ReCreation Magazine ™ReCreation

VALUESMORALS

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VALUES

ReCreation Magazine™

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MORALS

ReCreation Magazine™ 2012 Jahmerikah Marley © All Rights Reserved

Table Of Contents

Values - 02A - 03V - 24

Morals - 25Holy Bible - 27

How would you define your values?Before you answer this question, you need to know what, in general, values are.Your values are the things that you believe are important in the way you live and work. They (should) determine your priorities, and, deep down, they’re probably the measures you use to tell if your life is turning out the way you want it to.When the things that you do and the way you behave match your values, life is usually good – you’re satisfied and content. But when these don’t align with your values, that’s when things feel... wrong. This can be a real source of unhappiness.This is why making a conscious effort to identify your values is so important.

What Are Your Values?Deciding what’s most important in life

How Values Help YouValues exist, whether you recognize them or not. Life can be much easier when you acknowledge your values – and when you make plans and decisions that honor them.If you value family, but you have to work 70-hour weeks in your job, will you feel internal stress and conflict? And if you don’t value competition, and you work in a highly competitive sales environment, are you likely to be satisfied with your job?In these types of situations, understanding your values can really help. When you know your own values, you can use them to make decisions about how to live your life, and you can answer questions like these:•What job should I pursue?•Should I accept this promotion?•Should I start my own business?•Should I compromise, or be firm with my position?•Should I follow tradition, or travel down a new path?So, take the time to understand the real priorities in your life, and you’ll be able to determine the best direction for you and your life goals!

Tip: Values are usually fairly stable, yet they don’t have strict limits or boundaries. Also, as you move through life, your values may change. For example, when you start your career, success – measured by money and status – might be a top priority. But after you have a family, work-life balance may be what you value more.As your definition of success changes, so do your values. This is why keeping in touch with your values is a lifelong exercise. You should con-tinuously revisit this, especially if you start to feel unbalanced... and you can’t quite figure out why.Bear in mind that values that were important in the past may not be relevant now.

CHALLENGE:As you read through the pages of ReCreation Maga-zine™ aim for about 10 top values. (As you work through, you may find that some of these naturally combine. For instance, if you value philanthropy, community, and generosity, you might say that ser-vice to others is one of your top values.)

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Values

Accountability (of a person, organization, or institution) required or expected to justify actions or decisions; responsible : government must be accountable to its citizens | parents could be held accountable for their children’s actions

Accuracy the quality or state of being correct or precise : we have confidence in the accuracy of the statistics.• the ability to perform a task with precision : she hit the ball with great accuracy.

Achievement a thing done successfully, typically by effort, courage, or skill : to reach this stage is a great achieve-ment.

Adventurousnesswilling to take risks or to try out new methods, ideas, or experiences : let’s be adventurous | an adventur-ous traveler.• involving new ideas or methods : they wanted more adventurous meals.• full of excitement : my life couldn’t be more adventurous.

Ambitiona strong desire to do or to achieve something, typically requiring determination and hard work : her ambition was to become a model | he achieved his ambition of making a fortune.• desire and determination to achieve success : life offered few opportunities for young people with ambition.

Assertiveness having or showing a confident and forceful personality : patients should be more as-sertive with their doctors.

Values

AaAa

03

Values

Being The Best

Bba predominating weight or amount; the majority : the balance of opinion was that work was more important than leisure.

(of a person) fit in a specified place or environment : she is a stranger, and doesn’t belong here | you and me, we belong together | [as n. ] ( belonging) we feel a real sense of belonging.Belonging

Boldness

Balance

(of a person, action, or idea) showing an ability to take risks; confident and courageous : a bold attempt to solve the crisis | he was the only one bold enough to air his dislike.

Having good qualities in the highest degree; most good, kind, desirable, suitable, etc.; most excellent; as, the best man; the best road; the best cloth; the best abilities.Most advanced; most correct or complete; as, the best scholar; the best view of a subject.

Bb

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Values

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Cc

Ccof a person, action, or manner) not showing or feeling nervousness, anger, or other emotions

Calmness

Carefulness done with or showing thought and attention

Cheerfulness in a way that displays happiness or optimism

Commitment the act of committing or the state of being committed.

