Happy Birthday Maddie!! Today is her actual birthday. Up to know she has had 2 parties and lots of celebrating. We are so happy to have her in our family She jumped up and down this morning as she exclaimed, "I'm 5!!!"
The Infinite Atonement (Illustrated Edition), by Tad R. Callister
pg. 113--"Part of the human experience is to confront temptation. No one escapes. It is omnipresent. It is both externally driven and internally prompted. It is like the enemy that attacks from all sides. It boldly assaults us in television shows, movies, billboards, and newspapers in the name of entertainment or free speech. It walks down our streets and sits in our offices in the name of fashion. It drives our roads in the name of style. It represents itself as political correctness or business necessity. It claims moral sanction under the guise of free choice. On occasion it roars like thunder; on others it whispers in sublet, soothing tones. With chameleon-like skill it camouflages its ever-present nature, but is is there---always there."
What an excellent description of temptation. I am amazed at how much we let temptation into our lives. How much we justify what Satan wants us to do. How often we look at something with our eyes half closed for the sake of fitting in, justifying that everyone else is doing it so it must be okay, or just because it is easier than fighting. We have to be strong. We have to be careful what we view on television, the computer, the phone, how we spend our time, I know that playing mindless games on my phone is not the best use of my time and when I turn them on I have to ask myself is there something else I could or should be doing. It is the principal of good, better, best.
pg. 115--"Some may contend that the Savior cannot empathize with those who succumb to temptation because he never yielded and, therefore, he could not understand the apparently unique circumstances of those who did. The fallacy of such an argument is exposed by C.S. Lewis: 'No man knows how bad he is till he has tried very hard to be good. A silly idea is current that good people do not know what temptation means. This is an obvious lie. Only those who try to resist temptation know how strong it is. After all, you find out the strength of the German army by fighting it, not by giving in. You find out the strength of a wind by trying to walk against it, not by lying down. A man who gives in to temptation after five minutes simply does not know what it would have been like an hour later. That is why bad people, in one sense, now very little about badness. They have lived a sheltered life by always giving in. We never find out the strength of the evil impulse inside us until we try to fight it; and Christ, because He was the only man who never yielded to temptation, is also the only man who knows to the full what temptation means--the only complete realist.'"
I love this description of temptation as well. It gives me strength to keep fighting and not want to ever give in. However, I know I am human and when I do give in I am grateful that my Savior is there to pick me up, dust me off and keep working with me that I may one day be strong enough too.
The Infinite Atonement (Illustrated Edition), by Tad R. Callister
pg. 113--"Part of the human experience is to confront temptation. No one escapes. It is omnipresent. It is both externally driven and internally prompted. It is like the enemy that attacks from all sides. It boldly assaults us in television shows, movies, billboards, and newspapers in the name of entertainment or free speech. It walks down our streets and sits in our offices in the name of fashion. It drives our roads in the name of style. It represents itself as political correctness or business necessity. It claims moral sanction under the guise of free choice. On occasion it roars like thunder; on others it whispers in sublet, soothing tones. With chameleon-like skill it camouflages its ever-present nature, but is is there---always there."
What an excellent description of temptation. I am amazed at how much we let temptation into our lives. How much we justify what Satan wants us to do. How often we look at something with our eyes half closed for the sake of fitting in, justifying that everyone else is doing it so it must be okay, or just because it is easier than fighting. We have to be strong. We have to be careful what we view on television, the computer, the phone, how we spend our time, I know that playing mindless games on my phone is not the best use of my time and when I turn them on I have to ask myself is there something else I could or should be doing. It is the principal of good, better, best.
pg. 115--"Some may contend that the Savior cannot empathize with those who succumb to temptation because he never yielded and, therefore, he could not understand the apparently unique circumstances of those who did. The fallacy of such an argument is exposed by C.S. Lewis: 'No man knows how bad he is till he has tried very hard to be good. A silly idea is current that good people do not know what temptation means. This is an obvious lie. Only those who try to resist temptation know how strong it is. After all, you find out the strength of the German army by fighting it, not by giving in. You find out the strength of a wind by trying to walk against it, not by lying down. A man who gives in to temptation after five minutes simply does not know what it would have been like an hour later. That is why bad people, in one sense, now very little about badness. They have lived a sheltered life by always giving in. We never find out the strength of the evil impulse inside us until we try to fight it; and Christ, because He was the only man who never yielded to temptation, is also the only man who knows to the full what temptation means--the only complete realist.'"
I love this description of temptation as well. It gives me strength to keep fighting and not want to ever give in. However, I know I am human and when I do give in I am grateful that my Savior is there to pick me up, dust me off and keep working with me that I may one day be strong enough too.
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