02.12.04

So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. Then God blessed them, and God said to them, "Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth." And God said, "See, I have given you every herb that yields seed which is on the face of all the earth, and every tree whose fruit yields seed; to you it shall be for food. Also, to every beast of the earth, to every bird of the air, and to everything that creeps on the earth, in which there is life, I have given every green herb for food"; and it was so. Then God saw everything that He had made, and indeed it was very good. - Genesis 1:27-31.

"We gave the keys to the car to someone without ensuring that they knew how to drive a car safely, and it crashed." That was the statement by NFL commissioner Paul Tagliabue after the recent Super Bowl halftime debacle. To his credit, he accepts responsibility for allowing MTV free rein in the production of the show. There has been and it appears that there will continue to be some harsh fallout for the entertainment industry as a result of the halftime show. Perhaps this is a good time to call into question whether any and every obscene thing should be shown on cable and satellite television as well. Do our leaders have some responsibility to do the right thing in regard to all of the filth being constantly beamed out into homes across this country? Of course, they are responsible because they are the ones who can most easily do something about it. But the rest of us bear responsibility to the extent that we support the filth through our dollars. There would not be a drug problem if there were not so many people wanting to use illegal substances. The entertainment industry would not be continuing to produce this obscene material if there were not so many people wanting to see it.

Beginning with Adam and Eve mankind has been given great responsibility for all that God has created. Perhaps the most heavy responsibility of all is for the way that we live our individual lives and the impact that it has on those around us. Beginning with Adam and Eve, we have all failed to live up to the responsibility that God has placed upon us. We have all failed at some point just as the Bible says in Romans 3:23, “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” What is that we should do in light of our failures? We should accept responsibility that we have failed confessing (1 John 1:9) that to our Lord Jesus and asking His forgiveness. As the prophet Micah tells us, “He has shown you, O man, what is good; and what does the LORD require of you but to do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God (Micah 1:6)?”

Isn’t it time for us to accept responsibility, confess our failures and begin again through His forgiveness to live as He would have us to? What better time than right now to do exactly that?