Carol's Page

Leviticus deals with many things that seem to be taboo for sermons and even for Sunday School classes.  Dealing with moral and ethical issues, sexual sin, and holy sacrifices that our modern sensibilities consider cruel and unacceptable, seems to be less appealing than telling the heroic stories in Hebrew history.   One of the uncomfortable things that both Leviticus and Numbers deal with is the fact that  the sins or errors committed unintentionally, unwittingly, or in ignorance (depending on your translation) carry with them guilt and the need for forgiveness just as  sins committed overtly.  Individuals and congregations are held responsible for errors they commit out of ignorance of the truth.  This is part of the reality of a just God that most of us would rather not include in our image of a loving God.   So if the Hebrew people were held responsible for sins they did not know they had committed and for committing sins that they did not know were sins what was the solution to this dilemma for those anxious to please God?