Certainly You Don’t Mean Me!

April 24, 2027

Let’s blame God. He supposedly started it all. So, He must be the one responsible for this entire mess.

Oops! I forgot. Some say there is no god. I’ll pretend they’re right. Perhaps this is all a dream. Perhaps the Earth is flat and carried around the Sun by a giant tortoise. Well, I don’t want to step on anybody’s toes in this dance… Let’s see who else is hanging around the dance floor that we can curtsy to…

• Parents? Of course! They brought us into this crappy world.
• Government? Certainly. They wanted to be in charge… Well, get on the ball. Start fixing everything!
• Christians? Of course. Why didn’t I think of that sooner?!? They claim they have all the answers.
• Churches? They don’t even count anymore. Anyways, their doors are almost always shut.
• Religions? A lot of processes to keep a person busy, but nothing that “puts food on the table.”
• The Devil? No, no, we can’t do that… no gods, remember?
• Manufacturing? They’re poisoning land, sea, and air. It’s them!
• The Wealthy? They’ve got it made there at the top while the rest of us down here struggle every day.
• The Nasty Neighbor down the street nobody likes? I’m sure he has a lot to do with it.
• You and me? Heck no! I don’t know about you, but I don’t want anything to do with it, and I’m pretty sure you don’t want the blame hung around your neck, either.

Is there anything left? There just has to be more…

Let’s forget the song and dance. What about the games we play? Pass the buck? Hot potato? Tag, You’re “It”?

…”Wait a second… What does “It” mean? “ someone demands to know.

So I say, “Quit trying to change the subject.”

Ollie, ollie! …Oops! I forgot. There is no”Home Free!” that is, if in fact there is no God in Heaven reaching out to us, no Jesus coming to save us… Where is “home free.” Wasn’t that supposed to be decided before we started playing?!?

“So then, where does that leave the wise? or the scholars? or the skillful debaters of this world? God has shown that this world’s wisdom is foolishness! For God in His wisdom made it impossible for people to know him by means of their own wisdom. Instead, by means of the so-called “foolish” message we preach, God decided to save those who believe. Jews want miracles for proof, and {Gentiles} look for wisdom. As for us, we proclaim the crucified Christ, a message that is offensive to the Jews and nonsense to the Gentiles…” — 1 Corinthians 1:20–23, Good News Translation.

There is no double jeopardy. It’s all quite straightforward:

“Those who believe in the Son are not judged; but those who do not believe have already been judged, because they have not believed in God’s only Son. This is how the judgment works: the light has come into the world, but people love the darkness rather than the light, because their deeds are evil. Those who do evil things hate the light and will not come to the light, because they do not want their evil deeds to be shown up. ‘ — John 3:18–20, ibid.

Isn’t it odd how we all try to weasel our way out of responsibility, blame, and consequences? Isn’t it kind of peculiar how we try to avoid dealing with our guilty conscience?

Nevertheless, God does exist. And Jesus did come to save us from ourselves.

As always, the choices are ours alone to make.