Accountability

Are we not accountable for what we do or say?

Michelle Bachman recently said that if we turn Herman Cain's tax plan ("999") upside-down, we see that "the devil is in the details" (making the numbers read "666). That's a ridiculous thing to say. For one, it's incredibly mean. For another, it's horrible biblical exegesis, something that has passed as okay for years. The numbers "666" meant something to a people two thousand years ago, as used in the biblical book of Revelation. It's high time we stop using those numbers to label things that we don't like. That's serious stuff, using biblical metaphors to label things that we don't like. I think the Bible talks about using itself for our own ends as being, well, not a very good thing to do.

The Dallas Cowboys are referred to as "America's Team." The reality is they have not done anything for fifteen years. They are living off their reputation and past years of glory. They are currently a bad football team that is constantly given the national spotlight. That's unfair for the other teams in the NFL, particularly the good ones.

What is missing in each of these examples? Accountability. Bachman should have to answer for saying something stupid like this. The Cowboys should have to answer for poor performance, something beyond just firing head coach after head coach. But neither will have to. That's unfortunate.

As humans, we try to pass the buck, too. Apparently, it's always been that way. Just take a look at the third book of the Bible, where we see that in Adam and Eve, where we get a unique glimpse at our own stories, that the human impulse is to blame others and to not stand up and represent our own actions and decisions.

As followers of Christ, may we be a people who take seriously the call to live our lives as representatives of Christ. It's not a call to be perfect. It's a call to do the best we can. Included in that is the responsibility to stand by our words and our deeds, even when we mess up. If we want the world around us to be accountable, we must first emulate it in our own lives.