A neat story I found.
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/sunday/commentary/la-op-prager14aug14,0,4727027.story?coll=la-sunday-commentary


So to discern what the greatest sin is, we begin with it having to do with evil actions. But that is not the end of it. Even among identical acts of evil, there is one category that is worse than any other: evil committed in God's name.

There are both logical and textual bases for this argument.

The logical argument: The Judeo-Christian position is that evil cannot be vanquished unless people believe that the creator has a moral will, makes moral demands upon all humans and morally judges each human being. Without a God-based moral code, morality becomes a euphemism for personal preferences and humanity sinks into moral anarchy.

Therefore, anyone who attaches the name of God to evil is not only committing an act of evil, he is subverting the only hope for spreading goodness on Earth — belief in a good God who demands goodness. If there is moral anarchy when God is removed from morality, imagine what ensues when God is identified with evil.

The textual argument: Only one of the Ten Commandments says that God will not forgive — usually translated as "will not hold guiltless" — one who violates the commandment: "Do not take the name of the Lord, thy God, in vain, for he will not hold guiltless whoever takes his name in vain."

This is almost always understood as meaning, "Do not say God's name when unnecessary" (such as, "God, that was some home run"). But this is most unlikely. The idea that God can forgive murder, for instance, but cannot forgive saying his name for no good reason is morally untenable. The literal Hebrew — "Do not carry God's name in vain" — gives a much more reasonable understanding. It strongly implies that the great sin here is one who carries God's name, i.e., talks and acts religious, but acts contrary to God's will.

This understanding is further reinforced by Judaism, which has always held that the greatest sin is "desecration of the Name" (khillul Hashem), which means doing bad things while acting religious.

For these reasons, every person who believes in God and every God-based religion is hurt by the epidemic of Muslims murdering in the name of God. It reinforces every anti-religious stereotype and thus further alienates people from taking seriously any God-based religion. Bad religious people are far more destructive to the cause of religion than are atheists.

Apparently fear or ethnic and religious solidarity prevents many religious Muslim leaders from confronting the damage Muslim terrorists are doing to Islam's name, Allah's name and God-based morality generally. But for those of us who take God and goodness seriously, the world is witnessing the greatest sin on a scale unknown since the early Middle Ages.

If Jews, Christians and Muslims cannot say this publicly, we who are religious deserve the contempt the secular world already has for us.

8/15/2005 12:10:38 PM

technically, he doesnt

God sees all sins as the same.

sry kenny rogers

8/15/2005 12:12:02 PM

yeah. no degree of sin.

black or white.

8/15/2005 12:24:34 PM

yeppppp
God and the sith deal in absolutes

but its an interesting opinion

8/15/2005 12:34:39 PM

well yea

god, the sith, george lucas, and the bush administration, oh, and the left, and the right, and woodfoot, and axlbonbach

8/15/2005 12:46:12 PM

Quote :

"God sees all sins as the same."

considering the statement "Do not take the name of the Lord, thy God, in vain, for he will not hold guiltless whoever takes his name in vain."

If it is going out of its way to say God cannot forgive this sin, does it not imply that the other 9 commandment sins can be forgiven? As such, does this not imply that not all sins are equal? Maybe murder and theft are comparable, because through absolution you can be forgiven for all of them, but not the name in vain thing. As such, it seems reasonable to believe that this sin is special, if only because it is exempt from forgiveness.

8/15/2005 2:22:03 PM

Quote :

"Apparently fear or ethnic and religious solidarity prevents many religious Muslim leaders from confronting the damage Muslim terrorists are doing to Islam's name"

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4775588

Quote :

"Muslim scholars from the United States and Canada have issued a "fatwa" against terrorism. While many American Muslim groups have repeatedly condemned acts of religious extremism, the new edict carries the weight of an official judicial ruling."

8/15/2005 3:03:27 PM

It might be worth becoming muslim just so you can declare fatwas and jihads on people.

8/15/2005 3:10:59 PM

Good little article, but it doesn't really say anything new or surprising.

Religious extremists make their religion look bad.

8/15/2005 3:16:33 PM

Quote :

"Religious extremists make their religion humanity look bad."

8/15/2005 3:30:23 PM

no, they make their religion look bad to the vast majority of society.

you wish they didn't, but they do. sorry.

8/15/2005 3:36:27 PM

Quote :

"god, the sith, george lucas, and the bush administration, oh, and the left, and the right, and woodfoot, and axlbonbach"

don't forget grapehead!

8/15/2005 3:44:59 PM

8/15/2005 3:49:28 PM

Quote :

"Muslim scholars from the United States and Canada have issued a "fatwa" against terrorism."

soooo. muslims who don't really count to the muslims we need to get through to say terrorism is bad. got it.

8/15/2005 5:19:58 PM

you know what really makes religion look bad

the fact that it's a bunch of insane supernatural bullshit

and that such rigorous delusions could persist in an age we thought marked by reason

8/15/2005 6:01:06 PM

8/15/2005 6:24:07 PM

Quote :

"considering the statement "Do not take the name of the Lord, thy God, in vain, for he will not hold guiltless whoever takes his name in vain." If it is going out of its way to say God cannot forgive this sin"

simple reading comprehension.

does

"not hold guiltless"

=

"cannot forgive"

bc to me it reads that you gotta answer for it. that you will be held responsible. that you will not be held guiltless. i see nowhere that says "this is unforgivable, go straight to hell, do not pass go, do not collect $200"

8/16/2005 8:47:25 AM

So, if this sin is not special, why was it singled out for mention? Because, as far as I know, you can be held guiltless for all other sins, all you have to do is repent. "Shall not be held guiltness" is an absolute, implying "under any circumstances".

[Edited on August 16, 2005 at 9:15 AM. Reason : .]

8/16/2005 9:14:18 AM

because it is considered more important. but still, no more sinful.

cant think of an analogy, but i see it as adding insult to injury, in God's eyes.

8/16/2005 10:08:56 AM

that's great how you can see with god's eyes

8/16/2005 10:11:17 AM

can you see through walls?

8/16/2005 10:12:41 AM

if the lord is on our side how can we not win?

8/16/2005 10:56:19 AM

Gott mit uns.

8/16/2005 11:53:59 AM