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Temptation
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The devil made me do it:
By KARAN MINNIS,Guardian Lifestyles Reporter -
Nassau, Bahamas:



Whether we profess Christianity or not, there's always something out there that calls to us, and makes us stray, and not walk the straight and narrow path — and that's temptation. For all of us, the things that tempt us are different. We can hold steadfast against some, but there's that one thing . . . maybe even two things that make us fall weak.

But you don't have to give in to your temptation, according to Reverend . William Thompson, pastor at Faith United Missionary Baptist Church, Baillou Hill Rd.

"Temptation is one of the things that will always be a part of the human life," he says. "One of the first major things that happened to Jesus was temptation. Over the course of 40 days and 40 nights Jesus was tempted many, many times, but the only reason God allowed that to happen was so that we as humans will know that we are in the midst of temptation at all times."

Thompson says that the only way around temptation is to resist it, and that it can be done through two ways — prayer and spiritual development.

"The Bible shows you that through both prayer and spiritual development you can replace and resist temptation by focusing on God.

When we are pushed to the point of temptation, we as a people must learn how to stop where we are and move ourselves into a prayer state that will cost us not to yield to temptation. "Temptation is a part of the human setup and it always will be. This means that we cannot avoid it, but we can stop it and not give in. To do this we [must] have a relationship with God, and to pray," he says.

Adding that Christians must be prayerful at all times, Thompson says that prayer is the answer to whatever tempts you, and which is the root of many problems. "Temptation doesn't just come in open forms," he says. "Sometimes the things that are out there to tempt us look normal, but they are not, and you have to walk in the grace of God to understand and see that. So any time you stop being prayerful and you walk off the path that God has laid out, you will become even more open to temptation. Therefore to prevent this you must remain in a constant prayerful and watchful state."

Monsignor Alfred Culmer of St Thomas More Catholic Church, says that the most important factor is how you handle temptation.

"People have to recognize that temptation is real and that [it] is out there." But he says that the important thing is how you recognize and respond to it.

"I think your decision calls for a level of certain growth and maturity in our lives, which some of us learn by mistake and some of us learn from the mistakes of others. However, I think that our decision in that regard comes from an inner sense of decency, goodness and the recognition of our purpose in life and who we are in terms of our relationship with God."

Culmer says when dealing with temptation we must ask ourselves what God expects of us, what does God expects you to do, and also what you expect of yourself.

He said that normally, people act impulsively instead of acting reflectively, and that they usually do and then think rather than think and then do, and then try to say that their actions are based on human nature or even hormones.

"Some people use God as an excuse saying that this is the way God made us, but no, God made us to be responsible and we are responsible for our actions. That's why our faith should always inform our reason. Before we try and rationalize things, we have to ask if it is acceptable to God because there is a fundamental relationship between God and us. There is also a fundamental relationship with ourselves in terms of our expectations of who we are and the best that we can do."

Culmer says that temptation is always around us, and that in order to control and avoid temptation we must all know our weaknesses.

"It is important for people to recognize their weaknesses. We all have them, and if you know and understand your own, you will know who to handle the problem. For some people their weakness is sex, for others it's [something else], but I think that by really recognizing first and foremost what your flaws are, what your weaknesses are, you can see what level of resiliency you have in yourself to deal with it.

"After yielding, you have some people who just give up and say the devil made me do it, but the truth is that the devil didn't make you do anything. Your desire did, and that's where weakness starts — with a desire. The problem is not the act itself, it's the desire."

However, Culmer says weaknesses are not all bad, and that when they can be used to see what we have to spend time working on in our lives, he doesn't consider them a bad thing. "Therefore it's not necessarily a negative thing to have a weakness, especially since we all have weaknesses. Even Paul had to come to that realization in his own life."

He says that where sin abounds the grace of God is even stronger. So in times of weakness Culmer says you should ask God to make you stronger with His grace and His presence, which he says will help you see what the problem is. That in itself, Culmer says is an act of faith that some are not willing to make.

October 18, 2008 | 6:22 PM Comments  0 comments

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