LDS Faith Journeys Forums General Discussion Satan is like Facebook Advertising

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  • #218977
    Reuben
    Participant

    I’m with Hobbes on this.

    Every temptation has a good naturalistic explanation. I started to learn this when I noticed that when I took medication for ADHD, most of my temptations became almost easy to overcome. I had been doing all the gospel things to keep myself safe, and let me tell you, the armor of God had nothing on 30mg Adderall. That’s not to say that the armor was useless, just that if I had had to pick one only on the basis of inducing good behavior, I would have picked the medication, hands down.

    So I started to notice and figure out natural causes. Here’s one: jealousy is the extreme version of rational behavior. If you’re in an environment where you have limited information and limited ability to predict the future, what should you obtain? A good heuristic is to have the same things that successful people have.

    Once I saw Satan as nothing more than a “devil of the gaps,” and that the gaps were shrinking, I had a hard time believing that he existed.

    Now, I do respect that people believe there’s a devil. I want to suggest, though, that it might not be a good idea, or at least that attributing your personal temptations to him might not be a good idea. There are a lot of things you can do to alter the environment your brain operates in to reduce temptations, or even get rid of them altogether. But if an evil spirit is responsible for them, why even try?

    #218978
    SamBee
    Participant

    I don”t know. Things have a habit of coming your way when you’re trying to give up some lifestyle choices.

    #218979
    LookingHard
    Participant

    SamBee wrote:


    I don”t know. Things have a habit of coming your way when you’re trying to give up some lifestyle choices.

    For those old enough to remember the “Airplane” movies

    [img]https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/2b/74/8e/2b748ecf16ccc0fbdef70714607faba1.jpg[/img]

    #218980
    SamBee
    Participant

    I seem to recall Lloyd Bridges was upside down when doing that.

    #218981
    LookingHard
    Participant
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