This is the day the Lord has made, let us rejoice and be glad.
Psalm 118:24.
Chapter 6.
Temptation Can Mesmerize, Poison and Kill.
6.1 Satan's approach.
How can temptation mesmerize, poison and kill you? Your spouse? Your children? Your dreams? To answer this and other related questions, let's see what our first parents did, and what followed.
Genesis tells us, "The serpent was the most subtle of all the wild beasts that Yahweh God had made. It asked the woman, 'Did God really say you were not to eat from any of the trees in the garden?'"
The woman answered the serpent, 'We may eat the fruit of the trees in the garden. But of the fruit of the tree in the middle of the garden God said, You must not eat it, nor touch it, under pain of death.'
Then the serpent spoke to the woman, 'No! You will not die! God knows in fact that on the day you eat it your eyes will be opened and you will be like gods, knowing good and evil.'
The woman saw that the tree was good to eat and pleasing to the eye, and that it was desirable for the knowledge that it could give. So she took some of its fruit and ate it. She gave some also to her husband who was with her, and he ate it. Then the eyes of both of them were opened and they realized they were naked. So they sewed fig leaves together to make themselves loin cloths.
The man and his wife heard the sound of Yahweh God walking in the garden in the cool of the day and they hid from Yahweh God among the trees of the garden. But Yahweh God called to the man.
'Where are you?' he asked.
'I heard the sound of you in the garden;' he replied. 'I was afraid because I was naked, so I hid.'
'Who told you that you were naked?' he asked, 'Have you been eating of the tree I forbade you to eat?'
The man replied, 'It was the woman you put with me; she gave me the fruit and I ate it.'
Then Yahweh God asked the woman, 'What is this you have done?'
The woman replied, 'The serpent tempted me and I ate.' (1) So Yahweh God expelled him from the garden of Eden, to till the soil from which he had been taken. He banished the man, and in front of the garden of Eden he posted the cherubs, and the flame of a flashing sword, to guard the way to the tree of life." (2)
6.2 Romantic language.
Suppose someone said to you, "Her teeth are like pearls, her eyes like diamonds, her cheeks like peaches and her hair like threads of gold," you would know this was not a physical description of a real person but a description of that person's beauty, using words to describe loveliness in relation to things we know of, things we can relate to. This is an example of how romantic language describes how one might see an Other.
6.3 Religious language.
And so it is with the Bible, which was written in part using religious language. This helps to express the Divine more clearly and to make the Kingdom of God more visible. In much the same way as we use romantic language to describe the beauty of an Other, religious language describes our heavenly Father, His Love for us and His Kingdom.
6.4 Did serpents really talk?
Religious language describes the Tempter as a serpent- still, subtle, mysterious, secretive, quiet, poised, watching, waiting, all the while keeping you locked in its hostile stare. Then, at the appropriate moment, with lightning speed it strikes.
By symbolizing the Tempter as a serpent, religious language vividly describes the personality of the Evil One. He secretly schemes on how to inject the poison of sin into your soul. In so doing, not only would he destroy both your body and your soul but he would also break your heavenly Father's heart, for you are the "pupil of his eye." (3)
6.5 First sign of the Tempter's presence.
The Tempter's style or approach is to confront you with a question. This subtle pressure (forcing you to dialogue with him through your answer) puts you in a position where you are suddenly and unexpectedly reflecting on a proposal that is in direct opposition with your conscience and with whom you are.
When our first mother Eve heard the question, "Did God really say you were not to eat from any of the trees in the garden?" (4) she must have experienced a very disturbing malaise. It is most disconcerting to have an alien presence invade the privacy of your innermost being. You feel uneasy, you're aware someone is pushing for a response, your inner peace is disturbed and your soul senses danger. These signs are your first warning that something is wrong, that there is danger ahead. This is a situation potentially so terrible, it could sever your relationship with your heavenly Father, leaving you alone forever. At this point the Tempter is positioning himself to strike. Being conscious of these first signs is crucial in you having control over what will happen next, either in your life, or in the life of your spouse, your children or other persons in your Kingdom.
