SolitaryRoad.com

Website owner:  James Miller


[ Home ] [ Up ] [ Info ] [ Mail ]

Source of Good Character and Virtue




   Good character is mainly a matter of good habits.  Whether one 
   is speaking of honesty, decency, chastity, consideration for 
   others, unselfishness or whatever, at the bottom it is mostly a 
   matter of habit.  Acquiring good habits, however, requires 
   self-discipline and motivation.  Seriousness about God and 
   religious things can, for example, supply the motivation and 
   with sufficient self-discipline one can rout out and banish all 
   the bad habits and cultivate and nourish all the good habits.  
   Although character --- good or bad --- is largely a matter of 
   habit, underneath it all is one's philosophy, one's views on 
   conduct, life, God, religion, etc..  One must be motivated 
   toward good habits before one can be motivated to embracing 
   them.  One must be able to see that a particular habit is in 
   fact a good one and that another is in fact a bad one before he 
   can be motivated toward the good habits.  If one cannot tell 
   the difference between right and wrong, if he does not have 
   something inside him that tells him what is right and good he 
   cannot acquire good habits and good character.  This is where 
   the importance of seriousness about God and religious things 
   comes in.  If one truly becomes serious about God and religious 
   things the consequence should be that he wishes to turn away 
   from evil and to pursue virtue and goodness and moral right.  
   The first commandment, according to the Bible, is to love God.  
   The real meaning of loving God ought to mean to us loving his 
   precepts, commandments, and values i.e. loving things like 
   honesty, goodness, kindness, morality, chastity, etc. (all 
   those things that he has revealed in his holy word and written 
   into our conscience).  It is in the love and pursuit of 
   goodness, virtue and right that we find the truest and most 
   profound meaning of spirituality.  It is in them that we find 
   the greatest wisdom, the greatest happiness, and the greatest 
   meaning in life.  If we turn to God and set our heart on his 
   ways of Goodness, Virtue and Right our hearts are sensitized 
   and the ways are shown to us.  It is from there that good 
   habits and good character can take root and grow. 
 

   Nov 1984
                                                                 


More from SolitaryRoad.com:

The Way of Truth and Life

God's message to the world

Jesus Christ and His Teachings

Words of Wisdom

Way of enlightenment, wisdom, and understanding

Way of true Christianity

America, a corrupt, depraved, shameless country

On integrity and the lack of it

The test of a person's Christianity is what he is

Who will go to heaven?

The superior person

On faith and works

Ninety five percent of the problems that most people have come from personal foolishness

Liberalism, socialism and the modern welfare state

The desire to harm, a motivation for conduct

The teaching is:

On modern intellectualism

On Homosexuality

On Self-sufficient Country Living, Homesteading

Principles for Living Life

Topically Arranged Proverbs, Precepts, Quotations. Common Sayings. Poor Richard's Almanac.

America has lost her way

The really big sins

Theory on the Formation of Character

Moral Perversion

You are what you eat

People are like radio tuners --- they pick out and listen to one wavelength and ignore the rest

Cause of Character Traits --- According to Aristotle

These things go together

Television

We are what we eat --- living under the discipline of a diet

Avoiding problems and trouble in life

Role of habit in formation of character

The True Christian

What is true Christianity?

Personal attributes of the true Christian

What determines a person's character?

Love of God and love of virtue are closely united

Walking a solitary road

Intellectual disparities among people and the power in good habits

Tools of Satan. Tactics and Tricks used by the Devil.

On responding to wrongs

Real Christian Faith

The Natural Way -- The Unnatural Way

Wisdom, Reason and Virtue are closely related

Knowledge is one thing, wisdom is another

My views on Christianity in America

The most important thing in life is understanding

Sizing up people

We are all examples --- for good or for bad

Television --- spiritual poison

The Prime Mover that decides "What We Are"

Where do our outlooks, attitudes and values come from?

Sin is serious business. The punishment for it is real. Hell is real.

Self-imposed discipline and regimentation

Achieving happiness in life --- a matter of the right strategies

Self-discipline

Self-control, self-restraint, self-discipline basic to so much in life

We are our habits

What creates moral character?


[ Home ] [ Up ] [ Info ] [ Mail ]