"Sin is crouching at the door: its desire is for you, but you must master it." (Gn 4:7)

Ch. 3 Question 2

In the story of the fall, the serpent tempts Adam and Eve with the chance to be like God. Adam and Eve sin by choosing power for themselves instead of God's love. How is the fist sin like all others? What are some temptations that the devil uses to draw young people today away from God? Can these temptations be related to the one faced by Adam and Eve?

This first sin is like all other sins because it was done for selfish reasons. When we sin against God we are only thinking of ourselves. In sinning we are choosing to pull ourselves away from God. Some of the temptations the devil uses in today’s world to draw young people away from God are still based on our selfish tendencies. He makes us more concerned with how we have to live to make ourselves feel better than what is really right and good for us. He can trick today’s young into thinking only about the world and not what is after this life. He does this by glamorizing the idea that being more knowledgeable or experienced in the ways of the world will make you cooler or your life better. In today’s society more and more young girls are taught you have to be sexy and dress immodestly to fit in. Today’s role models promote all sorts of immoral behaviors and they are still praised and loved by many. By ignoring or promoting these changing ideas of how to live life we are giving into satan’s plan. His devious plan is to trick us into believing that “oh it’s not really that bad to do this” or “other people are doing the same thing” to make us believe that sinful ways are just the norm. If we just go along with the deteriorating ideals of how to live life without questioning whether or not we are doing what God would want us to be doing, we will fall into the devil’s trap. The devil can cloud our judgment and carry us away from God by filling our heads with the idea that our lives will be worthwhile if we have material things or shallow friends. These temptations can still relate to the one Adam and Eve faced because they only wanted more power for themselves. Their judgment was easily clouded by the serpent’s tricks. Instead of thinking what God’s love could give them or what He would want them to be doing, they only thought of how they could maybe make their lives a little bit better or easier. It is extremely hard to say no to the many temptations that fill our day. The devil is very tricky and good at appealing to what we want selfishly. God knows truly what is best for us and he give us what we need. Adam and Eve were given everything they needed but their desire for more led them to a life of hardship and pain. We need to stay strong in the face of temptation, even when people hate you for it and it is extremely unpopular to think the way we as Catholics do. Just feel comforted in the fact that if the devil is picking on you, you must be doing a great thing for the Lord. ­