Today I came across a posting on Facebook on a rather controversial topic. The core of the posting revolved around the following reasoning:
"I understand what the bible says about homosexuality, but it also says no divorce, no kosher, no lying, and no disrespect to our parents. Now don't we all do one of these every single day? In God's eyes all sins are equal, so your lie you told today is just as bad as me loving another man."
Now, first of all, I do not wish to pass any judgement on anyone's choices and decisions. That is not what this is about.
The problem here is that the reasoning expressed in the above quote has some very fundamental flaws and yet, this reasoning is shared all over the Internet on an almost daily basis. The first assertion amounts to the fact that we are all sinners, and that is of course true. I would also have to agree that our sinful mature is likely to cause us to sin each and every day, perhaps even more than once a day. It is a side of our humanity that we have to live with, although as faithful Christians, we strive to not give into temptations and we strive to not sin. When we do sin, we are called to repent. We feel bad about the sins we commit, we work to correct them, make up for them, and do our best to not continue to sin. Reality is that we do continue to be sinners until our death - but we are called to do our best to avoid sin!
The premise that all sins are equal in God's eyes is very definitely wrong. In 1 John 5:16 we read: "If any one sees his brother committing what is not a mortal sin, he will ask, and God will give him life for those whose sin is not mortal. There is sin which is mortal; I do not say that one is to pray for that." Clearly, John describes two forms of sins: mortal and not mortal. (See also Matthew 12:31-32.)
The next problem is a little bit less obvious because it cannot be easily addressed with just a quote. It revolves around the difference between repentance of sin and justification for sin... a matter of intent. As mentioned two paragraphs earlier, as faithful Christians we are called to avoid sin. When we do sin, we are to repent. In essence, that does imply that it is our desire and intention not to commit that sin again. In reality, we are sinners and in a way, we tend to be habitual sinners. That is an integral aspect of our sinful nature, and we are to fight against it. Our faith helps us with that.
So what happens when we instead look to justify our sin? Obviously, one ends up on a very slippery slope because rather than repenting one tries to explain why it is OK (or at least acceptable) to commit a sin. All sin is wrong - simple as that. So the reasoning that since everyone sins, it is OK for me to sin is most definitely very unchristian. The sin for which we are
not repentant is not forgiven. That important aspect is completely ignored in the rationale quoted at the beginning of this posting. We sin by our very nature, but through our repentance we accept God's everlasting grace in forgiveness. When we sin and are not repentant, we reject God's sanctifying grace and thereby reject forgiveness.
It is sad to see that a rather flawed reasoning on the important topic of sin is used to justify the choice to sin. And some use this same argument to justify other sinful lifestyles, etc... Now, again, I do not judge people's choices. And some use this same argument to justify other sinful lifestyles, etc... But I also do not believe that people have a need to justify their choices to those around them. Our choices are our own, and we stand in judgement before God alone. Therefore, I hope that rationales like the one I addressed in this posting will cease because they are unnecessary and unfortunately very misleading.
And it
is a mortal sin to cause others to commit sin.
