December 10

One of the most ordinary of temptations, which leads to the greatest of disasters, is the temptation expressed by the words: “everyone does it.”

1

Woe to the world because of occasions of stumbling! For it must be that the occasions come, but woe to that person through whom the occasion comes! If your hand or your foot causes you to stumble, cut it off and cast it from you. It is better for you to enter into life maimed or crippled, rather than having two hands or two feet to be cast into the eternal fire. If your eye causes you to stumble, pluck it out and cast it from you. It is better for you to enter into life with one eye, rather than having two eyes to be cast into the Gehenna of fire.

— Matthew 18:7–9

2

Is it not always the great objection, where there is question of finding something useful to do—“We cannot leave our stations in Life”?

With most people who use that apology, “remaining in the station of life to which Providence has called them” means keeping all the carriages, and all the footmen and large houses they can possibly pay for; and, once for all, I say that if ever Providence did put them into stations of that sort—which is not at all a matter of certainty—Providence is just now very distinctly calling them out again.

Levi’s station in life was the receipt of custom; and Peter’s, the shore of Galilee; and Paul’s, the antechambers of the High Priest—which “station in life” each had to leave, with brief notice.

— John Ruskin

3

If a person’s hand is free from cuts, then he can touch the venom of a snake—venom is not dangerous to a healthy hand. Evil is only harmless to the one who himself commits no evil.

— Buddhist wisdom

4

No one puts a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old garment; for the patch would tear away from the garment, and a worse hole is made.

Neither do people put new wine into old wine skins, or else the skins would burst, and the wine be spilled, and the skins ruined. No, they put new wine into fresh wine skins, and both are preserved.

— Matthew 9:16–17

5

A person puts himself in great danger when he binds himself to sinful obligations from which it is difficult to break free. At first, a person feels ashamed to admit his sins, then he finds it difficult to disentangle himself from them, and, finally, he finds that if he were to renounce his sins, his reputation in society would be ruined. The one who does not stop at the first stage of sin will reach the last.

— Baxter

6

Wherever things appear to us worthy of special respect, we must strip them, remove from them all the words that glorify them, because external luster is capable of corrupting reason. Because it is precisely when you are wholly convinced that you are doing the things that deserve your respect that you are deceived the most.

— Marcus Aurelius

7

Once upon a time an old man experienced a temptation: he was tormented by the question of why God allows evil in the world. And he reproached God for this.

And he saw a dream: he saw an angel of God descending from heaven with a bright wreath in his hand, looking around for someone to bestow this wreath upon. And the old man’s heart ignited. And he said to the angel of God: “What must I do to deserve this wreath? I’ll do anything to get this reward.”

And the angel said: “Look over there.” And, turning, the angel pointed north. And the old man turned around and saw a great black cloud. The cloud covered half the sky and descended down to the ground. And then the cloud parted and revealed a great horde of black Ethiopians moving towards the old man; behind them all stood one massive and terrible Ethiopian, and while his large feet were planted on the ground, his shaggy head with frightening eyes and red lips was all the way up in the sky.

“Fight them, defeat them, and I will place the wreath upon your head.”

And the old man shuddered and said: “I can fight anyone, but the great Ethiopian whose feet stand on the ground and whose head reaches the sky is beyond human strength. I cannot fight him.”

“Foolish man!” said the angel of God. “All the small Ethiopians whom you do not want to fight because you fear the great Ethiopian, all these small Ethiopians are the lesser human passions, and they can be defeated. The great Ethiopian is the evil of the world caused by these lesser passions, the one for which you have reproached God, and which there is no need to fight, for it is completely hollow. Defeat the passions and the evil will disappear from the world on its own.

— A legend

8

False shame is the Devil’s pet weapon. He does more work with it even than with false pride. For with false pride, he only goads evil; but with false shame, paralyzes good.

— John Ruskin

There is no evil in the world. All evil exists in our souls, and it can be destroyed.