 | The Reverend Amy Baumgartner is the Associate Pastor of First Presbyterian Church, 525 N. Broadway, Wichita, KS. Amy was ordained at First Presbyterian Church of Wichita, Kansas in June 2008. She earned a Masters of Divinity from Denver Seminary. Before attending seminary, Amy graduated from Ball State University with a degree in Landscape Architecture and worked several years for an architectural firm in Indianapolis, Indiana. You may contact Rev. Baumgartner by email AssociatePastor@firstpresbywichita.org, or by phone at (316) 263-0248. |
Religion
2012-06-05 09:42:07
Sins: big and little
Q: Which sins are big and which sins are little? Which sins are serious and grave, mortal and deadly (for the soul), and which sins are not so grave or venial? For example, if one person believes that pre-marital sex is not a sin or a small sin, and another person believes it to be a grievous sin: which person is right? If a person really believes something is not a sin or a minor sin, will he/she be held accountable for the sin as if it is a grievous or serious sin?
A: Simply stated, sin is not living up to God’s standards. It is violating how God desires us to live by not following the holy commands of the holy God. All sins are serious. As the apostle Paul wrote early in the book of Romans, “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” We all like sheep have gone astray. God has put God’s standards in our hearts yet we too often choose to violate those requirements and live for ourselves instead of how God would have us live. The first chapter of Romans paints a bleak view of the universal problem of sin and its consequences. Because of humanities’ propensity to deny God and sin, God gives us over to our sinfulness. While our conscience warns us, we choose to ignore God’s warnings. And as a result, we live in a world of hurt and pain because of sin. No one is righteous (meaning no one lives completely correctly according to God’s perfect standards),
While all sin is serious, I personally believe that the consequences of some sins carry more weight than others. For instance, driving slightly over the speed limit is a sin; it is a violation of God by disobeying the rules of the land. However, the consequences or repercussions of speeding are generally only between the driver and God.
You mention sex outside the covenant of marriage in your question. It is a sin that can have wider consequences of breaking down the family bonds as God intended them to be. And sexual sin can have far reaching consequences, affecting whole communities.
We will all be held accountable and judged by God for how we live our lives and the sins we commit. We live in a culture that places high value on being able to do whatever is deemed right in your own eyes. We regularly hear, “whatever is right for you; whatever feels good, do it.” Many people have lost the ability to sense right and wrong. Yet just because our culture denies the seriousness of sin, it does not erase the fact that God cannot tolerate sin. As a result, our sins will be revealed and judged in the end. While this should be sobering, there is hope for all of us who fall short. God’s Holy Spirit helps us to become sensitive to sin if we ask so that we might avoid getting into the habit of sinning. In addition, if and when we confess our sins, God forgives us our sins and cleanses us from all unrighteousness.
