Which sin is worse?

[LCMS_No_More]

According to the whole counsel of scripture, and the teachings of the Church, which of these sins is the worst?

 

[Timidity]

The only time the rating game makes sense is when you’re forced to do one action over another. Other than that all you need to know is “it’s bad, don’t do it.”

 

[alterserver_07]

You go to hell for them all (I know unless you go to confesion and other situations), so they are all the same.

 

[Zooey]

The worst sin is rejecting the Lord Jesus Christ. If a person willfully rejects God on his deathbed, that is unforgiveable, because he is rejecting his only hope of salvation.
None of the choices the poll offered are anything that believers should be doing. All can send you to hell…but if you refuse to repent of your sins–whatever they may be–you are worse off than someone who did any-- or all-- of them, and then was sincerely repentant.:twocents:

 

[gavin52]

I think it’s not really important which is worst because all of them will, or should I say could, give you a a free ticket to hell. I mean, “could” because I couldn’t know the start of mind of the person that commits one of those sins.

 

[ShroudMan]

Well…theres also a secular world we are forced to live in and murder is clearly worse.

As far as I am concerned its also the worse in a spiritual sense as well…closely followed by rejecting the poor

 

[Friar_David_O.Carm]

Only the first three are objectively sinful.

The next two, “Mistreatment of the foreigner, widor and orphan” and “Injustice to the wage earner” are very subjective in nature. I assume “widor” should read “widow”.

What you might call mistreatment of or injustice to might not actually be such a thing.

Outside of that, sin is sin.

 

[wcknight]

I think any of those can get you into a heap of trouble.

The mistreatment of widows and orphans, and the injustice to wage earners could be relatively minor or even not sinful as ByzCath suggests. But if carried to an extreme, they could be just as bad as the others.

Of all those mentioned, homosexual behavior may be considered one of those victimless sins if both parties are consentual. It is a sin against God but injures only the participants, and does not inflict harm on another innocent bystander.

wc

 

[Friar_David_O.Carm]

wcknight:

Of all those mentioned, homosexual behavior may be considered one of those victimless sins if both parties are consentual. It is a sin against God but injures only the participants, and does not inflict harm on another innocent bystander.

I disagree with this. There is no such thing as a victimless sin or crime.

These so-called “consenting” participants may hurt others in the spread of disease and just the attitude that they adopt in “consenting” to sin.

 

[Krasnaya_Kometa]

I voted for homosexual sex. I would’ve voted for that and murder, but there was only one option. I’d say the two are about equal.

 

[LCMS_No_More]

Just to clarify something. According to Church teaching and scripture, they are all sins. In fact, they’re all very grave sins that God hates.

Actually, I’m surprised no one have gotten the gist of this particular list yet!

 

[cynic]

Krasnaya Kometa:

I voted for homosexual sex. I would’ve voted for that and murder, but there was only one option. I’d say the two are about equal.

you’re crazy

 

[m134e5]

whoever voted for (or will vote for) homosexual sex…

It’s not any worse than any of the other sins that cry to heaven for vengeance. I think people are so disgusted with it- and afraid of the idea- to the point that it would make someone sick and/or pass out that it somehow HAS to be worse than defrauding a worker of their wages- which will make a person mad, but it won’t evoke the fear or disgust that homosexual sex will evoke.

Emotions should not govern right and wrong, or their degrees. Emotions have proven to be unreliable.

 

[cynic]

certainly not worse than murder.

 

[Friar_David_O.Carm]

LCMS_No_More:

Just to clarify something. According to Church teaching and scripture, they are all sins. In fact, they’re all very grave sins that God hates.

Actually, I’m surprised no one have gotten the gist of this particular list yet!

I think the Church is more clear on “mistreatment” and “injustice”.

Those are such subjective terms.

What you might call those things others might not.

Please show proof that those two nebulous things are grave sins.

 

[LCMS_No_More]

I think the Church is more clear on “mistreatment” and “injustice”.

Those are such subjective terms.

What you might call those things others might not.

Please show proof that those two nebulous things are grave sins.

I’m surprised that you haven’t gotten the gist of this list yet.

They’re ALL sins that cry out to heaven for vengeance.

 

[Friar_David_O.Carm]

LCMS_No_More:

I’m surprised that you haven’t gotten the gist of this list yet.

They’re ALL sins that cry out to heaven for vengeance.

With out defineing what “mistreatment” and “injustice” are, I can not agree with you.

What exactly is “Mistreatment of the foreigner, widor and orphan”?

Some might say that if I do not give half my pay check to these then I am “mistreating” them. Some might say that if I do not go out of the way to greet “foreigners” and offer them a room in my house to stay at that I am “mistreating” them.

What exactly is “Injustice to the wage earner”?

Some might say that not paying someone $50.00 an hour is an “injustice”. Also, what exactly is a “wage earner”?

Too subjective. I still do not see any sin in the those two.

 

[LCMS_No_More]

ByzCath,

Check this out:
1867 The catechetical tradition also recalls that there are “sins that cry to heaven”: the blood of Abel, the sin of the Sodomites, the cry of the people oppressed in Egypt, the cry of the foreigner, the widow, and the orphan, injustice to the wage earner.

Now, I modernized some of those so it would be clearer:

The blood of Abel = murder
The sin of the Sodomites = homosexual sex
The cry of the people oppressed in Egypt = slavery
The cry of the foreigher, the widow and the ordphan= mistreatment of the same
Injustice to the wage earner was not changed at all.

This is the language in the Catechism.

I would say “mistreatment” is where they are badly treated to such an extent that they cry out to God.

Injustice to the wage earner is harder to define, but I would definitely say that not providing a healthy and safe place to work or not paying them agreed wages in a timely manner and the like would all fall under this definition.

 

[Friar_David_O.Carm]

LCMS_No_More:

ByzCath,

Check this out:
1867 The catechetical tradition also recalls that there are “sins that cry to heaven”: the blood of Abel, the sin of the Sodomites, the cry of the people oppressed in Egypt, the cry of the foreigner, the widow, and the orphan, injustice to the wage earner.

Now, I modernized some of those so it would be clearer:

The blood of Abel = murder
The sin of the Sodomites = homosexual sex
The cry of the people oppressed in Egypt = slavery
The cry of the foreigher, the widow and the ordphan= mistreatment of the same
Injustice to the wage earner was not changed at all.

This is the language in the Catechism.

I would say “mistreatment” is where they are badly treated to such an extent that they cry out to God.

Injustice to the wage earner is harder to define, but I would definitely say that not providing a healthy and safe place to work or not paying them agreed wages in a timely manner and the like would all fall under this definition.

Looking at the Catechism and reading the footnotes, which point to Scripture, I can see this, except for the mistreatment one as the Scripture listed does not really jive with what you are saying but that is besides the point.

What is the point of the poll? Seems that this has been lost on us.

 

[LCMS_No_More]

What is the point of the poll? Seems that this has been lost on us.

I’m testing a hypothesis. Once the poll has been closed (Sunday evening), I’ll post my purpose in putting the poll together. The results are actually proving far different that I thought they would but there are three more days until I can say, conclusively, that I was wrong about a particular issue.