I've listened to this audiobook "Showing Up for Life (Unabridged)" by Bill Gates Sr, at 85 he talks about raising Bill Gates (Tre), the founder of Microsoft. Lots of encouraging words of wisdom regarding work, life, habits, and love. I was on my way to visit Jason in Moose Lake, we've seen a lot of answers to prayer over the years and God is faithful to finish the good work he began (Phil 1:6).
I like driving and listening to books because it gives new ideas. On the way home I started listening to Skepticism 101: How to Think like a Scientist, which gave me the idea of creating a website that shows all the testable claims made in the Bible regarding wisdom literature, gospels, and epistles as well as conclusive statements about God in summary of supporting historic events. This could be an open source project and allow people to contribute as a skeptic or believer (which would be held in a cookie so they could vote if the information was Proved true in my life, worth trying, proved false in my life. Once a person votes serval times they can see the results of others votes.
Found this great list of virtues and would expand with Biblical references later.
| The Virtues | |||
| Virtue | Definition (Merriam-Webster) | Complements | Transcends |
| Acceptance | The act of accepting something or someone | Contentment, Forgiveness | Denial, Rejection |
| Assertiveness | Disposed to or characterized by bold or confident statements and behavior | Confidence, Courage | Self-doubt, Shyness |
| Authenticity | True to one’s own personality, spirit, or character | Honesty, Integrity | Low self-esteem |
| Beauty | The qualities in a person or a thing that give pleasure to the senses or the mind | Joyfulness, Peace | Ugliness |
| Caring | Feeling or showing concern for other people | Compassion, Kindness | Cruelty, Insensitivity |
| Cleanliness | The practice of keeping yourself and your surroundings clean | Orderliness, Purity | Dirtiness |
| Commitment | An agreement or pledge to do something in the future | Loyalty, Perseverance | Lack of Direction |
| Compassion | Sympathetic consciousness of others’ distress together with a desire to alleviate it | Caring, Understanding | Grief, Judgment |
| Confidence | A feeling or belief that you can do something well or succeed at something | Assertiveness, Courage | Self-doubt, Uncertainty |
| Consideration | The act of thinking carefully about something you will make a decision about | Caring, Compassion | Selfishness |
| Contentment | The state of being happy and satisfied | Fulfillment, Joy | Dissatisfaction, Restlessness |
| Cooperation | A situation in which people work together to do something | Teamwork, Unity | Defiance |
| Courage | Mental or moral strength to venture, persevere, and withstand danger, fear, or difficulty | Boldness, Confidence | Fear, Self-doubt |
| Creativity | The ability to make new things or think of new ideas | Joy, Purposefulness | Ordinary |
| Detachment | Lack of emotion or of personal interest | Faith, Freedom | Control |
| Determination | A quality that makes you continue trying to do or achieve something that is difficult | Commitment, Tenaciousness | Complacency |
| Dignity | A way of appearing or behaving that suggests seriousness and self-control | Honor, Respect | Egoism, Selfishness |
| Encouragement | Something that makes someone more determined, hopeful, or confident | Support, Caring | Self-doubt, Discouragement |
| Enthusiasm | Strong excitement about something; a strong feeling of active interest in something that you like or enjoy | Energy, Motivation | Boredom, Indifference |
| Ethical | Following accepted rules of behavior; morally right and good | Fairness, Respect | Immorality |
| Excellence | Extremely high quality | Dignity, Honor, Integrity, Respect | Mediocrity |
| Fairness | Treating people in a way that does not favor some over others | Equality, Justice | Grievance, Injustice |
| Faith | Strong belief or trust in someone or something | Confidence, Hope, Trust | Apprehension, Doubt |
| Flexibility | Willing to change or to try different things | Detachment, Understanding | Stubbornness |
| Forgiveness | The act of forgiving someone or something | Freedom, Peace | Anger, Bitterness |
| Friendliness | Acting like a friend; kind and helpful | Kindness, Tact | Shyness |
| Generosity | The quality of being kind, understanding, and not selfish; the quality of being generous | Kindess, Service | Stinginess, Self-centeredness |
| Gentleness | Having or showing a kind and quiet nature; not harsh or violent | Patience, Peace | Aggression |
| Graciousness | Very polite in a way that shows respect | Dignity, Tact | Disrespect, Rudeness |
| Gratitude | A feeling of appreciation or thanks | Hope, Joy, Peace | Disappointment, Pain |
| Harmonious | Having parts that are related or combined in a pleasing way | Unity | Hostility |
| Helpfulness | Making it easier to do a job, deal with a problem, etc.; giving help | Graciousness, Service | Negativity |
