Ranking sins

rbell,

I agree with you in that, other than blasphemy, all sins are equal in God's eyes. In man's eyes however, many people do seem to make a "top ten" list.

I believe they do that because of their own sinful ways. For the ones that "rank" sins, they do it, in my opinion, because they know they won't commmit these "top ten" sins.

It's easy for people to say murders and homosexuals are worse then others because they are not going to kill anyone, or have sex with a man. It's easy to justify and rank sins if you're not even close to commiting them.

Just my opinion....

Jamie

 

I think we also rank sins because we see there are different earthly consequences for different sins. Some results are permanent, they cannot be "undone"....like murder. Other sins we can rectify.......if you steal, you can pay it back. In the laws God gave in Leviticus He gives more severe punishments for some sins than for others. This would seem to indicate that God has a sort of ranking system when it comes to punishments. After all, not every consequence was death.

However, the ultimate consequence for any sin is spiritual death. We all deserve Hell whether we think our sins are minor or not.

 

I don't have a ranking laid out, but scripture is pretty clear that God does.

"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." - Matthew 5:19

"Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye devour widows' houses, and for a pretence make long prayer: therefore ye shall receive the greater damnation." - Matthew 23:14

"Jesus answered, Thou couldest have no power at all against me, except it were given thee from above: therefore he that delivered me unto thee hath the greater sin." - John 19:11​

 

Before the suicide thread was closed at 30 pages, this ranking of sins is exactly where my next post was going. The only sin that is in its own class is blasphemy. All others are of equal rank.

 

I agree, and this is the point that should be stressed to people.

 

I think we rank sin becasue then we can see our sin isn't as bad as someone elses, their sin ranks higher then ours. Makes us feel superior.

 

The one sin that cannot be forgiven is blasphemy against the Holy Spirit, as already mentioned. Since the Holy Spirit is the Spirit of Truth, as Jesus told us, and since God's wrath is being poured out on those who suppress the truth, as Paul tells us in Romans 1, then it might be safe to say that the worst sin in God's eyes is the suppression of the truth in favor of the lie on a consistent and unrepentant basis.

After that, there may be somewhat of a ranking. Witness Jesus' fury with the Pharisees in Matt. 23.

Those who claim to be Christian and are not do incredible damage to His reputation among men. This, I think, is taking the name of God in vain.
This often goes hand in hand with presenting false doctrine in the name of Christianity.

Many other sins can be atoned for from person to person with an apology or monetary repayment, or something here and now. I am not speaking of Christ's atonement, I hope that is clear. But 'making up' for past damage is quite possible with many sins.

But wrong doctrine damages and keeps on damaging, driving people away from the truth of Christ -- sometimes for a good part of their lives. There is no way to undo the wasted years. I think it is to those teachers, who have done this, that the words "Depart from Me, I never knew you" might be directed.

 

Are you speeding or.....qualifying?

 

What made me think of it that way was Matt. 23. It was the teachers who seemed to infuriate Jesus the most, not the average rotten sinner...