Introduction

Abstract

I was the youth pastor at a church in rural Ohio. One of the teens from my group decided to attend a youth worship rally at another local church. I encouraged such activities, being a lover of ecumenism. However, on this particular occasion, the teen returned with a disturbing tale. The youth pastor at the rally gave a sermon on the connection between choice and consequence. His main point, as the teen from my group told it, was that God was not responsible for the bad things that result from human beings succumbing to temptation. We are responsible for the negative consequences of our injudicious decisions.