Fruits of the Holy Spirit (1) introduction

This is a new series, the follow-up to my series about the "Gifts of the Holy Spirit."

In the previous series I listed the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit and their scriptural references and commentary.

In this series I will do the same regarding the twelve fruits of the Holy Spirit.

First, let me put this in a context for you to understand two things: why God organizes spirituality and sanctity to follow any sort of list of personal qualities, and what the differences are between gifts and fruits, and how are they related.

There is not a list of these gifts or fruits in the Bible, dictated by God, as God provides in the obvious example The Ten Commandments or Jesus provides in The Beatitudes (the blessings). But that does not mean that they are not "from the Bible," because they are. From the earliest times both Jewish and Christian students of scripture and thus their teachers have distilled from the Bible the lessons and insights that can be gleaned.

For example, the first and most fundamental gift of the Holy Spirit, "Fear of the Lord," does not appear in a list of gifts, but there is repeated reference throughout scripture that Fear of the Lord is a gift from God, that it is basic and essential to faith and truthful knowledge of both God but also the world, and the benefits of Fear of the Lord.

Scholars have combed through the scriptures and very early on gleaned what gifts God, through his Holy Spirit, provides to humanity as a whole, that can and must be cultivated by each recipient. Therefore I provided in the series the Gifts of the Holy Spirit the most obvious places in scripture from which scholars studied and cited to recognize each of those seven gifts. So that is why God organized what humans have put into a list format. It is not a "performance check list" by any means.

Rather, let's think of it in computer terms, where the list of gifts is like a "shortcut" to access an application that runs on your computer. Rather than entering a bunch of commands to get to the application, you have an icon that gives you a direct route to the application. The icon itself is not the application, but a picture of it that takes you to the application. Likewise the gift "Fear of the Lord" is a lengthy application, which one must humbly receive and cultivate from the Lord. Putting it on the list of "Gifts of the Holy Spirit" is simply the pointer that scripture discusses that this gift exists and it is essential to both faith and truth. So God, in order to make himself more understandable and to uplift humans to their genuine potential under his holy guidance, provides a great deal of sacred verbiage in the scriptures, organized in a way that people can be open to applying, such as "Fear of the Lord," "Piety," or "Fortitude." A gift from the Holy Spirit is not like having an object or a talent given to you, poof, just like that. So let us now move into explaining how to best think of the gifts and the fruits.

Let's start with analogies. A gift of the Holy Spirit is like learning how to play a musical instrument. While some people are born as prodigies and fast learners, even they must recognize that a musical instrument exists, and they must become proficient in its use. Some people learn by imitating other musicians in their family, others learn by steady and frequent practice, while others learn by responding to their ear where what they play sounds good to them and others.

A fruit of the Holy Spirit is the benefit that is achieved for both one's self and the world as a whole by using appropriately what was given to them as a gift. Using again this analogy a young person who learns to play a musical instrument might receive fruits as a result of that gift in a number of ways, individual and personal to them. They might not ever do anything with that instrument other than enjoy a few years in band or other activities in high school. They might continue to play but only for their own enjoyment or their family's or friends'. They might use that instrument in church services or other faith or secular events. They might become a teacher of that instrument. They might become a talented amateur or they might become a talented professional. They might use their knowledge of the instrument to better manage the careers of other musical professionals. See? The gift is not "standard" to any one person any more than the resulting "fruit" is standard to any one person.

Likewise you cannot jump to conclusions about who "uses" their gifts "best" or is most "worthy" of those gifts. That is a severe error that is one of human beings' most disastrous flaws. It can be best explained by an example.

Two people each receive the gift of music, sticking to our analogy. They reach equal levels of proficiency. One goes on to volunteer her musical instrument talent to the church choir, and thus dedicates much time to donating her gift. Her fruit is that she is an essential part of the church services that many benefit from.

The other person does nothing with her musical instrument and it sits in the closet. Ah ha, you are thinking, she "wasted" her gift. No..... that's the great error I am going to point out to you. One day years after her musical lessons were received and the instrument has been untouched, her grandmother is dying of an illness. That woman brings her untouched musical instrument out of the closet and plays for her grandmother to ease her pain, and to help her pass the time remembering the good things in life. The fruit of this woman's gift was just as precious as the one who weekly donates in choir practice.

I hope that you have found this helpful and I look forward to working on this series with you.


FRUITS of the Holy Spirit

Charity
Joy
Peace
Patience
Longanimity
Goodness
Benignity
Mildness
Fidelity
Modesty
Continence
Chastity

understanding God: where's he & hearing him

I think one of the most frequent faith experiences and challenge that most humans have is wondering where God is? Not in the sense of where he "resides" or "spends his time," but, rather, is he in touch with what is going on with the humans alive on earth? Basically people wonder if God exists, then how much is he involved, if at all, with the day to day details of life. People of great faith wonder this, and people of no faith wonder it too (though they won't admit it because to wonder means to admit God's possible existence, ha, would it not?) So do not feel bad if you have felt this way, whether fleetingly, such as in times of great unhappiness and stress ("Where IS God? Doesn't he care?") or if you have often felt this way (for example, you only "feel God" when you view a landscape of grandeur, such as mountains) or if you have always felt that way (in other words, you are in total spiritual aridity, where you believe but do not feel God and thus you are somewhat like being in a desert, believing that water does exist, but not seeing any or feeling its comfort. No, do not feel bad because this is one of the basic challenges of faith and the human condition.

I must chide you some, though, because to use an analogy such as having an untreated illness, one is not meant to just suffer and let it worsen without an attempt to seek medical help. Faithful and rational believers have also gone through this in the centuries of faith history, and like with an illness, there is no reason to not seek out the advice of those who have had this before you. This is one reason I regret very much that reading the lives of the saints has fallen not only out of our schools (where they were taught along with the Bible), but also out of simple common sense. Centuries of believers have dealt with temporary or life challenging spiritual aridity and its accompanying wondering if God really is at all active in the universe by following the advice, example, and studying the remedies in the lives of the saints before. So while this is a common and frequent human challenge, the fact it's common and well known means that many have met the challenge and dealt with it (isn't logic wonderful?)

