...Temptation All of us experience temptations. So did the Savior, but He “gave no heed unto them” (D&C 20:22). Similarly, we do not have to yield simply because a temptation surfaces. We may want to, but we don’t have to. 3. Satan, who is called the tempter (Mt. 4:3; 1 Thess. 3:5), is out to get us. He doesn’t care how spiritual we are, or how secure we are in our Christian homes; he is going to tempt us to sin hoping to lead us away from God and our families. FIRST, TO RESIST TEMPTATION, WE MUST UNDERSTAND WHAT TEMPTATION IS. Temptation is an enticement or an allurement to sin against the will of God. 2. James explains temptation this way: (Jam. 1:13-15) “When tempted, no one should say, “God is tempting me.” For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does He tempt anyone; but each one is tempted when, by his own evil desire, he is dragged away and enticed. Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death.” 3. These verses teach several things about temptation. a. First, God does not tempt us to sin, in fact, (1 Cor. 10:13) explains that God provides us with a way out of temptation. God allows us to be tempted in order to refine our faith and to help us grow in our dependence upon Him. b. Second, temptation in of itself is not sin. Jesus was tempted, however, He was without sin. Temptation only becomes sin when we give into the temptation. 4. Temptation is a process...
Words: 1018 - Pages: 5
...Two such principles include temptation and sins of omission, which can be tied together in some instances. Relating to the Word of God, there are sins of omission, which is not doing things that God expects us to do, and sins of commission, which are things we do that we shouldn’t be doing, like overt sins. Temptation is the act of testing the loyalty and/or disloyalty of a person in relation to God. It’s important to follow the Word of God and resist bad temptations when they come. Sins of Omission A sin of omission is failing to do something which one is able to do and/or which one ought to do when they are responsible for it. According to Millard Erickson, a sin is a “failure to let God be God and placing something or someone in God’s rightful place of supremacy” (Etzel & Guiterrez, 2012). The Word of God teaches us to help others around us, because of this, seeing someone drowning, for example, and not doing anything to help would be a sin of omission. If this were to happen, you would not be following God’s Word by not helping that person who is in need. When you follow Gods Word, it’s important to try and help people when you are able to, whether you personally help someone or you help them through an intermediary, to avoid a sin of omission. Throughout the Bible they are many different examples of different sins. James 4:17 states “so then, if we do not do the good we know we should do, we are guilty of sin”. This verse is talking about sins of omissions and how we need...
Words: 1208 - Pages: 5
...reflection paper will address temptation and Demons. I do not have a lot of knowledge in these subjects but I want to challenge myself in places I am not familiar with. However, temptation and demons have relation with one another so that’s why I chose these topics. These classes at Liberty University have definitely opened my mind to what it is to be a Christian and appreciate the morals and values I hold. Temptation and Demons are spoken of in the Bible and all over the world. I am excited to further my learning in these topics. THEOLOGICAL DEFINITION: What is temptation? Temptation is what moves us to sin. It is important to know that God does not tempt us to sin (Jas 1:13) and temptation is not to be equated with sin. Christ was tempted (Matt. 4) yet he never sinned (Heb. 4:15). James 1:12-16 is the definition of temptation. Great blessings are given to those who are tempted and remain faithful and your own desires lead you into temptation (James 1:12-16). We must be able to get to a point to resist temptation. It is also important to realize temptation is not sin. Sin is not to blame when we sin (Napier, 1993, para. 12). BIBLICAL DEFINITION: According to the Bible there are two definitions of temptation. Temptation was demonstrated in the Bible when God “tempted” Abraham (Gen. 22:1). In this case temptation meant a trial or being put to the test. Temptation can also mean solicitation to what is evil. Satan is called the “tempter”. Temptation is common to all people of all...
Words: 601 - Pages: 3
...Christ and follow his plan. God forgave our sins when he died on the cross, should we take advantage of his love for us? No, God wants us to know how serious sinning really is, and that by him forgiving our sins we are not given the freedom to sin whenever we like. When we are baptized we are giving ourselves to Christ and leaving our sinful life behind and never to be seen again. God is giving us an opportunity to renew ourselves, setting our life free from sin and temptation. (Verses 1-4) When we give our life to God we are linked by faith. We are freed from our sinful nature and no longer slaves of it. Even when we become freed from sin each of us will fall into sin throughout our life. By uniting with Christ we will not be controlled by the sins we face, God will help us get passed them and continue us on his journey. (Verses 5-7)...
