Christianity - A Journey from Facts to Fiction — Page 19
Sin and Atonement 19 act sinfully, however much they abhor sin? Sin is made a part and parcel of their mechanism. There is no chance any more for a child of Adam to remain innocent. If sin were a crime, then logic demands that it should be a crime of the Creator and not that of the creation. In that case, what justice could require the punish- ment of the innocent for the crimes of the perpetrator? How different from the Christian understanding of sin and its consequences is the proclamation of the Holy Quran, which says: No one can bear the burden of another… (The Holy Quran 35:19) God requires not of anyone that which is beyond his capacity… (The Holy Quran 2:287) Compared to the Christian concept of Sin and Atonement these declarations of the Holy Quran are pure music to the soul. Let us now turn to the Biblical account of what actually hap- pened at the time of the sin of Adam and Eve and the conse- quences that ensued upon their punishment. According to Genesis, God accepted their apology only partially and an eternal punishment was meted out to them, prescribed as follows: To the woman he said, "I will greatly multiply your pain in childbearing; in pain you shall bring forth children, yet your desire shall be for your husband, and he shall rule over you. "