First, let me explain why this is not only a common occurrence but also one that worsens during certain phases in human societal development (such as it is). The most fundamental thing to understand is that these doubts and disconnects between the faithful and God are a natural adverse reaction to the problem of limited life span and humanity's obsession with death. In other words, being limited to a life span and having been created to cope with a certain set of circumstances (matter, energy and limited time), the human brain just is not cut out to grasp even the concept of God. Sometimes the more one thinks he or she understands God, the more he or she needs to question how that actually would be possible. The human brain is made up of energy, matter and time (in other words, it processes information and grows, or diminishes, through sequential changes over time). Just the process of thinking is time based, since your brain receives information one moment, processes it, compares it to other information, and then decides on an appropriate response. However, God is not at all comprised of matter, energy OR time, and in fact, he created all of the above, yet resides outside of it.

At some gut level all humans understand that they cannot possibly understand God at all! And so, unconsciously, humans tend to stop trying. Notice I say "unconsciously." Consciously they do the opposite: they cut God down to a size that they can "understand him." They then lose nearly all the opportunity to actually comprehend God's essence, as they trade in difficulty in understanding for understanding something easily, but false, or cartoonish. So the first problem may be summarized as being that humans at a gut level understand that God and human nature are so opposite in substance that unconsciously humans give up too soon in trying to understand God, and thus do not feel him as he does indeed day to day exist in their life and in the world. The second problem is that what people will do is decide to "believe" or "not" a version of God that they feel is not challenging or difficult.

Some decide if they can't "understand" or "hear" him and that if he's so difficult to understand, then he must not exist. Think about how arrogant that is, ha. "If I can't understand God then God must not exist." Hmm. Not Einstein of the Obvious. Good thing I don't feel that way about complex machinery, because if I only used what I understood down to the nuts and bolts, I'd be living outdoors in a sleeping bag I guess. But the first obvious reaction to the instinctive awareness of God and his awesome and immense difference from humans is to refuse, then, to even believe in him. It's like some people feel it is a lost cause to try to understand something that ultimately cannot be understood, and so they abandon all effort and thus belief.

Those who feel the same way but do not abandon in total belief in God thus, then relegate God to a storage place. "God exists but he is not involved in the world" is the usual cop out reasoning. I'm not trying to be mean here, but there is an irony that God cares enough to have dictated a lot of history and printing press ink to faith history and yet, to some people, is deemed to be "a God that is not involved".... ha ha, has anyone given that the logic test? The leap of faith would be as simple as believing that the scriptures (Torah, Bible, Qur'an) are divinely inspired. If they are divinely inspired (meaning guided by God to express his truth), ummmmm, does that not kind of indicate a God who is involved indeed with humanity at some real day to day detail? If an detached and unknowable uninvolved God dictated the events and text of the Torah, Bible and Qur'an, imagine what a busy body God he would be if he was REALLY involved, using that line of thought. That would be the God I described in analogy recently who does not just create the fibers that curtains are made from, and the wind that blows them, but stands outside your house and using his divine hand waves the curtain back and forth.

The middle ground are those people who sincerely believe and who have experienced the transformative power of God in their life, and yet, they often reduce God too, this time to somewhat cartoonish dimensions. The God who is just the one who one asks favors from is an example of God as Santa Claus. The God who is like a big generous hippie who is groovy and does not care what antics people are up to so long as they are "nice" is another cartoon that many supposedly serious believers have. The God who keeps a computer spreadsheet of whether you say the right words about Jesus and good deeds, and then decides you earned enough points for heaven is another cartoon of God, held by some surprisingly serious people. The God who is "on your side" but "against the other guy on your behalf" is another cartoon God. And then there is the spoil sport God who just exists to send trouble your way and pick on you, since you find things difficult and figure that God is maker of a "cold, cruel world" where it is "dog eat dog." That is the cartoon of the cold God who "makes life a vale of tears."

The middle ground is also occupied by people of genuine faith, and a balanced understanding of God who yet, still, have genuine crises and aridity of faith. They are the ones who need faith, pure faith, to partner with reason because they are the ones who feel that tug between believing in God, truly knowing he exists, but that gut level feeling that they can never really know and feel him. Faith is what makes the bridge between what is humanly understandable and accessing some genuine understanding of God and living in communion with him possible. Faith is an active ingredient, a real trait and energy (for lack of a better word), not an inert "giving up that one can't really understand God but 'ought' to."

See, many people feel that "faith" means "ought to." That is why atheists are often wrongly dismissive of the power of faith. Atheists think that "faith" means a person forces themselves to believe and feel something they think "ought to" or "should" be done. But faith is not a vacuum that is bridged through dull duty and enforced belief. Faith is an actual accomplishment based on reality, not a suspension of reality.

Here's an analogy. Think of faith as the bridge over a gap between one's self and God. Those who don't understand faith think of it as ignoring the chasm that exists and just taking "the leap of faith," to use that common expression. But that is wrong because the bridge does exist, but it is built as you walk upon it, one invisible glass brick at a time. So to use the analogy, both faith and reasoning build a brick bridge between you and God. When one uses facts and reasoning, one is able to see the pre-existing red brick bridge and walk on it with confidence. When one uses facts and faith, one is on one's knees, with the gap in front of you, but you feel with your hands and put in place one glass brick at a time, step on it, then place the next glass brick, step on it, further and further, with confidence of faith, as the bricks really are there, but without the confidence of having the pre-built visible red brick bridge in front of you. With faith you are using facts and spiritual insight to create each customized invisible glass brick for yourself, putting it in place, and stepping onto it before putting the next one in place.

