Can you blame them?

Friends of ours recently got a puppy. (Even though they swore they never would.) We hung out with them and their kids and the puppy on Easter. It was interesting to see how they dealt with their new puppy and their kids. It sure seemed like the puppy had full immunity in everything. If he was horse-playing with one of the kids, it was always the kid that got reprimanded when things went too far. When they talked about house breaking and staying in his cage and barking, non of it was the puppy's fault. He didn't know any better, after all.

They couldn't blame the dog, because he didn't know. If he knew better, he wouldn't be any problem at all. Their son knew better, so he was the one who got the harsh tones. He knew.

Paul, in Ephesians, writes the same thing about the Gentiles compared to the Christians.

Now this I say and testify in the Lord, that you must no longer walk as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their minds. They are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, due to their hardness of heart. They have become callous and have given themselves up to sensuality, greedy to practice eery kind of impurity. But that is not the way you learned Christ!

Because they know Christ, they know better.

Notice that Paul does not say, "learned ABOUT Christ." He's talking about an intimate knowledge of the savior. He's talking about having a real relationship with God. It is only this relationship that can turn us from sin. It is only this relationship that can keep us from serving ourselves. It is only this relationship that can keep us on the straight and narrow.

The world is filled with things that entice and enthrall. It tells us what we need to be happy, to be fulfilled, to be whole. If people don't truly, intimately know God they believe everything else. Can you blame 'em?