Adams' warned that our level of freedom depends on a high level of self-restraint by the citizens. French: "The response to John Adams’s warning is not to arm the government with more power but to equip citizens with more virtue. And how do we do that?" - David French
"Right now America is in a permissive mood that is legalizing controlled substances, legitimizing prostitution as 'sex work,' embracing gambling as economic stimulant, and accepting pornography as harmless pastime. This permissiveness will run its course, until its excesses will provoke a new more restrictive era. Social Puritanism may recede for a season but it never disappears. Often it just morphs into new arenas." - Mark Tooley
Paul lists three great virtues, “faith, hope and love” in 1 Corinthians 13:13, yet he informs us that “love” is the greatest of the three. Two books of the Bible are devoted to the virtue of wisdom: Proverbs and Ecclesiastes. How can anyone underestimate the importance of wisdom in light of this? But the fruit of the Spirit (Gal.5:22-23) and the armor of God (Eph. 6:14-18) are two more examples of “virtue lists” found in God’s Word—and there are many more.
With all these virtue lists floating around, we can end up dizzy. What do I pursue: love, faith, holiness, graciousness, zeal, knowledge, joy, peace, goodness, gentleness, or self-control? The answer is “yes.” These attributes are complementary, but they can be examined individually. After examining them, we need to integrate them into the whole package of who we are. In a sense, being a balanced Christian means being a complete Christian; we attain balance by including all these virtues and excluding none. None of us attains this perfect balance; indeed, we probably cannot even agree as to what that perfect balance should be.
Jesus obviously lived out the perfect mixture of attributes for His calling as Messiah, but even that is not enough information for our lives. Jesus never addressed pesky salesmen on the phone, nor did He decide what options we should expect on our cell phones. Still, His character gives us the supreme example and starting point. One attribute Jesus cherished and repeatedly discussed is joy.
"Jesus teaches us not only what is right and true, but also how to display the beauty of the truth in our words, posture, and deeds. He models how to live righteously and love compassionately alongside how to think deeply." - Dustin Crowe
"When trust fails, the virtuous circle turns vicious, and then the state has to find other ways to encourage or compel cooperation in order to function.... it is not surprising that the two poles of American politics have drifted toward socialism and nationalism at a time when the effectiveness and trustworthiness of our public institutions is in decline." - The Venezuelafication of American Politics
"America’s founding documents presuppose that a limited government depends on a free and virtuous society. 'Of all the dispositions and habits which lead to political prosperity, religion and morality are indispensable supports,' said George Washington in his Farewell Address." - Acton
"Virtue politics, following the ancient Greek philosophers, assumed that hierarchies would always exist in society, so that a principal task of politics was to ensure that those hierarchies would be just ones, based on real distinctions of merit between rulers and ruled." - The Public Discourse
"What Barr describes is a long-term shift from an understanding that a robust civil society, including religious institutions, could promote healthy norms such as sobriety and self-discipline to a belief that government could be relied upon for rehabilitation, the term emphasized by the Kennedy administration when it first authorized federal grants for social services." - National Review