How to better understand this with some sympathy for the human condition? Think of the Israelites, freed by God through Moses from Egypt, and into the desert on the Exodus. God actually traveled with them, and was visible to them, most dramatically of course in the Great Theophany when the might of God descended upon the mountain, Mount Sinai. Every man, woman and child saw God's physical presence. Yet, when Moses went up the mountain to meet with God, receiving the Ten Commandments, how long did it take people who actually saw God descend to run off and worship an idol? Days, my friends, days. When Moses did not return right away, these people made the idol bull calf and started their dancing and worshipping of a pagan graven image. Um, where do we begin to explain that? Yes, many scholars point out that the people were genuinely celebrating God's presence and thought they were honoring him with the extra "compliment" of being strong, as symbolized by the bull calf. Right. God had just about shook down and consumed a mountain, and the natural reaction is to think, wow, God's like a really strong calf? Let's dance and worship it?

These were not stupid people, nor were they rudderless and shallow in faith. Human beings have a screw loose in their brains and there is just no polite way to put it. It is, as I said, a natural condition of survival instinct, which is not to cope with or believe in what is not in front of you and hitting you on the head with a hammer all the time. This the problem that God has with humans, to put it succinctly, which is that beings that are created from matter, energy and time cannot understand and have great difficulty motivating themselves, under any circumstance, to understand God, who is unknowable, not being of time, matter or energy.

You then get to the really dippy extreme reaction, which is related to the cartoonish reaction somewhat. Some equate "unknowable God" with "bizarre God." Here's how this, erm, "thinking process" goes:

1. We can't understand God.
2. God's "really out there."
3. Let's imagine really crazy and bizarre stuff that might be "out there."
4. Wow. That crazy and bizarre stuff we imagined must "be God."

That is where you see manufactured sci-fi and fantasy approaches to "faith," plus the obsession with both theoretical aliens and with quantum mechanics and physics (the so called "God particle," but oops, God is not comprised of matter, so no particle is a "God particle," duh.) You also see the distortion of genuine faith traditions, such as Buddhism, into directions that confuse traditional spiritual detachment with a new "what the heck" and thus giving up on a genuine relationship with God. None of these are really pleasing to God, who has gone through a lot with extreme patience and mercy to make himself know to humans, not to be ignored or manufactured with Halloween masks on him.

All of this is a long way to walk you through a few concepts I wanted to introduce you to, starting with the human nature reason that God seems so remote to some people, and why even believers have real crisis or aridity of faith. People need to be kind with themselves and each other and understand that human nature is not tolerant of understanding something that is not matter, energy, time based and, indeed, controllable in ANY way: God. When one is a matter, energy and time based being, one has a serious inability to understand God, and that is a fact. Fortunately, God, the Creator of all, obviously understands everything there is to know or ever know or could be known, and thus God provides ways to make himself known TO humans. God provides the materials for the bridge, God gives humans the map, and God crosses over the bridge to the human side all the time, day by day, second by second, person by person. God is on the same side as humans, since God is of course everywhere. It is one's understanding of God that is on the other side of the bridge. God walks alongside of each human as they cross that bridge to arrive at the other side, which is greater and greater understanding of God.

Think of it this way. When you are wondering if God really exists, and if he cares about the world, and if he is "out there," and whether or not he "cares" about you, he is standing next to you at that moment, where he always has been present! So you are both standing there looking over the gap, while you are thinking you are trying to see if God's there on the other side, and he's standing right next to you already, all along. It is kind of funny in a way and I'm saying that kindly. You think you are gazing into the distance trying to perceive God across the gap, and he's standing right there next to you, and humoring you by looking across the gap with you. But on the serious note, what God is looking at, in the place where you think you are trying to see God, God is looking at where you hope to be, and will be, in your understanding of God. It is your own understanding of God that stands across the gap, not God himself, for he's there already with you.

If there were actually some sort of gap, how, then, can anyone call upon God just by doing so, by speaking or thinking his holy name? "God" is all one has to call, in one's head and heart, and you are in communion with him; he is standing there next to you. Christians who have trouble praying, all they need to do is call upon "Jesus," just his holy name, and they are in communion with him through the authority of God in Jesus Christ.

So, let us think of that analogy of the facts and faith forming one glass brick at a time. You might ask me, what is the first faith brick I can make? That answer is simple. It is the Second Commandment.

"You shall not take the name of the Lord, your God, in vain. For the Lord will not leave unpunished him who takes his name in vain" Exodus 20:7.

Here's what you need to understand. This Commandment is a statement of what not to do, but it of course presumes that something exists that could be abused, and that something is the power of just the name of the Lord, God. By power I do not mean magic power. Speaking the holy name of God is the most basic and fundamental first prayer. When one says "God," it is like one is a small child again, saying "daddy" or before one can even speak, tugging on your father's sleeve for his attention. When you say the name "God," you have used the power and holiness of God's name to speak a prayer, seeking his attention, asking him to regard and notice you.

The Israelites, of course, had centuries of knowing that. Thus the Israelites knew the power of the name of God as their first word, the only word, they needed to speak, as it is their call to God's attention. There is nothing magical about God's name as God is holy, not occult. So one is "summoning God" or performing magic with God's name. Likewise there is no magical or symbolic significance to whatever language one is using, and how linguistically God's name is spelled. How do you know that? Because a deaf person who never heard how his language spoke the name God can and does still call upon God by thinking of "God" as his address, just as a baby does not know daddy's full name and how it is spelled or pronounced!

What you need to remember, then, that to call upon God by addressing him by what you understand to be his name is HOLY. It's not the combination of sounds, letters, pronunciations, that make God's name holy; it is the fact that you are calling upon God, addressing him, and the ability to call God, to address the Most High and the Most Holy is a holy act, the most fundamental prayer.

