{"id":1387,"date":"2013-02-10T05:54:40","date_gmt":"2013-02-10T10:54:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/biteintheapple\/?p=1387"},"modified":"2013-02-10T05:54:40","modified_gmt":"2013-02-10T10:54:40","slug":"loves-temptations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/biteintheapple\/loves-temptations\/","title":{"rendered":"Love’s Temptations"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\"\"<\/a>There are so very many ways to get lost.\u00a0 And most of them include some kind of stumbling over love.\u00a0 Wrestling with that confusion seems to be an essential part of the human journey.\u00a0 Even Jesus had to wrestle with what it meant to be loved, and more than once.\u00a0 He had his temptations, in the wilderness and after that, too.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s murkiness inside the human heart, as well as in the world.\u00a0 Lent is heartful work, a journey into this murk.\u00a0 This year Lent begins right after Valentine\u2019s Day, moving us on from love\u2019s sweets and blooms to love\u2019s temptations.\u00a0 These begin for Jesus as they do for us, with a temptation to manipulate the ones who love us into being the ones who serve us.<\/p>\n

Two who\u2019ve lately succumbed \u00a0to this temptation are Lance Armstrong, world class cyclist-on-drugs, and Ronaiah Tuiasosopo, whose secret online life \u00a0as a gorgeous young woman entrapped Notre Dame footballer Manti Te\u2019o, humiliated him and broke his heart as well.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Armstrong longed for the adoration and the affirmation we all gave him, the power of being the world\u2019s best cyclist.\u00a0 To achieve that, Armstrong said yes to the Tempter\u2019s suggestion: \u00a0drugs.\u00a0 Drugs became the hidden secret in his heart, the prize that lived in the sacred space within him.\u00a0 And the rest of us, who paid him and exalted him, became the folks he was manipulating, not people he loved in return.\u00a0 Armstrong got lost \u2013 in lies, drugs, anger, fear, vanity, money.<\/p>\n

Tuiasosopo longed to be loved as a woman, and was ashamed of that, \u00a0suffering from memories of sexual abuse, struggling with his evangelical faith, and fearing to lose the good opinion of his pastor father, whom he adored.\u00a0 He succumbed to the Tempter\u2019s suggestion:\u00a0 secrets and lies. \u00a0He got lost in these, and in anger, fear, vanity.\u00a0 The secrecy was like a narcotic:\u00a0 \u00a0no one has to know, you can have it all<\/em>.\u00a0 His secret became the thing he prized, the thing he put in the sacred space within him.\u00a0\u00a0 Tuiasosopo became dishonest with everyone who loved him.<\/p>\n

Jesus heard those tempting voices, urging him to use his Belovedness to have his heart\u2019s desires.\u00a0 Take the power<\/em>, said the Tempter, to manipulate the world as the most Beloved in it, or to do the good you know needs to be done all by yourself<\/em>, much as Armstrong used his wealth to fund cancer research, or even \u00a0Go solo from God and the people<\/em> into whose belovedness he had been born.\u00a0 \u00a0Somehow, Jesus managed not to fall for these tempters.\u00a0 But it wasn\u2019t easy for him to say no, and it took him quite a while.<\/p>\n

Incredibly, he chose an open relationship full of criticisms, challenges, denunciations and disappointments, a relationship with God and all of us, over the perfectionist fantasies that were part of him, as they are part of us.\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

His temptations continued, and so do ours. \u00a0Lent holds the stories of them, stories about love\u2019s unclear choices, about getting lost.<\/p>\n

Armstrong and Tuiasosopo raise questions for us all,\u00a0about American culture and about Christian moral teaching.\u00a0 Armstrong, in his choices, holds up our\u00a0adulation for winning as the supreme thing.\u00a0 Why is it that we adore winners, but pay little attention to runners up?\u00a0 Why do we idolize the lone athlete, even in sports that are team-based? \u00a0\u00a0Individualism is a part of each of Jesus\u2019 temptations, and is the part he resisted.\u00a0 Our culture promotes individualism and winning far more than fairness, or respect for opponents, whom we\u00a0often describe as enemies.\u00a0 Losers, who are open to public derision, get fired, sold, and traded.<\/p>\n

