Some Blame God, Some Blame Devil

Some persons blame God for their misfortunes. Doing so gives them justification for pursuing a lawless course. In this they are like the eight-year-old boy mentioned in the Milwaukee Journal, March 23, 1955. This eight-year-old, arrested for an attempted burglary, had previously claimed to have started a fire in a Catholic church “because God had not answered his prayers. He said he had been praying that his father would stop drinking and stay home nights. The fire caused $200 damage.” The police, however, said the boy, who is small for his age, has been “a one man crime wave” for almost a year. He had previously been arrested for breaking into a bakery and stealing $11 in cash and $15 worth of bakery goods and for attempting burglary at another store. “Last year he was referred to the youth aid bureau for maliciously breaking numerous windows in trucks and in a factory, for attempted burglary of a factory and for tampering with boats in the Menomonee River, the police said.” Incidentally, the foregoing indicates that parental neglect and false religious teachings contribute to juvenile delinquency. On the other hand, some blame the Devil. Thus when a ten-year-old boy was asked why he started two fires near his home he replied: “The Devil was in me.” Blaming the Devil for one’s lawlessness began with Eve in Eden, and many persons, selfish or poorly informed on the Bible, do the same today. Yes, if we are frustrated or rebelling at our lot we will show it by lawless acts and then seek to justify or excuse ourselves by blaming God or the Devil!