Compassion sympathetic pity and concern for the sufferings or mis-fortunes of others

Consistency the achievement of a level of performance that does not vary greatly in quality over time

Contentment a state of happiness and satisfaction

Control the power to restrain something, esp. one’s own emo-tions or actions

Cooperation he process of working together to the same end

Correctness meeting the requirements of or most appropriate for a particular situation or activity

Courtesy the showing of politeness in one’s attitude and behavior toward others

Creativity

Curious eager to know or learn something

the use of the imagination or original ideas

Values

Dd

Diversity

Decisiveness settling an issue; producing a definite result

favoring or characterized by social equality; egali-tarianDemocraticness

Dependability trustworthy and reliable

Determination firmness of purpose; resoluteness

Devoutness having or showing deep religious feeling or commitment

Diligence careful and persistent work or effort

Discipline

Discretion

the controlled behavior resulting from such training

the quality of behaving or speaking in such a way as to avoid causing offense or revealing private infor-mation.

the state of being diverse; variety. a range of different things

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Dd

Values

Expressiveness

EeEffectiveness successful in producing a desired or

intended result

Efficiency the state or quality of being efficient

Elegance pleasingly graceful and stylish in ap-pearance or manner

Empathy the ability to understand and share the feelings of another.

Enjoyment take delight or pleasure in (an activity or occasion)

Equality the state of being equal, esp. in status, rights, and opportunities

Excellence the quality of being outstanding or ex-tremely good

Excitement a feeling of great enthusiasm and eager-ness

Expertise expert skill or knowledge in a particular field

Exploration the action of traveling in or through an un-familiar area in order to learn about it

effectively conveying thought or feeling

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Ee

Values Ff

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Ff

Fun

Fairness in accordance with the rules or standards; legitimate

Faith complete trust or confidence in someone or something

Family-Orientedness Devotion to family

Fidelity faithfulness to a person, cause, or belief, demonstrated by continuing loyalty and support

Fitness the condition of being physically fit and healthy

Fluency the quality or condition of being fluent, in particular

Focus the center of interest or activity

Freedom the power or right to act, speak, or think as one wants without hindrance or restraint

enjoyment, amusement, or lighthearted pleasure

Values

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Gg

GgGenerosity

Goodness

Grace

Growth

the quality of being kind and generous

the quality of being good, in particular

simple elegance or refinement of movement

the process of increasing in amount, value, or importance

Values Hh

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HhHappiness

Health

Holiness

Honesty

Honor

Humility

feeling or showing pleasure or contentment

the state of being free from illness or injury

the state of being holy

the quality of being honest

high respect; esteem

a modest or low view of one’s own importance; humbleness.

Values

Ii

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Ii

Independence

Ingenuity

Inquisitiveness

Insightfulness

Intelligence

Intuition

the fact or state of being independent

the quality of being clever, original, and inventive.

curious or inquiring

the capacity to gain an accurate and deep intuitive understanding of a person or thing

the ability to acquire and apply knowledge and skills

the ability to understand something immediately, without the need for conscious reasoning

Values

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Jj

Jj

Joy a feeling of great pleasure and happi-

Justice just behavior or treatment

Values

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Kk

Kk

Kindness the quality of being friendly, generous, and considerate.

Values

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Ll

LlLeadership

Legacy

Love

Loyalty

the action of leading a group of people or an organization

a thing handed down by a predecessor

an intense feeling of deep affection

a strong feeling of support or allegiance

Values

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Mm

Mm

Mastery

Merit

comprehensive knowledge or skill in a subject or accomplishment

the quality of being particularly good or worthy, esp. so as to deserve praise or re-ward

Values

Nn

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Nn

care for and encourage the growth or development ofNurture

Values

OoObedience

Openness

Order

Originality

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Oo

compliance with someone’s wishes or orders or acknowledgment of their authority

not concealed

the arrangement or disposition of people or things in relation to each other according to a particular sequence, pattern, or method

the ability to think independently and creatively

Values

PpPerfection

Piety

Positivity

Practicality

Prepared-ness

Prudence

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Pp

the condition, state, or quality of being free or as free as possible from all flaws or defects

the quality of being religious or reverent

showing optimism and confidence

the aspects of a situation that involve the actual doing or experi-ence of something rather than theories or ideas

a state of readiness

acting with or showing care and thought for the future

Values

Qq

Quality

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Qq

the standard of something as measured against other things of a similar kind; the degree of excellence of something

