While at was at my grandpa's house a month or two ago he showed me a paper. The topic of the paper was of Jesus understand the temptation people face and how He was perfect so He couldn't understand anything they had ever experienced before. I had thought about this many times before, but had never reached a conclusion on why He can understand. I had even heard other people mention it and when my grandpa gave me this paper I became so excited about the prospect of the question being answered. This little excerpt really helped me out though and I hope it will do the same for you!
"Some may contend that the Savior cannot empathize with those who succumb to temptation because he never yielded and, therefore, he could not understand the apparently unique circumstances of those who do. The fallacy of such an argument is exposed by C. S. Lewis:
"No man knows how bad he is till he has tried very hard to be good. A silly idea is current that good people do not know what temptation means. This is an obvious lie. Only those who try to resist temptation know how strong it is. After all, you find out the strength of the German army by fighting it, not by giving in. You find out the strength of a wind by trying to walk against it, not by lying down. A man who gives into temptation after five minutes simply does not know what it would have been like an hour later. This is why bad people, in one sense, know very little about badness. They have lived a sheltered life by always giving in. We never find out the strength of the evil impulse inside us until we try to fight it: and Christ, because He was the only man who never yielded to temptation, is also the only man who knows to the full what temptation means - the only complete realist.""
The first introductory paragraph was written by my grandpa I believe, but C. S. Lewis's statement is so accurate and provides such a perspective that I had never considered before, but I love it!! Honestly, I don't think much more needs to be said, or could be said, that C. S. Lewis didn't cover. So there it is. I hope you found this little gem as priceless and helpful as I did!
Hermana McKenna Finch
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