re: #2 What, me worry?

I’m not a Christian, but #1 always bothered me a great deal. Definitely for what was described, but also, there is no sin until one commits the sin so I’ve never understood the separation of the two. Adultery doesn’t exist for me unless I cheat. Stealing isn’t something I do, unless, of course, I just did it. So how can “The Sin” be separate and apart from “The Sinner?” To me, you’re absolving someone for their misdeeds without them sincerely apologizing or paying any kind of penance for it.

No great trick, once you separate ‘sin’ as a concept from ‘sin’ as an event. In the same way transmuting lead into gold was a crime in English law, although no one ever committed it.