Are all sins equal in God's eyes?

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Question: Are all sins the same in God's eyes?

Anonymous

ATP: Yes and no.

All sins are in the same category in God's eyes in that any single sin is enough to disqualify us from heaven. To say it another way, there are no "good" sins. All are bad and any will separate us from God. (There is a remedy of course, and that is through Christ.)

On the other hand, God views some actions as more evil than other actions. (Note again that all sin is evil, it is just that some sin is more evil.) For example, in the Old Testament, while all sins required a remedy to restore a person to a right relationship with God, some sins required a greater remedy.

Rape and kidnapping were clearly viewed as more evil than theft in that a thief was required to make restitution, while a rapist or a kidnapper was to be executed.

This principle of differentiating between sins continues today, although how sin is dealt with on earth is different now than it was in the Old Testament. In the New Testament we read that the final judgment of God at the end of the age will be worse for some people than it will be for Sodom and Gomorrah. Why? Because the Bible says that if Sodom and Gomorrah had heard the message that people now have heard, they would have repented of their sin.

The point for this discussion is that there will be greater punishment for some than others, and the difference will be due to the difference in sin committed.

Of course any person can avoid paying the punishment for their sins altogether, no matter what they have done, if they will sincerely turn from their sin, asking for God's forgiveness through Christ. And it is God's desire is that all would do so.