This is why God warns his people, who have known for a long time how to call upon him by his name (the version that they used), not to take his name in vain.

Thus the first transparent, pure clear glass brick based upon fact and faith is that you can call upon God by his name. If you believe or understand nothing else, if you really are on the one side of the gap and see nothing available to you to believe in or understand God, then believe and understand this and therefore make your first glass brick: If you think or speak the name God, you are addressing yourself to him and you have his attention. That is a fact.

See, this is how faith is built based on factual and actionable foundations. It takes very little effort to know and believe, and to understand the logic of this, that when you invoke in your thoughts "God!" you are calling to him and obtaining his attention.

Two more things to explain before I wrap this particular blog post up for now. Regular readers know that I did a series on the Gifts of the Holy Spirit. I have added that series under that label on this post so you can easily reference them again, or see them for the first time. What I have just shown you is an example of the gift of Knowledge. I have taught you that through the scriptures (courtesy of the Holy Spirit) that you can call upon the name of God and you have his attention for a fact. That is an example of a piece of the gift of the Holy Spirit, Knowledge, that you now possess, truly. If you start to prayerfully and regularly call upon the name of God, just as comfort, as a statement, as an outreach to him, just to touch him, to reach out to him, by thinking "God" in that mindset, you will also be adding to the gift of Piety.

So you have received 1) the Knowledge of the Holy Spirit that God hears and gives his attention to you whenever you call his name and 2) that you receive the gift of Piety if you cultivate the calling upon God with humility.

My second point is then to think back to the Second Commandment. That is so misunderstood because many people today think that means "don't cuss or swear." That is a misunderstanding that is due to the passage of time where it is part of what is lost in context. People today think it is "sinful" and "disrespectful" to "cuss" or "swear" using God's name, and they think that is what the Second Commandment is about, but they think that because they have lost the context that I just explained, which is that stating the name of God is the first and most fundamental prayer. When you state "God," you are tugging on his sleeve, like a child tugging daddy's sleeve, seeking his attention, and God guarantees that if you state his name you got His attention. Get it now?

God is telling his people through Moses to not call upon him lightly and in vain.

That is what the Second Commandment means, my friends. It presumes that the believer already gets the fact that stating God's name all by itself, in speech or thought, is making the presumption of making one's attention known to God by using his Holy Name to say, "Hey God, connect with me." God has already shown this to all throughout faith history, from Adam to Moses, that he can be called upon just by his Holy Name. And this is why in the time of the giving of the Commandments, God is saying not to mess with his name lightly, calling attention upon one's self in vain. So sure, cussing's not a good idea, but those who think the Second Commandment is about cussing have totally and completely missed the point of what the Second Commandment is talking about, which is the most fundamental and first prayer, which is to state or think His holy name: "God."

When you realize that messing with God by calling upon him in anything but reverence is a bad idea, then you have obtained a piece of the first gift of the Holy Spirit: Fear of the Lord. When you understand that the mention of God's name is the first form of prayer, the most fundamental form, and it is by Covenant (both Old and New) one way that one is guaranteed to have God's attentiveness, you realize that you should be somewhat fearful of doing so lightly. The loss of understanding the holiness (because of its status of God's attentiveness) of simply the name "God" is one of the greatest omissions of strength in modern faith. It's not the cussing or not, it's the forgetfulness that God has given humans his Holy Name the statement of which by itself is a most serious calling upon God for his attentiveness. It is one of the greatest gifts from God, the comfort and assured consolation and attentiveness from him of calling on his name, God, God, God..... yet it's not only forgotten but cartoonishly made into being about cussing. Cussing is a symptom, not the point. The Commandments are the lists of "not to do's," but they come centuries after what God told people TO DO, which is to call upon his name in FAITH.

Think of it this way. God is the person you really want to receive the job of a lifetime from. You have his phone number. Would you call him on the phone and then do a series of crank hang up calls? When you know he has the ultimate caller ID? God's Holy Name is like having his phone number. You use his Holy Name when you want his attention. "God" you say. That is all you need to say or think, and you have God's attention. How dumb do you want to be once you have his attention? This is what the Second Commandment was warning against. I hope that the inevitable telephone modern analogy helps :-)

God's Holy Name is often the only thing that a person paralyzed by fear, by doubt, by affliction, by persecution, by death's door, by unsolvable human problems can state in appeal. Faith history in the scriptures shows the bond of the simple stating of names, God's and his servant's. If you have aridity in faith, or moments you don't feel God, or long periods where you doubt he is even involved with humans, then you have simply forgotten this, or never were taught it, that all appeals and all communion with God begin with his Holy Name, just stating "God."

Every path and every road to knowing "where" God is and "hearing" God in reply starts with understanding anew or remembering and regaining from old the initial brick of fact and faith which is to call upon God for his attention and comfort, just for the communion of togetherness, simply by stating his name.

Another way to understand why God's name is Holy is to understand that one's name is not magical, but it is a statement of purpose. You see this in Isaiah 49:1-3:

Hear me, O coastlands, listen, O distant peoples. The Lord called me from birth, from my mother's womb he gave me my name. He made of me a sharp-edged sword and concealed me in the shadow of his arm. He made me a polished arrow, in his quiver he hid me. You are my servant, he said to me, Israel, through whom I show my glory.

