Tag: goodness
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Holy Purpose in Division Paulus said, “There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus” (Galatians 3:28). This verse, often misread or oversimplified, is not a call to erase identity but a revelation of the divine order that…
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The Insults are Nothing To win without fighting is the ultimate victory, and nothing suggests an inability to do this more than to be always ready for a spiteful response with any insult. This is not really any form of non-violence, but rather the demonstration of a meekness in strengths as focused upon goodness. At…
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Taking for Granted the Community and Cultural Commonality Humanity often seeks to build an artificial means to heaven through its own perceived strengths, only to be scattered by divine intervention of the very real consequences of such attempts. Kierkegaard’s philosophy, in its insistence on individual faith, is a structure built on the ruins of reason,…
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Reconciling Objective and Subjective If Heidegger’s existentialism sought to reconcile a perspective of Christian theology with the modern age’s fragmented self, Kierkegaard took a different path, one that rejected even the idea of universal truths in favour of the individual, as the sole arbiter of meaning and beauty. Is this not a structure built on…
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Identify the Patterns of Power to Unravel Now, let us step back and examine the pattern we’ve uncovered. There is a reason why these two elements of discourse (speaking truth to power and punching up rather than down) are so vital. The first principle, speaking truth to power, ensures that those in authority are held…
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Mere Innocence No More Than Starting Point for Virtue In conclusion, let us return to our original question: is innocence foundational to goodness? The answer, I believe, lies not in the absence of evil but in the presence of virtue. Innocence may be a starting point, a state of potential, but it is only through…
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If we fall into the sin of ‘Amnesis,’ of forgetting the self and who we are supposed to be, then we must find a way to awaken that memory, to rediscover who we are. This is where anger comes in, especially in times of strife. For when we see lies, deception, and corruption; when we…
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There is a dangerous illusion that one can live a good life without ever facing struggle, and that this is somehow preferable to make it to the end of life with least amount of pain, rather than most amount of triumph. This belief suggests that if we simply avoid wrongdoing, we will automatically become virtuous.…
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Innocence in Misunderstanding Temptation’s Paradoxes Paradoxically, coming to understand temptation is one element in the humbling yet empowering recognition process of self through virtues earned in discourse. Without the discourse, this value is lost, however, because all must be funnelled through it for growth of emboldened progressive virtues. This process is lost for the majority…
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How Does the Static Become Dynamic Goodness? There is a seductive allure to the idea that innocence is synonymous with goodness. After all, what could be more virtuous than being free from sin? To be innocent is to be uncorrupted, untainted by the stains of wrongdoing. Yet this view misunderstands the nature of virtue itself.…