Not My Fault

When someone fails at a task, a bad choice is made or a crime has been committed, whose fault is it? The most natural answer is "not mine."  When we do wrong our defense is most often, "It's no my fault."  Our parents didn't show us enough love, our teachers didn't take enough interest in us, our employer isn't sensitive enough, the rules are too restrictive, the police are too reactive, the moon was too full, the planets just weren't lined up properly - whatever, whoever, just not me.

I didn't know better, I couldn't help myself, no one told me, there was not enough warning...  People are still suing tobacco companies after decades of warnings from every corner.  I smoked, I developed lung cancer but it was not my fault.  It was my choice but it was someone else's fault.

This is not a new trend, although I think modern America has taken  blaming others to a new level, evidenced by the litigious landscape in which we live, where someone can be sued by anyone for any reason.  I'll never forget the California case where a thief broke into a house and exited through the door to the garage.  The door he came out of locked behind him and the garage door itself would not open.  He was stuck and the family was away for the week.  He survived on dog food and warm sodas.  When he got out, he sued the family and won becasue their door was not functioning.  It was his choice, his crime but not his fault.

The "not my fault" blame game was born before the birth of nationss.  It goes back to the very beginnings of mankind.  Adam and Eve were given one command, "You must not eat from the tree that is in the middle of the garden..." (Gen 3:3).  The serpent said, "no so," the woman "ate and gave some to her husband" and "he ate it" (Gen 3:4-6).  When the Lord confronted them about their sin, the man said, "the woman you put here with me - she gave me some fruit" (v. 12) and the woman said, "the serpent deceived me" (v. 13).  It was both of their choices but neither of their fault.

God did punish the serpent for his deception, but he also punished Adam and Eve for their choice to do wrong.  No matter what the serpentt said, Eve knew what God had said.  Regardless of the fact Eve offered it to Adam, God denied it to him.  They both were entticed but they both were responsible for their choice, it was their fault, it was their sin.

Regardless of how we were raised or what we have gone through, we always have a choice and a responsibility for our own actions.  God may judge someone for enciting another to sin but he does not excuse the one who chooses to sin because another bore some culpibility.  It is your life, your choice and your responsibilty.  Jus' Sayn.