Do you believe sin can be ranked on it's severity?

JohnB445 · Jan 23, 2025

What's worse, the sin of witchcraft or the sin of adultery? or are they all equally bad?

Are there sins that can only harm the sinner only? If someone gets drunk to the point they pass out and die vs them driving a car and getting into a accident.
If they pass out and die before they get into any car they only harmed themselves.

Does God see sins that can only harm the sinner the same as a serial killer? Because that wouldn't make sense but I don't make the rules.

What do you know?

Mark Quayle · Jan 23, 2025

JohnB445 said:
What's worse, the sin of witchcraft or the sin of adultery? or are they all equally bad?

Are there sins that can only harm the sinner only? If someone gets drunk to the point they pass out and die vs them driving a car and getting into a accident.
If they pass out and die before they get into any car they only harmed themselves.

Does God see sins that can only harm the sinner the same as a serial killer? Because that wouldn't make sense but I don't make the rules.

What do you know?

God looks on the heart to judge the deeds.

zippy2006 · Jan 23, 2025

JohnB445 said:
What's worse, the sin of witchcraft or the sin of adultery? or are they all equally bad?

Murdering two people with a bomb is worse than murdering one person with a bomb, although both are sins. Murdering Jimmy is worse than stealing Jimmy's phone, although both are sins. Therefore, not all sins are equally bad. (And no, God does not hold that murdering Jimmy and stealing Jimmy's phone are equally bad.)

(Note here that Christianity does not need to be opposed to common sense.)

Sabertooth · Jan 23, 2025

OP, sin does come in different sizes, but no matter how big or small it is, it makes it so we cannot stand in the presence of His overwhelming Holiness. Even if He wanted to give us a hug --and He does!-- we would just die in His Presence.

That is why He made a Way for us to get Washed.

Are You Washed In The Blood? (Joey + Rory)

SavedByGrace3 · Jan 23, 2025

There are a few verses that allude to the concept that there are sins that are greater and less.

Sin unto death and sin not unto death.

1 John 5:16-17 KJV
16 If any man see his brother sin a sin which is not unto death, he shall ask, and he shall give him life for them that sin not unto death. There is a sin unto death: I do not say that he shall pray for it.
17 All unrighteousness is sin: and there is a sin not unto death.

Weigheir matters of the law.
Matthew 23:23 KJV
23 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have omitted the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith: these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone.

Greater and lesser commandments

Matthew 5:19 KJV
19 Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven: but whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.

Punishments graduated according to severity.
Hebrews 2:2 KJV
2 For if the word spoken by angels was stedfast, and every transgression and disobedience received a just recompence of reward;

Deuteronomy 25:2-3 KJV
2 And it shall be, if the wicked man be worthy to be beaten, that the judge shall cause him to lie down, and to be beaten before his face, according to his fault, by a certain number.
3 Forty stripes he may give him, and not exceed: lest, if he should exceed, and beat him above these with many stripes, then thy brother should seem vile unto thee.

Exodus 21:23-25 KJV
23 And if any mischief follow, then thou shalt give life for life,
24 Eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot,
25 Burning for burning, wound for wound, stripe for stripe.

Greater and fewer stripes according to obedience.

Luke 12:47-48 KJV
47 And that servant, which knew his lord's will, and prepared not himself, neither did according to his will, shall be beaten with many stripes.
48 But he that knew not, and did commit things worthy of stripes, shall be beaten with few stripes. For unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall be much required: and to whom men have committed much, of him they will ask the more.

Sabertooth · Jan 24, 2025

Sabertooth said:
...it makes it so we cannot stand in the presence of His overwhelming Holiness.

FYI, did you know that pure water does not conduct electricity. It is only conductive when it has impurities in it.

Likewise, sin "conducts" Judgment.

RandyPNW · Jan 24, 2025

JohnB445 said:
What's worse, the sin of witchcraft or the sin of adultery? or are they all equally bad?

Are there sins that can only harm the sinner only? If someone gets drunk to the point they pass out and die vs them driving a car and getting into a accident.
If they pass out and die before they get into any car they only harmed themselves.

Does God see sins that can only harm the sinner the same as a serial killer? Because that wouldn't make sense but I don't make the rules.

