John 19:16

John 19:16 says, Then delivered he Him therefore unto them to be crucified.  And they took Jesus, and led Him away.  Pilate had a battle raging in his conscience, and what was easier won over what was right.  He still had found no fault with Jesus, but he was turning Him over to be executed.  When we, as followers of Christ, begin to do what is easiest for us instead of what is morally correct, we are just as guilty as Pilate of rejecting Jesus.  That does not make us lost again, but it does make us guilt of following self-will instead of following God's will.  Pilate turned Jesus over to the Jews instead of His soldiers.  He was still trying to put the responsibility on others, but it was his alone.  We may attempt to put the responsibility for our actions on others, but they are ours alone.  If you have learned anything about what I believe the Bible teaches, it is that free will is always the determining factor.  Just as Pilate could not excuse his responsibility in the crucifixion, neither could any individual Jew who was a part of the crowd who led Him away.  We cannot excuse our actions just because everybody, or even most Christians, is doing it.  Not being Catholic, he is not my Pope, but the Pope just made a statement that Christians have a responsibility to make sure that any "news" they pass along is true.  In the age of social media, it is easy for a lie to be passed along as truth, and many times Christians pass these lies along.  Sometimes, if you attempt to correct them, they get angry at you, but as followers of Christ, we have a responsibility to seek the truth.  If we cannot verify that something is true, we need to not repeat it, no matter how many likes or comments it gets.  The Jews that day could no more excuse themselves for calling for the crucifixion of Jesus because everyone there wanted it than could Pilate for turning Jesus over to them.  They each had an individual responsibility, as do we today when it comes to the truth.  We, as followers of Christ, we cannot justify our actions based on anything except what Jesus would do.  We can never find fault in the will of God.  As I have said before, God's will applies to every decision we make.  If we do something wrong, we cannot just decide to do better on our own.  We must ask God's forgiveness if we are truly His.  We can neither excuse nor forgive ourselves.