{"id":2001,"date":"2017-07-08T16:28:19","date_gmt":"2017-07-08T16:28:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/thescripturecache.com\/?p=2001"},"modified":"2022-02-15T23:41:09","modified_gmt":"2022-02-15T23:41:09","slug":"biblical-principles-for-making-moral-decisions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thescripturecache.com\/?p=2001","title":{"rendered":"Biblical Principles and Moral Decisions"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Views: 1<\/p><p><span style=\"font-size: 14pt; font-family: 'book antiqua', palatino, serif;\">[<strong>Note:\u00a0<\/strong>This MS is available in larger font on our <strong>Brief Articles 1<\/strong>\u00a0page.]<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: 'book antiqua', palatino, serif;\">Confronting temptations to \u201ccross the line\u201d that separates moral from immoral behavior is as old as Adam and Eve. Temptation may involve money, deceit, pride, sex, power, or other elements. For those wise enough to honor the Bible as their standard, they will find some valuable principles for confronting and overcoming temptation:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-family: 'book antiqua', palatino, serif;\"><strong>\u201cWatch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation\u201d <\/strong>(Mat. 26:41a). As with the three apostles in Gethsemane on the night of Judas\u2019 betrayal of Jesus into the hands of His enemies, so with us: Awareness of Satan\u2019s wiles\u2014coupled with our earnest prayers\u2014will help us avoid and\/or resist temptation.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-family: 'book antiqua', palatino, serif;\"><strong>\u201cBe not deceived: Evil companionships corrupt good morals\u201d <\/strong>(1 Cor. 15:33). One invites temptation to drink liquor and engage in immorality if he runs with those who frequent bars and \u201cgentlemen\u2019s clubs.\u201d<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-family: 'book antiqua', palatino, serif;\"><strong>\u201cBe sober, be watchful: your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour\u201d <\/strong>(1 Pet. 5:8). A sober approach to life (it <strong>is <\/strong>more than a \u201cparty,\u201d after all), coupled with vigilance concerning the prevalence of Satan\u2019s determination to destroy us, will spare us many temptations.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-family: 'book antiqua', palatino, serif;\"><strong>\u201cResist the devil, and he will flee from you\u201d <\/strong>(Jam. 4:7b; cf. 1 Pet. 5:9a). When Satan confronts us, the general rule is to stand and fight. Only when we have put on the \u201cwhole armor of God\u201d and are adept in our use of the \u201csword of the Spirit\u201d can we withstand Satan\u2019s attacks (Eph. 6:10\u201317).<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-family: 'book antiqua', palatino, serif;\"><strong>\u201cFlee\u201d fornication<\/strong>, <strong>idolatry<\/strong>, <strong>the love of money<\/strong>, and <strong>youthful lusts <\/strong>(1 Cor. 6:18; 10:14; 1 Tim 6:11a; 2 Tim. 2: 22a). While the general rule is to stand and fight when Satan assails, some circumstances require \u201cflight\u201d rather than \u201cfight.\u201d When Potiphar\u2019s wife sought to seduce Joseph, he wisely did not tarry to fight: \u201che left his garment in her hand, and fled, and got him out\u201d (Gen. 39:12).<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-family: 'book antiqua', palatino, serif;\"><strong>\u201cFollow after righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, meekness\u201d <\/strong>(1 Tim. 6:11:b; 2 Tim. 2:22b). We should not only flee situations of temptation, but also fill our lives with wholesome qualities. It is still true: \u201cAn idle mind is the devil\u2019s workshop.\u201d<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-family: 'book antiqua', palatino, serif;\"><strong>\u201cThy word have I laid up in my heart, that I might not sin against thee\u201d <\/strong>(Psa. 119:11). Those who rarely read their Bibles and\/or hear Bible preaching invite Satan\u2019s attacks. Bible ignoramuses don\u2019t stand a chance when he comes calling with all his insidious tricks.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: 'book antiqua', palatino, serif;\">[<strong>Note: <\/strong>I wrote this article for and it was published in the <em>Denton Record-Chronicle, <\/em>Denton, TX, February 26, 2016.]<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: 'book antiqua', palatino, serif;\"><strong>Attribution:<\/strong> From <em>thescripturecache.com<\/em>; Dub McClish, owner and administrator.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Views: 1[Note:\u00a0This MS is available in larger font on our Brief Articles 1\u00a0page.] Confronting temptations to \u201ccross the line\u201d that separates moral from immoral behavior is as old as Adam and Eve. Temptation may involve money, deceit, pride, sex, power, or other elements. For those&#8230;<\/p>\n<div class=\"easywp-readmore\"><a class=\"read-more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/thescripturecache.com\/?p=2001\">Continue Reading&#8230;<span class=\"easywp-sr-only\">  Biblical Principles and Moral Decisions<\/span><\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[93,77,96,33,106,56,6,51,57],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2001","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-bible","category-fornication","category-idolatry","category-moral-issues","category-purity-of-life","category-satan","category-scripture","category-sin","category-temptation","wpcat-93-id","wpcat-77-id","wpcat-96-id","wpcat-33-id","wpcat-106-id","wpcat-56-id","wpcat-6-id","wpcat-51-id","wpcat-57-id"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thescripturecache.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2001","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thescripturecache.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thescripturecache.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thescripturecache.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thescripturecache.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2001"}],"version-history":[{"count":15,"href":"https:\/\/thescripturecache.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2001\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18764,"href":"https:\/\/thescripturecache.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2001\/revisions\/18764"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thescripturecache.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2001"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thescripturecache.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2001"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thescripturecache.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2001"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}