all sins are equal

[Scar]

When I was in a group home, we were forced to either goto Church or watch church on tv (all Christian stuff, which i think is illegal for force kids to watch or goto) anyways this one preacher back then said all sins are equal.

does anyone really believe that?
Do you really think that murdering someone is the same as stealing 15 cent candy in Gods eyes?

I really do not believe this. I believe sins are based on evil and if you are evil enough to kill someone, you belong in hell. Someone who steals candy doesn't belong in hell in my opinion.
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[clpo13]

On the other hand, one could reason that killing someone is no worse than stealing candy, which doesn't seem very bright either. But hey, I don't believe in sin anyways, so it doesn't much matter to me.
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"Dissent is the highest form of patriotism." --Thomas Jefferson

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[userfriendly]

I tend to not look at it like that. "Sinning" was an idea someone came up with a long long time ago, to scare people into having morals.. Brilliant idea it was.. because if people can't realize on their own, that they shouldn't kill people, they shouldn't steal, lie, rape, cheat,.. whatever.. they need to find out some how. If they believe that they are going to some sort of hell if they don't follow these rules.. whatever. As long as they aren't hurting anybody.

I think its stupid though when people take it to a whole new level.. when everything becomes a sin. Lust.. c'mon. It's a basic human .. emotion? You see an attractive member of the opposite sex, or the same sex.. I guess depending which way you swing.. and you have that thought for a split second.. Oops.. you're going to hell now. Idiots.

I guess over the years the idea of 'sinning' stopped being for people to be good to each other, and started being a good way of turning them into sheep.
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[John Ryan]

[Xtreme]

[wellingtonboots]

I personally think that sins cannot be equal just like all crimes are not equal. SOme are petty things that going to confession could clear your consciense but things like murder are much more serious.

However how Christians view the gravity of different sins has changed over time. Despite the bible laying down quite specific intructions about the nature of sins, most Christian views now conform to social values.
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[voltare]

Ok, there needs to be a few lines drawn.

First, the concept of Sin as Christians consider it, is something along the lines of making that person 'unclean.' We are all born with 'original sin (according to Catholics anyway) and only through acceptance of Jesus Christ, and confessing our sins, might we enter the presence of God in His Holy Kingdom. Any and all sins make us 'unclean' and thus dying without sins on our conscience will send us to purgatory. (A note here, I'm not Catholic, nor Christian, so if there's a different stance on Catholic doctrine, by all means correct me.)

Outside of Catholicism, Christians in general don't typically confess sins, but rather privately ask for the forgiveness of God through Jesus Christ. Without this confession to Jesus for our sins, than we are doomed to an eternity in Hell, even if we simply stole a sucker from a shop when we were four years old. Again, these are organized church doctrines, not common beliefs.

The theory behind these doctrines isn't to punish everyone for the smallest mistake. The idea is to encourage good behavior, and focus on doing good - not evil. A missionary living in a grass hut in the rain forest teaching Christianity isn't going to likely have a pile of sins to confess each day, unlike (say) a bishop who must routinely make decisions in the face of the temptations of a cosmopolitan and bougouis world.

By teaching 'all sin is equal' a moral line is drawn between acceptable and unacceptable behavior. You don't enter heaven by any number of good acts. You only enter heaven free from bad acts - but as any parent knows, children who aren't doing something good, are doing something bad. By setting the focus on doing good things, and admitting mistakes, it is hoped that by the end of one's life, they will have learned how to live their lives within God's law, and by avoiding sin whenever possible, they have managed to live a good life.

In short, by doing the best a Christian can do, they won't come face to face with the devil very often. On the occasions they are tempted to sin, their efforts to avoid it will be rewarded in heaven.

From a broader, non-religious perspective, it is simply a means of preventing the sort of chaos and disorder that can occur in a society where stealing grains of rice turn into stealing warehouses of televisions. Either a society functions because there is law, or it crumbles because there is no law. The exceptions are few and far between.
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[marinaroz]

Like some other people here, I don't believe in the concept of sin. I believe that crimes are against people, not against a god. As for worth, surely not that all bad deeds have the same weight and they shouldn't carry equal consequences.
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Tarakana NET

[Vipralion]

Sins equal?

One sin will send you to hell?

Stealing a 15 cent piece of candy will send you to hell?

That is absolutely ridiculous. Both actions and thoughts could be considered sins. We cannot control our actions or thoughts all the time. The slightest movement or word whispered nearby can conjure any number of thoughts in a person's mind. Fault cannot be placed on the person for thinking sinful thoughts.

Actions can be greatly influenced by emotion and basic animal instinct inherit within all human beings. A man who sees his wife with another man could spark a chain reaction of events all beginning with a primal instinct.


The concept of sins in Christianity definitely is an idea used to promote moral values. In fact, the Ten Commandments can be viewed as a set of guidelines to define how life should be lived among others in times when those such as Moses lived. Rules to keep intact the lifestyle of groups of wanderers, nomads, whatever.
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[voltare]

Ah, but under the 'all sins are equal' lie the beauty - an iron clad 'do the best you can, all the time.' This isn't such a bad way to live your life, but we all know the moment you allow exceptions, the rule becomes the exception.
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[Grimoire]

Sinning is not an idea someone came up with to scare people into having morals.
People developed morals naturally when they started to live in larger an larger groups. You cannot have a stable society with people going around stealing and murdering each other all the time, or just doing whatever they feel like doing.
Rules and punishments were introduced to help enforce this ideal, not religion and sin.
Religion stems from different roots.
Religions started as a way for weak, powerless and very simple ancient people, helpless in the face of nature, yet depending upon it for their survival. They couldn't control nature, yet they decided there must be powerful being or beings controlling it, it can't just be random they thought, because if it's random it gives them no hope.
However, if it's controlled by a god or gods, then at least they can try to get the favour of those gods by doing things that please the gods, and thereby control nature by proxy.
HOw do they figure out what things please the god?
Well, it's just trial and error. If it works, and the following year is a good one for the crops, or herds, of the rivers don't flood or whatever, then the things they did must have pleased the gods. If things go badly, then they obviously didn't sacrifice enough virgins or whatever, so they'll have to kill more for next year...
Later, the rules to enforce morality, and religion were mixed. The ten commandments are simply rules that already existed in society. It's not like everyone was a murderer before he bible said 'thou shalt not kill'.
After the idea of heaven and hell had been dreamed up, it's was a good extra incentive for people to behave - if they weren't already worried about physical punishments here on earth, they now had their eternal soul to think about as well.
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Civillisation will not attain perfection until the last stone, from the last church, falls on the last priest.
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[linuxdoctor]

Not all sins are equal, as is clear from the Scriptures.

[clpo13]

We all die anyways, so I don't see what the problem is. And the afterlife is something no one can claim to know about since none of us have ever been there, obviously. Can a book with dubious origins really be trusted to tell us what happens after we pass away?
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"Dissent is the highest form of patriotism." --Thomas Jefferson

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[slsc]

[clpo13]