No one sin is worse than the other - how can I refute?

[Church_Militant]

davy39:

Also, to paraphrase, that any sin can be forgiven, except a sin against the Holy Spirit.

Which clearly implies that there ARE more serious sins than others. Her position holds no water.

 

[dcdurel]

Elzee:

I got into a discussion with a friend of mine who is Lutheran and she made the comment that ‘murder is no serious a matter to God than stealing a dollar out of a friend’s purse’. This floored me! I attempted to explain 1 John where it talks about a ‘sin unto death and a sin not unto death’, but she said this was our human understanding of sin that was being conveyed, not God’s understanding. To him, sin is sin - the gravity is no different in God’s eyes. I proceeded to tell her about 1 Corint (neither idolators, fornicators, etc.) but she cut me off and paraphrased a verse that I can’t remember ( and she couldn’t remember where it was in the bible either) - but it was something to the effect that a lesser sin is the same as a greater sin.

Does anyone have an idea on what verse she might have been referring to and what it means in context? I’d like to study more on it before I see her again. Also, any other ideas on how to refute her claim? Thank you!

A good point is in Corinthians somewhere where St. Paul is writing about someone who is committing fornication, then he says, “expel the wicked person from your midsta”

Now, since we all sin, which she will not deny, and if all sins are the same, then everyone is wicked and everyone should be expelled. But, St. Paul says only this one person should be expelled, because this one sin was worse than the others. Thus all sins are not the same.

 

[MilesJesu]

When dealing with our separated bretheren, a great place to start if possible is with the words of Jesus Christ. For some reason, their study of the Gospels seems to take second place compared to the Pauline epistles.

Nonetheless, here are some passages in the Gospels to use in your discussion as well:

Mk 12:38-40 "38 And in his teaching he said, “Beware of the scribes, who like to go about in long robes, and to have salutations in the market places 39 and the best seats in the synagogues and the places of honor at feasts, 40 who devour widows’ houses and for a pretense make long prayers. They will receive the greater condemnation.”

And the clincher: Jn 19:11 "Jesus answered him, “You would have no power over me unless it had been given you from above; therefore he who delivered me to you has the greater sin.”

If the person is still slow to understand, pray even more and ask about Mt 12:31-32 "31 Therefore I tell you, every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven men, but the blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven. 32 And whoever says a word against the Son of man will be forgiven; but whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven, either in this age or in the age to come.

In this case, if all sins were equal, then why would they not all be forgiven? God cannot be unjust.

Peace,

MilesJesu

 

[MilesJesu]

Actually, “mortal” does appear in the bible. It just depends upon the translation you use!

IF you were to use the RSV (or NRSV), you would find the word mortal in 1 Jn 5:16-17:
"16 If any one sees his brother committing what is not a mortal sin, he will ask, and God will give him life for those whose sin is not mortal. There is sin which is mortal; I do not say that one is to pray for that. 17 All wrongdoing is sin, but there is sin which is not mortal.

Peace,

MilesJesu

 

[Elzee]

MilesJesu:

When dealing with our separated bretheren, a great place to start if possible is with the words of Jesus Christ. For some reason, their study of the Gospels seems to take second place compared to the Pauline epistles.

Nonetheless, here are some passages in the Gospels to use in your discussion as well:

Mk 12:38-40 "38 And in his teaching he said, “Beware of the scribes, who like to go about in long robes, and to have salutations in the market places 39 and the best seats in the synagogues and the places of honor at feasts, 40 who devour widows’ houses and for a pretense make long prayers. They will receive the greater condemnation.”

And the clincher: Jn 19:11 "Jesus answered him, "You would have no power over me unless it had been given you from above; therefore he who delivered me to you has the greater sin."I

In this case, if all sins were equal, then why would they not all be forgiven? God cannot be unjust.

Peace,

MilesJesu

Thank you - I didnt’ have these 2 passages down yet.

 

[Liberian]

Elzee:

Does anyone have an idea on what verse she might have been referring to and what it means in context? I’d like to study more on it before I see her again. Also, any other ideas on how to refute her claim? Thank you!

Elzee,

If I may suggest a possibility, in Matthew 5:28 Jesus “equates” lust with adultery: “But I say to you, everyone who looks at a woman with lust als already committed adultery with her in his heart.” The argument against this interpretation is that while indeed the damage to the person’s soul by the lust is as great as the damage done by adultery, the “collateral damage” to everybody else is less. The woman lusted after is not directly involved in the sin, there are no illegitimate children born, and presumably no divorces. For this reason I would classify lust as a lesser sin than adultery: not that it causes less damage to the sinner’s soul, but that it causes less damage to everybody else.

• Liberian