Character And GreatnessEssay Preview: Character And GreatnessReport this essayCharacter and GreatnessGreat men do not do great things by accident. If you look at great men like Abraham Lincoln and George Washington, you will find they did not invoke change in our generation by chance, rather, they were driven by an inward need to make things rightЖpossessed with a rock-solid character formed from solid values. Abraham Lincoln did not wake up one day and decide to focus his efforts on passing legislation to free the slaves, he was driven by a value system that knew it was not right for a man (or woman) to be forced to serve another without payment or regard. Washington is said to have adopted Charles Moores “Rules of Civility and Decent Behavior in Company and Conversation.” Detailing Washingtons recreated rules, the University of Virginia writes: “Washington wrote out a copy of the 110 Rules in his school book when he was about sixteen-years oldÐthese maxims were so fully exemplified in George Washingtons life that biographers have regarded them as formative influences in the development of his character.” Rules such as: “Superfluous complements and all affectation of ceremony are to be avoided, yet where due they are not to be neglected” (no. 25); “Think before you speak” (no. 73); and “Rinse not your Mouth in the Presence of Others” (no. 101)” were lived out by Washington and the foundation of his actions in daily life.
These are more than neat colloquialisms or steps for good behaviorЖthese men had a passion for rightness, a continual desire to improve themselves, and the knowledge of the responsibility of their existence. Deep within laid a value system, a personal, ethical philosophy of thinking and conduct. Every thought and action was involuntarily matched against the “rules” written on the heart–to violate the inward law could be deemed sacrilegious.
I have always admired heroesЖgreat men and women who could stand against immeasurable odds and come out victorious. Those who would risk their lives for another, father a cause and see it through no matter what, or stake their very lives on something they knew to be true. I cannot say my life was built one character principle after another, on the contrary, by the time I was 18 years of age, I did not have a very good outlook on life, nor did I possess a notable character. My life changed however, in 1990 when I met Jesus Christ for the first time in my life. In the past I had known about him, but I never knew him. A hunger developed within meЖa hunger to be right, to think right, to act right, and to do right in every case. The bible became a manual for my life and many of its passages are now my ethical standards. Jesus taught the golden rule, “Do to others as you would have them do to you”Жthis scripture, along with others such as: “There is neither Jew nor GreekÐ…all are one in Jesus Christ,” teach that we should not discriminate or think of others more highly than some. The Ten Commandments lay out the very core of my ethics/values system:
Thou shalt have no other gods before meThou shalt not make unto thee any graven imageThou shalt not take the name of the Lord in vainRemember the Sabbath day to keep it holyHonor your father and your mother that your days may be long upon the earthThou shalt not murderThou shalt not commit adulteryThou shalt not stealThou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighborThou shalt not covet your neighbors house, or anything that it thy neighborsThe first three of the Ten Commandments speak of mans relationship with God, while the rest speak of his relationship with his fellow man. Jesus summed up the commandments in Matthew 22:37: “Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second [is] like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.” Jesus went on to say that when you follow these two laws, you fulfill all of the original Ten Commandments.
We live in a culture that is increasingly using the first ten commandments to control our actions. People have begun to question where the original ten commandments and the next ten commandments come from. They are often confused when it comes to the specifics of the original commandments and we need to be better educated when we use them.
We are going to do an entire series of blog posts about them this week to demonstrate why we should always use the two commandments they set up for us, and why they really are necessary for us to do what we did when we were living under our parents’ (family) homes. Some of the most important things you need to know about the original commandments:
2- The Ten Commandments
Many people believe that the original Ten Commandments (the words from the Bible) are a kind of bible, like the rest of the Bible, but it’s wrong. (That includes you and me, the “bible”) The original covenant laws, then, were created to govern living together, not as a society or as one nation, but to allow our individual freedom to exist under those laws. The laws didn’t just define God’s nature, but a culture’s.
3- The Ten Commandments are just a little too broad–some may even include other laws like the Sabbath, which might or might not hold up to interpretation. It seems that, with time, the law that protects us could be removed.