6.6 Importance of not responding to the Tempter.
The question the Tempter asked our first mother was: "Did God really say you were not to eat from any of the trees in the garden?" Notice the casual tone of his question. He makes it appear as a bit of innocent chitchat. This is where our mother Eve made her fatal mistake. She replied to the Tempter, she dialogued with the Evil One. Would you pick up a poisonous snake simply to see what it feels like? Of course not. Yet, our mother Eve did much worse when she answered the Tempter's leading question.
When we say, "Yes" to temptation (choosing our will over God's loving admonition) we sever our relationship with God. This causes a bitter heartbreak between the Creator and the Creature. Though our baptism resurrected us into the glorious body of Christ, temptation (because of the freedom given to us and is required for love to be true and meaningful) is still a real danger. It is as real for you and for me today as it was for our first parents, father Adam and mother Eve.
At all times, keep your heart focused on your King. Let Him draw you to Him. Pray with a steadfast heart. Walk only with the Lord. Let no one sway, charm or entice you from His side. "Watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation; the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak." (5)
6.7 You are not God.
If you even listen to the Tempter, you acknowledge the possibility that God may be wrong and that the Tempter may be right. To use your free will in this way is to set yourself up as God knowing better than your heavenly Father. Worse still, it's an act which supposes (to some degree) that your heavenly Father was misleading you, lying to you, the supreme insult to our God who is Truth. Now dearest Friend, let us see how believing the Tempter and allowing the poison of sin to come into our heart, can cause so many heartbreaks.
6.8 Our mother's first move.
The narrative continues. Eve answers, "We may eat the fruit of the trees in the garden. But of the fruit of the tree in the middle of the garden God said, 'You must not eat it, nor touch it, under pain of death.'" (6)
Because our first mother Eve is now conversing with the Tempter, she has already turned her heart from the Light to the Darkness. She has chosen to believe Satan the Liar and not God, the Truth. She now shows the first signs of separation from God. She is troubled and confused because her reply was not what our heavenly Father said.
6.9 The Tempter's response.
Having now engaged our first mother in an exchange, with a second hypnotic stare (more captivating than the first) the Serpent comes a little closer. Trying to convince her that he is an understanding friend, one she can trust, He tells her, "No! You will not die! God knows in fact that on the day you eat it your eyes will be opened and you will be like gods, knowing good and evil." Genesis then tells us, "The woman saw that the tree was good to eat and pleasing to the eye, and that it was desirable for the knowledge that it could give. So she took some of its fruit and ate it. She gave some also to her husband who was with her, and he ate it." (7)
6.10 Head (Logic) in battle with the heart (Love).
In response to warnings from our conscience (God's presence in us) telling us that what we are pondering is wrong, logic goes into action and comes out swinging. Loaded with cerebral arguments, logic challenges your heavenly Father's loving admonition (our conscience). This rebellious attitude reveals the presence of the Tempter within. We hear him screaming out OUR right to moral autonomy, OUR right to do what WE want to do, as WE see fit. Such encouragement is comparable to the Serpent saying to us what he said to our mother Eve, "No! You will not die!" (8) You can almost hear him adding, "Trust me."
6.11 Why sin is compared to a fruit.
Because in her heart our mother Eve has already turned her back on our heavenly Father's loving admonition, she ponders further the sinful act being contemplated. Genesis continues, "The woman saw that the tree was good to eat and pleasing to the eye, and that it was desirable for the knowledge that it could give." (9)
Genesis compares the attraction of sin with one's attraction to fresh fruit. Our first mother Eve sees sin as pleasing to the eye (like fruit), mouth watering, sweet, juicy, refreshing, and good. Sin, in the eye of the sinner, is appealing, delicious. In her heart, in anticipation of the pleasure of sinning, she can already taste it. Genesis says, "it was desirable for the knowledge that it could give." Curiosity fuels the temptation further, "I wonder? What would it be like to . . .?"
6.12 The sin.
The anticipation of doing it (sinning) mesmerizes our first mother Eve. Genesis 3:6 continues saying, "So she took some of its fruit and ate it." The Bible does not describe the sin committed by Eve.
