My son, if sinners entice you, do not give in to them (Proverbs 1:10).

How much is sinning a social behavior?  How much of my personal tendencies toward wrong-doing are influenced and emboldened by others?  I can certainly remember times when I did something stupid because it was conceived by others and carried out in a group setting:  the time Aaron Calland and I built a camp-fire in the narrow two-meter gap between our family's garage and shed (both of which were wooden structures!)... the time that my cousin, my brother, and I terrorized a younger kid at Tampa Bay's Busch Gardens, following him around and shouting threats at him just for the "fun" of it... or the time that Eric Henderson showed me some of his father's stash of dirty magazines... I was cautious enough as a kid that I probably wouldn't have done any of these things without the social dynamics that influenced the situations.  But what does that really mean, when it comes to questions of "guilt" or "innocence?"

Personally, I don't think it means anything at all.

Right is right, and wrong is wrong, regardless of the circumstances that feed into any given choice in life.  Sure, social dynamics may play into a given situation -- impairing judgment, even forcing an element of coercion -- but ultimately, it's still an individual choice.  If sinners entice you, you always have two options:  to give in to them, or not give in to them.  This sounds like such a parental thing to say, in the face of peer pressure ("If all your friends were jumping off a cliff, does that mean that you'd jump off the cliff, too?") -- still, the point remains.

Each of us is ultimately responsible for our own choices and behaviors.  Our excuses are merely window-dressing.  You will face the same consequences for your actions, no matter what the back-story might be.  So let me recommend, just like King Solomon:  "My son (or daughter, or friend), if sinners entice you, do not give in to them."