Temptation (Jesus Christ, Latter-Day Saints, elder, mission, church)

[Bishka]

How do you all feel about temptation? Is it real, is it just a figment of our imagination?

Elder Neal A. Maxwell, a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles(The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints), said, "Instead of dismissiong temptations as Jesus did, it is giving heed to them which gets so many in trouble! My mission president used to say we may not always be able to keep an evil thought from entering our minds, but we don't have to offer it a chair and invite it to sit down"("I Will Arise and Go to My Father," Enisign, Sept. 1993, 67)

[standing_alone]

I feel temptation is totally real, not merely a figment of imagination. I can't count the number of times I've heard someone say something so stupid, insensivtive, ignorant, etc. that I was tempted to give them a well-deserved smack across the face, but I refrained from doing it. Whether that's a good or bad thing can be debated . I don't know if temptation is inherently a bad thing (just part of being human, I guess), but if we are tempted to do really bad things, I think it best we do not follow our temptations through.