Blame God!

If tomorrow a brilliant scientist came up with a cure for all cancer, one that was quick, easy and universally affordable, would the media and general public say,  “Wow, look what God has done!  See what he has given us!”

I strongly doubt it.

No, we would be shouting, “Man has conquered disease! We rock!”

Whenever something good happens, when man accomplishes a good thing, we are quick to claim credit. But when a tragedy occurs, when a man (or woman) goes awry, we often blame God.

Christian author and apologist Philip Yancey illustrates the way God gets blamed for things. He recalls getting a phone call from a television producer shortly after Princess Diana died in an automobile accident. The producer wanted to know if Yancey would appear on his show. “We want you to explain how God could possibly allow such a terrible accident.” Without thinking Yancey replied, “Could it have had something to do with a drunk driver going ninety miles an hour in a narrow tunnel? How exactly was God involved?” *

God is not responsible for what happened in Aurora. Or Columbine, or Ft Hood or Virginia Tech. Or Afghanistan or Iraq or Kuwait.

Evil men commit evil acts.

But in a society where we have nearly eliminated evil, along with right and wrong and a general sense of personal responsibility, someone besides us has to take the blame. And that someone is usually God.

A God we no longer believe in, whose only purpose is to hang around to be faulted.

* Yancey cites several more incidents like this where man blames God for his own actions in this intriguing 1997 article in “Christianity Today.”