> Are there degrees on sin?
I can’t see how there could be, if we accept Holy Writ at face value. We are told that “the wages of sin is death.” Little sins, big sins, frequent sins or one-off sins: death is what you get if you sin.
Had Our Lord sinned — even once, even a tiny sin like uttering “Dammit!” when hitting his thumb with a hammer, as all carpenters do — he would have been blemished and would have therefore been an unacceptable Sacrifice: recall that in the Old Testament the sacrificial lamb had to be without blemish, perfect in every way.
What about the so-called “unforgivable sin” that Our Lord talks about — the “Blasphemy against the Holy Ghost”? What about that? Isn’t that a “worse” sin than the others?
In my view, yes-and-no: it becomes self-evident and logical: Atheism is the “unforgivable sin”, the “Blasphemy against the Holy Ghost”. Why? By definition.
If you are an Atheist you do not believe in God. Therefore you cannot and will not ask him for forgiveness. You therefore Blaspheme against the Holy Ghost because you do not believe in God’s power to forgive. That can only change when you cease being an Atheist. For as long as you continue in that state, you cannot be forgiven.
So, all sin is equal. In my view this is because God wants our obedience, not our sophistry. If there were a sliding scale of sin, then we would be tempted to apply sophisticated logic to rationalize it. He doesn’t want us to be clever with casuistry: He wants us to do what He tells us, to be obedient. Period.
We are told that He wants” obedience rather than sacrifice”, and for us to “harken” rather than to give Him “the fat of rams”. We should therefore take what He has said at face value.
Those are my thoughts. What do you think?
I think God has more to worry about than someone looking at naked people in the privacy of their home with their wife.
I think if you hit your thumb with a hammer and yell “dammit” that’s not even the slightest equivalent “sin-wise” as killing someone.
If God is almighty as most believe, creator of the heavens and Earth and the whole universe, omniscient and all knowing etc...why would he need the obedience of us puny mortals? Is he insecure?
You’re telling me he has a place in the lake of fire for people who curse after a painful accident right next to a serial killer?
Furthermore, he may be a loving god, but he certainly likes to spread the misery around his big blue marble - abject poverty, mass murder, horrible wars and natural disasters, child-rapists, serial killers, muslim fanatics that murder innocents, disease, Obama, etc...
Finally, the thought that any mortal could even begin to understand “god’s plan” or attempt to explain it in any way is just foolish.
So...Try and be good to your fellow man. Follow the golden rule. If cursing on occasion, or looking at porn on occasion means a seat by the lake of fire pool, I guess it’s going to be hot down there.