Reply #160: Deception and Temptation...pretty shallow toolbox that.

[hunter]

I always think of Jesus up there on the mountain with the devil...

Satan's saying, "All these glorious kingdoms of the world can be yours...

Jesus raises his hand and cuts Satan off. He looks at satan like he's some distasteful bug, and says, "Well, duh!"

That's not exactly how Matthew 4.1-11 goes, but maybe Matthew thought he had to explain things to his readers.

Way back when I was in college I lived in a pretty wild college town, and one of the many jobs I took was delivering pizzas.

One night I rang the doorbell of this apartment. The door opened, and clouds of marijuana smoke came billowing out, and standing in front of me was this gorgeous woman wearing a sheer blue and deeply open blouse. But I'm not noticing the blouse so much as what's underneath. The apartment is full of gorgeous women, and they are all very stoned and very drunk.

"Ummm, the woman says, we don't have enough money, but..." and she reaches down seductively... and I'm thinking... Well actually I'm not thinking, not upstairs anyways, and it's a miracle I didn't drop the pizzas when she touched me.

Noticing my terror and confusion, one of the other women in the apartment flashes me (okay, I only saw her bra) and then they all start hooting and laughing at me.

"But I still have pizzas to deliver," I squeak like a little trapped animal.

"It won't take long," the young woman says.

In a panic I look around the room for someone, anyone, to save me. I'm suffering complete and terrible brain freeze.

"Um, yes, it will," I squeak.

So they all start laughing and hooting even more, and then one of the women comes over to me, hands me money for the pizzas, and I leave that place as quickly as I can, my virginity still intact.

But was satan there?

I don't think so.

The only time I've ever been really troubled enough to think about satan is when the military offered me a job. I've got health problems that exclude me from the normal soldiering or sailoring, but I do have skills the military found interesting. They were all ready to set me up in a very nice "civilian" position, but I said no, partly in deference to my family's historical pacifism, and partly because it felt like some sort of temptation. This was probably a good choice, not because I think the military is inherently evil, but there are some pathways there that lead to working for people like Wolfowitz or Rumsfeld, and then you can never wash that smell of brimstone out of your hair or clothes.

I've always had a great deal of respect for Jimmy Carter. I'm pretty sure he was screwed over by the overtly satanist branch of our government, but that's another story. Right now I'm thinking about his infamous Playboy interview of November, 1976.

Because I'm just human and I'm tempted and Christ set some almost impossible standards for us. The Bible says, "Thou shalt not commit adultery." Christ said, I tell you that anyone who looks on a woman with lust has in his heart already committed adultery. I've looked on a lot of women with lust. I've committed adultery in my heart many times.... This is something that God recognizes, that I will do and have done, and God forgives me for it. But that doesn't mean that I condemn someone who not only looks on a woman with lust but who leaves his wife and shacks up with somebody out of wedlock. Christ says, don't consider yourself better than someone else because one guy screws a whole bunch of women while the other guy is loyal to his wife. The guy who's loyal to his wife ought not to be condescending or proud because of the relative degree of sinfulness.

I don't see a lot of satan there either. Lord knows I wanted to be the pizza guy ravished by a roomful of gourgeous women. And now that I think of it, it would be damnedly cruel to confess these details to a Priest who wasn't gay, but I just can't see how satan is involved in these sorts of events. I do not believe the devil was out there throwing hookers into Jimmy Swaggart's lap either.

I do think organized religion sometimes uses our fear of satan against us, much as George W. Bush is using our fear of "terrorists" against us. If we are led to believe satan is hiding in every corner, in every little temptation, than perhaps we don't notice the greater deceptions around us.