What is the greatest sin?

A Brethren IN CHRIST said:

Proverbs 6:16 these six things doth the Lord hate: yea, seven are an abomination unto him: 17 A proud look, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood, 18 An heart that deviseth wicked imaginations, feet that be swift in running to mischeif, 19 A false witness that speaketh lies, and he that soweth discord among brethren.

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but the worst sin is NOT BELieVING THAT GOD DID IT ALL AND MADE IT POSSIBLE FOR US TO BE IN THEIR PRESENCE

Betrayal is the Worst Sin. I would say it is the basis for all SIn. After that Ill have to say Idolatry.

Pride is only a Sin when it is Excessive.

did not Christ die for past ,presence, future sin

so the only thing that christ looks at is belief or not

Matrixxx said:

um.. i have to disagree with you all. I think there are different levals of sin. Murder is worse than stealing a video game. Yes they're both sins, but one is much greater than the other. Can I get an amen on that? Yes, a sin is a sin, but there are different levals..... I'm not sure what the GREATEST sin is though....there are so many very bad sins

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I agree with this post.
First let me draw on a concept from jewish theology which is shared by christian theology as well. It is clearly taught that God is omnipresent. Which means everywhere. Who among us would deny this plain truth? And yet it says in exodus 33 when God is speaking to moses "my presence will go with you" .or how about the temple where God resided in the holy of holies. (which brings up another related point by the way. are there levels of holiness??)
At any rate what is the conclusion to be drawn since from cover to cover God is spoken of in degrees being more present at certain times and places. otherwise why at the burning bush did Moses not say "well, God is everywhere after all so this presence in the bush is really nothing special"
Of course there are levels of God's presence which is why God says no man can see me face to face and live. for in 1 Corithians 13 it says we shall know him then as we are known and see him face to face. Is God more present in heaven than on earth? Would any christian say "God is present everywhere , therefore all annointings are equal and there is no distinction between being here and being face to face in heaven? of course not!! I mean if God is present everywhere why all the distinctions made? How does james say he will draw near to us if he is already everywhere in the same way??
Likewise there are degrees of sins and of holiness as well. read the accounts of the kings of israel and how some sinned more than others. read it and see the levels of evil and good at least in the eyes of God it seems. There may be one sense in which all sin is catagorically the same . But to take that and run with it and ignore the levels taught in the bible is not supportable.
Or what about genesis 15:16 where it states the inquity of the amorites is not yet full. How is this to be taken if all sin is equal ? or what about the flood in Noah's generation? From cover to cover distinctions are made.
or how about jesus words in Luke 12 :47-48. many stripes and few stripes.?? once again contasting degrees of guilt.
Also there seem to be levels of repentance too by the way. Some turn with their whole heart and some part way.

I would even say there are levels of heaven and hell.

It is very difficult to say which is the greatest sin. I would say that the sins of sodom and gomorrah would have to rank up there. Also, the sins on the people in the days of noah too.
perhaps one could build the case for adam's sin being the greatest since it was was the first and the root of all others I suppose.
We could look to the ten commandments and suppose they must be pretty important since they seem to be God's own summary of the law.
I would tend to agree with the opposite of love being the greatest though if I am forced to make a clear choice.

Dear Allen:

The Most Serious Sin is the Sin against the All-Holy Spirit. It is basically blasphemy.

Look what happened to Ananias and Sapphira (see Acts). They practiced deception and through lying to St. Peter and the Church, they lied to the Holy Spirit. They were presumptious. They felt that they could get to heaven without the Church - on their own. So they kept part of the money and lied about it. So God killed them instantly.

This sin is more common than we think. That's like telling God that we don't need Him. It's being very ungrateful.

Another Unforgivable Sin against the Holy Spirit is to despair - to believe that we are so unlovable that God cannot forgive us and save us. Again, this is the lie of the devil.

Hope this helps.

Elizabeth

In my opinion the greatest sin is rejecting Jesus' offer of salvation and then dying in your sins. That is the only sin that Jesus cannot forgive. I would say that pride is one of the sins that play a role in rejecting Christ, but not the only sin playing a role.

Just saw this post, and I want to add my thoughts.

What is the greatest commandment? (That's a rhetorical question because Jesus told us what #1 is.)

So, perhaps the greatest sin is the breaking of the greatest commandment.

And Satan certainly broke it, BIG time!

