And the Survey Says...

Well all, I must apologize for not writing back immediately. All good things must come to an end, including computers sometimes. But, we are back and ready to move forward with another post. I got some questions from bloggers regarding the definition of virtue and virtuous thoughts. One of the most important things you can do in any experiment is to define terms. And since this was exactly where I planned to go next...let's take a walk down the garden together.

Virtue. It seems like it would be easily definable. But I have been surprised at just how many variations there are to it and how many countries define different things as virtuous or not. Today, we will explore those. Some consider virtue to mean 'a good quality, a quality that is morally good'. Another definition is 'admirable quality, a quality that is good or admirable but not necessarily in moral terms' (see Encarta World English Dictionary). Yet another dictionary (Dictionary.com) defines it as 'moral excellence, goodness, righteousness, conformity of one's life to moral and ethical principles, uprightness, rectitude.' And, of course, going back to the root of the word, Latin, tells us virtue means 'moral excellence'. The Catholic Dictionary referenced the Latin but stated that virtue signifies manliness or courage. In the Bible's Guide to the Scriptures, virtue is defined as 'integrity and moral excellence, power and strength.' Wikipedia defines virtue as moral excellence but then goes on to state "a virtue is a character trait or quality valued as being always good in and of itself. Personal virtues are characteristics valued as promoting individual and collective well being. The opposite of virtue is vice."

Now this brings me to a critical point. Because so many define virtue in so many different ways, they then have many different lists of what is or is not a virtue. In the past, I did it too. Whenever I read something about 'virtue' I mentally made it synonymous with 'chastity'. And that is not correct. Although chastity is a virtue, it is not the definition of virtue. Not only did this limit my understanding of virtue and how to gain it and maintain it, it also limited my understanding of scripture.

So which to use? I have decided to go with the final definition listed above for a couple of different reasons. One of which is Hebrew. In Hebrew virtue is 'middot' and for Judaism, the virtuous person (ba'al middot) imitates the virtue of God.
(See The Book of Virtues). To me, therefore, virtue cannot simply mean 'an admirable quality, but not necessarily in moral terms'. It cannot simply mean 'conformity of one's life to moral and ethical principles' if the one defining moral and ethical principles is man. For example, Western culture traditionally listed four cardinal virtues 'temperence, prudence, fortitude, and justice' (see Wikipedia, 'virtue'), while Romans had a list that included things such as frugality, dutifulness, wholesomeness, tenacity, and fifteen others. Wikipedia states that in Christianity, the three virtues are faith, hope, and charity, and the fruits of the Spirit, as listed by Paul. Muslim virtues are prayer, repentance, honesty, loyalty, sincerity, frugality, prudence, moderation, self-restraint, discipline, perseverance, patience, hope, dignity, courage, justice, tolerance, wisdom, good speech, respect, purity, courtesy, kindness, gratitude, generosity, contentment, and others (again, see Wikipedia). For Buddhists, virtue would correspond with the 8 fold path, yet Chinese philosophy shows that the concept of virtue changed over time. Even modern psychology has a list of virtues. It's like reading a survey list. 'Well, 8 people said...but 52 said...so we'll define it as...." This doesn't work for me.

If truth is eternal, and I believe that it is, then virtue shouldn't change by time or place or culture. Since I believe that there is a God and that He does reveal His word to us (for the express purpose of helping us understand how to align our will with His and purify ourselves to return to Him) I will go through all scripture and make a list of things the Lord considers virtues (just not in this blog). Then, using that as our definition, review scriptures that use the term 'virtue' to understand the end effect of virtue. However, as we have to start somewhere quickly, and as we will go through scriptures throughout the following weeks, for the purpose of this experiment, let us now use the definition given to us by the Bible's guide, 'integrity and moral excellence, power and strength.'

Next, we will explore the scripture found in Doctrine and Covenants 121:45
"Let thy bowels also be full of charity towards all men, and to the household of faith, and let virtue garnish thy thoughts unceasingly; then shall thy confidence wax strong in the presence of God; and the doctrine of the priesthood shall distil upon thy soul as the dews from heaven." We will also look at Philippians 4:8 " 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."