A few months ago, one of my colleagues was caught. Not only was he caught watching child pornography, he was also caught distributing it online. He was promptly fired. Although I have only spoken to him once before, I was personally stunned when I found out.
However, I was even more disheartened by how my fellow colleagues -- both Christian and non-Christian -- were so quick to condemn him. One of my peers even said the offender committed one of the worst crimes in existence, as if somehow child pornography was worse than "regular" pornography.
The fact is, though, that we all are sinners. The real difference between the offender and us is that he was caught and called into account by a court of law. While we may not have committed the same crime -- or even the genre of crime -- one day all of us will be called into account in front of God. Have you badmouthed a friend behind his back? Have you stolen -- or illegally downloaded software? Do you honor God on the internet?
No one is righteous (Romans 3:9-20). In fact, CS Lewis in
Mere Christianity quoted (someone that I cannot recall), saying that if every thought and deed of us were made known, we would be called monsters.
For us to be reconciled to God, we must be holy. But we aren't. That's why we need Jesus (Romans 3:21-31). Thank God for Christmas.
How about you? Do you rank sins, as if some are worse than others? Knowing who you are, would you call yourself a monster? Do you think you need Jesus?
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Comments (33)
great, GREAT post. I always become quite uncomfortable when someone condemns someone because the "sinner" does something wrong, then the crowd joins in.
It makes no sense
Thank God for Easter as well!
All sins are equal. Stealing cotton candy is equal to anally raping a 10 year old.
But seriously self righteousness is not just a religious phenomenon it is a human phenomenon.
Rev-life your posts are getting extremely boring and monotonous. If you want to draw more readers a post concerning "hypnosis & Christianity" would do the trick. I would write a clean one for you but you would not be allowed to edit it in any way. Or you could just continue to be boring. Whatever.
@GoshenHypnosis@xanga - If you write it well, they won't have to edit it. They only do minimal editing on most posts.
However, as far as we're concerned, it is not our job to "rank" sins. On our part we have either repented for and turned away from our sins (which are grievous to God), or we are still under the law of sin and death.
There is no point in our trying to 'rank' sins. It's fruitless. We are merely intended to make known the manifold wisdom of God (which is forgiveness and new life in Christ) to all the authorities in heaven and on earth (Ephesians 3).
@MagisterTom@xanga - Couldn't have said it better.
@MagisterTom@xanga - I could write an excellent post that would provoke great questions and great discussion but I would never tolerate my time being insulted with edited by a mental midget elevating him or herself to judge status over my well invested thoughts. I would turn psycho real quick. It would have to be all or nothing.
Child pornography IS worse than standard porn. It inflicts permanent trauma upon the child psychologically, spiritually, emotionally and often physically (as in, the injuries from having sex with an adult require surgery to mend and even then internal damage may be permanent).
@ZombieMom_Speaks@xanga - exactly this is why I don't believe "all sins are equal" that type of talk is just fake pietism designed to impress and show how "spiritual" you are. TALK IS CHEAP!
Apparently my statement on whether all sins are equal was poorly expressed, and I apologise for that. Firstly, the statement was comparing child porngraphy to 'regular' pornography (I hate that phrase). Secondly, my reference on the ranking of sins were based on the lust of the offender's heart, rather than the damage to the victim.
Even as if child porngraphy is somehow a worse lust than pornography/necrophilia/beastiality, it makes no difference, because we are still all sinners. As the Chinese proverb goes, a warrior who retreats 50 steps has not right to laugh at the one who flees 100 steps. (Both warriors still retreated.)
But GoshenHypnosis has a strong point-- in my arrogance, am I pretending to be better than I really am? Talk is cheap indeed. That's why I need Jesus.
I have wondered about this, are some sins worse than others... Luke 12:30? abouts (somewhere near there) says that one who does something not knowing will receive few stripes, and the one who did something knowing receive many stripes. Both receive stripes, but one worse than the other. So does that mean some sins will get more punishment in the end than others? I do know that some things in this life also have more serious consequences and are more repugnant to people, even the law does this say if you kill someone in a unplanned rage gets less time in jail than if you planned to kill and torture someone.
