Guilt, shame and blame are a lethal combination. We see how they work in the Garden of Eden. Adam is guilty so he tries to hide from God. “I was afraid, because I was naked,
so I hid myself.” He is full of shame thinking what he has done made him a bad person. And he blames someone else (Eve did it! The snake did it!) for his failing. God’s response to this is to punish Adam and Eve. In the Bible punishment is not so much punitive (because you did this you have to suffer) as it is corrective. As the Epistle to the Hebrews puts it, punishment is discipline like a parent correcting their child so they learn to behave differently in the future. Does that work for you? When you are going through some difficulty can you see how this makes you a better person?
