Is Breaking The Law Considered A Sin?

[Gregorius]

As far as I understand, unjust or immoral laws are not to be obeyed, and law that coincides with natural law is of course to be obeyed. Is breaking a law that is technically morally "neutral" a sin?

The example off the top of my head is underage drinking. Legal drinking age is arbitrarily set from country to country. Regardless of what drinking age is for a given country, would it be immoral to offer alcohol to someone legally underage, even if it is a small amount and no intention of doing anything immoral. Or would it be wrong for someone underage to accept small amounts of alcohol from say family or friends with neither party intending to get intoxicated? Or is quantity irrelevant in this matter?

[CatherineM]

Quantity when it comes to alcohol always counts. There is a big difference between giving a teenager a glass of champagne at a wedding reception and letting your middle-schooler have a beer bash. When people talk about breaking laws, it is usually about speeding or drinking. There is also a big difference between speeding on an empty rural highway, and in rush hour traffic with 2 kids in car seats in the back.

The other side of the equation is, why not just obey the law? If we aren't dealing with an immoral law, why not just follow it? It won't kill a teenager to wait until they are 18 or 21 in order to drink. It won't kill us to drive the speed limit. Humans are great rationalizers. We can often think of dozens of reasons why a rule isn't fair, or shouldn't apply to us. That goes for sin too. We are very talented at trying to figure out what we can get away with. Either that, or we try to make everything we do into a sin. The key is moderation, looking at things rationally and realistically, and to properly form our consciences so that we aren't scrupulous or have blinders on.