“I can resist everything except temptation.” This witty line from Oscar Wilde’s play Lady Windermere’s Fan highlights the problem of temptation. Temptation is the claim that we’ll gain something, such as pleasure, money, or power, if we do something we know to be wrong. Christian Science, however, teaches not only that God is the source of all good, but that there is no good to be had outside of God and what God has created. Therefore, temptation is always a deception.
The first temptation recorded in the Bible is a perfect example. A talking serpent convinced Eve that God had lied in telling her husband, Adam, that eating from a particular tree would bring death. According to the serpent, the fruit of that tree would instead give wisdom, making Adam and Eve as gods themselves. In other words, the serpent deceived Eve into believing that, while God had indeed created all good, He was withholding some of that good from His creation.
If temptation is always a deception, we overcome it by knowing what is true or real or right in the first place. From this standpoint we see through the temptation to the lie being paraded as truth and reject or refuse to believe it. This leaves truth alone holding sway in our thought.
