Genesis chapter 3

Interesting to see how man blamed the woman, and she blamed the serpent. No one standing up and accepting responsibility for making the decision to eat the apple in the first place. It reminds me of two of my boys who aggravate each other something rotten. The 17 year old has been known on many an occasion to say "he made me do it" after he has just hit his 11 year old brother, blaming his younger brother when he loses his temper and resorts to physical violence.

We each have to take responsibility for our own actions. You can’t turn around and say that Eve was the one who made you eat the apple when you had to make a conscious decision to reach out your hand, take the apple and have a bite. Eve was not the one involved in that decision making process, even though she may have been the one trying to persuade you to eat the apple. It was your choice. Similarly, Eve can’t blame the serpent for her choosing to believe his lies and take a bite of the apple.

Both the man and the woman, Adam and Eve, had a close relationship with God, probably far closer than most of us. Yet they were both tempted by the thought of being like God, of knowing good and evil, being all powerful all seeing, all knowing. They gave no thought to what they could lose, only to what they might gain. Sometimes, the price we pay to gain something is not worth it and you only have to look at the price Adam and Eve paid to realise that.

The other thing I never really appreciated before, is that it says in verse 6 "she also gave some to her husband who was with her." It's not a case of Eve wandering around in the garden all on her own, no way. She was with her husband, they were together, so when the serpent spoke to Eve, Adam was right there beside her listening to every word. What a cop out to try and blame Eve when he knew exactly what had been going on and what had been said. He is just as much a party to the sin as Eve was and pretending ignorance, closing his eyes and his mind to the truth is not going to change matters.

It is easy to put the blame on others, to try and make ourselves look good, be the innocent party and whitewash our actions. But really, we are each just as guilty as both Adam and Eve every single time we sin and every single time we try to excuse it by blaming someone else, our circumstances, the economic situation, our lack of this, our need for the other, the weather, the time of year/month/week/day, our employer, our unemployment, the man in the moon, etc.
We need to get real with ourselves, others and God, and admit when we have done wrong, take responsibility when we mess up and stop trying to blame anyone and everyone else.