{"id":1134,"date":"2016-06-02T01:13:00","date_gmt":"2016-06-02T01:13:00","guid":{"rendered":""},"modified":"2016-07-06T03:37:23","modified_gmt":"2016-07-06T03:37:23","slug":"virtue","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kinshipradio.org\/home\/virtue\/","title":{"rendered":"Virtue"},"content":{"rendered":"

I can\u2019t remember the last time I heard anyone use the word \u201cvirtue.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span>I think some years ago I remember somebody saying, \u201cPatience is a virtue.\u201d <\/span><\/div>\n
\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n
Which, if we were to ponder it at all, would tend to make us think that a virtue is any one of a number of positive character traits.\u00a0 But the true definition of the word goes far beyond that.<\/span><\/div>\n
\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n
Various dictionaries all have slightly different definitions, but the one thing they have in common is the concept of morality. Some dictionaries refer to good moral behavior, while many others actually use the words, \u201cmoral excellence\u201d to define \u201cvirtue.\u201d<\/span><\/div>\n
\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n
When was the last time you heard a public debate where there was even a hint of someone advocating for moral excellence?<\/span><\/div>\n
\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n
In Ancient Philosophy there were four Cardinal Virtues: Justice, prudence, temperance, and fortitude.<\/span><\/div>\n
\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n
Prudence? Temperance? <\/span><\/div>\n
\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n
Those are attributes about as popular these days as something like, oh say, \u201cchastity.\u201d Which, not coincidentally, is one of the synonyms for \u201cvirtue.\u201d<\/span><\/div>\n
\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n
Actually, in the time when the word \u201cprudence\u201d was used, it meant \u201cwisdom\u201d instead of our modern connotation of being a \u201cprude.\u201d Again, not coincidentally, that \u201cwisdom\u201d in the ancient definition did mean the wisdom to abstain from sexually inappropriate behavior.<\/span><\/div>\n
\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n
And, then we come to \u201ctemperance.\u201d For me, that carries the message of abstention from alcohol, as in the Victorian era. \u00a0But that\u2019s not the definition in the original. \u201cTemperance\u201d is <\/span>also known as restraint, the practice of self-control, abstention, discretion, and moderation tempering the appetition; especially sexually, hence the meaning chastity.<\/span><\/div>\n
\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n
Undoubtedly, in our modern \u201cenlightened\u201d era, any thinking person would be bound to object to such obviously repressive, intolerant, and judgmental Christian views.\u00a0 But the thing is, they are not. The \u201cCardinal Virtues\u201d did not originate in Christianity. They are generally credited to Plato and are also associated with such familiar names as Cicero, Aristotle, and Socrates. <\/span><\/div>\n
\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n
The word \u201ccardinal\u201d in this sense has nothing to do with Catholicism. \u201cCardinal\u201d means \u201chinge\u201d and it was used to mean that all other virtues are hinged on these four.<\/span><\/div>\n
\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n
Now while these men certainly could have known of Judaism, their advocacy of virtuous living is not associated with religion, but with philosophical thought.<\/span><\/div>\n
\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n
Yes, the Cardinal Virtues do indeed coincide with much of, at the time and to this day, was the Jewish moral code\u2014which became the Christian moral code. \u00a0And, Christianity would come along after these classic Greco-Roman philosophers and add \u201cfaith, hope, and charity\u201d to the list.<\/span><\/div>\n
\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n
In fact, the Bible even says that God will write His laws upon the hearts of men, so it is really no surprise that thinking people who did not even know about the One True God would come up with many of the same moral truths that God told to the children of Israel.<\/span><\/div>\n
\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n
For example, Plato is credited with the quote in the picture above sometime in the fifth century B.C., while Proverbs 16:16 was written some 500 years earlier:\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n
\u00a0<\/b><\/span><\/div>\n
How much better to get wisdom than gold, to get insight rather than silver.<\/b><\/span><\/div>\n
\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n
The point is, our society\u2019s fascination and fixation with our human sexuality is not a new and enlightened way of thinking. \u00a0It\u2019s a regression to an incorrect and harmful way of thinking that intelligent people corrected and changed thousands and thousands of years ago, not just in one culture but in multiple cultures in multiples places across multiple eras of time.<\/span><\/div>\n
\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n
The Asherah Pole mentioned in the Bible was associated with pagan worship of sexuality. Pagan temples mentioned in the Bible had temple prostitutes. The worship of Molech included throwing live babies into a furnace shaped like a golden calf. <\/span><\/div>\n
\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n
Yes, our God is quite specific about what and what is not allowed sexually and it is because the behaviors He told us to abstain from are harmful to us, to our families, and to our children. <\/span><\/div>\n
\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n
The law was given in love, brothers and sisters.<\/span><\/div>\n
\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n
Because when we forget what virtue is, we end up arguing about which bathroom a man in a dress should use.<\/span><\/div>\n
\u00a0<\/span><\/b><\/div>\n
Today\u2019s Praise<\/span><\/b><\/div>\n
\u00a0<\/span><\/b><\/div>\n
Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things. Philippians 4:8 KJV<\/span><\/b><\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

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I can\u2019t remember the last time I heard anyone use the word \u201cvirtue.\u201d \u00a0I think some years ago I remember somebody saying, \u201cPatience is a virtue.\u201d \u00a0 Which, if we…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_price":"","_stock":"","_tribe_ticket_header":"","_tribe_default_ticket_provider":"","_tribe_ticket_capacity":"0","_ticket_start_date":"","_ticket_end_date":"","_tribe_ticket_show_description":"","_tribe_ticket_show_not_going":false,"_tribe_ticket_use_global_stock":"","_tribe_ticket_global_stock_level":"","_global_stock_mode":"","_global_stock_cap":"","_tribe_rsvp_for_event":"","_tribe_ticket_going_count":"","_tribe_ticket_not_going_count":"","_tribe_tickets_list":"[]","_tribe_ticket_has_attendee_info_fields":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-04-19 09:33:33","action":"delete","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kinshipradio.org\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1134"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kinshipradio.org\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kinshipradio.org\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kinshipradio.org\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kinshipradio.org\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1134"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/kinshipradio.org\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1134\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kinshipradio.org\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1134"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kinshipradio.org\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1134"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kinshipradio.org\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1134"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}