Decisive Encounters. Roberto Badenas

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СКАЧАТЬ Dostoyevsky, in his parable titled “The Grand Inquisitor” acknowledges “only one who can appease their conscience can take over their freedom” The Brothers Karamazov, Madrid: Cátedra, 2006, p. 410).

      11 . Ellen G. White, The Desire of Ages, Safeliz, Madrid: 2006, p. 68

      12 . The account of the temptations of Jesus in the desert is found in the Gospels of Matthew (4:1-11), Mark (1:12-13) and Luke (1:1-13); but only Matthew and Luke give details about the temptations. Luke varies the order of the last two. Here, we follow the order of Matthew given that the latter was a direct disciple of Jesus, and his account presents them in a clearly progressive order. (cf. Ellen G. White, The Desire of Ages, pp. 74-77)

      13 . Regarding the meaning of the biblical fast, which does not always or necessarily imply not eating or drinking, see Isaiah 58:5-11.

      14 . Regarding the incarnation of Jesus, see Philippians 2:5-8.

      15 . —Well, a wallet fell on a subway seat: and with plenty of dollar bills. These rich people have money in abundance and you, poor wretched soul, breaking your back at the service of these exploiters for a wage of pittance. No one sees you. Take the money it contains, which might not be much for the owner. What’s more, it serves him well for being careless. Based on your need of this money at this time . . . who knows if it is God himself who has placed that wallet there, close at hand, in response to your prayers?

      16 . Matthew 4:4, citing Deuteronomy 8:3; the verb form of the Greek perfect gegraptai denotes something that “has been written and is still in force.” Jesus nourishes his contact with God through the Sacred Scriptures. His key to defeating, his “magic formula” is: “Gegraptai: It is written, or God teaches (in the Bible).”

      17 . Psalm 91:11-12.

      18 . “and what is desired by all nations will come, and I will fill this house with glory . . .” (Hag. 2:7-8, NKJV). Divine glory in the Bible is always associated with the presence of angels.

      19 . —We are alone, silly. Don’t be straitlaced. No one will enter. My wife is traveling. We crave it. Why should we rely on what some papers say to share what our bodies desire? What difference does it make that your husband believes you to be only his, if the only thing that matters in life is the present pleasure?

      20 . We notice that the tempter appears in these temptations in a subtle progression, in an increasingly more personal and direct way. The first attack appears as a mere protective insinuation on the part of the peiradson, the tempter (Matt. 4:3). The second bursts in like a clear deceit from the diabolos, the infiltrated, “the one who gets in between” since that is the word’s original meaning in Greek (Matt. 4:5). His third assault will expose him as Satan, name that the Bible quintessentially gives to the enemy of God (Matt. 4:10).

      21 . “The Lord [. . .] is patient with us, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance” (2 Pet. 3:9; cf. John 3:16-17).

      22 . The essence of the temptations of the desert is not to make bread from stones, to plunge from the top of a tower, or to kneel before the devil, but to benefit through improper ways, to impose something on others by means of force or to yield to the corrupt methods of despots. It is more a problem of means than ends, because, as Ghandi would say, “the ends inevitably come out of the means.”

      23 . The executive position that remains open in the corporation appeals to me more than anything in the world. I know very well what I can do to get my boss to give it to me. If someone finds out, maybe they will consider me a typical social climber who flatters his superiors in order to prosper. But what’s at stake is my future. This is my time, and I will not let it go to waste.

      24 . Aside from these temptations that Jesus told his disciples about, we are not aware of the others, and we can only imagine. “The last temptation of Jesus” was not the one attributed to him in any film or novel, of succumbing to the weaknesses of the flesh, although he was also tempted in that. Jesus was young and he certainly did not lack charm.

      25 . The apostle James (1:13-15) explains that sin is born (or is “given birth to”) at the end of a process that begins with the enticement of temptation, and it materializes in consummated facts. Given our sinful nature, the more we move closer to that denouement, the closer we are to committing the irreparable.

      26 . 1 John 2:16 Calls these seductive elements “the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life.” Innumerable forms of seduction lie in wait for us and incite us to make mistakes that distract us from what is truly important and separate us from God.

      27 . “Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour” (1 Pet. 5:8). “It has been said that the devil’s last trick was to spread the report of his own death . . .” (Giovanni Papini, The Story of Christ, p. 50)

      28 . The Bible says that Jesus was tempted in everything just as we are but that he never sinned (Heb. 4:15). Hence, we must not confuse temptation with sin.

      29 . “Many look on this conflict between Christ and Satan as having no special bearing on their own lives; and for them it has little interest. But within the domain of every human heart [. . .] the enticements which Christ resisted were those that we find it so difficult to withstand [. . .] the test upon appetite, upon the love of the world and upon the love of display which leads to presumption. These were the temptations that overcame Adam and Eve, and that so readily overcome us.” (Ellen G. White, The Desire of Ages, p. 68)

      30 . Since we are fallen beings, our victory lies with picking ourselves up each time we fall, and better yet, in not falling again. The only way to defeat temptation is how Jesus defeated it: with the help of the divine power.“Because he himself suffered when he was tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted” (Heb. 2:18).“Jesus revealed no qualities and exercised no powers that we may not have through faith in Him” (Ellen G. White, Desire of Ages, p. 433). “For unless He met man as man, and testified by His connection with God that divine power was not given to Him in a different way to what it will be given to us, He could not be a perfect example for us” (Manuscript 21, 1895) Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary. Washington: 1955, Review and Herald publishing association. “With the same facilities than man may obtain, withstood the temptations of Satan as man must withstand them.” (Ellen G. White, Signs of the Times, СКАЧАТЬ