Distraction

"The black spot! I thought so," [Long John Silver] observed. "Where might you have got the paper? Why, hillo! Look here, now; this ain't lucky! You've gone and cut this out of a Bible. What fool's cut a Bible?" Robert Louis Stevenson, Treasure Island, Chapter 29

When we are accused of wrongdoing, it is a common reaction to counter-accuse, as a distraction from out own sin.  I do sometimes wonder that if God were to break through some of my heartfelt confessions He might say "You have been confessing sins in that area for years.  Those confessions are a distraction technique in the hope that no one will notice other sins which I am much more concerned about.  You take up all your confession time with your anger, when it is your greed that is the problem." It is one of the advantages of corporate worship, the fellowship of the saints, and liturgical prayer and reminders.  Left to our own devices, we will leave a great deal unnoticed and unconfessed.

There is a political parallel in those who are always accusing others (especially if they dishonestly include themselves in the discussion, as Lewis noted in The Dangers of National Repentance) may be doing so with the primary purpose of distracting everyone from any notice of their own sins. Or worse, it may be to distract themselves from same.  There is currently a run on the market of people making the accusation of transphobia or other -phobias or -isms. While there is certainly sometimes justice in the complaints, what is more prominent is that there are people who continually make the accusations, justly or not.  We may fairly conclude that some part of their motivation is making sure we don't look too closely at their actions.

Of course, that door swings both ways. I grow suspicious of people who too much enjoy accusing liberals as well.  Even when it is myself.