Words: 608 - Pages: 3
...Angelology and Satanology Ethical Dualism means that there are two mutual hostile forces of beings in the world, one being the source of all that is good, the other the source of all evil. There were two challenges of Satan that is recorded in Genesis 3 and Matthew 4. There was the temptation of Adam and Eve and also Jesus the son of God. Out of these two challenges the rewards of success would be great for Satan. The results of Eve’s sin were great and gave a big victory for Satan. Satan approached Jesus through the same three avenues of temptation as he approached Eve. (Matt. 4: 3; 5, 6; 8, 9). Satan was unsuccessful this time. God is the only eternal self-existent being that we read about which is represented in the Bible. Satan is not self-existent so he had to have a point of origin. God created Satan as a leading Angel who later wanted to become more powerful than God himself. Satan wanted to be worshipped. When reading the Chapter Ezekiel from the Bible it reveals more about a "king" who is obviously Lucifer. God did not create evil however he does reward and punishes according to our obedience. God created his angels and appointed arch angels who were highest of all angels. Since the arch angel had such high power they believed they could overpower God and went against God. The high power angel thought he could persuade Gods people into his world. Punishment came upon the angel and he was considered a fallen angel (Satan). God is the Father of all spirits including...
Words: 673 - Pages: 3
...Jordan Estanislao TREDTWO C37 2/17/2015 The Clutches of Sin Sin as we all know is formally defined as the infraction against the word of God. With every sinful act we commit, it is like we are distancing ourselves from God. Despite this, it seems that nobody could still stay away from the clutches of sin. Nobody is perfect. We live in an imperfect world filled with temptations and bad influences. Unfortunately no matter how hard we try to stay away and fight off these negative inducements, eventually we would succumb to the pull of sin. As my father always quotes from the bible “The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak. Due to this, people have this common notion in mind that if everybody eventually turns out to be a sinner, then why bother trying so hard not to be one. These people would then rationalize that it is ok to sin because God is super forgiving and that by confessing our sins, everything would be ok. It is as if by simply telling someone of one’s bad deeds, it would magically erase all the damages done because of one’s sinful acts. What they don’t realize is that as described in the lecture, sin is a spiral that enslaves us, making us addicted to it. Every time we commit a sin, it opens us to a possibility that we would keep repeating them until it now harms our major social and personal relations. Sin doesn’t just affect oneself, it also affects the people around us. Every time we commit a sin, more likely than not, someone would be negatively affected...
Words: 20441 - Pages: 82
...come to mind when you hear the word temptation? What kinds of temptations have you faced? The first things I think of are food (eating things that I know I shouldn’t be eating), disobedience (feeling tempted to ignore what my parents told me not to do) and distractions (instead of concentrating on my work, I get drawn into unnecessary conversation with my peers). As we can see we have all experienced temptation in our daily lives. To be able to understand temptation, we need to know where it originated from. The first temptation mentioned in the Bible is of Eve. We all know the story. Satan appeared to her as a snake and urged her to eat of the Tree of Life which God specifically told her and Adam not to touch. This tells us that temptation is not something new or unheard of but in fact has been around from the creation of man. God is a withholder of great things. We now need to think about the source of temptation. However, before we look into this we must read James 1: 13, 14. The word specifically tells us that God does not tempt us. Knowing this, how are we tempted and why? * Idleness * Desires * At our weakest moments * The tempter uses others to tempt us Satan wants to separate us from God. He wants us to feel so weak and helpless so that we begin to lose all faith and trust in the Creator. The tempter wants to lead us astray so that we can fall deeper into sin. Once you’ve sinned, it’s easier to sin again. Temptation is like a seed. If you don’t water...
Words: 755 - Pages: 4
...Evil and Sin in the Book of Luke Principles from the Life of Christ BBL 3913 Reverend Ellis Robertson January 10, 2013 Introduction to Evil in Luke After Jesus was baptized in the river Jordan, He was “led out into the wilderness by the spirit” Luke 4:1. He was the confronted by the devil himself, pure evil incarnate, and prince of demons. The devil wanted Jesus to turn to him and worship him, thereby completely destroying His ability to bring salvation to the Israelites, and to the world as a whole. The devil did not know, or at the very least understand, with whom he was dealing. Jesus refuted him at all suggestions of temptation by quoting directly from the Word of God, which He himself had been from the beginning of time. The devil lied to Jesus, telling Him that “all the kingdoms of the world . . . were his to give, if He were to worship him” Luke 4:5-7. Jesus, of course, did not accept the devil’s offer, because He is the true King of all creation. Very few of us, if any, are directly tempted by the devil. Although we are all tempted, mostly we are tempted by our own sinful nature, not from specific temptations by other entities. Jesus was tempted by complete evil because He was a threat to the devil and his minion’s. Jesus sought to save all of humanity from sin and evil, and “proclaim that captives will be released, that the blind will see, that the oppressed will be set free, and that the time...
Words: 2306 - Pages: 10
...Faith and innocence are easily forgotten or lost in times of temptation and sin. In the story "Young Goodman Brown," symbolism can be found in Young Goodman Brown by the way he acts on the path with the devil and also in his wife, Faith in her name and pink ribbons. Young Goodman brown symbolizes more than one thing. He symbolizes good men, the battle between faith and temptation, and morality. This is shown when he goes into the woods and the whole - time regrets leaving his faith and thinks of turning back. After all of this happened and the "dream" is over, he is never the same and sees all of the sin in people around him until the day he died. The story states," They carved no hopeful verse on his tombstone for his dying hour was...