Saint James says, "Everyone who knows what is the right thing to do and doesn't do it commits a sin." (10) James does not say sin is the wrong thing to do and does it, but defines sin as the "right thing to do and doesn't do it."
St. Thomas Aquinas says, "Disorder is found in the internal motion of the soul before it is found in the external bodily act. In internal motions, the appetite is first moved towards the end before it is moved to seek things on account of an end, and therefore the first human sin was connected with this first desire of an inordinate end. But man was so constituted in the state of innocence that there was no rebellion of the flesh against the spirit. Hence the first disorder of the human appetite could not consist in desiring some sensible good towards which the concupiscence of the flesh tended beyond the order of reason. Hence the first disorder must have been an inordinate desire of some spiritual good above measure and this belongs to pride. Hence it is clear that the first sin of the first man was pride." (11)
The Catechism of the Catholic Church defines sin as: " . . . an offence against reason, truth and right conscience; it is failure in genuine love for God and neighbor caused by a perverse attachment to certain goods. It wounds the nature of man and injures human solidarity. It has been defined as an utterance, a deed, or a desire contrary to the eternal law." (12)
Worse than sinning is to willfully expose oneself to temptation. Sinning begins when one wistfully ponders the Tempter's invitation. The person who wants to exercise all of his or her priestly duties and royal functions will confess and repent every occasion where one has allowed the Tempter access to his or her heart.
At this point, in her heart, our dearest first mother Eve has already turned her back on her heavenly Father. She has but to carry out the physical act itself, "So she took some of its fruit and ate it." (13) The interior yearning was now consummated and made visible by the exterior act of doing. She made the invisible visible. Now, God's creature, our first mother, was now going to die because of her sin. Because of this, we, her children, were born as strangers to the same God who gave our first mother life.
6.13 Sin enslaves.
Our first mother Eve, given life and creation, made a daughter of the Most High, was now under the control of the Tempter. 'I tell you solemnly, everyone who commits sin is a slave to sin." (14)
6.14 The bottom-line.
All our pains, sufferings and heartbreaks come from not living in the joyful embrace of our heavenly Father. I repeat, all our pains, sufferings and heartbreaks come from not living in the joyful embrace of our heavenly Father
When we longingly yearn for anything other than Him as the Treasure of our heart, we subject our soul (and through it our body) to the scorching pains of separation from Him, separation from Love, separation from Truth and separation from Life. A cut to our physical body warns us through pain of the potential danger ahead. A heartfelt desire for anything other than Him also warns us, through much spiritual pain and suffering, of the potential danger ahead.
When physically injured, we see to our injury before infection sets in, otherwise we risk being in a life-threatening situation. When we sin, we must also see to it very quickly. Injuries to the soul, like injuries to the body, not only bring much spiritual pain and suffering but, if not attended to, will lead to certain death of soul and of body- visible sign of the invisible soul.
Dearest Child of God, it is not your lot to live your life in pain and suffering, but to have life and to have it to the full. (15) Never turn your heart from your heavenly Father, from our dear Lord or from the Holy Spirit. Never even consider responding to the Tempter, you have seen how he deceives. Turn from him at the first sign of his presence, otherwise the consequence will be a life filled with heartbreaks and an anguish so severe, you will eventually die, soul and body. (16)
Footnotes.
1 Genesis 3:1-13.
2 Genesis 3:23-24.
3 Psalm 17:8
4 Genesis 3:1.
5 Matthew 26:41
6 Genesis 3:3.
7 Genesis 3:4-7.
8 Genesis 3:3.
9 Genesis 3:6.
10 James 4:17.
11 Summa Theologica, IIa IIae, q. 163, art.I:
12 Catechism of the Catholic Church, John Paul II, published by Doubleday, a division of Bantam Doubleday Dell. Article 8, SIN, II. The definition of Sin. 1849. This Catechism is a treasure chest of information , a must for every King and Queen in the Kingdom.
13 Genesis 3:6.
14 John 8:34.
15 John 10:10.