#allsinisthesame

[calebdeese-blog]

Is All Sin Equal?

No, I do not believe that it is. I can show you a scripture when Jesus himself dignified that one sin was greater than another.

But before I begin I want to help people understand that there are many “scriptures” that people quote all the time that are not in the bible. I.e. “Cleanliness is next to Godliness.” , “For there is no one sin greater than another.” , “Spare the rod, spoil the child.” , “To beat your child is not to kill your child but to save it’s soul from Hell.” , and “God moves in mysterious ways.”

The point being: make sure you are searching into what people tell you. I’m not saying these are necessarily bad things to believe in, some are very sound advise but understand they are not scripture and should not be quoted as such.

Let’s get back to Jesus talking about greater sins:

The setting is when Jesus is brought before Pilot to be sentenced to his death. Pilot asked Jesus a question and Jesus refused to answer him. Then Pilot asks Jesus if he understands that he has the power to crucify him and Jesus tells Pilot that he has no power except the power that God allows him to have (It is funny to me, Jesus was being kind of stubborn) then Jesus says this:

John 19:11 KJVS 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.

Jesus said the Jews committed the greater sin for bringing him to Pilot than Pilot did for carrying out the Jews request to have Jesus killed for claiming to be God.

All sin has a type of category and there are many context clues and even pretty blunt scriptures, like the one I shared, about sins being over others. One of the greatest arguments for Equal Sin is found in Matthew 5 when Jesus says, “But I say unto you, That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart.” God considers the thoughts and intents of the heart as well as our actions. Undersrand that thinking about a woman in lust is a sin and doing it is a sin but they are not the same sin nor are they of the same caliber. They both have different effects and consequences. Jesus did not say they were equivalent but in one’s own heart they had already made it real to themselves. But regardless of whether you dismiss the notion to lust or you dwell on the idea in lust, this type of sin only effects your mind/heart and it does not effect your body or their body. To elaborate on that statement: You can not get an STD from thinking about adultery nor can she become pregnant from you thinking about adultery. Understand me, I am not justifying sin, please let me make that clear. I am proposing that thinking and doing are two different things with two very different consequences even to God. Let’s make the severity of this example into a math equation.

Scenario #1: Man looks at woman and a bad thought comes to his mind but he immediately dismisses the thought and moves on. Sins committed = 0. Persons involved in the sin/s = 1. Effects: His mind and heart

Scenario #2: Man looks upon a woman in lust and then proceeds to eventual pleasure himself to this thought. Sins committed 2. Persons involved 1. Effects: His body, Mind, and Heart.

Scenario #3. Man looks upon a woman in lust. Approaches the woman and tempts her to sleep with him. They sleep together. Sins committed = minimum 4. Persons involved 2. Effects: His mind, body, and heart and her mind, body, and heart.

Looking upon a woman in lust and sleeping with her are clearly two different things.

Well a friend of mine who believes strongly in “All Sin Is Equal” told me “Well God considers them the same even if we dont.”

His argument sounds good but scripture shows us that can’t be so. Consider this. If God believed that thinking sin is the same as committing sin than he would have introduced consequences at the thought rather than the actions. There is a grace period between thought and action where a person has the ability to choose not to sin.

Think about this. Eve looks upon the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil and “sees that it is good to eat.” She later takes the fruit and eats it and implicates Adam as well. If all sin was the same to God than Eve would have been killed or thrown out of the garden of Eden when she seen that it was good to eat, then Adam would have never sinned and perhaps God would have made a new woman or something but God didnt. He gave Adam a chance to think about the fruit and deny it himself. Obviously he didnt. Anyway, who knows how things would have been different. The fact remains, there are different consequences to different levels of sin. Here are the levels of sin. I made a post on Facebook about this not too long ago you can read more about if you like.

1. Unintentional Thought - When you think of sinning but dismiss it before you really dwell on it. It seems petty to be a sin but it’s human nature to sin. It’s the way of the flesh. We’re drawn to bad ways. This sin is like when a curse word slips and you feel that quickness of regret.

2. Dwelling on a sinful thought. Ex: Lust, Envy, Pride, The idea of murdering someone, etc. When we dwell on the idea of doing something wrong it becomes a worse sin.

3. Unintentional sins. Most people do not fully understand what the word of God says. Many people sin everyday casually and do not realize it to an extent. It’s still sin but it’s definitely closer to God’s grace than most others.

4. Regular Sin. There is and moment you realize you shouldn’t do something but you dismiss it and you do it anyway. We all have that moment when something in us says “I shouldnt” but sometimes that voice is small and the more we sin the smaller it gets and it can even disappear. Call it your consequence or upbringing but I call it the voice of the Lord or in my case, The Holy Ghost.

5. Premeditated Sin. - This is a sin you know better than to do. You know it’s a sin you’ve even thought about the consequences perhaps and you dwell on the idea of it and you’ve justified it in your own way. You’re now to the point where you’re going to do it no matter what. You get that “I don’t care” attitude. It’s like setting out to commit this crime.

6. Abominations - These are are different category all together. All Abominations are sin BUT not all sins are abominations. Think about it. Homosexuality is categorized under abomination. It’s a sin so great God hates it. But God is different than man bc God hates the sin and not the sinner. He can forgive a sin and it’d be like that person was never homosexual. They can live the rest of their life straight or abstinent and make it to Heaven.

7. Blasphemy against the Holy Ghost - This is the ultimate sin recorded in the bible. So extreme that God says that if anyone does it they can not receive forgiveness. After a person blasphemed against the Holy Ghost they are 100% bound to Hell and there is no way of reversing that. He allows the person to live the remaining years of their life and that’s it. Earth is the best they’ll ever have it.

There are levels and there are different consequences.

Different Levels Evidence:

Amos 5:12 KJVS For I know your manifold transgressions and your MIGHTY SINS: they afflict the just, they take a bribe, and they turn aside the poor in the gate from their right .

Different Consequences Evidence:

Matthew 23:14 KJVS 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.

You see there are greater sins and greater sins have greater consequences.

There are levels of rewards you receive in Heaven for how much you do on Earth. The same goes for Hell. There are harsher punishments for your sins.

I hope this kind of helps you understand a little better. I mean the fact is that ALL sin can and will get a person a ticket to Hell but no its definitely not accurate to stand by the belief that all sin is the same. It’s not all the same or else God would punish us for even our thoughts. Idk anyone in jail for thinking about killing someone. I don’t know any wives who have divorced their husbands for thinking about cheating on them. It’s just not that way.

“No sin is greater than another, for all sin shall receive it’s just reward by fire.”

I’ve heard this scripture for years and it’s not even in the bible. Nothing even similar. “All Sin Is the same/equal” or “No one sin is greater than another.” Etc it’s all scripture that people have made up to justify their sins in order to feel better rather than just asking for forgiveness and leaving their pasts alone. Move on as a new person rather than dwelling on the old. I hope I didn’t tick you off too badly by giving you scripture that contradicts something you’ve no doubt been told your whole life like I was lol but sometimes people get it twisted but one thing I’ve learned is that scripture never gets it twisted if you study it out far enough.