Well, in a criminal case the judge usually takes it into account if you've got no previous offences and you plead guilty, so there's that.
What gives me the creeps is the parable of the wheat and the tares. You can spend all your life getting away with all kinds of naughty little things and not hear a word about it till you're up before St. Peter, then suddenly it's red-hot pokers up the bum for eternity. People would behave better if they got their bum smacked as soon as they were seen being naughty.