| Honesty | The quality of being fair and truthful | Integrity, Truthfulness | Deceitfulness |
| Honor | Respect that is given to someone who is admired | Dignity, Respect | Shame |
| Hope | To want something to happen or be true and think that it could happen or be true | Faith, Joy, Trust | Despair, Frustration |
| Humility | The quality or state of not thinking you are better than other people | Modesty | Arrogance, Pride |
| Idealism | The attitude of a person who believes that it is possible to live according to very high standards of behavior and honesty | Confidence, Hope | Cynicism, Pessimism |
| Integrity | The quality of being honest and fair | Honesty, Trust | Corruption, Deceitfulness |
| Imaginative | Having or showing an ability to think of new and interesting ideas; having or showing imagination | Creativity | Ordinary, Rationalism |
| Joyfulness | Feeling, causing, or showing great happiness; full of joy | Hope, Peace, Love | Discontent, Suffering |
| Justice | The process or result of using laws to fairly judge and punish crimes and criminals | Fairness, Integrity | Discrimination |
| Kindness | The quality or state of being kind; a kind act | Caring, Compassionate | Cruelty, Loneliness |
| Love | A feeling of strong or constant affection for a person | Caring, Forgiveness, Unity | Fear |
| Loyalty | The quality or state of being loyal | Honesty, Trust | Betrayal |
| Moderation | The quality or state of being reasonable and avoiding behavior, speech, etc., that is extreme or that goes beyond what is normal or acceptable | Diligence, Responsibility | Obsessions, Overindulgence |
| Modesty | The quality of not being too proud or confident about yourself or your abilities | Humility | Self-importance |
| Optimistic | Having or showing hope for the future; expecting good things to happen | Hope, Joyfulness | Pessimism |
| Orderliness | Arranged or organized in a logical or regular way | Cleanliness, Purity | Chaos |
| Passionate | Having, showing, or expressing strong emotions or beliefs | Enthusiasm, Purposefulness | Indifference |
| Patience | The ability to wait for a long time without becoming annoyed or upset | Determination, Peace | Frustration |
| Peace | A state of tranquility or quiet | Love, Serenity, Unity | Anger, Cruelty |
| Perseverance | Continued effort to do or achieve something despite difficulties, failure, or opposition | Commitment, Determination, Resilience | Laziness |
| Preparedness | The quality or state of being prepared | Excellence, Orderliness | Complacency |
| Purposefulness | Having a purpose as in something set up as an object or end to be attained | Creativity, Commitment, Joyfulness | Boredom, Indifference |
| Reliability | The quality or state of being reliable | Integrity, Loyalty | Untrustworthiness |
| Respect | An act of giving particular attention | Dignity, Reverence | Inconsideration |
| Responsibility | The quality or state of being responsible as in moral, legal, or mental accountability | Courtesy, Tact, Trust | Selfishness |
| Reverence | Honor or respect that is felt for or shown to (someone or something) | Respect, Worth | Hatred |
| Self-discipline | Correction or regulation of oneself for the sake of improvement | Commitment, Determination | Chaos, Unruliness |
| Service | Contribution to the welfare of others | Compassion, Generosity, Purposefulness | Lack of concern, Self-centeredness |
| Sincerity | The quality or state of being sincere; honesty of mind | Authentic | Disingenuousness |
| Tact | A keen sense of what to do or say in order to maintain good relations with others or avoid offense | Graciousness, Responsibilty | Clumsiness |
| Temperate | Habitual moderation in the indulgence of the appetites or passions | Moderation | Excessiveness |
| Tenacious | Persistent in maintaining, adhering to, or seeking something valued or desired | Discipline, Perseverance | Indecision |
| Thankfulness | Conscious of benefit received | Gratitude, Thoughtfulness | Unappreciative |
| Tolerance | Capacity to endure pain or hardship; sympathy or indulgence for beliefs or practices differing from or conflicting with one’s own | Patience, Tenacious | Narrow-mindedness |
| Trust | Assured reliance on the character, ability, strength, or truth of someone or something | Loyalty, Respect | Doubt, Skepticism |
| Truthfulness | Telling or disposed to tell the truth | Honesty, Faith, Trust | Corruption, Deceit |
| Understanding | An agreement of opinion or feeling; adjustment of differences | Kindness, Tolerance | Egoism |
| Unity | The quality or state of being made one | Harmony, Love, Peace | Loneliness |
| Visionary | A thought, concept, or object formed by the imagination | Imagination, Leadership | Lack of Inspiration |
| Wisdom | Accumulated philosophic or scientific learning; knowledge | Idealism, Visionary | Lack of Intelligence |
| Wonder | A feeling caused by seeing something that is very surprising, beautiful, amazing, etc. | Creativity, Imagination | Boredom |
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