Ronaiah Tuiasosopo raises\u00a0questions for the church.\u00a0\u00a0 Hasn\u2019t the church altered the message of Belovedness, from a sacrament open to everyone as a free gift, to a preliminary equality, lasting only till the real Belovedness of marriage?\u00a0 Many churches claim marriage is only for heterosexuals, and some churches claim marriage is more\u00a0loved by God\u00a0when heterosexuals\u00a0enter their marriage as virgins.\u00a0 Haven\u2019t the churches, in doing this, changed the Free Gift into a competitive prize?<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Haven\u2019t most churches taught that homosexuality is sinful?\u00a0 Haven\u2019t churches taught that sex outside of marriage is defiling?\u00a0 \u00a0And therefore that Belovedness is not an Embracing, but a Sorting, into sinners and the virtuous, whom Jesus loves more?\u00a0 Hasn\u2019t this been taught by churches in place of the stories of Jesus choosing the company of prostitutes, Jesus standing with an adulterous woman against her stoners, Jesus giving the first cup of eternal life to a woman who had had five husbands and was now living with a man who was not her husband?<\/p>\n

Haven\u2019t churches promoted a lifestyle of limited options for the heart, the head, and the home, to such a degree that a harvest of human misery is now being revealed by a world that shuns the pews in increasing number, finding\u00a0the hypocrisy about marriage, sex, and\u00a0 sacredness so rife that churches are no longer seen as good places to be?<\/p>\n

This week the Boy Scouts have been a big news item, not for their good deeds, but for their\u00a0rejection of\u00a0homosexuals. Looming up behind them are the churches who sponsor\u00a0BSA troops, churches opposed to acceptance of homosexuals;\u00a0 and protesting their opposition\u00a0are Eagle Scouts and den mothers and troop leaders who are gay or lesbian.<\/p>\n

With devotion\u2019s visage and pious action we do sugar o\u2019er the devil himself.<\/em><\/p>\n

William Shakespeare, Hamlet, Act III, Scene 1.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s worth some thought, on the day after Ash Wednesday, when we celebrate the gift of love at the door of Lent.<\/p>\n

If God exists, he isn\u2019t just churches and mathematics. . . .<\/em><\/p>\n

He\u2019s every one of us, potentially . . .<\/p>\n

And if this is true, isn\u2019t it something very important?<\/p>\n

-Mary Oliver, in Evidence<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

________________________________________<\/p>\n

Illustrations:<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

1.\u00a0 The Marriage of Heaven and Hell<\/em>,<\/strong> by Keith Haring, 1958-1990, New York<\/p>\n

Art in the Christian Tradition, Vanderbilt Divinity School Library<\/p>\n

2.\u00a0 Lance Armstrong,<\/strong> book cover, 2003.<\/p>\n

3.\u00a0 Arnolfini Wedding<\/em>,<\/strong> Detail, 1434, by Jan van Eyck, National Gallery, Great Britain<\/p>\n

Art in the Christian Tradition, Vanderbilt Divinity School Library<\/p>\n

4.\u00a0 Ruth and Naomi<\/em>,<\/strong> by He Qi, 2001, Nanjing<\/p>\n

Art in the Christian Tradition, Vanderbilt Divinity School Library<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

