Answers to your questions about life, religion and the Bible
What is the worst sin?
Dear Father Paul: I am a 13-year-old girl. Our pastor has been preaching about “sin” lately. He gives lots of examples of different sins, and I certainly understand that to sin is bad, but is there such a thing as the worst sin? One of my friends says that “God just wants to spoil our fun.” What do you say? — D.N.
Dear D. N.: I say hooray for your pastor! He’s doing exactly what God called him to do. Not “beating people up” over their sins every Sunday, but pointing out gently and lovingly that God has some rules of conduct for us while we are on this earth, and breaking his rules always eventually leads to seriously bad consequences. All too many pastors never utter the word “sin” from their pulpit these days, because it is not a popular message, and they are afraid that people will leave their church — and they might. That’s why it takes godly courage to be a pastor.
Think about this, what kind of shepherd never, ever warns his sheep about the dangers and consequences of wandering away from the flock and disobeying the “Great Shepherd?” Not a very good one in my view.
I think pastors should regularly proclaim the “Bad News” about sin and sin’s ultimate consequences. Dare I say it? The ultimate consequence of sin is eternal separation from God in a place the Bible calls “Hell,” a place which God made as the eternal home for Satan and all those who choose to follow him instead of God.
But it’s not the plan of God for pastors to preach only the “Bad News” of sin, and of hell’s fire, and punishment. No. God’s plan for his shepherds is to indeed first “warn the sheep,” but then follow that warning with the “Good News” of God’s love and forgiveness for sins and the promised eternal life with him to all those who turn away from their sins, ask God for forgiveness and begin to live their lives centered on him.
So is God just trying to “spoil our fun” when he says don’t sin? Certainly not. God is a loving heavenly father, and he knows that people always wind up getting hurt when they break his rules. Its simple really. Forget the bad consequences from God for a moment. God knows that there will also be bad consequences from other people and often the law as well when we sin. For example: if we lie to our boss (a sin) our boss is probably going to fire us and we might go hungry or loose our house.
If we steal from our employer (a sin) we are going to lose our job and probably go to jail as well.
If we cheat on our spouse (also a sin) we are looking at a painful consequence called divorce.
God loves us and he knows (in advance) what will be the earthly consequences of our sins. So his rules against sin are also made for us … for our benefit, not just so he can control us. Think of a loving mom telling her four-year-old, “Don’t touch the stove honey, its very hot … you’ll get burned, and it’ll hurt.” God is like that.
So are some sins worse than others? That is a very interesting question. Sorry, I am not God.
Ranking all sins in order of their importance would be impossible. When the Bible says in Romans 6:23 “For the wages of sin is death …” it is undeniably listing all sins together and not ranking them. All sins therefore are equal in that all sins separate us from God. Having said that, it is obvious that some sins are far worse than others, at least in their effects. Therefore, I believe God will judge our sins accordingly. After all, who could possibly say that flying airplanes into the World Trade Center on 9/11 and killing three thousand innocent people is no worse than stealing a candy bar at the super market? Besides, throughout the Bible God applied different punishments for different sins.
Again, however, remember, there is a remedy … an antidote for sin. When we confess our sins and turn to God and his son Jesus … Psalm 103:12 says God actually removes our sins from us, “as far as the east is from the west.”
Do you have a question? Send your question to me at [email protected] and I will try to answer your question in the paper.
Father Paul Massey is pastor emeritus at Church of the Holy Cross in Fayetteville, Georgia. The Sacrament of Holy Communion is freely offered to all believers at Church of the Holy Cross where a warm welcome awaits you. Visit www.holycrosschurch.wordpress.com for information.
