How to fight temptation?

[arunangelo]

To sins is to go against God and our fellow human beings. To fight temptation therefore, we must trust God because when we trust Him we will feel secure; and when we feel secure we will not seek sinful ways to solve our problems. To trust God we must believe in His infinite love which propelled Him to sacrifice His own life in order to free us from sin. To believe in His love is to desire that love in our heart. When we have that love in our heart we will love our fellow human beings. This would prevent us from offending them. Furthermore, when we love God we will avoid sin because we will not want to offend God by sinning.

To love God we must meditate on His love which He expressed by dying on the cross (in order to compensate for the sins we committed against Him); and ask Him to make His love the life of our heart. Furthermore, we must accept His will unconditionally in all matters of our life.

We must always be on guard against temptations that look good on the outside but are intrinsically evil. The simplest way to decipher if an act is against God is to find out if it is against God's laws and His natural order. If it is, it is never right, irrespective of how attractive it may look. If the temptation is very strong and hard to resist, we must pray for a pure and obedient heart.

[JoeyKnothead]

You can preach.

Can you tell the truth?

[McCulloch]

To sins is to go against God and our fellow human beings.

As far as I know, I have not done anything against God, but then again, He has been remarkably quiet. With regard to humanity, I try to keep the balance sheet on the plus side.

To fight temptation therefore, we must trust God because when we trust Him we will feel secure; and when we feel secure we will not seek sinful ways to solve our problems.

I have difficulty trusting someone who is not there for me. Also, it has been my own experience that those who are the most secure and confident in what they feel that they should do are the ones most likely to inflict harm. If trusting God gives you the feeling that you are secure, that is to me a dangerous sign.

To trust God we must believe in His infinite love which propelled Him to sacrifice His own life in order to free us from sin.

What! Is God dead? That might explain his silence.

To believe in His love is to desire that love in our heart. When we have that love in our heart we will love our fellow human beings. This would prevent us from offending them.

Wouldn't it be more straight-forward to simply love humanity and avoid God being the love middle-man?

Furthermore, when we love God we will avoid sin because we will not want to offend God by sinning.

So then, why do Christians, who claim to have God, the Holy Spirit, dwelling within them ever choose to sin? It would seem to me that at least a few Christians should be able to live sinlessly.

To love God we must meditate on His love which He expressed by dying on the cross (in order to compensate for the sins we committed against Him); and ask Him to make His love the life of our heart.

Yes, what a wonderful expression of love! I love my cat too. Therefore, in imitation of the Heavenly Father's love, I am going to put that cat into a situation where he is guaranteed to fail and promise that I will torture him for the rest of his life if he does not live up to my unreasonable expectations. Then I will sacrifice myself for a weekend to demonstrate my love for the cat. If the cat then worships me and appreciates my sacrifice, I will relent and not torture him. God is such a wonderful example to follow!

Furthermore, we must accept His will unconditionally in all matters of our life.

OK, I'm there. I unconditionally accept everything that you can unambiguously demonstrate to be God's will for me.

We must always be on guard against temptations that look good on the outside but are intrinsically evil. The simplest way to decipher if an act is against God is to find out if it is against God's laws and His natural order.

I have never knowingly gone against any of God's laws. But then again, I don't know what God's laws are. God has been very quiet about such things. Now, the natural order of things is for me to seek sexual relations with as many women who are receptive. Thus, this cannot be against God.

[cnorman18]

We Jews don't talk about "sin" much. The concept isn't absent, but it's not a major focus of concern.

We tend to talk about mitzvot, plural of mitzvah, roughly "commandment" -- but with a different connotation than the English word. Why give a donation to a poor person? "It's a mitzvah." Comes out, roughly, a "good deed."

But again, "good deed" doesn't carry the connotation of "extra credit" as it does in English. What is called charity in English, and is regarded as a "virtue" in Christianity, is called tzedakah in Hebrew, which means justice. Giving to the poor, acting righteously, following the mitzvot -- that's only what we are expected to do, what it means to be a Jew.

Notice that there is no reference to God in there.

Maybe Christians have trouble with SIN and TEMPTATION because that's what you talk about and think about all the time. Paul's advice was better:

Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.

"We become what we resist."

[Telora]

I don't think fighting is a good idea, especially against yourself. I don't believe He generally minds as long as you rule the temptations rather then letting them control you, if you accept them, you can resolve them and then it's not an issue.

if it's causing harm it's generally not a good thing, i think that's when one could consider it a sin and poor human behavior.

[Telora]

We Jews don't talk about "sin" much. The concept isn't absent, but it's not a major focus of concern.

We tend to talk about mitzvot, plural of mitzvah, roughly "commandment" -- but with a different connotation than the English word. Why give a donation to a poor person? "It's a mitzvah." Comes out, roughly, a "good deed."