Words: 438 - Pages: 2
...Sin is something that has permeated our entire society and I am glad the Author addressed sin in the very first chapter. I grasped that it is virtually impossible to understand who we are without knowing sin since we all sin on a daily basis. Generally, we sin in both in action and attitude. The Author further explained how Satan can subtly use strategies to get us to doubt God's word and to tempt us to the point of disbelief and prevent us from receiving blessings from God. We sin when we focus on self more than on God. Sin can cause broken relationships. God does allow us to make choices; either we choose God's will or follow after Satan's wavelength; obey God and be safe in Jesus or follow Satan's way and be doomed to destruction....
Words: 1253 - Pages: 6
...righteousness is to seek Jesus. (Rom. 4:4, 5). No. 4: Christianity and salvation are based not on what you do but on whom you know (Rom. 3:28). No. 5: Doing right by not doing wrong is not doing right. Being good by not being bad is not being good (Matt. 23:27, 28). No. 6: Righteousness will make you moral, but morality will not make you righteous (Matt. 5:20). No. 7: Our good works are not what cause us to be saved. Our bad works are not what cause us to be lost (Rom. 3:20). No. 8: Everyone is bom sinful (or self-centered) because everyone is born separated from God (Ps. 58:3). No. 9: God does not hold us accountable for being born sinful (Eze. 18:20; John 1:9). No. 10: We sin because we are sinful; we are not sinful because we sin (Rom. 7:14-20). No. 11: Sin (living apart from God) results in sins (doing wrong things) (1 John...
Words: 2238 - Pages: 9
...a poem in order to display his journey to God in a time when he had lost his way. The Inferno, symbolizes Dante's recognition of sin and the need to deny the temptations of man in order to obtain paradise with God. The Hero's Journey is depicted throughout the poem. The Call: The Call is the beginning of the Hero's Journey. It is when the protagonist or hero of the book is brought out of their domain and into the unknown. They are called to pass the horizon and enter into a mystery that will lead them to their destiny. The poem of "Dante's Inferno" opens up with Dante being lost in his pathway to God. On the morning light of Good Friday he realizes the error of his ways and turns to go up the Mount of Joy in order to leave the Dark Wood of worldliness and enter into Paradise. After being denied entry into the pathway towards god by three beasts, Dante's...
Words: 1762 - Pages: 8
...Alibechs? What puts me into temptations? Why can’t I resist it ? Or do I even know how to conquer it? No one in this world are excluded from inducing “TEMPTATION” we are all tempted and mishandling it can cost more. For my eighteen years of existence I’ve been through a lot of temptations but this was just the time where I realized that my “BELIEFS” are the cause of embracing it. Because of believing that it can lead me to happiness, because of believing that it can relieve my burden and because I thought of it, as if it was right, I let myself be swallowed by temptations. One of my Alibechs are my “Idols”. I turned into judging, cursing, badmouthing bashers because of believing that what they say are wrong and having this spirit of being the number one fan. Second are my “wants” in my life. I want a high grades, I want to be loved, I want to be pretty, I want to be rich, I want to share the word of God, I want to be understood by everyone, I want everything to have a good life! But because of believing that fulfilling what I want , can make me happy , I did’nt noticed that I am already hurting and stepping in someone’s life. I commit sins and eaten by Alibechs because of believing without control, and I can conquer it by taking control of my emotions.Believing in such things can lend me to temptations but it can also take me away from it. “Sandy, believe me you can pass the exam by accepting this cheat” (that was temptation right?how can you take...
Words: 356 - Pages: 2
...Puritan society by revealing the sins committed by many individuals in the community. In this novel, Hester Prynne was an obvious sinner, forced by the community to forever harbor the scarlet letter on her chest as a reminder of her sin. Roger Chillingworth could also be considered a sinner for lying about his identity and mentally torturing his patient, Arthur Dimmesdale. However, one would be surprised to find that the worst sinner in this novel was one of the most pious men in the community. Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale was the most sinful in this novel, because he committed adultery with Hester, lived a hypocritical life, and doubted God's ability...
Words: 810 - Pages: 4
...Dimmesdale transgressed against his morals and was in the situation of having to lie because he was afraid of the severe consequences he would face if he confessed. Because he was a pastor, this caused him to be in even more pain and possible judgment from the community, as pastors are normally seen as leading people out of sin, not being dragged into sin. Libidinal appeared in the sentence, “We may understand Hawthorne’s full meaning if we identify the potential invader of the citadel as a libidinal impulse, now necessarily bearing a charge of guilt”. Libidinal’s denotation means to have sexual desire. This word emphasizes how Dimmesdale’s impulse, being the moral enemy, invaded the citadel, being the protector of Dimmesdale’s values and morals. This impulse caused Dimmesdale to be worn down with guilt and shame for what he has done. In other words, the author is saying, “If we identify the invader of Dimmesdale’s morals as lust, which has guilt attached to it, we can...
Words: 424 - Pages: 2
