Contradictions - Tempted and Tested
When someone is tempted, he shouldn’t say that God is tempting him. God can’t be tempted by evil, and God doesn’t tempt anyone.
Everyone is tempted by his own desires as they lure him away and trap him.
Then desire becomes pregnant and gives birth to sin. When sin grows up, it gives birth to death."
James 1:12-15 in the God's Word Bible Version
[This is the 1st lesson of this series]
Many people have a laundry list of contradictions regarding the bible. Many of them have given up on the Good Book, yes even if they haven't even read a quarter (or even a tenth) of it.
Many of these people keep on mentioning often quoted contradictions. There are so many of them that we don't even know where to begin. Of course, we just need to start somewhere.
Jesus is Not God
Some people point to this verse to prove that Jesus cannot be God because He was tempted. And clearly we read that the bible says God cannot be tempted.
It is a little ironic though that they use the bible which they don't believe in, to discredit it. And even more ironic is that those who don't believe in the bible and don't believe God, talk more about the bible, read it more and talk about God more than many of those who actually profess to believe in God and the bible.
We already mentioned previously in a message in another series of lessons that both believers and non-believers take bible verses out of context. It is not uncommon. So those who hardly read the Good Book or only read parts of it are more likely to be the ones who will cut and paste biblical verses to support whatever personal agenda they may have.
Temptation
Going back to the lesson at hand, first, we need to say that temptations come from the enemy of God. God does not tempt anyone.
God cannot be tempted. That is correct. But Jesus as a human being can be tempted, and the enemy tried to tempt Him at every chance. (Being tempted is not sinning).
Second, there might be a little confusion, but God does not test anyone. He doesn't need to.
God already knows everything, He knows the future, He doesn't need to test anyone for He already knows what they will do.
If we assume that He does test people, then He will do so, not for His benefit (as already stated), He has no need for it. Any testing is for the benefit of the person being tested so that they would find out what they will do at a particular instance. They can say they will do this or that but unless they actually find themselves in that situation, they wouldn't really know for sure.
Now the enemy has a propensity for testing people, like it does with tempting them. For the enemy of God is always considering "let's see how this person handles this, or that or another", just eager for anyone to fall for these traps.
Inner Desires
Now for those who have succumbed to a temptation, it is because of their own desires. The enemy constantly tries to find what kind of temptation will work on us. And when it finds one that works, it will keep on using that until it is no longer working. (And it doesn't help when we keep going back to places, people and situations where we know there will be temptations coming up on us, this just ups the chances that we will give in to the temptation).
Temptation
Going back to the lesson at hand, first, we need to say that temptations come from the enemy of God. God does not tempt anyone.
God cannot be tempted. That is correct. But Jesus as a human being can be tempted, and the enemy tried to tempt Him at every chance. (Being tempted is not sinning).
Second, there might be a little confusion, but God does not test anyone. He doesn't need to.
God already knows everything, He knows the future, He doesn't need to test anyone for He already knows what they will do.
If we assume that He does test people, then He will do so, not for His benefit (as already stated), He has no need for it. Any testing is for the benefit of the person being tested so that they would find out what they will do at a particular instance. They can say they will do this or that but unless they actually find themselves in that situation, they wouldn't really know for sure.
Now the enemy has a propensity for testing people, like it does with tempting them. For the enemy of God is always considering "let's see how this person handles this, or that or another", just eager for anyone to fall for these traps.
Inner Desires
Now for those who have succumbed to a temptation, it is because of their own desires. The enemy constantly tries to find what kind of temptation will work on us. And when it finds one that works, it will keep on using that until it is no longer working. (And it doesn't help when we keep going back to places, people and situations where we know there will be temptations coming up on us, this just ups the chances that we will give in to the temptation).
Fall of Man (and Woman)
The first sin was because the enemy tempted the first man and woman. Needless to say, temptations still works the same way as back then.
The solution is living a life led by the Spirit of God, meaning, crucifying the flesh daily.
The first sin was because the enemy tempted the first man and woman. Needless to say, temptations still works the same way as back then.
The solution is living a life led by the Spirit of God, meaning, crucifying the flesh daily.
Jesus of Nazareth was the only human who although tempted at every turn, did not give in to any of them.
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