Values

RrReliability

Resourcefulness

Restraint

Rigor

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Rr

consistently good in quality or performance; able to be trusted

having the ability to find quick and clever ways to overcome difficul-ties

the action of keeping someone or something under control

the quality of being extremely thorough, exhaustive, or accurate

Values

SsShrewdness

Simplicity

Soundness

Speed

Spontaneity

Stability

Strategic

Strength

Structure

Success

Support

Security

Self-control

Selflessness

Self-reliance

Sensitivity

Serenity

Service

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Ss

the state of being free from danger or threat

the ability to control oneself, in particu-lar one’s emotions and desires or the expression of them in one’s behavior, esp. in difficult situations

concerned more with the needs and wishes of others than with one’s own; unselfish

reliance on one’s own powers and re-sources rather than those of others

the quality or condition of being sensitive

the state of being calm, peaceful, and un-troubled

the action of helping or doing work for

be capable of fulfilling (a role) adequately

having or showing sharp powers of judgment; astute

the quality or condition of being easy to understand or do

based on reason, sense, or judgment

rapidity of movement or action

performed or occurring as a result of a sudden inner impulse or inclination and without premeditation or external stimulus

not likely to change or fail; firmly established

relating to the identification of long-term or overall aims and interests and the means of achieving themthe quality or state of being strong, in particular

the arrangement of and relations between the parts or elements of something com-plexthe accomplishment of an aim or purpose

Values

TtTeamwork

Temperance

Thankfulness

Thoroughness

Thoughtfulness

Timeliness

Tolerance

Trustworthiness

Truth-seeking

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Tt

the combined action of a group of people, esp. when effective and effi-cient.

abstinence from alcoholic drink

expressing gratitude and relief

continuing in time toward completion of (a process or period)

showing careful consideration or attention

done or occurring at a favorable or useful time; opportune

the capacity to endure continued subjection to something, esp. a drug, trans-plant, antigen, or environmental conditions, without adverse reaction

able to be relied on as honest or truthful

the quality or state of accepting facts to be true

Values

UuUnderstanding

Uniqueness

Unity

Usefulness

Uu

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the ability to understand something; comprehension

being the only one of its kind; unlike anything else

a thing forming a complex whole

able to be used for a practical purpose or in several ways

Values

VvVision

Vitality

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Vv

a person or sight of unusual beauty.

the state of being strong and active; energy

Morals

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1 . Being Honest, Truthful, Trustworthy— is frank and open, refraining from lying, stealing, or cheating2. Having Integrity— is principled—being of sound moral character, showing courage of convictions, standing up for what is right.3. Being Caring/ Compassionate/ Benevolent—shows good will, generosity; charitable, considerate, kind.4. Doing One’s Civic Duty—abides by the laws and rules; does fair share; participates in community betterment.5. Having Courage—does what is right, even in the face of personal consequences, rejection by others, or danger.6. Being Willing to Sacrifice—gives of oneself or one’s possessions to help others or for something one believes in.7. Maintaining Self-Control— is able to stay calm and rational, even under conditions of temptation, stress, or aggravated assault (such as being teased or “put down’) by others.

8. Being just and Fair—treats others as you would want them to treat you; rules applied equitably; does not discriminate on improper basis.

9. Being Cooperative—gets along well with others, willing to compromise; committed to the concept of neighborhood, society, country, and world.10. Being Persevering/ Diligent—puts out best effort and works hard; does not give up easily; keeps trying despite hardships; self-reliant.11. Keeping Promises— attempts to keep commitments, reliable, dependable.12. Doing no harm—considers the potential for physical or emotional harm to others and avoids that harm.13. Pursuing excellence/ takes pride in work—does one’s best; is not unduly influenced by setbacks or external pressures to do less than one can.14. Taking personal responsibility—is accountable, dependable, amenable; considers consequences and accepts responsibility for own actions or inactions; does not shift blame for own mistakes to others.15. Having Empathy —is able to identify with another’s feelings or point of view in order to better understand him/her.16. Benefiting others —makes decisions that have the potential for a positive effect on others.17. Having Respect for others —Acknowledges and honors the rights, freedom, and dignity of others.18. Having Patience -- knows that good products, actions and outcomes take time; can delay gratification; does not leap before looking.19. Being Forgiving -- is able to leave upsetting and hurtful things behind; stops the cycle of the hurt to others or oneself; does not seek revenge.20. Making Peace -- is able to compromise, to talk things out without resorting to violence, to seek solutions to problems that will be in everyone’s best interests; values calmness and safety.