But again, "good deed" doesn't carry the connotation of "extra credit" as it does in English. What is called charity in English, and is regarded as a "virtue" in Christianity, is called tzedakah in Hebrew, which means justice. Giving to the poor, acting righteously, following the mitzvot -- that's only what we are expected to do, what it means to be a Jew.

Notice that there is no reference to God in there.

Maybe Christians have trouble with SIN and TEMPTATION because that's what you talk about and think about all the time. Paul's advice was better:

Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.

"We become what we resist."

Judaism fascinates me, but Abraham is one of my heroes and i'm not fond of Paul.

[cnorman18]

We Jews don't talk about "sin" much. The concept isn't absent, but it's not a major focus of concern.

We tend to talk about mitzvot, plural of mitzvah, roughly "commandment" -- but with a different connotation than the English word. Why give a donation to a poor person? "It's a mitzvah." Comes out, roughly, a "good deed."

But again, "good deed" doesn't carry the connotation of "extra credit" as it does in English. What is called charity in English, and is regarded as a "virtue" in Christianity, is called tzedakah in Hebrew, which means justice. Giving to the poor, acting righteously, following the mitzvot -- that's only what we are expected to do, what it means to be a Jew.

Notice that there is no reference to God in there.

Maybe Christians have trouble with SIN and TEMPTATION because that's what you talk about and think about all the time. Paul's advice was better:

Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.

"We become what we resist."

Judaism fascinates me, but Abraham is one of my heroes and i'm not fond of Paul.

LOL! I'm no big fan of Paul either; few Jews are. IMHO, he probably wasn't even Jewish. But even a stopped clock is right twice a day, and that one he got right.

Welcome to the forum. This is a nice place, and after reading your introduction, I look forward to some interesting conversations.

[Telora]

We Jews don't talk about "sin" much. The concept isn't absent, but it's not a major focus of concern.

We tend to talk about mitzvot, plural of mitzvah, roughly "commandment" -- but with a different connotation than the English word. Why give a donation to a poor person? "It's a mitzvah." Comes out, roughly, a "good deed."

But again, "good deed" doesn't carry the connotation of "extra credit" as it does in English. What is called charity in English, and is regarded as a "virtue" in Christianity, is called tzedakah in Hebrew, which means justice. Giving to the poor, acting righteously, following the mitzvot -- that's only what we are expected to do, what it means to be a Jew.

Notice that there is no reference to God in there.

Maybe Christians have trouble with SIN and TEMPTATION because that's what you talk about and think about all the time. Paul's advice was better:

Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.

"We become what we resist."

Judaism fascinates me, but Abraham is one of my heroes and i'm not fond of Paul.

LOL! I'm no big fan of Paul either; few Jews are. IMHO, he probably wasn't even Jewish. But even a stopped clock is right twice a day, and that one he got right.

Welcome to the forum. This is a nice place, and after reading your introduction, I look forward to some interesting conversations.

they're interesting, that's one word.

...but of all the bible characters he's the one i can relate to the most, the whole "called out of pagan lands" and then wandering in the desert trying to figure it out following an enigma.

Nice allegory for my life right now.

[cnorman18]

We Jews don't talk about "sin" much. The concept isn't absent, but it's not a major focus of concern.

We tend to talk about mitzvot, plural of mitzvah, roughly "commandment" -- but with a different connotation than the English word. Why give a donation to a poor person? "It's a mitzvah." Comes out, roughly, a "good deed."

But again, "good deed" doesn't carry the connotation of "extra credit" as it does in English. What is called charity in English, and is regarded as a "virtue" in Christianity, is called tzedakah in Hebrew, which means justice. Giving to the poor, acting righteously, following the mitzvot -- that's only what we are expected to do, what it means to be a Jew.

Notice that there is no reference to God in there.

Maybe Christians have trouble with SIN and TEMPTATION because that's what you talk about and think about all the time. Paul's advice was better:

Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.

"We become what we resist."

Judaism fascinates me, but Abraham is one of my heroes and i'm not fond of Paul.

LOL! I'm no big fan of Paul either; few Jews are. IMHO, he probably wasn't even Jewish. But even a stopped clock is right twice a day, and that one he got right.

Welcome to the forum. This is a nice place, and after reading your introduction, I look forward to some interesting conversations.

they're interesting, that's one word.

...but of all the bible characters he's the one i can relate to the most, the whole "called out of pagan lands" and then wandering in the desert trying to figure it out following an enigma.

Nice allegory for my life right now.

Abraham was the first convert, and my own spiritual father for ritual purposes.

Seriously. When I'm called to the Torah in services, my Hebrew name is "Dov Shmuel ben Avraham v'Sarah," "son of Abraham and Sarah."

35 years ago I was a Methodist minister, if you didn't know. I wandered in the wilderness a long time, too. Good guy, Abraham.

[ChaosBorders]

Wouldn't it be more straight-forward to simply love humanity and avoid God being the love middle-man?

Maybe, but history indicates that I'm personally not very good at that.