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I am a pastor and a clinical psychotherapist. My life's passion is defining healthiness from a human perspective and paralleling it to the holiness of God, divine perspective. Shifting perspectives creates a paradigm that is alongside of rather than over and against. The parakalein of God and the paradoxes of humanity are redefined. Humanity is all about winning and yet we are losing ground everywhere. Divinity is all about letting go of the desire to win and the fear of loss. The Divine embraces the world with loving care regardless of anything.

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Everyone is accoiuntable

Posted by Don Paine


After yesterdays blog on accountability I was reminded of some earlier thoughts, adjusted here, that are on the initial accountability of the original sin that is inclusive of the original blessing.

In the Genesis Record of sin:  accountability not judgment was the focus.  Many have missed this wanting to focus on God's judgment and punishment for the moral failure.  But a closer look results in the open hearted person seeing accountability and compassion.  Holding the persons responsible for something while doing so with a focus to help and restore the confidence and presence of love and peace.

There are 4 Compassionate responses all about accountability not punishment:


11.   God comes into the garden the day after their sin.  With Love and pace undisturbed by their actions God strolls into the garden, calling out to them, “Where are you?” The blessing of God’s abundant love and abiding peacefulness are unchanged regardless of anything. God let time lapse, let them feel the loss, and let them try to care for themselves.   While they were in hiding and covering up God was walking in with compassionate righteousness and creative resolution.   God holds responsibility for creating them, for giving them this garden of free choice, and for placing the tree of the knowledge of good and evil in the middle of the garden.  God is the first to shed innocent blood on the earth as God creates a covering for them.  They have to give up their attempts to do it on their own and accept this offering of compassion. They are given the opportunity to choose freely to receive this gift of love and care that reminds them that no matter what they do, God remains in internal and eternal peace and in abundant and agenda free love toward them.


12.    The pair are held responsible and accountable for their behavior.  They start by excusing and blaming.  “We are naked so we hid” then “she gave me to eat” then we are trying to take care of it on our own because of fear and frustration. 
God told Adam that he would hereafter work the soil of the earth and fight the weeds of adversity to remind him that while God’s love and care is never lost, God offers them that which would help him to no take for granted what God gives but would through work toil learn to appreciate better that which costs him something rather than having it gifted to him as free.  This was a consequence and accountability directly related to his behavior choice which put ease and comfort ahead of thoughtfulness and appreciation for what he had and could not lose.

3.
Eve was given a similar, consequence and accountability, directly related to her not seeing the hurt and pain of acting against her creative inner force.  While in her was the seed of life and love (the mother of all living things) she took that seed for granted and treated the sacred gift of choice in a self-serving way.  It caused pain in her heart so as a reminder and an instrument of helpful appreciation of the seed in her, childbirth that was to be without pain and work would now be both painful and work. In a parallel way they both were given “pain and work” for the purpose of appreciating the gifts of life and nourishment, nurture and nature. They both were given not judgment and condemnation but accountability and consequences to help them to live more maturely responsible, mutually respectful, and compassionate righteousness.  The response of God was not punitive and judgmental but responsible and redemptive.


4.  Later they were cast out of the garden.  God said, “now what shall we do, they now know good and evil, if we let them stay in the garden and they eat of the tree of eternal life they will live forever in this state of eternal frustration so we must cast them out of the garden in and act of creative, courageous, compassionate and from a calm place to protect them from themselves.  This was not punishment but protective intervention so the parts of them that knew good and evil but did not know how to love and care for both the good and evil in non-reactive, non-restraining ways.

Humanity has a curse of condemning and condoning polarity which perpetuates:  self-negation, self-effacement, self-deprecation, and self-aggrandizement.  The Divine offers a blessing of love and care of all parts without condemnation or condoning but offering compassion and care to all which perpetuates: Self-affirmation, self-confidence, self-healing, and self-resiliency.

Accountability and consequences help people to see what they did not see, or were not aware of.  Then in the presence of this accountability and healthy realization,the system self-corrects.  Trying to correct through punishment and deterrents only serve to promote frustration and fragmentation in the system.  Not holding accountable condones and promotes irresponsibility and confusion.

Proverbially finger pointing creates the point counter point culture in which the only point that is made is hurtful, painful and unhelpful.  The counter balance, that accepts shared responsibility and shared respectfulness, calls for the maturity of character. The character of integrity maintains internal peace and love and then offers that peace in love in relationships to the outer or external world.

A judgment free zone is not an invitation to keep on doing the same thing but the sacred space, with courage and creative resolve, to experience and express the resolve and resiliency of Peace and Love.

Not holding people of any age accountable for their actions is to condone those actions.  Punishing the person for the actions as an act of condemnation does not deter actions but perpetuates resistance and defiance so the behavior continues.

Meeting any person with compassion and concern, mutual responsibility, measures of accountability and mutual respectfulness provide the sacred space for inner change.

Back to the football player:  If the young man knew there were not exceptions and if he took money or benefits from anyone he would never be allowed to play football then watch the behavior change.  The problem is society wants the football player to provide entertainment and that is more important than integrity or honesty.

Only when money and greed will take a back seat to integrity and accountability will change occur.  Only when the education of the student at the university is in the front seat, driving the car, will change occur.

It is not the young man but the system that invited the young man to do what he does that is the problem.  The solution is in the system.  Every part and member of the system must be accountable to the system itself with internal integrity and compassion.

That is what God modeled there in Genesis three.  It has been awhile and we are still trying to get it?

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