Temptation: Then and Now

It is funny how mortals always picture us as putting things into their minds: in reality our best work is done by keeping things out. - demon Screwtape, from The Screwtape Letters by C. S. Lewis.

One of the things that the Bible clearly states in the Book of Genesis is that God had made everything that the man and woman would need prior to their creation. And upon human creation, God also made them rulers of all else that were created. There was no room for dissatisfaction - everything was there in abundance for them to enjoy. Then the question is: How did the satan so easily convinced them to disobey God? What great offer could the satan have given Eve that compelled her to go against God? Did God actually forgot to create something that man would have wanted and did satan took advantage of this lapse from God's part?

Did God set up man to fail?

During a recent Faith Forum session at the Church, the question came up out of nowhere, "Why did God have to create that apple tree in the Garden of Eden?" In other words, was it necessary for God to tell Adam and Eve not to eat the fruit of the tree? If it was not meant to be eaten, then why created it? In essence the argument was that God, by creating this tree and then telling the man and woman not to eat of it, created the source of temptation which eventually led to the fall of humanity, His beloved creation. So the ultimate question is: Did God set up man to fail?

When God created everything in the beginning, He found them to be good. If everything was good, then where did  the evil come from? Evil came into existence when some of the angels under the leadership of Lucifer chose to disobey their Creator. So at the time of creation of humanity, evil was already present in the universe in the form disobedience. 

Refusing Help - The case of the priest and the Levite

Lenten Reflections #1

During Lent, the Church gives a lot of emphasis to three things: prayer, fasting and charity. Prayer mends any disruptions in our relationship with God; fasting helps us to be more in control of ourselves; charity enables us to love others as ourselves.

Though selfishness and greed controls the chunk of our daily activities, amazingly humanity also spend enormous resources towards helping those in need. In fact, I am confident that I am not over-stretching when I say that it might be impossible to find a human being who hasn't done a charitable thing at least once in their lifetime. But rather than focussing on those numerous occasions when we all have helped others, I would like to reflect upon those few instances when we failed to help those in need, especially those instances when the means to help were already available at our disposal.

God can't save me from the lion's den

Please go here to read my article published at CATHOLIC STAND.

You will not be overcome

What do you do when nothing make sense; when plans fall apart and all seems to be ruined? The temptation to despair is ever present in our lives. And most of the time, it is the easiest path to take. But for an outsider looking in, it is hard to figure out why those in despair could not just find happiness in things that they have, rather than worrying about things they want, until it hit home, when they themselves become desperate. Sinking fast into an abyss of negative thoughts, they too will soon realize that when expectations fall apart, senselessness becomes the only behavior that make sense. So is hope a bad thing? Is it better not to hope at all? But is it even possible to not to have hope?