Is virtue knowledge? Can it be taught?

[rockytopva]

Plato's Meno is a dialogue in which Socrates and Meno discuss human virtue: whether or not it can be taught, whether it is shared by all human beings, and whether it is one quality or many.

After discussion with Anytus, Socrates and Meno return to the subject of whether Virtue can be taught. "To sum up our enquiry," Socrates concludes, "the result seems to be that virtue is neither natural nor acquired, but an instinct given by God to the virtuous."

Meno's theme is also being dealt in the dialogue of Protagoras, where, Plato finally puts Socrates to conclude with the opposite conclusion 'That virtue can be taught.' It is important to conclude that virtue is in different departments than knowledge. One may have an understanding as vast as the great outdoors…And not a thing in the heart!

The Methodist doctrine produced a great deal of revival with great outpourings of the Holy Spirit. When the revivals grew cold the Holiness folk attempted revivals in the late 1800's. With the arrival of Pentecost around the turn of the last century these revivals continued for almost the next 100 years.

When I first got into Pentecostal Holiness I first thought that it was the most superior doctrine known to man. As it produced revival and as the Holy Spirit was among us, all the more merrier. And then... We took the Laodicean swing from hot --->lukewarm---> cold... Just like the Methodist 100 years before us.

If virtue was knowledge then it could be taught in our seminaries and brought out into the public with a bright light and a warm energy.

But virtue is not knowledge... It cannot be taught... It is a gift given to God to the virtuous. I also did a video on this by the way...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=caG7Oq93bUQ

 

[SelectThis!]

One of the most valuable things I have done in my own walk is to learn the definitions of words related to virtue. I have studied the philosophies and they all resolve to one central question asked by every philosopher: How can we live in unity with multiplicity? In other words, what is the meaning of life? What brings Life?

The final answer from nearly all philosophical sources is love. Of course, we know this today by Galatians 3-5 (and many other areas of scripture) as the one single concept that fulfills the law. Once faith arrives (God's work in us / John 6:65), God prepares us to receive the gift from Christ.

Take patience as an example. Patience is the threshold of a persons character before anger, bias and condescension comes forward. Patience is the virtue of being able to restrain negative emotion. In the field of psychology, this is known as intellect over emotion. Impenetrability is the state of being where two things cannot occupy the same place. In Chemistry and Physics, this is chirality. Two chiral objects (mirrored objects), like the right and left hand, cannot be superimposed on each other. One will rule the other by strength. If the emotion rules the intellect, we do not have patience.

Nice thoughts. I enjoyed the thread. Have you read the Apology by Plato?

When Jesus says, "I am the way (East), the Truth (West) and the Life (two becoming one)," he is showing how life arises from the two sides of good and evil coming together in unity. Unity with multiplicity is outlined in John 21. When the diciples caught 153 fish, John was using the example of fishing on the "right" side of the boat.

The right side in Hebrew culture is the side of truth. This is the will of God that creates unity. Giving is the will of God. Taking is the will of the thief. Unity WITH multiplicity comes by giving, or taking the name (Character) of Christ. The expression of this is the fruit of the Spirit, which is virtue (Truth).

The way is the eastern eight-fold way of righteousness. The LIFE is what Christ gives to those who overcome the law with love. Taking the name requires taking the character for life. Life comes from baptism, or the immersion of the soul into either water or spirit. We are working toward the Holy Spirit in the water. We become fishers of men to assist others in leaving the water for the Spirit.

153 is the 17th triangular number. It is the square root of 2 and 3 depending on which side of the Vesica Pisces it appears in.

In the middle, the square root of two makes the horizontal bar of the cross. The square root of 3 makes the vertical bar. This is the fish of the way, or early christian symbol made from the two intersecting circles becoming one new thing.

Christ is the Aleph Tav, or Alpha and Omega. Tav is this symbol from Phoenician.

What was Peter told in John 21: Feed the sheep. Follow me (Christ).

 

[JimParker]

The seven capital virtues are:
Humility,
Liberality,
Chastity,
Mildness,
Temperance,
Happiness,
Diligence.

A person learns them the same way a football player learns to play foot ball:

Practice! Practice! Practice!

 

[JimParker]

But virtue is not knowledge... It cannot be taught... It is a gift given to God to the virtuous. I also did a video on this by the way...

Virtue is better then knowledge; it is wisdom.

And it can be acquired through constant practice and repentance and prayer.