Notice three names referenced. First of all, Isaiah reports that "The Lord" called him from birth. Do you notice that the scriptures never go for extended times just referring to God as "He?" Those who wrote the Books of the Bible carefully use God's name, God, or The Lord, over and over. This is because they are referring to God by his Holy Name, which is also his office. God is The Divinity, that is what God "does." God's "occupation" is to be Holy and Perfect. God is a Holy Name because it is the Office indicator of the one who is All Holy. God is thus the one word statement of perfection and holy authority. Scripture writers therefore did not save ink by saying "He said this and then he said that to me, and he created the world and he did these deeds." Rather, they repeat over and over the name of "God" or the "Lord" because each use of God's name is like a sealing of that statement's Holy Authority. Thus Isaiah says "The Lord" called him from birth even though he just referred to God as "the Lord" in the sentence before. We'd know he meant God if he said "He," but that would be an incredible thought to the people of God who understood the frequent use of God's name as Holy and as sealing the statement with his Holy Authority.

The second example is that Isaiah states that The Lord gave Isaiah his own name from Isaiah's mother's womb. What does that mean? It does not mean that God instructed Isaiah's mother to call her child Isaiah. What Isaiah meant is that God gave to Isaiah his particular calling, his service and office to God as prophet, from the womb. This is a way for you today to understand why names were important: not for magical reasons, or numerology, or good luck, or symbolic "meanings," but because they are in imitation of God, whose Holy Name is his Holy Office. It is not that Isaiah was named I-S-A-I-A-H, but that he would be "that" Isaiah, that one called by God to that office of prophet. That is why the name Joseph has great meaning, for example, even when it was the most popular name for boys and millions upon millions had that name. It is not the spelling and the lettering and the language and the prounciation, it is the linkage of name-to-person, and then the service to God, from whom all names must be subordinate.

Then Isaiah mentions a third name, taking it upon himself, the people of Israel. Isaiah is through name now almost the agent or broker for Israel as a whole with God. God is addressing the entire nation of Israel by name through Isaiah. God said to Isaiah, "You are my servant," but instead of saying ", Isaiah," God said, "Israel, through whom I show my glory." Isaiah thus has his office of linking God to Israel, and Israel has its office of being the vessel through which God shows his glory.

I'm trying to simplify for you the whole understanding of why names are reverential and indeed holy. It is not the spelling because Isaiah would be just as holy a prophet as if he were called Fred or Abdul. But giving a human a name (or giving animals names, as Adam did in Genesis) is an imitation of God's Holy Authority and Office that is expressed in his name alone. God is the only one who has always existed and always will, and he of course knows himself by the name of his own choosing. Understand, then, that the practice of giving people names is an imitation of that which cannot be duplicated. Only God can be God. Many people can be named Isaiah. But only one Isaiah was the one chosen by God for that office. That is why a person's name is considered holy and of power, but not because of any magic or secular empowerment inherent in the lettering, language or sounds. Rather, all names are in imitation of God's first and only example, of him being not only named God but The One God. God taught naming to Adam and that is why naming should be equally reverential among humans, understanding where the meaning of naming derived, directly from God's hands.

I went into some detail here but that has been on my mind to get rid of that superstitious and often ridiculous modern view of naming (the nuttier the better), which is not, now that you understand this, as harmless as many think. When humans become idiotic with their own naming it only distances themselves more from understanding faith and the role of God's name and the dignity of humanity's imitation of God's role modeling. Further, naming has not just become silly but it also has promoted erroneous occult beliefs as people forget what scriptures mean when they emphasize the power of names. Scripture does not mean that names are manufactured and manipulated sources of power at all. Scripture means what it has always mean but people no longer understand, which is that humans name in imitation of God, whose Holy Name is also his Holy Office. When you speak God's name you call upon him as God. You do that no matter what the theoretical spelling of God's name in a human language might be. Only Moses ever heard God's name spoken by him anyway (except Jesus of course). No, when the scripture comments about the importance of human names the authors are doing so in the context of a time when millions shared the same names and simple traditional ones they were: the power is not in the name but in the understanding of what a person's name represents as a small fragment of the example of dignity that God himself has made available to humanity in imitation of Him.

I hope that you have found this helpful!

(Hi young people!...)

Recent deaths in all faiths or no faiths

I hope that recent deaths of individuals who belong to the full spectrum of faiths (both those highly observant and not-so-observant) plus those who die of no faith and outright disbelieving is understood by all that as is repeatedly taught in the scripture (and through secular common sense) that "belonging to the right religion" is absolutely no "life insurance."

I continue to be astonished how people can claim to understand God, yet at the same time fall into the ancient pagan trap that if one "belongs" to the "right" faith that one is somehow "protected" from early death, mishap or sinful conduct. Never has any sort of guarantee been given to anyone of the monotheistic faiths, yet I am just amazed at how difficult it is to eradicate over the centuries that "belonging to the right club" mentality toward God. Genuine piety is worshipping and serving God without any delusion that somehow one is "buying" some sort of "insurance policy."

7 gifts of the Holy Spirit: (5) Counsel

When you have at least a moderate receptivity to having received and understood the use of the gifts of the Holy Spirit of Fear of the Lord, Piety, Knowledge and Fortitude, you can now anticipate and understand use of the gift of Counsel. Counsel is not the giving of advice in and of itself, although receiving advice is part of receiving counsel. True counsel, however, is having an ongoing relationship with a colleague who has wisdom that he or she imparts to you. So you can think of Counsel as having access to the transmission to you of Wisdom. So to have the gift of the Holy Spirit of Counsel means that you have an ongoing relationship with God where, through the Holy Spirit, you benefit from consultation with his Wisdom.

This is the difference between obtaining true “advice” from God and false “advice” through the use of occult means. When you read in the Bible and the Qur’an about the ancient Prophets, they did not receive Counsel from God without first having: Fear of the Lord, Piety, Knowledge and Fortitude. Pagans believe that they can “skip” right to the obtaining of “advice” without first having a relationship with the one true God as evidenced by accepting and understanding the first gifts of the Holy Spirit: Fear of the Lord, Piety, Knowledge and Fortitude. Pagans believe that they can personally invoke and “interpret” the advice or the prognostication of supernatural powers or some of the divinities by performing occult rituals, and that only they have access through their arcane knowledge or “gifts” of advice or fortunetelling. It is one of the hallmarks of false prophets, and one sure way to “spot” them, that they believe that only those inducted into their methods receive Counsel from God. In other words, it never occurs to them that the Bible reading “simpleton” who not only reads the Bible but has cultivated a humble relationship with God is receiving more true Counsel that they are, through the Holy Spirit, who loves and guides all people, particularly the pious and the humble in the eyes of God.

