What are the more subtle forms of being tempted?

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Me too.

I notice when I get caught up in it, I become a worse person. Making fun of people from the opposing side, being happy when there’s a scandal, laughing at others etc. You can also see it insidiously creeping up on some people. Thank God I stopped.
 
Laziness in the spiritual life, pride, seeking human respect, telling small “white” lies, irritability, gossiping, lack of charity in my thoughts, impatience. Things I fight every day.
 
A few I can think of:
  • perfectionism - the idea that I contain within myself perfection
  • not accepting kind acts from others
  • not trusting others word - for instance asking repeatedly, ‘are you sure’
  • curiosity - it drives our interest in gossip, ‘news’, and, I think, pornography. It is subtle because it is so widespread and accepted. We have no concept of knowledge proper to our station in life
The reason I consider the first three subtle is that they are really pride masquerading as humility and are easy for ‘good’ people to fall into.
 
exnihilo said:
not accepting kind acts from others
not trusting others word - for instance asking repeatedly, ‘are you sure’
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I will have to keep this in mind. Definitely happens

Also with God. I keep asking God, “Do you care? Do you really care? Are you sure?”
 
I think not trusting that God loves us–yes, really!–unconditionally, just as we are, is a HUGE temptation. It is one many of us struggle with our whole lives. We simply can’t imagine how this can be true because we’ve never encountered it from human beings.
 
The subtleties of the devil are expertly revealed in CS Lewis’ book, The Screwtape Letters.
 
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