Lie No. 16: I Am Not Fully Responsible For My Actions And Reactions

It began in the Garden of Eden when Adam blamed both God and Eve for his sin, and Eve blamed the serpent for hers. The blame game began then and has continued to this day, deluding all of us into believing that if we have just cause to say or do something, then it's not really our fault.

"When we are angry, depressed, bitter, annoyed, impatient, or fearful, our natural response is to shift at least some of the responsibility on the people or circumstances that 'made' us that way." p. 104

One woman shares her testimony regarding this issue on p. 104 of Lies Women Believe:

"I had an ungodly relationship with a male coworker. I relied on him for emotional support and affection because my husband was keeping secrets from me, using pornography, and not 'being there' for me. In my eyes, my husband's behavior had pushed me into this relationship. I was giving myself a reason and an excuse that 'it was not as bad as what he was doing.'" p. 104

Much like the lie we discussed earlier of "I can't help the way I am," if we believe this lie, we believe we have no power to change our behavior. Without an admittance of sin and an act of repentance, we will never change. DeMoss quotes another writer on p. 105 with this:

"Sin is the best news there is, the best news there could be in our predicament. Because with sin, there's a way out. There's the possibility of repentance. You can't repent of confusion or psychological flaws inflicted by your parents- you're stuck with them. But you can repent of sin. Sin and repentance are the only grounds for hope and joy."

"This is the message we heard from Jesus and now declare to you: God is light, and there is no darkness in him at all. So we are lying if we say we have fellowship with God but go on living in spiritual darkness; we are not practicing the truth. But if we are living in the light, as God is in the light, then we have fellowship with each other, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, cleanses us from all sin. If we claim we have no sin, we are only fooling ourselves and not living in the truth. But if we confess our sins to him, he is faithful and just to forgive our sins and to cleanse us from all wickedness. If we claim we have not sinned, we are calling God a liar and showing that his word has no place in our hearts."

1 John 1:5-10