Ignorance is No Excuse for Sin
I am afraid that many people, even believers, have a misconception about sin. It seems that many of us think we will only be guilty of committing a sin, if we willfully and knowingly violate one of God's laws. That is not the case at all. We commit sin any time we break one of God's commands, whether we realize what we are doing is wrong or not. Why would God do that to us? He wants us know Him and His Word so well that we will know whether something would be wrong in His eyes or not. He wants us to take great care in our actions, thoughts, and words, so that we do not do things and say things without considering the consequences. Moses makes this very clear. (Leviticus 5:17) He told the people to suppose they sinned by violating one of God's commands. He told them that even if they were unaware of what they had done wrong, they were still guilty, and they would be punished for their sin. Sounds pretty clear to me, doesn't it to you?
The Lord's commands are not restricting us from doing things that are good for us. God's commands are for our good. Each command of God was given by our Creator and our Loving Father, so that we would not do things that would hurt us in any way. He gave us His Word, the Bible, to make these things clear to us, and even on the things that the Bible does not directly address, He speaks to our hearts by the Holy Spirit, so we are guided away from sins that will harm us. The key is that we have to see the damage sin causes us and our world. We are to decide to hate sin and love righteousness. Our goal needs to be to know and do God's will, not our own will. However, when we mess up, and we sin. Yes, we are guilty, even when we are unaware of what we have done, but there is a path to forgiveness thanks to Jesus. He paid for all of our sins on the cross. When we trust Him as Lord and Savior, He forgives all our sins. Then, after we are His child, if we sin, we can confess that sin to Him, and our relationship is restored, good as new. God knows we are not perfect, but He also knows the consequences of sin. Let's be diligent to avoid the path that leads to sin by trusting in Him and following His guidance. Our lives will be much better then.
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Tomorrow, I intend to read Leviticus 6-8.