Carol McClain

What Sin’s the Worst?

By: Carol McClain      carol_mcclain

What sin is the worst?

Before I got saved, a pastor told be because I was divorced, I could never marry again. It didn’t matter that I was unsaved and then redeemed. It didn’t matter that my ex cheated on me several times, and I had Biblical justification.

Shortly after I gave my life to Christ, a good friend with a call for pastoring on his life was told he could not minister because of his prior divorce from a cheating wife—a divorce he did not institute, and a situation that led him to salvation. Had he murdered his wife, gone to jail and been released, would this denomination allow him to pastor?

Today, divorce still alienates members in good standing in many denominations even when Biblical justifications allow for it. Fortunately, the stigma lessened.

However, the above examples force me to think of some bone fide Christian churches and their rules about sin and appropriate behavior. We set our own defitions for sin and refuse mercy. Here’s a short list.

• Only one version of the Bible is lawful.
• Women can’t wear slacks or cut their hair, but men can wear shorts and have stylish dos.
• Guitars and rock music are sinful.
• Absolutely no drinking is allowed.
• Healing should come solely from prayer and not medication. At the very least, no pyschiatric medication.
• It’s better to be abused by your spouse than to divorce your partner, especially if said partner has not committed adultery.
• Extra-marital, heterosexual affairs are pardonable but faithful homosexual marriages are not.

In today’s churches, divorce and homosexuality still rank at the top of the list as unpardonable sins. Abuse and neglect are pardonable.

However, all sin separates us from God. He forgives us when we repent. Our sins are then cast into the sea  (Micah 7: 18-19). And the only sin that cannot be forgiven is the refusal to ask for pardon.

There is no hierarchy in sin. Whether we lie or we murder, both separate us from God. He will forgive all if we repent.

Or maybe I lied in saying no sin is worse than any other.

Judgment.

1 You, therefore, have no excuse, you who pass judgment on someone else, for at whatever point you judge another, you are condemning yourself, because you who pass judgment do the same things. 2 Now we know that God’s judgment against those who do such things is based on truth. 3 So when you, a mere human being, pass judgment on them and yet do the same things, do you think you will escape God’s judgment? (Rom. 2: 1-3).