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21. Having Fidelity/ Loyal -- shows faithfulness, trustworthiness, keeps commitments, doesn’t talk behind others’ backs, re-mains a good friend even in hard times. Problem: Essential to in-group survival, but has also been used to justify immoral acts against outsiders; allows for protection of destructive members within the group—punishes within-group members for attempt-ing to weed out its unethical or unfit, even if the group might be harmed if the immoral behavior continues (Snitch syndrome).22. Respecting Autonomy --- respects the rights of individuals to decide how to live their lives. Problem #1: Essential to a free society, but what if the decisions are harmful (physically, mentally, or morally) to themselves or others? Problem #2: What are the markers (age, illness, actions) for withholding autonomy?23. Being Tolerant —is able to recognize and respect the differences among people, does not discriminate just because someone is different; acknowledges positive characteristics, not just limitations. Problem: Does everyone deserve tolerance? Current debate is whether tolerance for diversity has blunted people’s interest and ability to make sound moral judgments about others and even themselves (that is, diversity, as in “anything goes” or “whatever ... “).24. Having Self-respect -- has due regard for one’s own reputation and long-term image of a “good” person; does not abuse one’s own body or act in trivial ways that are dangerous to oneself; cares about one’s own Yourself? (Your conscience ?) character: is comfortable with oneself (self-esteem). Problem: Potential for self-absorption and narcissism.

God: The Source of All ValuesGod is accountable to no one, and there is no higher principle to which he must conform. He himself is the absolute of truth, beauty, good-ness, love and justice. His perfect character is the essence of what the Bible calls “righteousness.” In a universe without God, what we call “good” would have no ultimate referent.

Habakkuk was a righteous prophet in the Old Testament. He struggled, as we all do from time to time, with the goodness of God in light of the fact that wicked people often prosper. Unlike many of us, however, Habakkuk was wise enough to know that when you have a question or a problem with God, the best thing to do is to go to God directly. So, he cried out, “Your eyes are too pure to look on evil; you cannot tolerate wrong. Why then do you tolerate the treacherous? Why are you silent while the wicked swallow up those more righteous than themselves?” (Habakkuk 1:13).

Habakkuk’s first complaint to God questioned why the Lord was allowing the people of Judah to continue in their wickedness and injustice. When the Lord answered that he was preparing the Babylonians as his weapon of judgment on Judah’s unrighteousness (vv. 5-6), Habakkuk made a more strenuous objection. The Babylonians were even more wicked than the people of Judah; how could God allow such a people to judge his people? God’s response overcame the prophet’s objections, but notice that Habakkuk was confused by an apparent incompatibility between God’s character and God’s actions.

As we look at the progressive revelation of the person of God from Genesis to Revelation, we discover him to be the immutable foundation upon which moral concepts such as goodness, love and justice are based. As did Habakkuk, Abraham struggled briefly with God, saying, “Far be it from you to do such a thing – to kill the righteous with the wicked, treating the righteous and the wicked alike. Far be it from you! Will not the Judge of all the earth do right?” (Genesis 18:25). Paul added, “Let God be true, and every man a liar. As it is written: ‘So that you may be proved right when you speak and prevail when you judge’” (Romans 3:4; compare Psalm 51:4).

Habakkuk learned that God’s plan for the purification of his people went far beyond what he could understand. Although God’s actions seemed unjust and out of line with eternal values, this prophet realized that God’s actions were a small part of his larger, and perfectly sover-eign, plan. In the end, Habakkuk says,

Though the fig tree does not bud and there are no grapes on the vines, though the olive crop fails and the fields produce no food, though there are no sheep in the pen and no cattle in the stalls yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will be joyful in God my Savior.

Habakkuk 3:17-18

Essentially, the prophet is saying that even though he doesn’t understand, he trusts that God’s goodness is unchanging. Habakkuk trusts God, even when things don’t seem to make sense. Habakkuk wanted to understand the way things are; he ended up learning about the way God is.

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We may never find a satisfactory answer to the problem of evil and suffering in our world. But when we have a fuller revelation of God, those questions seem to fade away. What we see is such a tiny piece of the puzzle. God is the only one who sees the whole picture.

We should be careful not to judge that which we don’t understand. Otherwise we’ll end up like the couple in the story about Rembrandt. It seems there was a special exhibition of the Dutch Master’s paintings, and a couple was speaking very critically of his work. Upon their leav-ing, a guard nearby whispered, “Here it is not the artist but the viewers who are being judged.” In other words, our failure to grasp God’s plan reveals more about us than it does about God’s plan. It is not the plan that is inferior; it is us.

