On Blame

I really hate to go back to Adam and Eve for examples of disobedience in the Bible, but they are the epitome of the nature of sin. Not only did we inherit our propensity to sin from them, but they are the example of how temptation deceived and sin results! You can find and read the scripture for yourself. Any Christian should already know where to find it, but I'll give a hint: (Genesis 3, the Bible).

There were steps to original sin. Let's examine them:

1. Adam and Eve had liberty. They could eat of all the trees in the Garden, including The Tree of Life, except...
2. God made a command (Thou shalt not eat of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil")
3. God gave the penalty, short, direct and not so sweet (or you shall surely die)..
4. Adam, having dominion over all, received the command.
5. Adam told Eve of the command and the penalty.
6. Eve got the command wrong somehow (either Adam told her wrong, she misunderstood, or she was merely too nonchalant with it).
7. Adam and Eve could have stood under any tree. 
8. They got near the tree with the serpent in it. Somehow they were drawn to that tree. That's where they exposed themselves to forces stronger than themselves!
9. God was jealous because they stood under the tree from which they were not to eat rather than "his tree","the Tree of Life".
10. The serpent used the situation to deceive. He denied the consequences of sin.
11. Eve, taking the lead in the family, spoke with the serpent. That was Adam's job to lead, not hers!
12. Eve added to the command "... or touch it". 
13. The serpent tempted her "You will not surely die!"
14. She ate and sure enough, she didn't die (God meant spiritually die).
15. Eve believed she was more wise than God.
16. Eve tempted Adam.
17. Adam ate.
18. They felt guilt.
19. They covered "their flesh".
20. God judged them.
21. Their defense was blame. Eve blamed the serpent; Adam blamed Eve.
22. So by grace God covered their flesh with the skins of animals. They were by grace covered by shed blood without which there is no salvation.
23. God punished them. They suffered the consequences of their sin.
24. One thing they didn't do! They didn't go on blaming each other!

I won't go into the consequences, but they were pretty stiff. They deserved death, God allowed them to have eternal life, but they would still die  a mortal death. You see, if it was not for grace, hell would have been their destination; the second death! 

Now why bring this up. We all know it well, don't we? I want to talk about the "blame" part of the process of sinning.

"Blame" from a spiritual standpoint is "leading astray". It's an excuse for doing wrong. It is an attempt to transfer guilt from one person to another or to circumstances. All men, when something goes wrong, even when it's benign, seek to preserve their own pride by placing blame.

Blame then is a defense mechanism to protect our god. Since "the flesh" is the god of all mankind, then blaming others for ones own sin, is an action to preserve the one a person loves most; their "Self". 

The mind works wonders to protect their puny god. It's grandeur must be preserved or it feels badly! When the "Self" does something wrong, pride seeks to protect its ego.

Genesis 3:22 "And the Lord God said, Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil..."

Adam and Eve didn't really becomes gods as a result of eating of the tree; they only  used their acquisitions to build their idols. They placed themselves on a pedestal and became false gods. With pleasure, knowledge and the potential for being wealthy, they had tools from which to sculpt their idols. Their "flesh" at one time made in the likeness of Jesus who was to come, was contaminated by "reason"! With their new tools they could take what they know and use it to obtain pleasure, power and wealth. With the new concept of "reason" mankind could now "rationalize"!

According to Meriam-Webster Dictionary "rationalize" is  "to think about or describe something (such as bad behavior) in a way that explains it and makes it seem proper, more attractive, etc."

"Blaming" is a technique in rationalizing bad behavior. Now Adam and Eve could protect their new idol, the flesh, by explaining their rebellion away; what people erroneously call "justifying" wrong. Anytime people make an excuse for doing wrong to make it seem a plausible thing to do, they are rationalizing by creating an imbalance in the scales of justice!

How did Adam and Eve use their new skills? They blamed! Eve blamed the serpent.. The serpent merely tempted her. He, as symbolic of Satan, and doesn't have the power to make Eve sin. He can only tempt and manipulate Eve. (See the Book of Job for how he does things).

Adam blamed Eve. Eve did not make Adam eat of the fruit. She merely demonstrated to Adam that God can be ignored. There seemed to be no consequences for sin, but she failed to look at the long term consequence; eternal death. Like Satan, Eve couldn't make Adam sin. She could only tempt.

