifice in Y’shua!

God bless you,

Chelki