God’s moral structures and values are built into the created order. The Bible affirms that even those who have not been exposed to God’s law have a conscience – a moral law – within them (Romans 2:14-16). God is not only revealed in nature, but also in the human heart. Our hearts and consciences reveal the fingerprints of a moral God. C.S. Lewis used the idea of an omnipresent, self-evident law as the starting point for his classic, Mere Christianity, what he calls the Law of Nature or the Moral Law. A few years later, in The Abolition of Man, he simply calls it the Tao that is in all cultures and societies. There is a surprisingly uniform moral absolute in most cultures – Babylonian, Egyptian, Persian, Chinese. None of these, for example, honor treachery or selfishness, cowardice or deceit. These standards are there because God has placed his natural law, his moral law in our hearts. Try as we might, we simply cannot deny it.

Lewis also said, “Unless we allow ultimate reality to be moral, we cannot morally condemn it.” By that, he means that unless there is some agreed upon standard for the true, the beautiful and the good, there can be no absolute standard by which we can condemn “evil” behavior. In other words, people who use the presence of evil and suffering to denounce God are really appealing to God to condemn God. In fact, when people talk about evil in this world they imply the existence of the God of the Bible, because if there is no God, then the idea of evil is arbi-trary. One man’s meat is another man’s poison, so to speak. Even our notions of good and evil come to us because we bear the image of the one who initially determined the categories.

If our world continues to denounce the idea of moral absolutes, it cannot also continue to denounce the misappropriation of power and the mis-conduct of rich and powerful people. In a world that fails to acknowledge God as the final absolute, self-serving pragmatism will rule. The fact that people are seduced by power and wealth should not be surprising; what should surprise us is that it’s not more widespread than it already is. Christian counselor Larry Hall says:

As long as our morality continues to be based in our humanistic pride, moral consistency will elude us. We will go on being bundles of self-contradiction, wildly judging each other while vehemently demanding that no one judge us. We can forget about arriving at a consensus ethic. There is virtually no consensus in a society as pluralistic as ours. About the most we can hope for is some sense of political correctness, and who in their right mind would hope for that? Even if true consensus were possible, history has proven repeatedly that such a consensus can be very immoral. When ethics are based on self and pride, all objectivity is lost. Things are no longer right or wrong. Instead, they are feasible or impractical, desirable or unappealing, agreeable or nonnegotiable…. Indeed, the very concepts of virtue and vice become meaningless.

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Holy Bible

Godly Values for Godly PeopleAs human beings, the crown of God’s creation, God has “set eternity in the hearts of [people]” (Ecclesiastes 3:11). As such, godly leaders seek to live by God’s eternal values of truth, beauty, goodness, love and justice, set forth in the biblical record. If we look to the world for our moral values, we will be confused by self-interest, social conditioning and situational ethics. The values of our culture are shallow and subjec-tive, but the moral standards of Scripture reflect God’s absolute and unchanging character. Exodus 20:1-17 shows us the clearest summary of God’s values for his people:

And God spoke all these words:

“I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery.

“You shall have no other gods before me.

“You shall not make for yourself an idol in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing love to a thousand generations of those who love me and keep my commandments.

“You shall not misuse the name of the Lord your God, for the Lord will not hold anyone guiltless who misuses his name.

“Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your manservant or maidservant, nor your animals, nor the alien within your gates. For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the sev-enth day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.

“Honor your father and your mother, so that you may live long in the land the Lord your God is giving you.

“You shall not murder.

“You shall not commit adultery.

“You shall not steal.

“You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor.

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“You shall not covet your neighbor’s house. You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or his manservant or maidservant, his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.”

God’s moral law for his people is an expression of his own changeless perfection. In the Ten Commandments, God is actually calling his covenant people to be like him. “I am the Lord who brought you up out of Egypt to be your God; therefore be holy, because I am holy” (Leviticus 11:45).

The Ten Commandments begin with our demonstrated relationship with God and end with our relationships with others. In Scripture, righteousness is always realized within the context of relationships; it consistently relates to loving behavior toward God and others. “Love does no harm to its neighbor” (Romans 13:10). “The entire law is summed up in a single command: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself’” (Galatians 5:4).

It is one thing to know the right things to do and another to consistently do them. Jesus called us to be perfect as our heavenly Father is perfect (Matthew 5:48), but this is unattainable apart from the power of the indwelling Holy Spirit. Larry Hall as-serts, “Indeed, achieving transcendent virtue while denying transcendence is as absurdly impossible as grabbing my own collar and lifting myself off the ground.”6 Only as we live by the Spirit are we empowered to “put skin on” biblical values and make them real in our own lives. ∆

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