To understand Counsel, look at the great Kings of the Israelites, such as David. David had a personal and direct relationship with God, one that is totally unique, yet he understood that he had to surround himself with wise counselors of the government, military and priesthood. To have Counsel in the earthly setting means that you have a circle of wise friends, family and colleagues who have an ongoing relationship with you, where you can discuss all that is going on. When one receives the gift of the Holy Spirit of Counsel, you are “adding to your counselors” the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit does not replace human counsel, and is not “summoned” to “answer questions” anymore than your valued counselors are kept far away, only to be summoned to answer “yes or no” to your problems. Through the gift of Counsel the Holy Spirit is a quiet and gentle continuing presence that brings the Wisdom of God as a contribution to your overall living of your life and your quiet consultations of God.

Counsel from the Holy Spirit is not dramatic, and does not provide “new” revelation. Nothing that truly comes from God contradicts or changes what has gone before and is in the scripture. Counsel from the Holy Spirit is, in fact, very rarely prophecy at all. Counsel from the Holy Spirit can be likened to the wisest and quietest counselor of the King, who sits while the other counselors debate alternative courses of action in front of the King. Once in a while the King will glance at the wise old counselor, who is observing silently, and notice that he will convey in a look what he thinks of the person now speaking. When one prays for Counsel from the Holy Spirit, that is often what you receive, a slight “eye roll” when you think about one of your courses of action, a slight nod of approval when you think of another, but not in a prognosticating way. Rather, the Holy Spirit Counsels you to understand what you are hearing with your own ears, and seeing with your own eyes, and see the evidence of results in your own hands, and thus understand how to discern a situation within the context of God’s ongoing will. By God’s “ongoing will” I mean, again, that God is not prophesying or making a decision for you, but you are making your own decision while firmly grounded and comprehending God’s ongoing will and greater plan, for not only you but also the community of the faithful and the entire world. This is why the gifts of Knowledge and Fortitude are prerequisite to actually receiving the gift of Counsel. One must have the facts of God, how to worship and serve him, through Knowledge, and one must have trust and the ability to endure through Fortitude, before one can receive and comprehend God’s Counsel.

Impatience, which is lack of Fortitude, tempts one to seek Counsel as I’ve described above, an occult tool, to answer “What will happen” and “What should I do?” That is why Fortitude that is grounded in Fear of the Lord, Piety and Knowledge is a prerequisite to receiving the genuine gift of Counsel from the Holy Spirit. Trust in God, which is the basis of Fortitude, allows one to understand that the Counsel of the Holy Spirit walks with you at all times, rather than having to be “summoned” as an “advice giver” or “fortune teller.” Genuine patience and trust in God prevents one huge temptation, which is to start to think of life as a string of supernatural “yes and no” decisions and occurrences. That is a mistake of pagan and now “New Age” “thinking.” The Bible is about a book of living, of ongoing life, not a “how to” of a string of decisions, with life being meaningless filler in between supernatural or “destined” events.

The true and genuine Counsel of the Holy Spirit is always with you, although obviously, when in quiet prayer, you might be more conscious of the Holy Spirit’s presence. That does not mean that the Counsel of the Holy Spirit “works” only when you pray, far from it. Like the wise and quiet counselor in the analogy of the King’s circle, the Holy Spirit’s Counsel is quietly there, and is reassurance that there is no part of life that has a monopoly on God’s benevolent attention. The Counsel of the Holy Spirit is just as available and present to the poor person as he or she works in the rice paddy as it is to you when you have to make a difficult decision regarding an investment, or how to deal with a parental situation. Be clear in understanding, though, that the Counsel of the Holy Spirit does not make you wise. The Counsel of the Holy Spirit allows you to benefit from God’s Wisdom. The actual gift of the Holy Spirit of Wisdom comes only to those who have received, acknowledged and comprehended all of the previous six gifts, one of which will be the topic of the next blog post on this subject. You see, this is another problem with occult thinking, where they believe that their prognostications and receipt of “answers” makes them personally wise, or that they are “tapping” or “channeling” some universal databank of supposed wisdom. That is not true. Genuine Counsel of the Holy Spirit is always received only in the context of living a true one God centered normal life. True Counsel of the Holy Spirit is not about “what will happen” but how to live in the present, with a mind to the future of eternal life, a good life, in other words, a life that is filled with goodness and seeks the goodness of God for self and neighbor.

For example, as a friend, an intimate, a confident, a colleague and a boss, many people in my personal and professional life have noticed that sometimes when they pitch an idea to me I respond with a neutral “Mmmm.” That is sometimes very frustrating to them, LOL! I have never done it consciously; that is my genuine response to hearing what is being said. They have asked me, is that an “Mmmm” or an “mmmM,” trying to discern even a tendency toward approval or disapproval! At those times it is genuinely neither, and even an atomic scale would not detect a trend either way, ha. That is because the best I can translate my “Mmmm” is that it means “keep on going.” It means I’ve heard what you’ve said, but a point of sufficient information has not yet been reached to make a decision or to change course. That is often how the Counsel of the Holy Spirit “sounds,” because genuine Counsel is received as an ongoing presence throughout an ongoing coherent life, not one that is parceled into decisions, “destiny” and prognostications. Sometimes the Counsel of the Holy Spirit is, simply, to “keep on going,” (another reason why Fortitude is a prerequisite to comprehending the gift of Counsel). Think of that wise and quiet counselor of the King. If he continues to sit there, with an occasional nod, significant look to you, or a sigh and a look up to heaven, you know that you should “keep on going” and use your own skills of discernment to continue gaining information. That means he is neither agreeing with nor condemning what he hears your other counselors tell you.