Who was truly to blame?  Eve was responsible for her sin and Adam his own sin. Sin is a personal choice each and every time. God never makes choices for us and neither does Satan. In order to be held accountable for wrong, we each are personally in charge of what we do! (The devil never makes us do it, God doesn't nor do others!)

Jump ahead to now. "The flesh" is mostly represented by promiscuity. It was the same with Adam and Eve. There was a reason that their instruments of satisfaction was covered by them and then by God. God covered what mostly leads people astray; pleasure. "The flesh" was covered because it became a shame. Rather than to use merely for procreation, Adam and Eve were able to use it for joy as well. Human nature is to pleasure their god, since the "original sin" and it's most often pleasured by some type of sexual activity, notwithstanding that power, gluttony, wealth and the like are pleasures as well.

We don't have any evidence that Adam and Eve were tempted and did sexual sins, but we know that we carry the same defect in character handed down by them. Hence, it is plausible to assume that Adam and Eve also were disposed toward sexual gratification of some type which would cause them guilt. Mankind still has temptation toward sexual sin. They are tempted toward theft, hate, blasphemy, etc because their "Self" is "the other god besides Him", and that god must be appeased by pleasure.

When we pleasure our "Self" (our god) then we rebel against the One True God. Unless we're psychopathic (reprobate) some degree of guilt is experienced. That's the Holy Spirit's method of calling us to repent. We have the freedom to ignore the guilt or change. Most people ignore it, even to the extent of making their "Self" sick because of disobedience.

When the Holy Spirit inflicts guilt on us, as God did to Adam and Eve, then we too begin to blame! "Blame" it seems, is always a step in the process of sin. Men always start the process by blaming others! It's human nature since Adam. Then the Holy Spirit steps in to dispute that rationalization. "Don't blame anyone else!" he says. "You are the one who sinned!"

When two people sin in any way, both initially blame the other! It seems that their part in the sin is miniscule while the others is paramount (in their own eyes). Just like Adam, sinners rationalize "He encouraged me! I would not have sinned if he had not tempted me." Or if it's a circumstance "I would not have got drunk if I had not been with others in the bar!" That was one of the reasons Adam and Eve sinned. They should not have been under that tree talking to the serpent in the first place. If they had listened to God, the serpent would have just crawled away!

James 4:7 "Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you."

In short, people are never to put themselves in a position to allow the temptation to tempt.  That's being beyond reproach, but if we go there, we are just like Adam and Eve. The sin would never have been consummated if they hadn't been where they shouldn't be!

God checks our sinful acts through the use of guilt. It's a "check valve" by grace where we are held accountable by God and that gives us a chance to feel sorrow. Without sorrow one will never come to repentance.

When Adam was caught he blamed Eve. Nowadays it's the same. Eve may even blame Adam. However, blame is rationalizing ones sin. We each are still accountable for our own thoughts and actions.

If a person #1 feels guilt, repents and wipes the slate clean, so to speak, it's another sin to put blame on person #2.  It's because of personal responsibility. Somehow person #1 encouraged (tempted) person #2 to stand under the wrong tree. Person #1 very well have provoked person #2 to sin just as Eve provoked Adam. It was a sorry thing when Adam blamed Eve for what he didn't have to do! God would have been much more lenient if the conversation had been without blame:

God: Who sinned here?
Eve: I did! I should not have been there, I should not have listened to a liar and I should never have questioned your authority and power. I should have submitted to Adam's leadership! God, I take full responsibility.
God: How about you, Adam?
Adam: I should have been more forceful in telling Eve your command. It's my fault she was confused! I should have been the spiritual leader, not Eve. I shirked my responsibilities. I should not have followed the pattern of another in sinning. That's just an excuse. I am at fault because I knew what you said and did it anyway. I'm guilty and without excuse. Eve didn't cause me to sin... I did it myself!

God had the grace to provide a plan for them to live eternally. He wiped their slates clean and they started over. If they had been more honest about their personal responsibility, God's justice would have been even more graceful (We could still all be immortal in this life if Adam and Eve had been less blaming)!

As we can see, in spite of their blame, God had grace to forgive them their humanity! However, what if after they were caught and sentenced, they continued to blame each other? That would be a continuation of the original sin. After people express sorrow and repent, yet if they go on "blaming", they continue in sin. Adam and Eve were equally guilty and each other accusing the other of the greater sin, is blame, and the one who still blames is still sinning!

My point: Sin is an individual personal choice and placing blame on the co-sinner as the greater sinner, is a sin itself.