Is There Such a Thing As a Sin That Does Not Hurt Anyone?
When Adam sinned, sin entered the world. Adam’s sin brought death, so death spread to everyone, for everyone sinned (Rom 5:12-13 NLT).
No sin is private. It may be secret but it is not private.
It is a great error to hold, as some do, that each man’s conduct is his own business unless his acts infringe on the rights of others. “My liberty ends where yours begins” is true, but that is not all the truth. No one ever has the right to commit an evil act, no matter how secret. God wills that men should be free, but not that they be free to commit sin.
Sin is three-dimensional and has consequences in three directions: toward God, toward self and toward society. It alienates from God, degrades self and injures others. Adam’s is the classic example of a secret sin that overflowed to the injury of all mankind. History provides examples of persons so placed that their sins had wide and injurious effect upon their generation.
A. W. Tozer, The Size of the Soul (Harrisburg, PA: Christian Publications, 1992), 74.