I’ve noticed that we have this wacky habit of ranking sin. Well, it makes sense, to a point: is “Yes, dinner was delicious!” equivalent to plunging a steak knife into the cook’s heart? The consequences are very different, the motives are very different, yet they are both sins that disqualify us from entering heaven absent God’s merciful and unmerited forgiveness. Take the habit most Christians have of ranking sexual sin right up there with murder. If you ask them which one they think is worse, they’ll say “Murder, of course.” But that attitude is not borne out in their actions. Just let a girl in the youth group get pregnant, a married person have an affair, or a homosexual visit or join the church. I don’t by the “judge not lest you be judged” pat response because within the church, we are clearly called to be accountable to one another. But too often people use that accountability mechanism to maximize the other person’s sin and minimize their own.
I’ve been in churches where someone in leadership had an affair, and been less shocked by the affair than by people’s reaction to it. I think they’d prefer the steak knife – although which end they’d be on is a matter for debate. So some sins are more equal than others – at least in our eyes. With God, not so much. Consider Romans 1. That chapter is used early and often to condemn sexual sin, but this section is conveniently neglected:
And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done. They were filled with all manner of unrighteousness, evil, covetousness, malice. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, maliciousness. They are gossips, slanderers, haters of God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless. Though they know God’s decree that those who practice such things deserve to die, they not only do them but give approval to those who practice them.
(Rom 1:28-32)
I don’t know about you, but I’ve done pretty much everything on that list. And if there is a scale or rating system in the bible describing which sin is worse than another, I’m not aware of it.
There is understandable reasoning behind the attitude you mentioned. Sexual sin corrupts a person’s own body and soul, whereas other sins primarily impact other people. This is particularly true for women, but sexual sins often harms men as well. The effects on men are merely less obvious, and the men are less likely to regret their actions afterward. The effects of sexual sin on society as a whole are astronomical. I would not call adultery as bad as murder, but Moses seemed to when he punished both of them by the death penalty.
In fact, Jesus himself actually ranked sins in terms of seriousness. For example, rejecting the testimony of the disciples was a worse crime than the abominations at Sodom. Ultimately Jesus will judge everything and decide which sins are the most serious, for believers and unbelievers.
Overall, I think it is quite rational for the congregation to freak out over immoral leadership. Churches have enough problems already without having to worry about promiscuous leaders.
I did a bad job of explaining my position – I probably should have spent more time on that line in the first paragraph talking about the differences in motives and consequences of types of sin.
Some sins have a much greater ripple effect than others. A lie about how dinner tasted is unlikely to have any serious impact, except to the guest who risks being invited back for another meal. The impact of murdering the cook is obviously much greater. The consequences of David and Bathsheba’s adultery were long-reaching; I’m sure each of them committed a multitude of other sins before they ever met that had no lasting effect. But my point is that in God’s eyes, a sin is a sin is a sin; commit one and you’re disqualified from heaven. God is holy and He will not tolerate it. Period. Full stop.
I didn’t intend to imply that sexual sin is not serious. I do take it seriously, and agree that it affects society as a whole; that’s part of why I tend to gripe about pornography on this blog as often as I do – it’s a huge contributor to the problem. But I really resent the way so many Christians act as though sexual sin is the ultimate sin. That’s what gets gossiped about, that’s what people harp on, that’s what really seems to horrify them the most. And I think half of that is because it’s so titillating, and a good portion of the rest is that thinking on another person’s lack of control makes them feel superior.
I’ve evidently overlooked Jesus’ ranking of sin, where can I find that?
Jesus ranks sins at various times:
“If anyone will not welcome you or listen to your words, shake the dust off your feet when you leave that home or town. I tell you the truth, it will be more bearable for Sodom and Gomorrah on the day of judgment than for that town.” (Matthew 10:14-15).
“Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! . . . You blind guides! You strain out a gnat but swallow a camel. (Matthew 23:23-24)
“Beware of the teachers of the law. . . . They devour widows’ houses and for a show make lengthy prayers. Such men will be punished most severely.” (Luke 20:46-47)
“That servant who knows his master’s will and does not get ready or does not do what his master wants will be beaten with many blows. But the one who does not know and does things deserving punishment will be beaten with few blows” (Luke 12:47-48).
Jesus answered, “You would have no power over me if it were not given to you from above. Therefore the one who handed me over to you is guilty of a greater sin” (John 19:11).
And the apostles also made a similar comments:
1But there were also false prophets among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you. They will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the sovereign Lord who bought them . . . These men are springs without water and mists driven by a storm. Blackest darkness is reserved for them.
“It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you, and of a kind that does not occur even among pagans: A man has his father’s wife. . . .[H]and this man over to Satan, so that the sinful nature may be destroyed and his spirit saved on the day of the Lord.” (1 Corinthians 5:1,5) (If we treated all imperfect Christians this way, the churches would obviously be empty.)
I’ll give you Matthew 10:14-15 because of the “more.” I have to disagree on the second one. Luke 20, yes, you’re quite right – when I looked it up, “most” is perissoteros, “greater” and in some translations the phrase is “greater damnation” not “most severely.”
So I’ll stop checking at this point and gladly admit that you were right and I was wrong. There does seem to be an – albeit ambiguous – ranking of sin/penalties. BUT…
… I believe my larger point stands, and that the way today’s Christians behave toward sexual sin is way out of proportion and usually self-serving. On reflection, though, I will say this:
Maybe the way that people are shocked, offended, and particularly horrified by sexual sin is completely appropriate and the REAL problem is their lack of response to all other types of sin.
What do you think?
I do think churches should ex-communicate people nowadays, mainly for sexual sins but also for other serious sins. Sexual sins would demand the most discipline. Unlike sexual sins, which are overt, other serious sins either fall into fairly gray areas, such as greed or dishonesty, or constitute crimes, such as theft or murder.
As a practical matter, however, I am not sure church about the feasibility of church discipline. We have so many churches nowadays that if you got kicked out of one, you could just move over to another one. Also, many churches are so big that leaders might not know much about the personal lives of all members. The easiest, and therefore most prevalent, form of discipline is the firing of corrupt church officials.
As a result, it stands to reason that most church discipline would be for sexual sins involving church leaders. Unfortunately, it’s hard to do much more than that.