Rethinking Temptation

Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?” —Genesis 3:1

Why comes temptation, but for man to meet and master and crouch beneath his foot, and so be pedestaled in triumph? —Robert Browning

Adolescents today face an ever growing array of temptation. Succumbing to these temptations can distract and derail a young person’s journey through life. Sometimes the consequences of falling into temptation last well into adulthood and affect future generations. We will use the rendezvous between Odysseus and the Sirens as a metaphor for understanding the issue of temptation and the hazards of yielding to it.