I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on  Leviticus 5-7.

I am not sure where I am going to go with today’s blog.  I want to start with this: it is a sin to not come forward with what you know about a crime, whether your knowledge points to who committed the crime, or whether it indicates that a particular suspect is not guilty.   While this passage only addresses crimes which the authorities know about and are seeking those with knowledge about what happened, I am convinced it also applies to crimes of which the authorities are not yet aware.

Next I want to spend a little time looking at the idea of unintentional sin.  This passage makes it clear that sin is still sin even if you did not intend to do it.  So, while your intentions matter, what matters more is what you actually do, and its results.  Even if you did not intend to do harm, when you have done harm you must seek to make it right.  This is a complex issue.  Doing wrong is still wrong even if you did not know it was wrong when you did it.  However, the passage also makes clear that intentionally doing wrong is much worse than unintentionally doing wrong. Further, the passage tells us that the one who decides that they had sinned is the person who unintentionally committed the sin.  This highlights the fact that any system of laws only works when the overwhelming majority of those to whom the laws apply intend to do what is right.  No set of laws will work in a society where the only arbiter of right or wrong is whether or not you get caught.