Articles
The Blame Game
Several years ago, John Stossel, of 20/20 fame, hosted a television special called “The Blame Game.” The show examined how Americans as a society have become so adept at blaming others for our mistakes. Following his report there was a story of a young man who “could not help” shooting two other men because of “urban survival syndrome.” By this he meant that it wasn’t his fault that he’d killed his two cousins. Instead, he only acted in self-defense because of his environment.
Blaming our environment for our own mistakes and failures is not new. Esau blamed the circumstance of his being hungry as the reason for selling his birthright. The Holy Spirit just did not know it was “urban survival” that Esau was dealing with. It was not his fault; he was just a victim of his environment.
The attempts of many to blame our society for all of man’s problems resonate with today’s social gospel. The social gospel tells us that it is man’s environment that is his problem. If you correct his environment he will be fine. Social gospel advocates fail to see that society is changed only as man is changed. Man is only changed as his heart is changed. If environment is the problem, why then did Judas fail? He was in a favored environment; he kept company with Jesus and His chosen followers, the other apostles. Judas saw Jesus work His miracles and heard Him teach the multitudes as well as individuals. If a better environment is the solution, then Judas should never have betrayed Jesus. The problem was that Judas let Satan enter his heart. His problem was his heart, not his environment.
We in America have been blaming the environment, society, and others far too long. We need to take a good long look at ourselves. Man’s greatest problem is sin. His greatest need is salvation. If man is to be saved, he must first admit his own problems, not blame it on someone else or something else. For man to have salvation, he must change his heart.
The environment will not change the heart of man. The only power strong enough to change man’s heart is the gospel (Rom. 1:16). The gospel contains the expression of God’s wrath for sin and God’s love for obedience (Rom. 11:22). If God cannot effect the change of man’s heart through one of these two inducements, then man’s heart is so hard that changing his environment will do him no good. “Urban survival” is just an excuse for wrong doing.