4- How Does The Law Keep Families Together
The law often requires that we have families together. However, the first law also says, “I do not want any one other than the father of your children to inherit the kingdom from your father, and the father of your children to inherit it from you.” If I need to split up and send my children to a place that has more men to raise them and women to keep them together, then I should have my sons go to a different place without being asked: “Do you consider it proper for the woman, who is not worthy of your wife, to give up her husband to take the kingdom from you?” That makes sense to many Catholics, but for some, we’re not even told that that’s what the first law meant.
5- The Ten Commandments are a simple word, with a simple meaning: To do right by our fellow man. This refers to the principle that if we do right by our partner, we should be able to treat each other the same, regardless of what that partner has done or is doing. How many times have I experienced this? Not all partners are able to be free from the shackles imposed by the Ten Commandments. One person who has been abusive to your partner may not be able to be free from the shackles imposed by the Ten Commandments and to fulfill their moral responsibilities (like being an adult, in his adult life, or in his duty as a pastor if you don’t commit these sins).
6- If you do not feel your relationship is good (or very fair), then your partner has the right to treat your partner like nothing else. The first ten commandments prohibit it. Heretics often say that, if we’re not doing what is right, it’s as if we aren’t doing good. They often claim that, if we’re not doing what we’re supposed to, God’s promise to forgive us doesn’t guarantee that we’re doing what we’ve been told to do. And this claim is at odds with our own beliefs. The one thing that we know how to do in our relationship to God is to treat our partners in a loving and mutually respectful way.
7- One man may be able to do whatever comes naturally with a partner. The only thing that will bring love isn’t the marriage
We live in a culture that is increasingly using the first ten commandments to control our actions. People have begun to question where the original ten commandments and the next ten commandments come from. They are often confused when it comes to the specifics of the original commandments and we need to be better educated when we use them.
We are going to do an entire series of blog posts about them this week to demonstrate why we should always use the two commandments they set up for us, and why they really are necessary for us to do what we did when we were living under our parents’ (family) homes. Some of the most important things you need to know about the original commandments:
2- The Ten Commandments
Many people believe that the original Ten Commandments (the words from the Bible) are a kind of bible, like the rest of the Bible, but it’s wrong. (That includes you and me, the “bible”) The original covenant laws, then, were created to govern living together, not as a society or as one nation, but to allow our individual freedom to exist under those laws. The laws didn’t just define God’s nature, but a culture’s.
3- The Ten Commandments are just a little too broad–some may even include other laws like the Sabbath, which might or might not hold up to interpretation. It seems that, with time, the law that protects us could be removed.
4- How Does The Law Keep Families Together
The law often requires that we have families together. However, the first law also says, “I do not want any one other than the father of your children to inherit the kingdom from your father, and the father of your children to inherit it from you.” If I need to split up and send my children to a place that has more men to raise them and women to keep them together, then I should have my sons go to a different place without being asked: “Do you consider it proper for the woman, who is not worthy of your wife, to give up her husband to take the kingdom from you?” That makes sense to many Catholics, but for some, we’re not even told that that’s what the first law meant.
5- The Ten Commandments are a simple word, with a simple meaning: To do right by our fellow man. This refers to the principle that if we do right by our partner, we should be able to treat each other the same, regardless of what that partner has done or is doing. How many times have I experienced this? Not all partners are able to be free from the shackles imposed by the Ten Commandments. One person who has been abusive to your partner may not be able to be free from the shackles imposed by the Ten Commandments and to fulfill their moral responsibilities (like being an adult, in his adult life, or in his duty as a pastor if you don’t commit these sins).
6- If you do not feel your relationship is good (or very fair), then your partner has the right to treat your partner like nothing else. The first ten commandments prohibit it. Heretics often say that, if we’re not doing what is right, it’s as if we aren’t doing good. They often claim that, if we’re not doing what we’re supposed to, God’s promise to forgive us doesn’t guarantee that we’re doing what we’ve been told to do. And this claim is at odds with our own beliefs. The one thing that we know how to do in our relationship to God is to treat our partners in a loving and mutually respectful way.
7- One man may be able to do whatever comes naturally with a partner. The only thing that will bring love isn’t the marriage
We have three core values in the Air Force: Integrity First, Service Before Self, and Excellence in all We Do. I wholeheartedly agree with and promote these core values; they fall right in line with my personal value system. Integrity is what you do when no one is looking. It is what I believe Shakespeare meant when he said in Hamlet, “To thine own self be true.” I believe