“Have you eaten the fruit I commanded you not to eat?”
“Yes,” Adam admitted, “but it was the woman you gave me who brought me the fruit….
Then the Lord asked the woman, “How could you do such a thing?”
“The serpent tricked me.” (Genesis 3:11-13)
Here we clearly see blaming others is nothing new.
It’s natural to want to blame others, especially if we’ve been hurt or abused by them. And while they may be the reason for some of our problems and emotional difficulties, it’s detrimental to our well-being to continue using them as an excuse to delay healing.
Blame can keep us in bondage to sin and addiction by blocking us from seeing how we have contributed to our situation. And it’s futile because we can’t change past injustices.
What we can do is take responsibility for our part in our troubles. It doesn’t mean we should blame ourselves and feel guilty for every mishap. It simply means we “accept responsibility for our past mistakes and take steps to correct them,” as it says in the Life Recovery Bible.
This opens the door to allow correction from ourselves, God and others. In this life, everyone experiences injustices. How we react to them will determine if we will live a life marked by anger, blame, and bondage; or forgiveness, peace and freedom.
Jodie Stevens
Jodie this is great stuff. (!) I especially like your final point: In this life, everyone is a victim of injustice at some point in time and there will always be plenty of blame to go around. How we react to it will determine if we will live a life marked by anger, blame, and bondage; or forgiveness, peace and freedom.
For next week’s cyber chat: Let’s talk about why blaming the cyberbully or the device makes it impossible to teach our children to be responsible users of cyber technology. I have found that parents are fearful that their child will be vulnerable to on line experiences that involve bullying, addiction and exploitation and it is that fear unchecked by our faith that is the greatest risk.
We can call this segment: Why blaming the device or the bully creates more risk for your child
Blaming involves a victim mentality, which is not of God. It requires us to surrender our personal power to overcome the undue influence of the world (physical and cyber realms).
Your thoughts?
Love,
Joanna
Joanna Jullien
Author/Speaker/Educator
Banana Moments Foundation: Help for Parenting in the Social Network
Coalition for Placer Youth
916-521-7203