I've done a lot of door-to-door evangelism. One question we asked was, "If you were to die tonight, would God let you into heaven?"
The answers almost always included some kind of "measurement" of sin..."I would go to heaven, I mean, I've never murdered anyone or anything." or "I'm a good person, I treat people well. I don't steal or lie or cheat."
The idea is that Stalin, Hitler, Pol Pot...all deserving of hell. Me, hey, I'm not so bad.
According to Moses and the Prophets, we are that bad. Moses' law included all kinds of picky-ante little things...not blending certain fabrics together, no dairy served with meat, and yes, heaven did indeed forbade eating shrimp. The Prophets came along to say that there are none that are righteous and that all our righteousness is but filthy rags.
If anyone wants to quibble and say that Jesus and the New Testament "does away" with all of this, keep in mind that Jesus upped the ante to define adultery as even thinking about another woman lustfully and Paul said that if one violateed even the smallest part of the Law, one was guilty of the whole.
This is why it is easy to fall into the idea that there is no measurement of sin...that all sin is equal and that little kid who swiped the candy bar will be toasting right along with Hitler.
The problem with this line of thought is that it fails to take into consideration why Jesus and Paul seemed to be such sticklers for the Law, while at the same time breaking off heads of grain on the Sabbath Day (gathering food was a violation) or telling folks "All things are Lawful."
In the story of the rich man and Lazarus, the rich man is convinced that if he were able to come back from the dead, his brothers would then believe and shape up (behave better, not "sin" so greatly). The response was, "They have Moses and the Prophets...if they don't listen to Moses and the Prophets, neither will they listen if someone comes back from the dead."
(Jesus came back from the dead and they still aren't listening.)
The key is...to understand Moses and the Prophets, one needs the Holy Spirit. If one hasn't the Holy Spirit one will never be able to understand, confess and repent of one's sin. Notice I say "sin" and not "sins". Our sin is our inherent rebellion towards God...that thing inside of us that says..."OK, God has His perfect standard...but I'm going to do this because I say that it's not that big of a deal and God will just have to suck it up and deal with it."
That is our sin...that is what will keep us from heaven. Not a stolen candy bar, or saying "No honey, that dress doesn't make you look fat at all"... or giving the one-finger salute to someone who doesn't get into the right lane in a passing lane, even when they're going 10 miles under the speed limit.
It takes the Holy Spirit...the same One who inspired Moses and the Prophets and Paul and the Apostles...to soften our hearts to acknowledge that rebelliousness towards God.
Once that happens and we confess and repent of our sin, then we are saved. If it doesn't, then we are damned because then when our deeds that we have done are examined, our rebelliousness will be glaringly apparent at the great Judgment.
All sins are not at all equal. There is nothing to compare between a kid swiping a candy bar, a woman who trolls bars for someone to take her home and Pol Pot's killing fields. Yes, all are unrighteousness...but not all these things will lead to death.
Also, all are forgivable...even Pol Pot could have received forgiveness, had he sought it.
But, none of these things are what ultimately causes death. What ultimately causes one's death is the rejection of the Holy Spirit...that blasphemy that causes one to attribute to demons or whatever else the work of the Spirit that is shining light in our heart to expose our rebellion towards God.
That's what's gonna condemn one.