There's a
meme that says, "Guns don't kill people...people kill people!" While the issue of gun control is an
entirely different topic altogether, I'm reminded of that particular meme whenever someone says that either God or the Devil "made me do it."
God doesn't tempt people...people tempt themselves.
A verse that illustrates this point very well was quoted in part by God's_Child. The full reference I use to explain to others that God doesn't tempt His kids (and Satan doesn't tempt us as often as we might think) is James 1:13-18, which says:
James 1:13-18 (New International Version)
When tempted, no one should say, "God is tempting me." For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone; but each one is tempted when, by his own evil desire, he is dragged away and enticed. Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death. Don't be deceived, my dear brothers. Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows. He chose to give us birth through the word of truth, that we might be a kind of firstfruits of all he created.
The first thing the author says is "When tempted, no one should say, "God is tempting me." The tense in which the author provides this statement is not a suggestion. It is a command, as though it were taken from the lips of God Himself.
The author goes on to say, "For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does He tempt anyone..." This is an interesting verse that I myself (as well as so many others) skim over. There are two very important things that stand out to me on a second reading of this line:
- God cannot be tempted.
- God will not tempt anyone.
What evidence is there that God cannot be tempted? Some may say that because Jesus was tempted in the desert, God can indeed be tempted. This is sometimes a line of logic used by atheists in an attempt to disprove Christ's deity and/or the Bible's inerrancy.
It is true that Jesus was led into the desert to be tempted. In fact, in the NIV, Matthew 4:1 says it verbatim: "Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the desert to be tempted by the devil" (NIV). However, let's take a deeper look at James 1:13.
Where it gets
really interesting in a germane nature to the topic at hand is in the word ἀπείραστος, pronounced ä-pā'-rä-stos. In English, we translate that as "cannot be tempted." It is defined as "not liable to sin." The question a philosopher might ask is, "If Jesus could not be tempted by sin, is it truly temptation?" Yes.
Think about a sin that you do not struggle with. Myself, I do not struggle with speeding on the roads. However, my car is capable of doing 130 miles per hour (209 km/h). Does that mean I
want to go that fast? Not a snowbunny's chance in a campfire.
Does that mean that I'm never tempted to break the speed limit? Well, put me in a situation where I'm late for work for the third time in a row, and yes, I will be tempted (and will most likely fall) to that particular arsenic cupcake.
Jesus could be tempted to turn stones into bread, or jump off the temple, or even to bow down and worship the Accuser. In the Garden of Gethsemane, He told His Disciple (Peter, I believe) that He could call down an army of angels to fight for Him. If you speak a statement to someone, it means that the statement and the ideas it espouses has already crossed at least your subconscious. Jesus
was tempted to call off "Operation Salvation." However, for our sake, He didn't (very nice of Him, eh?).
We can see by those examples that God, when presented with opportunities to sin, has sort of taken Captain Jack Sparrow's attitude when he sees opportunities to do the right thing: "I love those moments. I like to wave at them as they pass by."
The second thing from that particular phrase is that God will not tempt anyone. By not saying that He will, it implies that He could. God could throw out arsenic cupcakes left and right, but God isn't a mean little kid with a magnifying glass over an anthill. God isn't looking for people to hate Him. Everything in God's nature says that He
may not shelter us from the consequences of our own actions, but He's not going to lead a sheep herd off a diving board.
The next thing that the author goes on to say is "...but each one is tempted when, by his own evil desire, he is dragged away and enticed."
This is the meat of the subject at hand, and I thank God's_Child for bringing it up. We are tempted because we have evil desires. We have those desires thanks to our earthly ancestor, Adam. Adam was the first to sin by not stopping Eve from taking the fruit when he was with her in the garden, and thus we're all buggered (Romans 5:12 and following).
So, because of this gift given to us by Adam, we often find ourselves in situations where we've created a sort of self-fulfilling prophecy of sin to come. If a pornography addict doesn't look at pornography for six weeks but then walks into a strip club to "test himself," he hardly has room to blame God for what he himself did when he sins.
It's also interesting to note that if one plays with fire, one is bound to be burned. The phrase in this part of the passage is "dragged away," which in the Greek gives the meaning of a fish to bait. A fish is not an overly intelligent creature when compared to humans, maybe with the exception of dolphins. Fish are instinctive, and if they see food squirming around in the water, it doesn't matter what that shiny thing going through the middle of it is. So often we are lured away by a sign advertising a nude club, or our 3-year old's new Crayon masterpiece all over the freshly painted wall. Whatever our particular flavor of arsenic cupcake, we find ourselves tempted to eat it, despite the fact
we know for certain how we're going to feel afterward.
The next thing the author says is, "Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death."
In Alaska, Inuit tribes have a certain way of hunting coyotes. They will first kill a seal, and drain the blood from the animal into a bucket. They will dip a long knife in the seal's blood, set it out, and let it dry or freeze to the blade. After this is done for several times, they will set the handle in the snow, so that the blood-coated blade sticks straight up. A coyote will smell it, and take one lick. At that point, the treat is safe. However, the coyote works itself into such a frenzy that--the next morning--the Inuit hunter will find a coyote dead from the wounds in its mouth.
We are that coyote, working ourselves into such a frenzy over our own sin that we don't even feel the pain when it happens. Our desire conceives, grows into sin, and sin grows into death. The same thing can happen with the good things we do, except instead of leading to death, they lead to life. If we cultivate the desire to follow the Lord in our lives, it can grow into fruitful action, and that fruitful action grows into life-giving blessings. Psalm 1 tells us that a man who does the will of God is like a tree planted by streams of water, whose leave doesn't wither. Whatever we do will prosper.
The author of James also gives us what seems to be an often-missed part of this particular morsel: "Don't be deceived, my dear brothers. Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows. He chose to give us birth through the word of truth, that we might be a kind of firstfruits of all he created."
All he is saying here is that "God doesn't tempt anyone. Instead, He's the giver of good and perfect gifts, the one who governs Heaven and the stars. God doesn't change. The God that helped us Israelites through the Desert and all our troubles didn't suddenly change without warning. He's been telling us for thousands of years how it should be, and He's going to continue in that. We were created in His image, to do good, and to gain those life-giving blessings as an example to the world of what He does."
Sorry for the long post, but James is my favorite book overall, and I just love digging into the meat that can be packed into one simple phrase.