God had sent Amos, a Jew, to the northern tribes of Israel delivering an extremely accusatory message, warning of the dreadful Day of the Lord. Amos asks seven questions of the Israelites, showing direct cause and effect relationships deriving from their behavior that, unless sorely repented of, would lead to the dreadful consequences of the Day of the Lord. Amos intended that sorrow, guilt, and pain would lead to repentance. Unfortunately, the people just did not get it, thinking that their small individual behaviors had little or nothing to do with the overall demise of the nation. Likewise, we callously think that what we do does not really matter in the big picture. Because of this pervasive individual "pass-the-buck" mentality, Israel's collective unity was destroyed. We cannot allow ourselves to practice this self-excusing mindset.