James 1:14-15 (NIV)

It would be new to me, as a Bible reader, that sin is defined before God, that it’s hurting others.
No, sins hurt you because they separate you from God. As a sinner, you are not with God. As a sinner, you are a slave to sinful behavior and don’t enjoy the glorious freedom in God’s light. “For in my inner being I delight in God’s law; but I see another law at work in me, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within me. What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death?” (Paul in Romans 7:22-24; NIV)

Homosexuals wrote to me that practicing homosexuality is not a sin because it’s mutual consent. Female homosexuals wrote to me that their homosexuality was not a sin, because female homosexuality was permeated by love.

There are no small or big sins

And then all the religious hypocrites, who justify their sins, because they are only “small” sins, saying that God would overlook them. Really? My Bible says something different. Namely, that there are no small or big sins, but that every sin is an affront to our relationship with God.

Biblical truth is that God cannot leave a single sin unpunished because He is the perfect justice (ask your ancestors Adam and Eve, 1 sin = expulsion from God’s presence).

Or remember the helpful warning from Jesus: “But I say, if you are even angry with someone, you are subject to judgment!” (Jesus in Matthew 5:22; NLT)

As a sinner, a person can justify their sins or pretend they’re not there. That may help in the short term, but in the end the hellishly hot consequence waits in the God-absence of hell.

Or, as a sinner, a person can turn to Jesus in faith and accept His sacrifice so that all sins of past, present and future are forgiven.