I believe Pride is the worst sin because it has the most devastating consequences. Pride puts up a wall between you and God, blocking his grace from coming to you. The Lord wants to save everyone, but he who does not want to be saved....how can he be forgiven without asking for it? When Christ speaks of the unforgivable sin, blasphemy of the Spirit, I believe he means that it is unforgivable to say/believe that the Spirit cannot forgive you. It makes sense that denying redemptive power would deny you redemption. And why would anyone believe that they cannot be forgiven? Pride. Saying that God cannot forgive a sin is a human attempt to limit a limitless God, to equate his powers with those of man. Pride will not allow a person to begin to understand the majesty, might, omnipotence of God. So I believe that Our Lord's statement of the unforgivable sin is referring to pride that denies the forgiving power of God, (which would make Christ's sacrifice on the cross insufficient) and if one does not believe he can be forgiven, how can he sincerely ask to be forgiven? And if he does not ask how shall he receive?

what kind of pride........?

worldly pride .....1 john 2:16
flesh pride..... col 2:8
satanic pride ... 1 tim 3:16
prideful frame of the mind ..... romans 11:20
prideful haughty apearance ... 2 cor 3:18

but I do not understand since Christ has died for all sin on the cross

belief or unbelief is the question

Brethren, reread my post closely. Christ did die for all sin, but we can only be forgiven if we REPENT. Pride leads man to not fear God, to view Him in human terms. When we do that, we may think that some sin we have committed "is so bad that nobody, not even God could possibly forgive me." In that case how can you be forgiven if you do not believe you can be, hence do not ask for it, do not repent?? Pride will put up a wall between a human and his Creator. For a good explanation on pride read CS Lewis' "Mere Christianity" He explains this much better than I possibly could. When you say that belief or unbelief is the question....be careful. Recall James 2:19 where he says that even the demons believe in God. Faith is necessary, but it is not all. Humility is necessary, so you can say "Lord, I've done all these terrible things that probably nobody on earth would forgive me, but I have Faith that You will forgive me." A lot of people do not get to that step because of Pride.

So what did Jesus do on the Cross....

died on the cross for the whole world...john 3:16

he that believeth this get eternal life.....john 3:16

he that does not is already condemned ... john 3:18

Interesting question. Perhaps independency from God. If you study both the initial sins of Satan and Adam, their first sins were really this.

Matrixxx said:

um.. i have to disagree with you all. I think there are different levals of sin. Murder is worse than stealing a video game. Yes they're both sins, but one is much greater than the other. Can I get an amen on that? Yes, a sin is a sin, but there are different levals..... I'm not sure what the GREATEST sin is though....there are so many very bad sins

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If all sins that you have not repented have the same punishment.. how can you classify any one of them being greater than another?

Either way if you do not repent your sin you will be punished.

We tend to classify sins because that is what the law does. You steal a candy bar, you only get a warning. You kill someone.. you get life in prison. Man has developed this system... not God. Am I right?

But in saying that, I don't think anyone should go ahead and murder someone because God sees it as the same as stealing.

Photini said:

Here are the 7 mortal sins:
1. gluttony
2. fornication
3. greed
4. rage/anger
5. sadness/depression
6. laziness/sloth
7. vainglory/pride

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Are you kidding me?

Being angry or sad is a sin? Where does it say this?

It is mentioned in the Bible that God was angered more than once with the sinners.

Being sad? So you are telling me that if my entire family is murdered and I am left alone that I am not allowed to be sad or angry about that?

I do not understand what you are saying here... please clear it up.

Man has devised a scale of 1-10 ranking the severity of sin. In the eyes of a holy God sin is sin. Personal sin may be a sin of commission or one of ommission. FOR ALL HAVE SINNED AND COME SHORT OF THE GLORY OF GOD (Romans 3:23). Sin is simply missing the mark, falling short of God's glory. Whether you've told one lie or committed ten murders you are a sinner and your sin must be paid for. Because you have sinned against God (Psalm 51:4) you must suffer the consequence for your sin... His wrath. Oh but thank God for His abundant love and merciful kindness toward us. That Christ was incarnated, became sin for us, and satisfied the wrath of God which we deserved to reconcile us for propitiation. Denying Christ therefore would be the greatest sin because we refuse the only atonement capable of remitting our sin.

Ephesian 4:26 reminds us that it's alright to be angry but not to sin in anger. Sinful anger is to be replaced by (briefly held) righteous indignation to prevent the Devil from gaining a foothold.