"But they all alike began to make excuses. The first one said to him, ‘I have bought a piece of land and I need to go out and look at it; please consider me excused.’ Another one said, ‘I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I am going to try them out; please consider me excused.’ Another one said, ‘I have married a wife, and for that reason I cannot come.’" Luke 14:18-20

 

Those who refuse to accept Christ as their Lord and Savior offer a variety of excuses. Some argue the existence of God or question the theology that Jesus was the Son of God. Oftentimes the real underlying issue is not theological at all, but moral.

Josh McDowell, Christian author and apologist was once invited to speak at a university in Arkansas. There was a professor there who never missed the opportunity to belittle the beliefs and faith of his Christian students. When he heard that Mr. McDowell was coming, he stepped up his persecution as a pre-emptive strike and began to attack Mr. McDowell personally. Because of this, some of the Christian students set up a debate for them.

 

During the debate this professor threw insult after insult, mocked Christianity and Mr. McDowell personally, but Mr. McDowell calmly answered every question. Many who attended were terribly embarrassed by the conduct of this professor.

 Later, back at his motel room Mr. McDowell received a telephone call from an apologetic woman who asked to meet with him. The woman told him that the rude professor was her husband who had once been a Christian. She said that the change which had taken place in him happened after he began having an affair with another woman.

It seems that the real issue with this man was not theological or scientific in nature, but moral. Since he was acting in immoral rebellion against God he had an underlying reason to speak out against a moral God and the morality of His saints.

 

In the Garden of Eden no one took the responsibility for the sin committed. The woman said -"The serpent deceived me", the man said -"the woman You gave to me made me eat it." There was no one admitting their sin: no one with a repentant heart. The woman blamed the serpent, the man blamed the woman and even God who gave her to him, but God held them all guilty. God punished the serpent, banished Adam and Eve from their Garden paradise, told the man he had to work the soil for his own food and introduced labor pain to the woman. Humble confession and repentance offers no excuses.