Jared Moore has written previously on this site of the need for moral self-control. If I understand him correctly, he rails against (for example) those who would blame women and their attire for causing men to think lusty thoughts. Mr. Moore argues that personal purity means controlling our actions, urges, thoughts, and desires regardless of the images we see or opportunities we have.
I think he is absolutely correct.
Personal purity is not saying, “Hey, I’m working hard over here to be good, so could you take your clothes or your movies or your books and go elsewhere? I really don’t need the temptation.” Too often we make our ability to achieve purity dependent on the willingness of others to behave properly, when in fact, personal purity is exactly that: personal.
However, I would argue that there is an addendum, or an excursis or something Latin that we can insert here.
Exodus 33:2-3 2 I will send an angel to lead you, and I will force these people out of the land: the Canaanites, Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites.3 Go up to a fertile land. But I will not go with you, because I might destroy you on the way, since you are such a stubborn people.”
Seems to me, even God avoids situations.
I think we can hardly argue that God is avoiding the temptation to sin. After all, His perfection does not allow the entrance of sin, so to a certain degree our temptations are different than what He is talking about here. Even so, this passage would seem to imply that sometimes the wisest thing to do is to walk away. Simple as that.
Of course, if we continue reading this chapter we will see that God ultimately goes along with the people as they enter their land. He fights for them and guides them. Even so, these verses would seem to suggest that the path of wisdom just might include walking away from things.
Perhaps some temptations just shouldn’t be faced.
avoiding ‘occasions of sin’ is a part of Christian practice . . . but the onus is on the Christian to do the avoiding
Personal responsibility to avoid places, people, events, media, organizations that would lead one into sin is very different from expecting temptation to leave us alone. It won’t.
We have to take the initiative AND the responsibility and not place ourselves in any situation or around any people who we know can or will tempt us into sin. Personal responsibility . . . a must for Christian people.
I recall my dad saying “If you don’t want to do business with the devil, stay out of his store”. Still seems like a good idea all these years later.
Of course temptation will always be all around us, as long as the real “we” is wrapped in flesh. But God lays down good rules for either resisting or fleeing, which are effective for the believer who is first seeking the Kingdom. And maybe that’s the key to it, anyway.
!st Corinthians 6
17 But the one who joins himself to the Lord is one spirit with Him. 18 Flee immorality. Every other sin that a man commits is outside the body, but the immoral man sins against his own body. 19 Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own?
Flee immorality..
Just walk away… or run.
Mike,
Shouldn’t that text say flee sexual immortality? What translation did you use there?
NASB
And John, lol,
It should NOT say sexual IMORTALITY!!
I mean… not sexual IMMORTALITY
Its easy to mistype.
Young men report this problem pretty much as you say. And, the most common response when young women come to church, half naked, is to do exactly what you said. Stop going to church. Sounds right to me.
Actually, the blaming men for being aroused by clothing which was worn to arouse men is pretty much standard cultural feminism.
It looks like all the other versions use either fornication or sexual immorality except Young’s Literal which uses”whoredom” twice.
Some young men go to church to see the ladies.
But you cant escape it in the world.
During my youth, I heard a Baptist preacher say that there was a devil behind every bush. I used to doubt that, until I found out in my Christian journey that there’s a devil behind every bush!
“By all means use your judgement, and hold on to whatever is really good. Steer clear of evil in any form.” (1 Thessalonians 5:21-22 Phillips)
We are no match for the Devil.
He would surely “sift us like wheat”.
Steer clear and cling to the cross. Our Lord is our only hope on this score.
In spite of all, you will find yourself giving in to the very lusts, inclinations, of your old fleshly nature. Dealing with such evil , one finds, means paying a steep price for sacrifice in rejection of seeming fulfillment of desires. There is an inner strength the develops that can say no to the blandishments of the flesh. Arrogance about the matter is really a by-product of ignorance. In any case, there is pain and agony involved in resistance, resistance to the point of shedding blood,
line four correcto strength “that” develops….
You’re right to observe that God ultimately goes with them. Why would He make the statement that he wouldn’t go with them if he knew that he was going anyway? The answer is that the statement was intended to elicit a specific response from Moses. Read Moses’ response and see what God was looking for. I would say that even God uses reverse psychology, and he does it “like a boss”. But more importantly, He knows how to build up a leader for his people.