I like It When...

I like it when I can help someone understand biblical principals. On June 8th, Jim freeman left a comment (on the April tag post of all things! I couldn't figure out just what in the world he was responding to from the haloscan comment site). I sometimes grow weary reading comments about Scripture from people who obviously don't understand it and yet try to score imaginary points on things outside their ken.

"The first crime was eating the forbidden fruit. How could anybody have killed anybody else later if they hadn't eaten of the forbidden fruit that was forbidden on them to have eaten. That means no eating of the fruit and they ate of it so that was a crime which just led to more killings. So to straighten you out because you ain't straight enough, get your shit together and learn how to read.
Jim Freeman 06.08.06 - 12:20 pm"

Offenses against God are sins.
Offenses against society are crimes.
Not all crimes are sins and not all sins are crimes.

There was no society at the time of the First Sin, therefore there could have been no crime.
By the time that Cain slew Abel, there was organized religion (they were to bring sacrifices before God) and we can infer that there probably were other people... a society of sorts. A small tribal society peradventure, but nonetheless a society.

Murder, rape, robbery, assault and theft are both a sin and a crime.

For Mr. Freeman's sake I'll make this even simpler.

If Congress passes a law making it a felony to read the Bible, bible reading is now a crime, but it is not a sin.

Homosexuality is a sin, but it is not a crime.

I read just fine thank you.