1. Are All Sins Equal in the Eyes of God? How does the severity of the sin vary? How does the sin's hierarchy distinguish?
- BS Pradeep
- Nov 5, 2024
- 5 min read
Updated: Nov 11, 2024
Every last person in this world is a sinner except the one, Lord Jesus Christ who lived on the face of the Earth 2024 years ago. Lord never sinned. In Hebrews.4:5, it says
For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are--yet he did not sin.
But humans will commit the sin. Some think there are big sins and there are small sins. But the severity of the sin depends on two factors.
First factor: How great the creator is, against, whom the man is sinning:
Do you think the sun is powerful and does it ever feel like it is a strongest object? Sun is so huge when compared with our planet Earth. 1300000 Earths can fit in a sun. It is 149.6 million kilo meters far away from the Earth and still could give enough light and heat which suffices all the Earth and the life in it. The size of the solar system is 9.09 billion kms who's radius is 4.545 kms.
The sun releases energy at a mass–energy conversion rate of 4.26 million metric tons per second, which produces the equivalent of 384.6 septillion watts (3.846×1026 W). To put that in perspective, this is the equivalent of about 9.192×1010 megatons of TNT per second, or 1,820,000,000 Tsar Bombs – the most powerful thermonuclear bomb ever built. We may don't understand all those numbers. But for the sample, Tsar bomb is super exceedingly powerful than the bombs that are dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in Japan. These are the only two atom bombs ever exploded in the human history till now. What we understand here is, sun is extremely powerful. And all the solar system is so huge. It is 9.09 billion kilometers. But this huge solar system if compared to the whole universes doesn’t equal to an electron, which we cannot even see with the help of a microscope. Our solar system is extremely tiny when compared to the universe. Sun is strong. But how many stars are there in the universe? Scientists even cannot put a number, but tries to estimate the number, which could never be the truth. Zillions and zillions of stars are there in the universe. God created all those stars.
But God never cares for the stars or any other things, that are within the boundaries of the stars. God doesn't care how huge and strong any star is. Because, with just a word God created all of them. But when it comes to the matter of human beings, God again and again affirms one thing that God loved human beings. God so loved the world. God never claimed in the bible that he loved any other creation. But he loved human beings unto his death. He wanted to express his love on the human beings. So, when man go astray, God redeemed him, from the sin by his sacrificial death on the cross. He did everything to show his love on the human beings.
Now God has spread all over the universe. God is bigger and greater than the universe, in size and in strength. We cannot imagine, our minds cannot comprehend, how great, how huge, how powerful our God is. In Psalms.147.4:5 it is written, He determines the number of the stars and calls them each by name. Great is our Lord, and of great power: his understanding is infinite
Now assume a person committed which is called to be a small sin in his sight and in the sight of other people. But when he committed the small sin, he did it against such an unimaginably great God. The severity of a sin doesn’t depend on how big or small the sin is, but how great God is, against whom, the sin is being committed. So, small sin has a complete potentiality to drag any person straight to the hell. There is nothing like a small sin and a big sin. God won't take it easy, when a minor sin is done, because God won't tolerate us to neglect, the sacrifice which is made by such a great, huge God, to redeem the mankind from the sin. The severity doesn’t depend on the size of the sin, but it depends on against whom the sin is being committed.
Now, are all sin equal in God's eyes or they vary in gravity? yes, all are equal but also a no. Now you got first point in the hierarchy of the sins. How they will vary in their gravity. But there is another factor
Factor two: how much close you are to God at the moment:
It generally is appropriate to the believers than to the non-believers. But in some cases, this verily fits to the non-believers also. If a person is so much close to God, he will have full strength and responsibility to avoid and resist the sin. Why? When a person is close to God, his heart and mind hates the sin, just like God does. But even at this point, if the person commits any sin, the consequence is, that the sin turns to be a huge mistake. Take example the account of Moses. Moses led Israel out of Egypt. God performed many great miracles using this prophet. He led Israel for 40 years in the wilderness. Not only that, prior to that, God trained Moses as a shepherd for 40 years. Total 80 years in God's hands. But at the end he couldn't be able to lead the Israel into the promised land. God said you should not go to the promised land. Instead, some others (Joshua) will take them to there in your place. Why? Moses uttered a small word against God, and struck the rock twice, instead of God's command to just talk to the rock.
Then Moses and Aaron gathered the assembly together before the rock, and he said to them, “Hear now, you rebel: shall we bring water for you out of this rock?” And Moses lifted up his hand and struck the rock with his staff twice, and water came out abundantly, and the congregation drank, and their livestock. And the LORD said to Moses and Aaron, “Because you did not believe in me, to uphold me as holy in the eyes of the people of Israel, therefore you shall not bring this assembly into the land that I have given them.” These are the waters of Meribah, where the people of Israel quarreled with the LORD, and through them he showed himself holy. —Numbers 20:10-13
For the small mistake all the 80 years of experience with God became vain. If you or me commits such sin, the severity won't be that hard. But being so close to God and being so holy, is a huge responsibility. God uses his servants mightily to cast away satan and the strong holds of demons. Many of the prayers of Moses will be granted by God swiftly. But that closeness also brings a responsibility to stay according to God's rules and holiness.
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