How Has God's Plan Changed

In Virtuous Minds, Phillip Dow helps the reader understand what it means to love God with all of their minds. Dow does this by giving the reader a list of seven intellectual virtues, which can be performed in good or bad ways. Some may choose the path of cheating, arrogance, laziness, or cowardice, but Dow hopes this book will provide an option for recovering intellectual character. He splits the book into three separate parts, part one defines the seven intellectual virtues, while part two presents the awards that will come with these virtues, and finally part three provides the reader with a series of steps to reach this character.

In numerous books, I noticed how it is looked down upon to be a prideful person. This is a lesson that too many people do not seek knowledge of. Those are the few who do not realize the way that you act towards other is only a reflection of yourself. I have seen up close and personal how being a prideful person can seriously hurt your life. In the Popol Vuh I saw them mention pride countless times and one example of that would be from the story of the twins grandparents healing the Lord. “They had desired the death of Seven Macaw, and they were able to do it. For they saw pride as evil and went to do these things according to the word of Heart of Sky.” (p. 88, PopoVuh). What is evil to one could be good to the other, just as what is good

Integrity. To me, integrity is being honest to others and to yourself. It’s to have moral uprights. It’s the state of being whole. It’s a word used to describe someone’s level of honesty. No one is gets integrity once they are born. It is developed by good influences actions. Having integrity is doing the right thing is a trustful way. Someone who has integrity means they have a moral compass that leads them in the right direction. They follow their moral judgements and do good things under all circumstances, even if no one pays attention. They would do nothing that dishonors themselves.

I need to take a page from Paul because I sometimes have a tendency to be people pleaser and not a God pleaser. Paul’s mindset was all about building the kingdom of God. Paul was not moved by people’s emotions and threats that were made towards his life. Having a made-up mind really helps one to be focused on his task. Paul was task driven and motivated to build, exhort, and correct churches to ensure people’s souls were in the right standing with God.

“A little bit of mercy makes the world less cold and more just.” said Pope Francis of the Roman Catholic church. Mercy is something that is represented in parts of stories like The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, To Kill a Mockingbird, and The Merchant of Venice. It is also represented throughout history in times like the Holocaust. Mercy can be stronger and more powerful than a weapon if used with purpose and used at the right moment.

Jonathan Edwards in his sermon “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry G-d,” proposes one very significant question. What can man do to achieve perfection? Edwards states that:

When the occupation of a religious man is brought into thought, words like honest, humble, forgiving, or righteous are considered to be associated. Words like hard working, truthful, and effective are brought up when talking about a supervisor. These traits are needed in order to become a high-quality leader among men. From time to time though, selfishness corrupts men. Chaucer criticizes the trait of selfishness as a character trait in The Canterbury Tales.

As we all are perfect, we all are imperfect as well. We aren’t born to know how to be

Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience.  Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you.  And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.

“For God has not given us a spirit of fear but of power and of love and of sound mind.” ( 2 Timothy 1:7, NKJV).

My purity is the purity of a hard worker who is passionate about cultivating her skill-set. I am one who is self-actualized and altruistic. I am one who will not be defeated. I am one who has seen life after Howard. I shall not be burdened on the land of the Mecca. I shall not be encumbered by the weight of my textbooks. I shall not be thwarted by the earliness of my classes.

In the Son, we unearth how haphazardly, maybe hopelessly, we wait for them to change or adhere to our demands; as if we have total control of their behavior. In our naïve, frivolous psyche, God continuously meets then teaches us to direct love, compassion and forbearance for the peculiar, confrontational or diverse people He has set an appointment for us to encounter at certain junctures in our lives. In Him, we have the wisdom to use our tongue to speak love, to let go differences with forgiveness, and to demonstrate compassion through mercy towards those who are either hostile towards, in opposition to or lack understanding of our spiritual

The Lord is perfect in each and every way. He is both full of quantity and quality.

But we cannot have this confidence if we feel condemned. If we are condemned, we can't have faith. And the battle cry of the New Testament gospel is, "The just shall live by faith."

Nothing can be added to that perfection. Only man has potential. God gets His existence only from Himself and owes such to no other being because He is the original cause of all things, including Himself.