For today’s post we will tackle the question the Skeptic Annotated Bible asked: What must a congregation do if it sins through ignorance?
Here are the two answers which the skeptic believes shows a Bible contradiction:
Kill a young bull.
“‘Now if the entire congregation of Israel does wrong unintentionally and the matter [a]escapes the notice of the assembly, and they commit any of the [b]things which the Lord has commanded not to be done, and they become guilty; 14 when the sin [c]which they have [d]committed becomes known, then the assembly shall offer a [e]bull of the herd as a sin offering and bring it in front of the tent of meeting. 15 Then the elders of the congregation shall lay their hands on the head of the bull before the Lord, and the bull shall be slaughtered before the Lord. 16 Then the anointed priest is to bring some of the blood of the bull to the tent of meeting; 17 and the priest shall dip his finger in the blood and sprinkle it seven times before the Lord, in front of the veil. 18 He shall then put some of the blood on the horns of the altar which is before the Lord [f]in the tent of meeting; and all the rest of the blood he shall pour out at the base of the altar of burnt offering which is at the doorway of the tent of meeting. 19 And he shall remove all its fat from it and offer it up in smoke on the altar. 20 He shall also do with the bull just as he did with the bull of the sin offering; he shall do the same with it. So the priest shall make atonement for them, and they will be forgiven. 21 Then he is to bring the bull out to a place outside the camp and burn it just as he burned the first bull; it is the sin offering for the assembly.” (Leviticus 4:13-21)
Kill a young bull and a young goat.
“then it shall be, if it is done unintentionally, [a]without the knowledge of the congregation, that all the congregation shall offer one bull as a burnt offering, as a soothing aroma to the Lord, with its grain offering and its drink offering, according to the ordinance, and one male goat as a sin offering. 25 Then the priest shall make atonement for all the congregation of the sons of Israel, and they will be forgiven; for it was an unintentional wrong, and they have brought their offering, an offering by fire to the Lord, and their sin offering before the Lord, for their unintentional wrong. 26 So all the congregation of the sons of Israel will be forgiven, as well as the stranger who resides among them, for guilt was attributed to all the people through an unintentional wrong.” (Numbers 15:24-26)
(All Scriptural quotation comes from the New American Standard Bible)
Here’s a closer look at whether or not there is a contradiction:
The Domain for Truth 