We remember that orientation and context are vital to focusing on meaning, motives, understanding and conduct in life. There are, for each of us, special nuances that press in on our thoughts, our conducts, convictions and procedures. These nuances may force interpretations. For example, a former special student, of more than fifty years ago, with whom I exchange ideas and mutual interests in faith, culture and discussion, raised the matter of equality of women with me. She wondered if one of my statements implied that the growth in the equality of women in society was negative – when I noted the decline in the male percentages in education and leadership. I felt no negative implication about women, and
I am rather sure she just wanted some assurance that I was in agreement on her hope that gender would not be a factor for the developmental opportunities for persons, either for nature’s concerns or God’s. The raising of the issue points to the nuance influence of what we say and do. Our exchange was a good one.
There seems to be a nuance to consider in words like righteous and holy. Righteousness points to holiness and holiness to righteousness. A righteous person is not perfect. Holy God is perfect. Even so the terms are used interchangeably. For me, only God is holy, but mankind can be righteous so pointing to God. The terms are in the same ballpark, but, for me, they are separated so to identify what is of God alone, and what is human in any humble search for holiness. That search for Christians is for Christ-likeness.
My main interest for this day relates to values and virtue. For the Christian, values are stipulated in the Scripture, and are urged to become part of the character and performance of the person of faith. Virtue, also in Scripture, in its highest meaning belongs to God. One of our values is to seek to gain some of the virtue of God. This may be explained in several ways. From the virtue of God, I want to serve other human beings, no matter who they are or what they believe. To the degree that I do that, I am seeking the virtue of God. My values agree with that, but I prefer to care for my family first, then other Christians, and then any (all) others. Virtue informs me to serve without creating barriers. My understanding of virtue is to serve without needing other motivation. Values suggest that I serve because of needs. I am most virtuous when I serve because God tells me to serve. I am righteous to the degree I serve the actual needs of those here before me. The first relates to spiritual faith, the second to natural need. There is relationship, but the two can be differentiated. Only the faith person can do the first. Anyone, faith or no faith, can do the second. Christians are concerned about two large meanings here. First, they are to honor God so to follow virtue. The second is to follow the needs and goods of mankind, a natural value that is sometimes related to virtue. Related, they are not the same – but similar. The atheist can follow values, and does not believe in divine virtue. All persons are called to values. The Christian is called to seek virtue which is proved in faithfulness. The values issue may be seen in books like Coming Apart, by Charles Murray. He argues for soundness in a nation related to values like industriousness, loving marriages, religious faith, and honesty. The reviewer of the book, W. Bradford Wilcox, identifies honesty as keeping the laws, and he uses the word virtue with the observation. (WSJ 1/31/2012 p. A-13) For me, the nuance here implies that he means value. In values persons may agree, or acquiesce, for the good of all. When this occurs for humanists, they are accepting some values because others do, and not because of a divine source. Values for them are simply that they have likely proven to be useful for manageable culture and citizenship than if there were no values. As tenuous as the differences above may seem, they are real. It is well known that formal public education has moved away from values, or has become selective to its private purposes. Values are left to the individual, the family, the popular culture, and the source is likely found in the majority opinions of society. The differences in Christian education and secular are in such matters of virtues/values, ministry/motivation, life/legacy, humanism/spirituality, and obedience to God. Obedience does not appear attractive to the modern sophisticate. It smacks of slave and master. The answer is that it indicates parent and child. The good God means to parent well his developing child. In natural life, for the person of faith, there is the combination of virtue (divine morality) and altruism (human good). *Mark W. Lee, Sr. — 2016, 2020