What do you know?

Often I've heard that no sin is greater than another. But that can be misleading--of course some sins are worse than others. To insult someone is not as bad as murdering him! I know that Jesus said "anger against someone" can be like murder, but that was likely because he was pointing out "anger" of a kind is what leads to the murder. Not all "anger" leads to murder!

So, the reason people say that all sins are alike is because they're speaking of how all sins separate us from the Kingdom of God, whether big sins or little sins. They are all equally bad in the sense that they separate us from God. Acting apart from the holiness of God separates us from Him, and that is what has kept Man out of the Kingdom of God and from intimate relationship with God.

But most definitely, some sins are worse than others and have much greater consequences. They just may not seem as bad as their consequence sometimes. For example, Moses hitting the rock in the wilderness to get water did not seem as bad as Aaron constructing a golden idol. But in reality, Aaron was able to continue on his journey through the wilderness, whereas Moses' time came to an abrupt end.

Much more was expected of a prophet who had been given intimate association with God. Hitting the rock to supply water made God appear to be unforgiving and impatient with Israel when He wasn't. He just had to discipline some and weed others out who had no interest in being corrected. Moses was correctable, but before the eyes of the people he had to be distinguished from what God had wanted to do with him.

The lesson is not about trying to be perfect. "Why be over-righteous and destroy yourself?" Just try to maintain a good relationship with God and obey Him whenever He asks something of you. He will understand some emotional weakness, but don't think He is enabling you. Always respect His lordship--He loves you.

SabbathBlessings · Jan 24, 2025

JohnB445 said:
What's worse, the sin of witchcraft or the sin of adultery? or are they all equally bad?

Are there sins that can only harm the sinner only? If someone gets drunk to the point they pass out and die vs them driving a car and getting into a accident.
If they pass out and die before they get into any car they only harmed themselves.

Does God see sins that can only harm the sinner the same as a serial killer? Because that wouldn't make sense but I don't make the rules.

What do you know?

I believe God's punishment of sin i.e. death Rom 6:23 will come in varying degrees

Luke 12: 47 And that servant who knew his master’s will, and did not prepare himself or do according to his will, shall be beaten with many stripes. 48 But he who did not know, yet committed things deserving of stripes, shall be beaten with few. For everyone to whom much is given, from him much will be required; and to whom much has been committed, of him they will ask the more.

God is a just God- would He give the same punishment for someone like Hitler who killed millions of people, the same as someone who lived an okay life, but never accepted Jesus as their Savior.

Xeno.of.athens · Jan 24, 2025

JohnB445 said:
What's worse, the sin of witchcraft or the sin of adultery? or are they all equally bad?

Are there sins that can only harm the sinner only? If someone gets drunk to the point they pass out and die vs them driving a car and getting into a accident.
If they pass out and die before they get into any car they only harmed themselves.

Does God see sins that can only harm the sinner the same as a serial killer? Because that wouldn't make sense but I don't make the rules.

What do you know?

There is sin unto death and there is sin not unto death, that is sufficient to know that there is differentiation.

Mark Quayle · Jan 24, 2025

JohnB445 said:
Are there sins that can only harm the sinner only? If someone gets drunk to the point they pass out and die vs them driving a car and getting into a accident.
If they pass out and die before they get into any car they only harmed themselves.

Does God see sins that can only harm the sinner the same as a serial killer? Because that wouldn't make sense but I don't make the rules.

There are no private sins. "Everything affects everything." Every sin and all sinfulness, makes a difference on the universe, whether we know what that difference is or not. "In Adam all sin."

Maria Billingsley · Jan 24, 2025

JohnB445 said:
What's worse, the sin of witchcraft or the sin of adultery? or are they all equally bad?

Are there sins that can only harm the sinner only? If someone gets drunk to the point they pass out and die vs them driving a car and getting into a accident.
If they pass out and die before they get into any car they only harmed themselves.

Does God see sins that can only harm the sinner the same as a serial killer? Because that wouldn't make sense but I don't make the rules.

What do you know?

Are both sins committed by supposed Christians?

timothyu · Jan 24, 2025

Sin is not what we call it. We have human laws for various levels for those indiscretions. Sin in it's real form is putting our will ahead of the will of God. Eve then Adam were the first. There is no better or worse for all are disobedience and the penalty was/is death.

