Sign Up Now
Get instant access to over 1 million+ study documents
OR
Already registered? click here to login
By creating your account, you agree to our terms of service, privacy policy and student honor code.
While I am tempted to think that nobody will find out about it, one of the things I should remember is my relationship with God, which is of great importance to me. If I give in to temptation, I damage my relationship with God, like Adam and Even did. By externalizing the temptation, they sinned. If I were to give in to the temptation of cheating on my taxes, I would also externalize the thought to do so, and therefore sin in both thought and action. This would damage my relationship with God.
The temptation is however very strong, driven by the dual factors of time and that nobody would probably find out. On the other side of the argument, the potential damage to my life as a Christian is a strong driving factor to not let the sinful thought become external and enter into the reality of my life.
In his article, Andrew Womack provides some good strategies to deal with temptation. The first and most important strategy is to fight the temptation internally before it can become external. According to Womack, one of the strongest...
Knowing who I am in Christ provides me with strength to fight the temptation. Together with my knowledge of the Bible, I can then keep form externalizing a temptation to do what I know is wrong.
The outcome of this thought process is then to counter the temptation to be dishonest with my taxes by knowing that I am the child of God in Christ, on my way to eternal life with him. In the light of this, a thing like being tempted to cheat on my taxes seems unimportant and unnecessary. Secondly, Christ explicitly states that it is the duty of all citizens in a country to obey the laws of that country and pay their taxes. To disobey this, would be in direct contradiction to God's word -- something I do not wish to do.
References
Genesis 3 and Luke 20. Retrieved from http://www.bibleontheweb.com/Bible.asp
Womack, Andrew. Dealing with temptation. Andrew Womack Ministries, 2010. Retrieved from http://www.awmi.net/extra/article/deal_temptation
A worldview essentially denotes the framework of beliefs, ideas, philosophies, or ideologies that shapes how an individual or a group of individuals make sense of the world (Cosgrove, 2006). For instance, a three-year-old child believes that the world revolves around them. Equally, a secular humanist’s life is driven by the belief that only the material world exists. In essence, everyone has a worldview – whether conscious or unconscious. For Christians,
Christians and the Legal System Christian Relationship to the Legal System As many individuals understand, despite any religious affiliation, the legal system is set in place in order to foster the creation and continuation of a good society. This good society can then be achieved by promoting the good and eliminating the bad. It is in this elimination of the bad, that societies and their legal systems begin to differ. While certain
Christian Biotechnology: Not a Contradiction in Terms Presented with the idea of "Bioethics" most people in the scientific community today immediately get the impression of repressive, Luddite forces wishing to stifle research and advancement in the name of morality and God. Unfortunately, this stereotype too often holds true. If one looks over the many independent sites on the Internet regarding bioethics, reads popular magazines and publications, or browses library shelves for
From a practical standpoint, one must also realize that being overly vociferous in either arena will alienate the very people who are the intended targets of the message. Hence, the best approach to engaging Christian ethics in politics is to engage in worthy issues, remember the reason for involvement is to promote the good of the community and not the goals of an individual and to modulate one's delivery
Finally, learning how to rely on and depend on others can help people rely on and depend on God. The exercise teaches the value of trust and shows that we can depend on other people as well as God. 7. Body Outline: Drawing an outline of the body is a helpful exercise for people who have eating disorders. It can help people recognize that their body image does not match
There is no judgment from God on the believer, nor annoyance with God in respect to the believer -- neither in the last day nor today. From a familial aspect, God is significantly displeased with our behavior and punishment is sure -- either from God or from our own consequences of that sin. One could look at David's prayer of repentance in Psalm 51 to see the devastating effects of