Having served as a pastor for more than 60 years I have heard tons of excuses. Whenever I think I have heard every excuse that can be made, I hear a new one. People have been making excuses ever since Adam blamed Eve for his disobedience, and Eve blamed the serpent. Evangelist Billy Sunday described an excuse “the skin of a reason filled with a lie.”
I recently read the account of a man who lost his job because he never got to work on time. The man sued, arguing that he was handicapped by “chronic lateness syndrome” – and won a large settlement. This tells us a lot not only about the integrity of the man who sued but also about the fact that this and other equally absurd lawsuits are allowed to be tried in our country’s court system.
In our current culture you can offer an excuse for almost every conceivable kind of bad behavior or personal failure. Like Adam and Eve, we find it easier and more convenient to say, “It’s not my fault” than to admit personal responsibility.
Many years ago I served on the Orange County, North Carolina Board of Alcoholic Rehabilitation. Our mission was to help rehabilitate persons who were addicted to alcohol. I was told that professionals in the field were calling alcoholism a “disease.” That is totally absurd! Such a position absolves persons who have chosen to drink alcohol of any personal responsibility for their actions. In other words, they can say, “It’s not my fault!”
Recovery groups can be extremely helpful, and often are, but they often fail to make a distinction between understanding appropriate behavior and excusing bad behavior. In his book, The Vanishing Conscience, author John MacArthur asks the question, “Whatever happened to guilt and responsibility for what we have done?”
He cites the story of a man who was shot and paralyzed while committing a burglary in New York. He later sued the storeowner who shot him, and recovered damages. His attorney convinced the jury that his client was the victim of society, driven to crime by economic disadvantages. This assumes that the storeowner should have known that, and the jury agreed. Later, sitting in his wheelchair, he was arrested again for armed robbery.
People who make bad decisions and get into trouble are often referred to therapists, who sometimes try to boost their self-image, not help them take responsibility for their actions and deal with their guilt constructively. To do that would not be “politically correct.”
Henry Beard and Christopher Cerf, in The Official Politically Correct Dictionary and Handbook, have elevated the making of an excuse to heretofore unheard of high levels. They have, in effect, redefined sin. For example:
If you are lazy, no problem: you are simply “motivationally dispossessed.”
If you are addicted to drugs, no problem: you are merely“chemically inconvenienced.”
If you are promiscuous, no problem: you are just “sexually active.” If you are dishonest, no problem: you are “ethically disoriented,” “morally different,” or “differently honest” (that’s an impossibility, isn’t it?).
If you are a serial killer, no problem: you are “socially misaligned” or one who has “difficult-to-meet needs” (I would say it is a lot more than that!).
If you are a shoplifter, no problem: you are one who engages in “non-traditional shopping.”
If you are sexually perverted, no problem: you are simply“sexually dysfunctional.”
Using these definitions, even the Ten Commandments may one day be re-written to make them more politically correct. For example:
- “Thou shalt not kill” would become “Do not become socially misaligned.”
- “Thou shalt not steal” would become “Do not become a non-traditional shopper.”
- “Thou shalt not commit adultery” would become “Do not become sexually dysfunctional.”
Somehow I don’t think any of these excuses will pass muster with God!
The Paper Pulpit 