Real Victims

It seems to be ingrained into our human modus operandi to adopt a series of defensive mechanisms to criticism and hardship. We begin with blame pushing, denying responsibility and accountability for our actions, whether truly responsible or not, and look for scapegoats to push the blame to. We push the blame on those around us. We then push the blame onto evil- upon the temptations that lure into sin and suffering. We push the blame to the Devil. If that doesn't satisfy us, we become moody and depressive, wallowing in our self pity as we bemoan our circumstances and the conditions of our lives. In doing so, we move to a second stage of pushing the blame on God, upon whom all circumstances ultimately rest. In both these stages, we never seem to consider the role of the self in our own sufferings- bringing about our own discomfort and pain. Isn't this true of you and me?

We imagine ourselves as victims, of either malicious individuals around us or the oppression of fate i.e. God's actions (both direct acting and indirectly allowing) IN the case of Eve and Adam and original sin we see this pattern clearly played out when Adam pushed the blame ot Eve, and Eve to the serpent. Implicitly, even in Adam's justifications to God, he implicates the Almighty when he cries out it was the "woman YOU PUT HERE WITH ME" (caps mine) drawing God into complicity too, thus drawing upon the sources of both the first and last stages of the human modus operandi. In our sufferings, we consider ourselves victimised by a oppressive god, (Milton's Lucifer refers to his 'tyrannical rule' often) with our fellow human beings as instruments that god uses to torture or wound us. God becomes the villain, our fellow man, his tools for hurt, and ourselves, the innocent victims of his perniciousness. This is poor theology, or an incorrect conception of who God is.

And yet, how often do we recognise the truth of the matter, that God is in fact, a victim of sin? David makes it clear in psalms when he exclaims, "against you and you alone have I sinned" that GOd, the embodiment and source of all righteousness and good, is the victim against whom ALL sins are committed. He does not delight in evil, but takes pleasure in the righteous shunning sin. Whenever a man falls prey to sin, we call that rebellion against God. In such a matter, GOd does not clap His hands and shout hooray. Neither does He stand silent and say, "free will. Man's choice." No. In fact, every time we choose poorly, His heart bleeds as the prodigal son demands his inheritance from an all-loving father to leave home. God tears each time we sin and reject His holy righteousness. In ALL matters of sin, God alone is the victim of any offense, and we are accomplices to each other's sin.

In Gilead, by Marilyn Robinson, Revered John Amnes replies to a difficult God-type question with tremendous wisdom. He notes that man associates God with 4 essential characteristics- omniscience, omnipotence, justice and grace. He further comments that as far as he goes, he lacks the knowledge to know very much, the influence to be anywhere near potent, the ability to simply be just and fair, and the magnamity with which to show much grace- much less imagine or understand teh powers of all 4 qualities expressed in conjunction. As much as this looks like a cop-out, i think it is a fair argument to say that God's standards and our own are very different. This is not to say that God is beyond human comprehension because He is so high (of course He is,) but God is beyond human comprehension also because we are too LOW.

We grieve each other enough as it is- imagine how every wound we give each other multiplied by 10, and then by every sinful human being in this world- that is the extent of His suffering and His ability toforgive and show grace. Do remember then, that we are NOT victims to each other's hurts, but accomplices in wounding a loving God.