Article March 21, 2016 Issue

We can conquer temptations

Mark Raffles

Is it bad if we find ourselves tempted by sin? Does the very fact that evil is presenting itself to us indicate a lack of spiritual maturity or goodness on our part? If we are truly attempting to live a life of goodness and spirituality, does that make us immune from those temptations even presenting themselves to us?

To be confronted with sinful suggestions can be frustrating, especially to someone striving earnestly to keep his thoughts genuinely good and free from harmful influences. There was a time when I wanted a satisfying answer to the above questions about the nature of temptation. As I prayed to God for an answer, an insight came to me through an unusual source—baseball—and that insight eventually blossomed into ideas on how to deal more effectively with temptation.

In a baseball game, a batter steps up to the plate, determined to hit the ball so he can get on base, while the pitcher tries to prevent that from happening. The most effective way for the pitcher to prevent the batter from getting on base is to strike out the batter. Often the pitcher will try to induce the batter to swing by throwing a pitch that looks as if it’s in the strike zone, but isn’t. In essence, the pitcher is trying to fool the batter into thinking that the pitch is one that the batter can hit easily and solidly.  

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