Q&A: A Loosed Arrow
A Loosed Arrow
Question
How is it possible for a religious person who truly believes and yet still sometimes sins?
I’ve never heard of a person who sometimes sins and would stick his hand into a fire in order to pull out a piece of pork.
Answer
First of all, a human being is a complex creature. A person believes that stealing is forbidden and yet sometimes steals anyway. A person knows that eating unhealthy, fattening foods is harmful and still does it. The Sages said that Cain tried to deceive his Creator (even though it was clear to him that his Creator sees him).
Putting one’s hand into a fire is an immediate and tangible danger, and the benefit from it is not great. So in that case it is fairly clear that people would not do it.
Beyond that, belief is not a binary state. There are different degrees of belief, and so a person does not believe at one hundred percent. That is why he sometimes allows himself to sin.
Rabbi Yitzhak said: A person’s evil inclination overpowers him every day, as it is said: “only evil all day long.” Rabbi Shimon ben Lakish said: A person’s evil inclination overpowers him every day and seeks to kill him, as it is said: “The wicked watches the righteous and seeks to put him to death.” And were it not for the Holy One, blessed be He, who helps him, he could not withstand it, as it is said: “The Lord will not leave him in his hand.” (Sukkah 52a–b)