If there is one outstanding trait of the new administration it is the ability to criticize others and place the blame for anything and everything on someone else. We now have a national role model for the children’s game of “it’s not my fault” and its alternate version “he did it first”. My brothers played out the two pastimes most of their lives. Because there were four of them there was always someone to blame for their actions. And I have to admit that I sometimes played as well. I “went along” with the plans of one or more of my brothers just to avoid conflict. If my complicity resulted in less than desirable consequences I usually told Dad, “Well, it wasn’t my idea!” It seems that most of the nation is now playing the game.
Some members of Congress say that much of what we need and desire can’t be accomplished because someone in the last administration or the one before that or the one that first met “screwed up” and now we can’t undo what they did. Others tell us that changes can’t be made because we don’t have enough money, even though they are quite willing to create more debt when funding their favorite projects. But of course the best excuse for not creating new laws and for not serving as the “voice of the people” in Washington, D.C. is that they simply can’t agree on what should be done or how it should be done or who should do it. And of course the problem is always the “other” political party.
Every recent crisis in our country seems to focus who is to blame. Certainly we need to know who to charge with a crime. We need to hold people accountable for mistakes. We need to know “what went wrong”. However, the purpose of those inquiries should be to learn from the mistakes, and to make changes to prevent them from being repeated. We can’t just punish the person who made the mistakes and then return to the status quo. Ultimately we are all responsible for any tragedy that results from our failure to learn from the tragedies of the past.
The Bible is filled with stories of violence and human failings. Paul speaks in Romans of our inability to align our actions with our intentions. “For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do.” We like to prioritize sin and we prefer to think that our own are not as depraved as the sins of others. But isn’t the taking of one life still murder? Isn’t stealing a dollar the same as stealing a hundred of them? Doesn’t refusing to help our neighbor go against God’s command to treat others as we want to be treated? The essence of sin is the act of saying “no” to what is right and good and expected of us.
Thankfully the word of God is also filled with stories of repentance and redemption. However, we must understand that repentance begins with admitting to our faults and taking responsibility for our actions…not just placing the blame on someone else.
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