{"id":7047,"date":"2014-06-01T01:05:01","date_gmt":"2014-06-01T05:05:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/allandouglas.dougbittinger.com\/blog\/?p=7047"},"modified":"2025-04-21T01:56:39","modified_gmt":"2025-04-21T05:56:39","slug":"virtues-protect","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pineymountainfoster.org\/thoughts\/virtues-protect\/","title":{"rendered":"VIRTUES THAT PROTECT"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"http:\/\/pineymountainfoster.org\/thoughts\/wp-content\/uploads\/AP.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-5914\" src=\"http:\/\/pineymountainfoster.org\/thoughts\/wp-content\/uploads\/AP-171x300.jpg\" alt=\"Calvin S. Metcalf on the Church\" width=\"171\" height=\"300\" \/><\/a>Have you ever considered the virtues of the Christian life as an antidote to every evil that seeks to possess\u00a0us?\u00a0 The protective power of goodness is strong motivation for pursuing the Godly life.\u00a0 Every detail of life&#8217;s temptations are covered by the extraordinary influences of the righteous life.<\/p>\n<p>For example, in the presence of hate there is love to sooth and heal our heated hostilities.\u00a0 As we struggle with doubt, there is the fact of faith to conquer our instability.\u00a0 In the face of fear we are confronted with courage that eliminates danger as a deterrent to the Godly life.\u00a0 Every ugly thought falters in its ambition to muddy our minds\u00a0in the context of sober thinking. \u00a0Despair is limited when hope is our daily companion.\u00a0 Lust is lost in the satisfying atmosphere of prayer.\u00a0 Pride is overcome by the humbling experiences that produce a gentle spirit.<\/p>\n<p>Everywhere there is an evil, there is a virtue to combat it.\u00a0 The exciting fact\u00a0here is God has not left us at the mercy of the devil.\u00a0 We\u00a0have access to divine resources in our battle with sin.\u00a0 We do not have to succumb to the powers and principalities of this world.\u00a0\u00a0There is more to us than our evil inclinations.\u00a0 We are created sufficiently in the image of God to make our choice.\u00a0 &#8220;The devil made me do it&#8221; is no longer an alibi for\u00a0misbehavior.<\/p>\n<p>Even when evil overwhelms us and we sin; through confession and repentance we have the force of forgiveness to sustain us.\u00a0 As forgiven sinners we move through every evil situation by the virtues of God&#8217;s grace.\u00a0 &#8220;Blessed are those who persevere under trial for they shall receive the crown of life.&#8221;\u00a0 Amen<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Have you ever considered the virtues of the Christian life as an antidote to every evil that seeks to possess&nbsp;us?&nbsp; The protective power of goodness is strong motivation for pursuing the Godly life.&nbsp; Every detail of life&rsquo;s temptations are covered by the extraordinary influences of the righteous life. For example, in the presence of hate &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/pineymountainfoster.org\/thoughts\/virtues-protect\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;VIRTUES THAT PROTECT&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[55],"tags":[57],"class_list":["post-7047","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-matters-of-faith","tag-religion"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pineymountainfoster.org\/thoughts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7047","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pineymountainfoster.org\/thoughts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pineymountainfoster.org\/thoughts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pineymountainfoster.org\/thoughts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pineymountainfoster.org\/thoughts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7047"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/pineymountainfoster.org\/thoughts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7047\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19161,"href":"https:\/\/pineymountainfoster.org\/thoughts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7047\/revisions\/19161"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pineymountainfoster.org\/thoughts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7047"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pineymountainfoster.org\/thoughts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7047"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pineymountainfoster.org\/thoughts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7047"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}