all sins the same?

The other day I was listening with my wife to a sermon by James MacDonald on what the Bible says about capital punishment. One thing you hear all the time in Christian circles is "all sin is the same to God." We often read this way of thinking into the bible because of what we know to be true of salvation. All sin is the same in that any sin...any one sin...separates from fellowship with God. However, from a non-salvific perspective - all sins are not equal, "biblically or otherwise," in terms of the penalty they incur. The higher the sin the higher the debt.