A Theology of Blame Shifting

One of the most pervasive epidemics in today’s society is that many perpetrators of wickedness are labelled as victims. No matter what sin has been committed, the perpetrator is often labelled as sick, or having a disease. Alcoholism is one example. One author writes, “All authorities agree that alcoholism should be thought of as a disease, regardless of its cause, and that the alcoholic should be treated as an ill person, rather than condemned as a ‘sinner’ or ‘good-for-nothing.’”

What about gluttony? Physicians at one prominent hospital said, “Obesity is an incurable disease. We don’t know its complete etiology. We can, however, put a patient into remission for a lifetime through our weight-loss program . . . We try to make our patients aware that their obesity is a disease, that it is incurable, and that they will need maintenance assistance for the rest of their lives.”

No one is guilty of their sin anymore! It is always someone else’s, or something else’s fault. If it’s not your how your parents treated you, then it’s your genes, your surroundings, or maybe even the Devil made you do it. We are all victims!

This sinful tendency is literally as old as Adam. Below are some examples of blame shifting found in Scripture (please comment if you think of others - I'm making a catalogue of them):

Genesis 3:9-13: Adam displays the cowardly tendency of all men to follow him by not only blaming Eve, but God Himself: “The woman whom YOU gave to be with me, she have me from the tree, and I ate.” And Eve follows suite by blaming the Serpent: “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”

1 Samuel 15:17-21, Saul blames the people for his choice to disobey the Lord. “Samuel said . . . the LORD sent you on a mission, and said, ‘Go and utterly destroy the sinners, the Amalekites, and fight against them until they are exterminated.’ Why then did you not obey the voice of the LORD . . . ? And Saul said to Samuel . . . . But the people took of the spoil, sheep and oxen, the best of the things devoted to destruction, to sacrifice to the LORD your God in Gilgal.”

James 1:13- There was a tendency in the early church for believers to blame God for their temptation. “Let no one say when he is tempted, ‘I am tempted by God’; for God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does He himself tempt anyone.”

Obviously the point of blame shifting is to shift the blame from yourself to someone else. In reality, as James 1:14 says, "But each one is tempted when he is carried away and enticed by his own lust." Each one of us is responsible for our own sin because it is sprung from our own lusts and desires. In Matthew 15:18–19 Jesus says, “But the things that proceed out of the mouth come from the heart, and those defile the man. For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, slanders.”

CHALLENGE: the next time you have an argument with someone, and you are tempted to say "I said xyz because you said abc," stop and think about blame shifting. How do you avoid this? Agree to talk about each person at a time. First let's talk about what I said, and once that sin has been confessed, then we will talk about what you said. My wife and I have found this to be an effective way to avoid blame shifting, and I hope it is for you as well!