Sunday Thoughts: Shifting the Blame for Sin

Anyone who has handled children is aware of what blame-shifting is like. Kids are experts at passing the blame, from the mess-making to the” He started it” /” She started it” sibling rivalries.

Individuals can also be effective at shifting responsible for our sins. It’s anything we see throughout the Bible. Reflect on the first evil:

The dragon was now more skilled than any other industry beast that the Lord God had created. &nbsp,

He said to the person,” Did God really say,’ You may not take of any tree in the garden'”? The woman then told the serpent,” We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden, but God said,” You shall not eat of the fruit that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.” However, the serpent said to the woman,” You will not undoubtedly die. God knows that when you eat it, your vision will open, and you will come to know both good and evil. But the woman took some of the berry and ate it when she saw that the tree was good for eating and that it was a pleasure to the eye and that one was going to make one intelligent. She also gave some to her spouse who was with her, and he ate. Therefore both’s eyes opened, and they both knew they were unclothed. And they gathered sarong by sewing fig leaf together. &nbsp,

In the cool of the day, the man and his wife hid themselves among the trees in the yard from the Lord God’s existence. However, the Lord God called the man and said,” Where are you” to him. And he said,” I heard the sound of you in the backyard, and I was frightened, because I was dressed, and I hid myself”. He said,” Who told you that you were naked? Have you consumed any of the trees commanded to you not to consume? The man said,” The person whom you gave to be with me, she gave me fruit of the tree, and I ate”. The woman was then asked,” What is this that you have done?” by the Lord God. The woman said,” The serpent deceived me, and I ate”.

Genesis 3: 1-13 ( ESV, emphasis added )

Both Eve and Adam neither desired to accept accountability for their transgressions. A few hundred years afterward, when the Israelites grew weary of waiting for Moses to descend Mt. Sinai with God’s laws. &nbsp,

Associated: &nbsp, Sunday Thoughts: Charles Octavius Boothe on Forgiveness

The folks asked Moses ‘ brother, the great preacher Aaron, to create an hero for them, and he made a beautiful baby from their gold bracelets and made a golden leg from it for them to worship. Aaron didn’t cease this crime, even though he was concerned for the individuals in Moses ‘ absence. Moses was instructed by God to return down the mountain to confront the worship.

What did these people do to you that you have caused such a terrible crime upon them, Moses asked Aaron? Aaron responded,” Let not my lord’s anger lose warm.” You know the people, that they are set on sin. They reportedly said to me,” Create us goddesses who shall come before us.” We do not know what has happened to Moses, the man who brought us out of Egypt. So I said to them,’ Allow any who have silver take it off.’ So they gave it to me, and I threw it into the flames, and up came this calf”.

Exodus 32: 21-24 ( ESV, emphasis added )

We see this pattern another day in Israel’s record when Saul, the world’s first king, defied God’s prompt to utterly destroy an army, an action that ended up becoming his death. &nbsp,

And Saul wiped out the Amalekites as far as Shur, which is south of Egypt, from Havilah. And he sacrificed the life of Agag, the Amalekites ‘ king, and used the sharpest of his sword to annihilate everyone who came near the city. However, Saul and the people kept Agag and the best of the sheep, the fattened calf, the animals, and the cows, and all that was nice and would not completely eliminate them. All that was disliked and useless was dedicated to destroying.

1 Samuel 15: 7-9 ( ESV )

The prince took the brunt of Saul’s punishment when the prophet and priest Samuel rebuked him.

And Samuel came to Saul, and Saul said to him,” Blessed get you to the Lord. I have carried out the Lord’s rule. What then is this lowing of the animal in my ear and the lowing of the cattle that I hear, Samuel said? The persons spared the best of the animal and cows to surrender to the Lord your God, according to Saul,” and we have dedicated the rest to devastation. They have brought them from the Amalekites.”

[…]

]And Samuel said, ]” Why therefore did you not follow the voice of the Lord? Why did you grab hold of the prize and carry out evil deeds in the Lord’s vision? And Saul said to Samuel,” I have obeyed the tone of the Lord. The Lord sent me on a quest, and I accomplished it. I have brought Agag the prince of Amalek, and I have devoted the Amalekites to death. But the persons took of the ruin, sheep and cattle, the best of the items devoted to death, to surrender to the Lord your God in Gilgal”.

1 Samuel 15: 13-15, 19-21 ( ESV, emphasis added )

In his excellent text” Leadership and Emotional Sabotage: Resisting the Anxiety That Does Wreck Your Family, Destroy Your Church, and Ruin the World,” I just read Joe Rigney’s excellent book, which uses these three bible counts as examples of men who handed the responsibility for their crimes. When we refuse to take accountability for our mistakes and shortcomings, we not merely abandon our duty, but we lie because well. Otherwise, we should disclose our transgressions.

Associated: &nbsp, Sunday Thoughts: Punching Up at Desire

In his first text, the Apostle John stated in this manner:

We have heard this message from him, which is to say,” God is light, and there is no darkness in him.” We lie and do not live the fact if we claim to have fellowship with him while we walk in the dark. However, if we walk in the light, as he does, we can fellowship with one another, and Jesus ‘ blood purifies us from sin. If we say we have no crime, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is never in us. He is honest and just to forgive us our sins and purge us from all sin if we confess our sins. If we say we have no sinned, we make him a hypocrite, and his word is not in us.

1 John 1: 5-10 ( ESV )

Perhaps we confess our sins so that we can experience freedom after we have them off our neck instead of passing the blame and shifting blame for them. &nbsp,

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