Sunday, February 5, 2012

Original Sin-Man, challenged by my own words... A failure to accept responsibility, a shift of blame...


In my Thursday Dudes Coffee Talk (pronounced: Cwoffee Twawk Sat Night Live style) in considering what it is to be a man, we have occasionally looked back to the Original Sin in hopes of avoiding repeating it again.  While I don’t pretend to understand and have plumbed the depths as did Aquinas or even the Wiki Scholars I have a few thoughts...

Many think that eating the fruit was the original sin.  I think that the rejection of God’s instruction followed by the ‘blame shift’ of “God, the woman YOU gave me...    Essentially Adam is blaming God and the Woman in his fall.

The question I have challenged ‘the guys’ to ponder is a ‘what if”.  What if Adam responded differently to God when caught of the act of disobedient illicit fruit munching?  What is Adam had said: “God, you are right, I was wrong, don’t blame the woman, I was just ‘checked out’ on my dominion thing...  Forgive me...  I want to be more like you and really wish I had obeyed the one prohibition you gave us...”

Today it is a key realization that we, as men abdicate responsibility and blame shift (occasionally and frequently) onto our wives.   I pride myself on accepting responsibility and not blaming others but owning the assignment given me.  (I realize what a dangerous word “Pride” is as I write.)

Well, this morning, I was reading Frank Viola’s Advice for Bloggers.  Convicted by my own words.  Franks excuse was my excuse exactly:
“My reason: I didn’t have enough time.”

But his response was...
Well, I still don’t have enough time, yet I’ve managed to blog for over three years now. And looking back, I wish I had heeded my friends’ advice and started earlier. My bad.”

Just Friday over lunch, the very brilliant Kevin Barnes @KevinBarnes was challenging me to blog.  

No more blame shift on the blogging.  Here goes...