There are so very many ways to get lost.\u00a0 And most of them include some kind of stumbling over love.\u00a0 Wrestling with that confusion seems to be an essential part of the human journey.\u00a0 Even Jesus had to wrestle with what it meant to be loved, and more than once.\u00a0 He had his temptations, in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2483,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1387","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-bites"],"yoast_head":"\nLove's Temptations<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"There are so very many ways to get lost.\u00a0 And most of them include some kind of stumbling over love.\u00a0 Wrestling with that confusion seems to be an\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/biteintheapple\/loves-temptations\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Love's Temptations\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"There are so very many ways to get lost.\u00a0 And most of them include some kind of stumbling over love.\u00a0 Wrestling with that confusion seems to be an\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/biteintheapple\/loves-temptations\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Bite in the Apple\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2013-02-10T10:54:40+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/wp.production.patheos.com\/blogs\/biteintheapple\/files\/2013\/02\/Temptations-Marriage-of-heaven-and-Hell-by-Keith-Haring-1958-1990-NYC-e1360467718504.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Nancy Rockwell\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Nancy Rockwell\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/biteintheapple\/loves-temptations\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/biteintheapple\/loves-temptations\/\",\"name\":\"Love's Temptations\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/biteintheapple\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2013-02-10T10:54:40+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2013-02-10T10:54:40+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/biteintheapple\/#\/schema\/person\/2155b9333c10f2c9427da1f8ca7b4bd7\"},\"description\":\"There are so very many ways to get lost.\u00a0 And most of them include some kind of stumbling over love.\u00a0 Wrestling with that confusion seems to be an\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/biteintheapple\/loves-temptations\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/biteintheapple\/loves-temptations\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/biteintheapple\/loves-temptations\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/biteintheapple\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Love’s Temptations\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/biteintheapple\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/biteintheapple\/\",\"name\":\"The Bite in the Apple\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/biteintheapple\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/biteintheapple\/#\/schema\/person\/2155b9333c10f2c9427da1f8ca7b4bd7\",\"name\":\"Nancy Rockwell\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/biteintheapple\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/e380c224f4a2068ab523185d81008ef7?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/e380c224f4a2068ab523185d81008ef7?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Nancy Rockwell\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/biteintheapple\/author\/nrockwell\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Love's Temptations","description":"There are so very many ways to get lost.\u00a0 And most of them include some kind of stumbling over love.\u00a0 Wrestling with that confusion seems to be an","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/biteintheapple\/loves-temptations\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Love's Temptations","og_description":"There are so very many ways to get lost.\u00a0 And most of them include some kind of stumbling over love.\u00a0 Wrestling with that confusion seems to be an","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/biteintheapple\/loves-temptations\/","og_site_name":"The Bite in the Apple","article_published_time":"2013-02-10T10:54:40+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/wp.production.patheos.com\/blogs\/biteintheapple\/files\/2013\/02\/Temptations-Marriage-of-heaven-and-Hell-by-Keith-Haring-1958-1990-NYC-e1360467718504.jpg"}],"author":"Nancy Rockwell","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Nancy Rockwell","Est. reading time":"5 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/biteintheapple\/loves-temptations\/","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/biteintheapple\/loves-temptations\/","name":"Love's Temptations","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/biteintheapple\/#website"},"datePublished":"2013-02-10T10:54:40+00:00","dateModified":"2013-02-10T10:54:40+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/biteintheapple\/#\/schema\/person\/2155b9333c10f2c9427da1f8ca7b4bd7"},"description":"There are so very many ways to get lost.\u00a0 And most of them include some kind of stumbling over love.\u00a0 Wrestling with that confusion seems to be an","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/biteintheapple\/loves-temptations\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/biteintheapple\/loves-temptations\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/biteintheapple\/loves-temptations\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/biteintheapple\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Love’s Temptations"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/biteintheapple\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/biteintheapple\/","name":"The Bite in the Apple","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/biteintheapple\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/biteintheapple\/#\/schema\/person\/2155b9333c10f2c9427da1f8ca7b4bd7","name":"Nancy Rockwell","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/biteintheapple\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/e380c224f4a2068ab523185d81008ef7?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/e380c224f4a2068ab523185d81008ef7?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Nancy Rockwell"},"url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/biteintheapple\/author\/nrockwell\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/biteintheapple\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1387","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/biteintheapple\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/biteintheapple\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/biteintheapple\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2483"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/biteintheapple\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1387"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/biteintheapple\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1387\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/biteintheapple\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1387"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/biteintheapple\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1387"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/biteintheapple\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1387"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}