{"id":24498,"date":"2009-04-04T06:00:00","date_gmt":"2009-04-04T10:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/communio.stblogs.org\/index.php\/2009\/04\/why-does-god-allow-temptation\/"},"modified":"2009-04-04T06:00:00","modified_gmt":"2009-04-04T10:00:00","slug":"why-does-god-allow-temptation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/communio.stblogs.org\/index.php\/2009\/04\/why-does-god-allow-temptation\/","title":{"rendered":"Why does God allow temptation?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt\"><font face=\"Garamond\" color=\"#000000\" size=\"3\">One can distinguish five reasons why God allows the devil to attack us:<\/font><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt\"><o:p><font face=\"Garamond\" color=\"#000000\" size=\"3\">&nbsp;<\/font><\/o:p><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt\"><font face=\"Garamond\" color=\"#000000\" size=\"3\">first, so that from attack and counter-attack we may become practiced in discerning good from evil;<\/font><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt\"><font face=\"Garamond\" color=\"#000000\" size=\"3\"><\/font>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt\"><font face=\"Garamond\" color=\"#000000\" size=\"3\">second, so that our virtue may be maintained in the heat of the struggle and so be confirmed in an impregnable position;<\/font><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt\"><font face=\"Garamond\" color=\"#000000\" size=\"3\"><\/font>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt\"><font face=\"Garamond\" color=\"#000000\" size=\"3\">third, so that as we advance in virtue we may avoid presumption and learn humility;<\/font><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt\"><font face=\"Garamond\" color=\"#000000\" size=\"3\"><\/font>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt\"><font face=\"Garamond\" color=\"#000000\" size=\"3\">fourth, to inspire in us an unreserved hatred for evil through the experience we thus have of it;<\/font><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt\"><font face=\"Garamond\" color=\"#000000\" size=\"3\"><\/font>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt\"><font face=\"Garamond\" color=\"#000000\" size=\"3\">fifth, and above all, that we may attain inner freedom and remain convinced both of our own weakness and of the strength of him who has come to our aid.<\/font><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt\"><o:p><font face=\"Garamond\" color=\"#000000\" size=\"3\">&nbsp;<\/font><\/o:p><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt\"><font face=\"Garamond\" color=\"#000000\" size=\"3\">Maximus the Confessor (580-682)<\/font><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt\"><font size=\"3\"><\/font><font color=\"#000000\"><\/font><font face=\"Garamond\"><i style=\"mso-bidi-font-style: normal\">Centuries on Charity<\/i> 2, 67 (<i style=\"mso-bidi-font-style: normal\">Sources Chr&eacute;tiennes<\/i> 9, p. 114)<\/font><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>One can distinguish five reasons why God allows the devil to attack us: &nbsp; first, so that from attack and counter-attack we may become practiced in discerning good from evil; &nbsp; second, so that our virtue may be maintained in the heat of the struggle and so be confirmed in an impregnable position; &nbsp; third, &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/communio.stblogs.org\/index.php\/2009\/04\/why-does-god-allow-temptation\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Why does God allow temptation?<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[58],"tags":[1942],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/communio.stblogs.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24498"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/communio.stblogs.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/communio.stblogs.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/communio.stblogs.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/communio.stblogs.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=24498"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/communio.stblogs.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24498\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/communio.stblogs.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24498"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/communio.stblogs.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24498"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/communio.stblogs.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24498"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}