{"id":280,"date":"2011-03-21T16:39:33","date_gmt":"2011-03-21T20:39:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/christianpiatt.org\/?p=280"},"modified":"2011-03-21T16:39:33","modified_gmt":"2011-03-21T20:39:33","slug":"are-some-sins-better-or-worse-than-others-banned-questions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/christianpiatt.org\/?p=280","title":{"rendered":"Are some sins better or worse than others? (Banned Questions)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Are some sins worse or better than others?<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

(From the book, BANNED QUESTIONS ABOUT THE BIBLE<\/a> by Chalice Press<\/a>, edited by Christian Piatt<\/a>. Order either BANNED QUESTIONS<\/a> book on the Chalice Press website during the month of March, enter the promotional code \u0093BANNEDMAR\u0094 at checkout and receive a 40% discount.)
\n<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Nadia Bolz-Weber<\/a>:<\/strong><\/p>\n

It\u0092s important to recognize the difference between big S Sin and little s sins.\u00a0 Big S sin is the human state of being \u0093turned in on self\u0094 without a thought of God or neighbor.\u00a0 Big S sin is putting ourselves on God\u0092s throne and not allowing God to be God for us.\u00a0 The fancy Latin that Martin Luther used was se encurvatus en se<\/em>.\u00a0 The self turned in on the self.\u00a0 That is that state of big S sin in which every human being on the planet lives.<\/p>\n

Little s sins are the result of big S sin.\u00a0 But even if someone managed to pull off not committing little s sin they would still be plagued with big S Sin.\u00a0 Yet a lot of Christianity tries to come off as a way to avoid little s sin so that you are progressively sanctified until \u0096 poof<\/em> \u0096 you are without big S sin.<\/p>\n

For the record, Lutherans such as myself do not think this is actually possible, even though it sounds real nice. This is why a lot of other Christians don\u0092t like Lutherans, but that is another story entirely.<\/p>\n

Now, back to the question.\u00a0 Are some little s sins worse than others? Yes. Are some little s sins better that others? No. (Leave it to a Lutheran to make something a paradox). But here\u0092s the thing: the sin of murder is more harmful than the sin of, say, stealing a salt-shaker from Denny\u0092s. But the big S Sin of the sinner who stole the salt-shaker is no less than the big S Sin of the sinner who killed another sinner.<\/p>\n

Being Christian does not mean that we follow a really great Sin Management Program. It means that we confess that the grace of God is sufficient.<\/p>\n

\u0085if grace is true, you must bear a true and not a fictitious sin. God does not save people who are only fictitious sinners. Be a sinner and sin boldly, but believe and rejoice in Christ even more boldly. For he is victorious over sin, death, and the world.[1]<\/a> <\/em><\/p>\n

-Martin Luther<\/p>\n

<\/strong><\/p>\n

Gary Peluso-Verdend<\/a>:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Yes, but first let\u0092s define sin. In the U.S., we tend to think of \u0093sin\u0094 and \u0093sex\u0094 together. That pairing is most unfortunate, both for a healthy understanding of sex as well as a healthy understanding of sin. This limitation of \u0093sin\u0094 to \u0093sex\u0094 and, secondarily, to some vices (e.g., gambling, drinking, smoking) leads us Christians to over-attend to sexual sin and under-attend to other areas of sin.<\/p>\n

For example, in a recent national election, most Americans polled did not understand war as a moral issue.<\/p>\n

Sin is a condition of broken relationship, the act of breaking a relationship, living in broken relationships, and acting in ways so as to perpetuate a broken relationship. By this definition, murder is sin, insulting a colleague is sin, and passing laws that perpetuate injustice is sin. I\u0092ve heard some interpreters quote Paul to the effect that, since \u0093all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God,\u0094 all sin is equal. Paul\u0092s statement might be rightly used to argue all human beings are sinners but not that all sins are equally weighty. Catholic moral theology has long argued that some sins were more (mortal) or less (venial) severe.<\/p>\n

Certainly, murder is a worse sin than stealing a piece of candy. Abusing a child is a worse sin than flipping off the driver who cut you off in traffic.<\/p>\n

Consider this principle: the more people are affected, the more permanent are the negative consequences, the deeper and broader and more irreparable the broken relationships, the worse the sin.<\/p>\n

Joshua Einsohn:<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Well, some sins are a lot more fun than others!\u00a0 (Rim shot, please!).<\/p>\n

I\u0092m not really one to worry about the afterlife. If there is one, I think everyone pretty much has it wrong. A favorable judgment isn\u0092t going to come from specifically taking, say, Jesus into your heart. Taking love into your heart, sure. But all the exclusionary rules that fall under the category of \u0093sin\u0094 are far too inconsistent to be what actually happens.<\/p>\n

I have to believe that the sin of stealing your stapler from work isn\u0092t going to compete with the sin of hypocrisy. I have to believe that the people who claim to do God\u0092s work by making miserable the lives of those who are different from them aren\u0092t really allowed a free pass when it comes to cleansing their conscience.<\/p>\n

Even within the Ten Commandments, some are quite obviously good guidelines, but some are a little hazy. Don\u0092t kill anyone. Don\u0092t take shit that\u0092s not yours. Don\u0092t lie.\u00a0 Stop checkin\u0092 out your neighbor\u0092s firm butt because you might try to do something about it.<\/p>\n

Solid advice. Telling your buddy that the hideous item of clothing that they\u0092ve fallen in love with looks good on them\u0085well, yes that\u0092s bearing false witness, but it comes from a good place, so that\u0092s gotta be ok, right???<\/p>\n

The whole \u0093sin\u0094 thing seems to be on a sliding scale to me, but I\u0092ve always operated under the idea that all sins are not created equally and that the best we can do is avoid the big ones and try to learn not to commit the smaller ones\u0085often.<\/p>\n

[1]<\/a> Weimar ed. vol. 2, p. 371; Letters I, \u0093Luther\u0092s Works,\u0094 American Ed., Vol 48. p. 281- 282<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Are some sins worse or better than others? (From the book, BANNED QUESTIONS ABOUT THE BIBLE by Chalice Press, edited by Christian Piatt. Order either BANNED QUESTIONS book on the Chalice Press website during the month of March, enter the promotional code \u0093BANNEDMAR\u0094 at checkout and receive a 40% discount.) Nadia Bolz-Weber: It\u0092s important to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[47,42,48,11,19,17,10,37,1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/christianpiatt.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/280"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/christianpiatt.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/christianpiatt.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/christianpiatt.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/christianpiatt.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=280"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/christianpiatt.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/280\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/christianpiatt.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=280"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/christianpiatt.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=280"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/christianpiatt.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=280"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}