 | Pastor Dave grew up in northern New Jersey in a very diverse cultural area. He attended Central College in Pella, Iowa received a BA in sociology and psychology. He was an offensive guard for their NCAA Div III National Championship team in 1974. In speaking for the Fellowship of Christian Athletes, he sensed a call to full time ministry. Meeting is future wife Sandy at Central, went to Michigan to finish her college while Dave started Western Seminary in Holland, Michigan. Dave married Sandy in 77 and completed his Masters of Divinity degree in 78. Pastor Dave’s first church was in Fort Lee, New Jersey, home of the George Washington Bridge. Their three children were born there and he also served as a Police and Fire Chaplain for the city. In February 1991, they came to Wichita to start Harvest Community Church. In 2006, he received his Doctor of Ministry degree from Covenant Theological (Presbyterian) Seminary in St Louis. During that year he gained a daughter-in-law with now 2 grandsons of 3 years and 6 months old. Besides Pastoring at HCC for the past 20 years, he has been Director of the SCSD & WPD Police Chaplains for 11.
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Religion
2013-04-29 13:32:07
Sins: big & 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-Our first question really asks about the grading or qualitative nature of sin. In the scriptures all and any sin, no matter what the grade or quality, brings separation from God {Isaiah 59:2}. Sin is missing the mark, God’s mark. All sin is against God and His holy will. {Psalm 51:4} It’s a breaking or transgressing of God’s law. (1John 3:4} The problem is “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” {Romans 3:23} and “the wages of sin is death.” {Romans 6:23} Notice there are no grades of sin but all sin brings eternal separation from God. So we see three things. First, God is the one who sets the standard. Second, sin is anything that is a rebellion or misses God’s standard and way. Third, that there is no difference when it comes to sin, whether quality or kind of sin, it all separates us from God eternally. Now when it comes to the eternal perspective, sin is sin. “All sin” as Calvin said, “is Mortal,” because it brings eternal death to mankind. In reality it doesn’t matter what one person or group or preacher or even church thinks. What matters is what God says about it! Who is right? God!
Now the scriptures do make some distinctions of sin when it speaks about certain sins being more grievous {Genesis 18:20}, or an abomination {Leviticus20:13}, detestable {Jeremiah 16:17} and some seem to have a higher level of offensiveness to God. {Leviticus 20:10-21} In the New Testament, Paul speaks to the new Corinthians Christians who were very much accustomed to living with sexually promiscuous life styles; he makes a higher distinction to emphasize a point that sexual sin is a direct sin against Christ and the Holy Spirit. {1 Cor. 6:15-20} Now the Catholic Church had made further distinctions of sin with Mortal and Venial Sins, however the Protestant side of Christianity would not go as far. Protestants still held to the distinctions between ordinary and heinous sins because the scriptures made those distinctions, especially in the Old Testament. A lot of the clear distinctions are for the penalties of different criminal acts, some punishable by death, other corporal penalties and even the levying of fines. Our system of justice has similar distinctions like first and second degree murder, voluntary and involuntary manslaughter. {Numbers 35:15-34}
The second question is more individually oriented on how a person’s individual beliefs affect their responsibility for a sin or not. Where is the doubt? If the Bible says it is a sin, then, guess what? It is a sin! Whether the person wants to believe it or not, if God says it is, then it is. If a person is naïve and doesn’t know it is, does it change the matter? Men used to drink out of beautiful ornate lead mugs, believing it was ok. But they still died of lead poisoning. Their belief was false. The Bible is filled with people who made that same mistake. Eve {Genesis 3:1-24}, Korah {Numbers 16}, Achan {Joshua 7}, Saul {1 Samuel 15}, Uzzah {2 Samuel 6:6-7} and the Sons of Sceva {Acts 19:13-16}. They didn’t believe Him, but still paid the price.
In my experience, most of the time, the problem is not lack of knowledge but the will. The definition of sin can be seen as I was taught in junior high youth group. It is the center letter “I” in the word sin. It is the theology of Frank Sinatra, “I did it my way,” not God’s way. I have friends that don’t agree with God that certain things they do are sin, but they are sins. They even deny, argue and even laugh at the idea of sin by treating it as a mythical idea. Sadly, it is their sinful fallen natures that are driving them. {Romans 7:14} They are slaves to sin. {Romans 6:20} Mankind still denies it because Satan has blinded man’s eyes to it and the only relief man can have is by admitting sin is a problem and seeing the need for Jesus to save them. {1 Corinthians 4:4}
In fact in our generation the world renowned psychiatrist Karl Menninger of Topeka, Ks in 1976 was prophetic in writing his secular book, “Whatever Became of Sin?” As a psychiatrist, he recognized that our society removed the word “sin” from its morals, but in reality just gave it a different name and called it normal. Western society had renamed it as sickness, deviance or crime and it had far sweeping effects all across our society. Even the stars of our generation, 30 years later, like Edwards, Clinton, Woods and the like have been excused of their sin and are now called “victims” of sexual addiction. Society’s collective responsibility has been lost due to the shift in the concept of sin and has left us paying and will continue to pay dearly in America.
What is needed for society to do is leave its denial and admit that we are all sinners and we sin. {Romans 3:23} Second, we need a savior Jesus Christ to pay the debt to God we owe for our sin and wash away our sin. {6:23; 8:1-2} To have Him make us anew with a desire to follow Him {2 Corinthians 5:17} That we choose every day to die to our sinful natures with its desires and passions {Romans 7:14-25} and begin living in His freedom and righteousness. {Galatians 2:20} May that be our task before we implode on ourselves! Living with you in the victory Christ has given us, Pastor Dave.