NBB · Jan 25, 2025

There are sins that contaminates you a bit, but do not affect your relationship with God too much.
There are more serious ones, that if you do, you are falling, and if you keep sinning, you quench the Spirit, and lose communion with God.
And you could end up in a bad spot.

Mark Quayle · Jan 25, 2025

NBB said:
There are sins that contaminates you a bit, but do not affect your relationship with God too much.
There are more serious ones, that if you do, you are falling, and if you keep sinning, you quench the Spirit, and lose communion with God.
And you could end up in a bad spot.

Scripture to back up that construction? --particularly that first sentence.

eleos1954 · Jan 25, 2025

JohnB445 said:
What's worse, the sin of witchcraft or the sin of adultery? or are they all equally bad?

Are there sins that can only harm the sinner only? If someone gets drunk to the point they pass out and die vs them driving a car and getting into a accident.
If they pass out and die before they get into any car they only harmed themselves.

Does God see sins that can only harm the sinner the same as a serial killer? Because that wouldn't make sense but I don't make the rules.

What do you know?

All sins are the same in the sense that each renders a person guilty and worthy of God's wrath.

Sometimes sin only effects ourselves ... sometimes our sin effects others .... but it is sin all the same.

Not all sin is equal in terms of its effects, consequences

All have sinned ... all will sin because we are born into a sinful world.

Judgement is entirely up to Jesus.

There is one sin that Jesus says is “unforgiveable,” and that is blasphemy against the Holy Spirit. Jesus says, “And so I tell you, every kind of sin and slander can be forgiven, but blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven.

We need to be very careful in “ranking” sin — with some sins being worse than others. This can de-sensitize us to the horrific nature of sin, and deceive us into thinking that some sins aren’t so bad.

timothyu · Jan 25, 2025

NBB said:
There are sins that contaminates you a bit, but do not affect your relationship with God too much.

That would be self-determination and in itself, being self focused, is a sin according to God, is it not? It is human wisdom, not the wisdom of God.

NBB · Jan 25, 2025

Mark Quayle said:
Scripture to back up that construction? --particularly that first sentence.

Like when the disciples needed their feet to be clean, he was speaking about sin, Jesus said
“Those who have had a bath need only to wash their feet; their whole body is clean. And you are clean, though not every one of you.”

Mark Quayle · Jan 25, 2025

NBB said:
There are sins that contaminates you a bit, but do not affect your relationship with God too much.

NBB said:
Like when the disciples needed their feet to be clean, he was speaking about sin, Jesus said
“Those who have had a bath need only to wash their feet; their whole body is clean. And you are clean, though not every one of you.”

Notice that he was talking to his disciples. Those who have had a bath are those who are forgiven their sin, born again. But there was one he was referring to who was not born again --Judas. This is not a reference to defend the proposition that there are lesser sins

NBB · Jan 25, 2025

Mark Quayle said:
NBB said:
There are sins that contaminates you a bit, but do not affect your relationship with God too much.

Notice that he was talking to his disciples. Those who have had a bath are those who are forgiven their sin, born again. But there was one he was referring to who was not born again --Judas. This is not a reference to defend the proposition that there are lesser sins

I mostly talk about experience with my communion with God, like David if you do a grave sin you are going to have serious consequences, if you tell idk a 'white lie' or be rude to someone without intention, maybe looking too much at someone attractive, smoking etc, those things are not going to make you fall, if you just ask forgiveness your communion with God is not going to affect much, however, if you fornicate or do adultery or do something serious like that, you can't keep up because that is going to destroy your communion with God.
My opinion was not to excuse sins.

Xeno.of.athens · Jan 26, 2025

Xeno.of.athens said:
There is sin unto death and there is sin not unto death, that is sufficient to know that there is differentiation.

It is said in 1 John.

1 John 5:16-17 LSB If anyone sees his brother committing a sin not leading to death, he shall ask and God will for him give life to those who commit sin not leading to death. There is a sin leading to death; I do not say that he should make request for this. (17) All unrighteousness is sin, and there is a sin not leading to death.

Do you believe sin can be ranked on it's severity?

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