THE BLAME GAME
INTRODUCTION: We’re good at being blame-shifters. We blame fast food restaurants for making us fat. We blame tobacco companies for giving us cancer. We blame the church for our lack of spiritual growth. We blame God for the results of our poor choices. But the question is: do we consider ourselves better off because of playing the blame game? Let’s see what playing the blame game really accomplishes for us?
1) We play the blame game with others.
• Let’s play the "Blame Game": You are driving 75 mph in a 55 mph zone. You are pulled over and given a ticket that gives you enough points to have your license suspended. Who is to blame? Not you. It’s the officer’s fault; he should have been a little more sympathetic to your situation. You pull through McDonald’s for some hot, yes hot coffee. While trying to drive your car and eat your Egg McMuffin, you spill your hot coffee all over yourself. Who is to blame? Not you. It’s McDonald’s fault for making that coffee too hot! How about this one: a man decided to try a stunt that required him to swallow razor blades. He ended up at the hospital for emergency care and a huge bill. He took responsibility right? Guess again. He ended up suing the hospital for subjecting him to harmful radiation during x-rays. Unfortunately we live in a society where it’s not only acceptable, but also profitable to shift the blame. But does this mean it’s acceptable and profitable in God’s eyes? It’s hard for us to accept blame. It’s a defense mechanism to keep us from having to deal honestly with our mistakes. We see it in sports. Athletes blame their poor performance on anything and everything. It was my equipment, it was my teammate, it was the field, etc. We see it in politics where they play ‘pass the buck’. We find the blame game being played just about everywhere; including the bible.
• Gen. 3:12&13. The blame game started being played right after the fall of mankind. (set up situation leading to verses). (Talk about their blame shifting). One thing I took away from this example is you don’t have to lie to play the blame game. Adam and Eve responded truthfully to God. Eve had given Adam the fruit and the serpent had deceived Eve. So, being that what they said was true, don’t they have valid excuses? Adam, “Don’t blame me, I didn’t take the fruit from the tree; she gave me some fruit and I ate it. I wouldn’t have eaten it if it hadn’t been for that woman.” Eve, “Don’t blame me. I was tricked into eating it. I wouldn’t have eaten it if it hadn’t been for that serpent.” So how can they be held responsible? A) They knew the rules (2:16&17, 3:17). B) They had a choice. Since they knew the rule and the consequence for breaking that rule, they were given fair warning and therefore, left without excuse. The serpent played a role in Eve eating the fruit and Eve played a role in Adam eating the fruit but ultimately, the choice was each of theirs. They didn’t have to give in. They were perfect. They had all the power necessary to resist temptation. They were given incentive to stay away. Spiritual death should’ve been a good incentive to stay away from something. Besides, they had access to everything else. They just had to stay away from one tree. Adam and Eve had a choice-obey God or disobey God. And they chose to disobey Him. If we’re in Christ, we have the ability to choose right or wrong. We can do wrong and say we had no choice but that’s not true. 1st Corinthians 10:13 says that God will not allow us to be tempted beyond what we can bear. But when we are tempted he will provide a way out.
• Let’s look at another biblical example of someone who played the blame game. Exodus 32:1-8, 19-24. Aaron’s like, “Hey, these people wanted a god. You know how they are; what was I supposed to do? You were gone, up on that mountain all this time; don’t blame me. In fact, blame the furnace because all I did was throw the gold in there and out came this calf.” We will go to great lengths to try to shift the blame. We concoct elaborate stories to keep from owning up to our wrongdoing. Then, when the heat is on we need to come up with new lies to collaborate with the old lies. What a tangled web we weave when our desire is to deceive.
• Another way the blame game is played is when we get caught at something, and our first response is, “Who told?” Instead of accepting responsibility, we want to know who blew the whistle. As if to say, ‘If it wasn’t for them telling on me, I wouldn’t be in this mess.’ No, if it weren’t for our actions, we wouldn’t be in this mess. We need to stop blaming the one who did the right thing when we do the wrong thing.
• Ezekiel 18:1-4. We have this tendency to blame our parents for all our defects of character. And don’t get me wrong; parents are responsible for raising their children the correct way. And many of the traits we produce are learned behaviors we saw displayed through our parents’ actions. But, there comes a time when we have to stop blaming them and start accepting responsibility. Many of us suffer from the victim mentality. Our society tells us that we don’t have to take responsibility for our actions. We can blame someone else. The onset of Freudian psychology began to permeate our culture with the idea that every wrong action you take can be blamed on things that happened to you in your early childhood. You don’t have to accept any responsibility; you are the victim. We continue to sin and blame it on what happened to us years ago. I can’t go back to church because I was hurt there before. I can’t shake this habit because it’s been going on for so long. I can’t stop feeling sorry for myself because everybody else is against me. Although there are no doubt things that happened to us in the past that were beyond our control, where someone else was to blame, that doesn’t give us a license to make poor choices today.
2) We play the blame game with God.
• (Back to Adam and Eve). We can see from their blaming that in essence they were blaming God for what happened. Gen. 3:12, “The woman you put here with me…” Adam was basically saying, “Don’t blame me; you’re the one who put this woman here. If you hadn’t done that, I wouldn’t be in this mess right now.” Eve said in verse 13, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.” When I read that, a question popped in my mind: is she subtly blaming God for allowing the serpent to tempt her? I could picture Eve saying, “Don’t blame me; if you hadn’t allowed this nasty serpent to be here, I wouldn’t be in this mess right now.” And, although it doesn’t report them doing this, can you see Adam and Eve blaming God for their sin because, after all, he was the one who put the tree there in the first place. “Don’t blame us. If you hadn’t put that stupid tree right in the middle of the garden like that, we wouldn’t be in this mess.” They have valid arguments before God right? Remove the tree, no problems, remove the serpent, no problems, remove the woman, no problems. James 1:13-16. It’s not God’s fault, other’s fault, or even Satan’s fault. It’s my evil desire that allows me to be dragged away and enticed. It’s my fault. I’m to blame.
• We also blame God when we say things like, God, if I had more money I would tithe. God, if I had a car I could find a job. We blame God for not dropping things into our lap. ‘Well, God, don’t blame me. I tried a couple of times and nothing happened so I guess you don’t want me to succeed.” Or, “Well, God, I tried to wait but you’re not moving fast enough so I guess I’ll have to do it myself.” So when we act, or fail to act according to God’s will and it doesn’t work out, it’s God’s fault. The reality, however, is we’re to blame if we don’t seek God’s direction or accept God’s timing.
• Often times we’re quick to blame God when things go wrong and slow to thank him when things go right. God, why do you allow so much evil in the world? Sometimes this is asked in an inquisitive manner, but sometimes it’s asked in an accusatory manner. In spending time pondering and trying to answer this question before, there was one point that I realized I had overlooked. Instead of blaming God for allowing evil, our attitude should be thanking Him that it isn’t worse. When God allowed Satan to go after Job, he allowed him to go only so far. Satan is on God’s leash. If God took Satan off his leash there would be a surge of unimaginable evil inflicted upon us all. Playing the blame game with God keep us from understanding and appreciating God.
CONCLUSION: Playing the blame game doesn’t make matters better; it makes them worse. When we blame others we avoid taking responsibility for our actions and when we do that, we will never grow. And when we blame God we see Him incorrectly and we fail to see Him for who He really is-a loving God whose desire is to see us stop blaming and start living a blameless life. Next week we’ll find out more about moving away from playing the blame game and into living a blameless life.