How is one way to hear the Counsel of the Holy Spirit in a real situation? A guilty conscience is one way. It is the Counsel of the Holy Spirit when you feel a pang of guilty conscience when you contemplate a course of action that is contrary to the goodness that God has taught one to always pursue. You might say, well, why do some evil people not feel a guilty conscience? Precisely; that answers one’s own question. They no longer have the gift of the Holy Spirit of Counsel. The evaporation of shame or the lack of a guilty conscience when contemplating what is bad and wrong is a warning sign that one either never had or has lost the gift of Counsel of the Holy Spirit. Behind many jokes there is a kernel of truth, and the joke of “Catholic childhood guilt trip” or the “Jewish mother making her child feel guilty” is a sign of genuine and serious contact with the Counsel of the Holy Spirit. Parents, nuns or priests who teach children during their spiritual formation to feel some sense of guilt or shame are, in moderation, doing good work, because it is countering the tendency of society to shut down the amber warning lights that guilt or shame provide. When one does not feel some honest guilt or shame in appropriate circumstances this is an example of the wise counselor of the king no longer being in the room. A voice of Counsel of the Holy Spirit is silent when one can contemplate what is wrong without having warning feelings of guilt and/or shame. It is ironic that the freak show society teaches spiritual experimentation to have illusions, revelations and listen to every random narcissistic firing of one’s brain cell on one hand, but teaches silencing and rejection of the loudest and continuous warning of the wise counselor, which are appropriate feelings of guilt and shame.

What is another way that one feels the Counsel of the Holy Spirit in a real situation? Having feelings of interest and affection for fellow humans and one’s “neighbor” is another way one feels the Counsel of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit seeks to constantly intertwine humans in a benevolent way with one another, so that one’s own human circle of counselors is widened, and not narrowed. Genuine Counsel of the Holy Spirit teaches humans not to constantly “divine God’s every instruction for every situation,” but to live godly and God based lives among benevolent and wise fellow companions. This is, sadly, another way that “New Age” has ruined genuine Counsel from God. “New Age” “teaches” that people “enter your life” “for a reason,” related to “learning lessons” or “karma.” That is so manipulative, wrong and anti-God and anti-humanity. Everyone is equal companions in the journey of life, and people are supposed to have normal relationships with everyone, not impugn self important motives to people who enter “your” life. Love of neighbor means loving those of your community, whether the literal local community or the broader community of fellow mankind and womankind, the way God loves them, which is as an equal person created in God’s image, and not as a “tool” for occult thinking. So when one feels genuine interest and affection for a neighbor, friend, acquaintance, work colleague or hobby sharer, one is responding to the Counsel of the Holy Spirit, broadening one’s connectivity in a pure and motiveless way among one’s fellow humans who are loved by God.

I know that if I were speaking to a group, this question would be asked, so I will answer it. No, it is not the Counsel of the Holy Spirit if you imagine that the Holy Spirit is “giving you a message” for someone else. That is hubris and lack of understanding of God’s ways. If the Holy Spirit had a “message for someone else” the Holy Spirit would give the message to that someone else directly. However, the Counsel of the Holy Spirit will stir you to compassion and intervention when a fellow human is suffering, is in need or is misguided into sin. The Counsel of the Holy Spirit is felt not through “incoming messages” but through the stirring of compassion and ongoing concern for another, where one is encouraged to have a truthful ongoing relationship with that person and to be an ongoing helping hand, not to deliver an “oracle.” There is a world of difference between those two scenarios.

A traditional saying, said in admiration of people who have been remarkably kind, pious, and/or wise is that he or she “walks with God.” This is a folk saying that recognizes someone who emanates through their attitude toward life and their fellow humans that they are walking with the Counsel of the Holy Spirit from God. Again, this is something that “New Age” has ruined, trying to get people to feel that they have “spirit guides” of dead people or so called “angels” and, of course, this is all about their ego rather than being about God and his goodness, and normal human life. A person who “walks with God” is not “channeling spirits,” but is someone who through their receipt, acknowledgement and cultivation of Fear of the Lord, Piety, Knowledge and Fortitude has opened themselves to the continual gift of Counsel from the Holy Spirit. Their Counsel is not in world shaking matters, but as I said, well developed and serene understanding of guilt and shame as a trip wire to warn of bad behavior, and the ability to turn to the Wisdom of God for encouragement and solutions throughout life. Their Counsel is also a genuine egalitarian spirit toward their fellow humans that can only come from God and is rooted in the understanding that all are equal and loved in the eyes of God, even when they seriously stray.

Again, one needs to look no further for the example of walking with God than Jesus Christ, who was constantly with the Counsel of the Holy Spirit. This is why people constantly commented on the “authority” with which Jesus spoke. No human can ever hope to have the authority of Jesus, who could and did speak for God the Father, but one can see no better role model for how the Counsel of the Holy Spirit “works.” Jesus did not deliver “messages” and “oracles” to individuals. Rather, when challenged by his detractors and sinners he rebuked, but always with the tone of explaining with authority their error and allowing them to view the option of changing themselves.

Jesus always knew “the right thing to say,” to use a modern expression, because of his continual gift of the Counsel of the Holy Spirit. This not only means that Jesus spoke correctly, with the authority of God the Father, but also that Jesus always knew what to say, or not say, and when to say it. Jesus would ask a question and then sit in companionable silence when that was best for the situation, or he spoke a parable that moves the hearts and enlightened about God the thousands who listened to him. Jesus was the human embodiment of a man who walked with the visible and continuous Counsel of the Holy Spirit. This is why he continually astonished those who knew that he had not attended years of religious study, starting when he as a child amazed the scholars and holy men in the very Temple of Jerusalem. Jesus was already “role modeling” what a person who walks with the genuine Counsel of the Holy Spirit looks and sounds like.