@defensedefumer@xanga - Secondly, my reference on the ranking of sins
were based on the lust of the offender's heart, rather than the damage
to the victim.
Thank you so much for clarifying that. When I first saw your statement I was horrified and I appreciate you going that extra step to explain the context.
I don't think you're being arrogant at all, but I have to admit I am not at all comfortable with the belief that all sins are equal. I place murder without motive far above alcoholism on the scale of 'evil' (for lack of a better word).
Yes. I do rank sins, lol.Maybe because I'm catholic. 1 hail mary is a lot better than 2 our fathers, 3 hail maries,....etc. etc...
@GoshenHypnosis@xanga - well said. I see that the author apologized for her comparison of child porn to "regular" porn, only noting that she didn't mean to overlook the harm to the victim. This is all hogwash.
As humans we are challenged every day. To look at all temptations or sins as someow 'equal' is denying the complexity of the human spirit. Sure, I've been tempted to steal a 60 cent item from a candy store (and done it), but I can think of ten different "sins" that were harder to resist andt are more "sinful" when I give in -- and more Jesus-like, when I don't -- than stealing a lousy peice of candy (like yelling at your mother, when she Just doesn't get it is a good one I think everyone can relate to).
@nyfemme@xanga -
"as if somehow child pornography was worse than "regular" pornography."
What an absolutely absurd thing to write!
@nyfemme@xanga - Yelling at my mom is a sin?! Thinking back on my teen years now. Ouch.
@ZombieMom_Speaks@xanga - yeah...sorry! It's one of those things every kid has to say in the confessional booth! It goes something like, "it's been two weeks since my last confession.....um pause....and I called my sister a jerk, and I yelled and my mom."
heh heh..... These things are really hard to tell to the priest, because the kid alread feels like shit for having done it...But it's all about morality, being a good person, and treating people with dignity and respect in a "jesus-like" way of life. Bottom line, sin doesn't inclue just the "biggies...the ten commandments!" I don't know anything about other brands of christianity, so this is the one I grew up with and was trained to teach the kids in my church when I was a lay teacher preparing children for their first holy communion!
Apparently, my post was misunderstood again. To ZombieMom_Speak, this post was focusing on the offender, rather than the victim. I wasn't overlooking the damage to the child involved in any way, it just wasn't the focus of this post. For instance, I would not accuse an microbiologist for overlooking the proof of gravity in his report of bacteria-- it just isn't the focus of his/her report. While I understand the need to use rhetoric (words like 'overlook' and 'hogwash'), they still need to be applied in context. By the way, I apologised for being misunderstood, not for 'overlooking'.
To others, I never wrote that ALL sins were equal. The question was "do you rank sins?" Just to clarify.
PS: And this post was not a confessional-- if anything, it was a criticism of my peers' reaction to my colleague.
@nyfemme@xanga - I made it as far as first communion then my parents left the church, that's probably why I didn't know. I sort of thought you were joking.
child pornography is WAY worse than regular porn.
I lied to two very good friends and staged a trip i shouldnt have, Ive looked at disgusting things on the internet more than I can count. I am a horrible monster. But thank you Jesus all of our sins are and have been counted for! I think Christmas is the first movie to an amazing sequel (easter being the best christmas being the amazing cause...)
@thekingofnonomia@xanga - See, as much as the church likes to say morality isn't relative, it seems to be quite ready to say that one sin is just as sinful as any other.
Or put it this way. One of your friends gets caught watching a video of a man and a woman having consentual sex (or any other combination of adults). Your second friend gets caught watching child porn. Which of your friends would you rather watch your children?
One person DID something wrong ... that's the difference. Thoughts are thoughts, whatever ... actions are actions. Being a jerk isn't illegal. Is it even condemnable?
"You're going to hell because you're just not very nice, and kind of a jerk." I don't think that was one of your rules.
When you draw lines/create laws, people fall on either side, and that's just that.
i do rank sins because i would rather be the person who told a white lie than the person who took someones body, someones beautiful child, and depreciated it to thousands on the internet. im not a monster, but im no saint but do the best i can
also concerning child pornography to regular pornography.. both arent great as in shouldnt be happening and are detrimental to the people involved. but adults HAVE THE CHOICE. those children. do not