I think God gets blamed for a lot of stuff. My personal pet peeve is the person who proclaims confidently, "God told me to do this or that." The whole time they are talking, I am usually thinking to myself, "There's no way that God told you that. It's a complete contradiction of His Word or His character." Don't get me wrong. I definitely believe that most Christ followers hear from God on a regular basis--we just choose to ignore him. I also believe there are those people who hear from God so easily and freely. It is as if they had their own personal headset with God's instructions piped in directly to them (boy, how I'd give anything to have one of those). But it really bothers me when someone--be it a terrorist, a pastor or some well-meaning individual--places the blame on God for their misdirected passions. I've actually had young couples sit in my office and tell me that God told them it was okay to live together before being married (and other crazy stories). What are we thinking? How can we take the name of God and pair it with messed up philosophies or selfish agendas? Do we not understand the serious nature of a statement that is preceded by "thus saith the Lord?" (although I hope none of you really talk like that). I desire so deeply to know God's instructions for my life. I want so much to parallel my life with His, to let my desires be a pure reflection of Him. Would you do me a favor? Would you keep your personal "interpretations" of God to a minimum so that the serious followers of Christ can seek out what He is really saying to us? In fact, if we all focused on what God really said to us in His word, maybe we'd all be better followers, better reflectors, better instructors and better disciples. At least, that's what I hear God saying...