And while no one can ever hope to be as Jesus, for that is impossible, one can understand how to strive to be a role model in his footsteps by looking at the Apostles and disciples as they received, as Jesus promised, the Holy Spirit at Pentecost and, in the case of St. Paul, directly from the resurrected Jesus Christ. It is the Counsel of the Holy Spirit who is the helper and consoler when the Apostles and disciples preached and pled their cases in persecution, often providing them with the words with which to speak. (This is another reason that historical-critical Biblical scholars totally miss the point when they analyze the “writing styles” of the New Testament authors, questioning how they could be so literate and erudite, and why they seem to write in a style that is “popular” only “later.” I mean, duh. The Holy Spirit is nothing if not erudite, in every language, in every time, and in every heart and head.) The Holy Spirit knows what they could not know, which are what eyes would someday read their Biblical authorship, and which souls would depend on belief in what they said. That is why the Bible was written “then,” but for all times, and what being “inspired by the Holy Spirit” truly means. The Counsel of the Holy Spirit does not move the pen on scroll like pagan belief in “automatic writing,” but the Counsel of the Holy Spirit provides access to the Wisdom of God, allowing the Bible authors to write the truth of what transpired in a way that future generations can all understand, follow, and find their faith and belief.

Once you understand this, dear readers, you no longer fall for false prophets and their writings, because the ego and delusion of their speech and script become to your ears like the grating of finger nails on a chalk board. Likewise, you can identify right away those authors through the ages (I’m speaking now of literature, not the Bible) who have the Counsel of the Holy Spirit, not because they prophesy and “reveal,” but because they manifest the obvious benefits of having the Counsel of the Holy Spirit. They demonstrate love and fear of God, genuine love of neighbor, and flashes of quiet wisdom and comfort that “hit the spot” (an American expression for a food or beverage that directly and perfectly addresses a hunger or a thirst). When one reads what a person who truly writes with the Counsel of the Holy Spirit writes, you may leave with greater Fear of the Lord (in the way that I have explained, which is not terror) but you also leave with greater love of and confidence in life and humanity itself. That is how it was for those who listened to Jesus. Jesus woke them up and pricked them with genuine concern that they better do what is right and get their souls in shape for God’s final judgment of them, and so Jesus helped those who listened and believed to have the gift of Fear of the Lord, in a time of much complacency and the blaming of sin on the poor, widowed, orphaned and crippled. Do not skip over the parts of the Gospel where Jesus “put the fear of God” into people; that would be most unwise. However, equally Jesus spoke with authority about the goodness of life and how a life lived for God prepares one to receive the blessing of eternal life in God’s presence. Those who truly, therefore, walk with the Counsel of God manifest to all who read and listen the Fear of the Lord and the Knowledge of God.

I’ll conclude this blogging with this thought. The Counsel of the Holy Spirit is far more common than people realize, but it is hidden among the every day lives of the humble, and it is rarer than people think, for many of the so-called “wise” have pyrite in their hands and not the genuine gold of Counsel of the Holy Spirit. I hope that you have found this useful. I love this subject as I love God.

7 gifts of the Holy Spirit: (4) Fortitude

When one has, even in small amounts, the firm foundation of the gifts of "Fear of the Lord," "Piety" and "Knowledge," one, essentially, receives unasked for the gift of "Fortitude." You can think of it as a recipe that requires only three ingredients to produce a complete loaf of bread, where the three ingredients combine to make something larger than the sum of the total appears to be. "Fortitude" is like a loaf of bread that comes into being when one combines flour, leavening and oil. So what is "Fortitude" and how is it explained in the Bible?

"Fortitude" refers to the ability to endure, not just hardship, but the sense of being secure and of one's actions being long lasting, and not momentary, trivial or short lasting. If one has "Fortitude," one is not necessarily the strongest person, and that is why competitive qualities such as "strength" or "toughness" or "energy" or "zeal" are not gifts of the Holy Spirit, while "Fortitude" is. To fully understand one must think of the nature of life in Biblical times, and also the relationship that humans have with God, and express that relationship in the lingo of those times.

In order to be safe during those very dangerous and lawless times, humans gathered themselves together under the protection of a fort. The defensive protective building structure-a fort-is where the concept and the word "Fortitude" comes from. Forts took one of two forms. Either the city itself was a fort because it had a protective wall with strong gates for entry and towers for observation and defense, or a fort was nearby, dedicated to being a refuge in siege and the place where military men served to observe and protect not only the nearby city but also key roads and routes of travel. This is why the tone of the gift of "Fortitude" is one of unflappability, constancy and reliability. The fort is always there and is watchful, since being alert and on guard is as important as one's skill in actual defensive battle. One can think of the fort as being like what we call today "homeland security." A person who has the gift of "Fortitude" is like a person who serves as either their own and their family's self-contained "fort of refuge" or a person who is secure in knowing that a fort of refuge is nearby.

Thus if one reads the Bible one does not see reference to the attribute of "Fortitude," but instead one sees the praise of God who is the fortress of the faithful. This is why one discerns from studying the Bible that a gift of God through the Holy Spirit is "Fortitude," both one's own, having developed from the foundation of the gifts of "Fear of the Lord," "Piety," and "Knowledge," and that of God, knowing that God is there, God is nearby, and God is one's fortress.

2 Samuel 22:1-2, 40

David sang the words of this song to the Lord when the Lord had rescued him from the grasp of all his enemies and from the hand of Saul. This is what he sang:
"O Lord, my rock, my fortress, my deliverer, my God, my rock of refuge...the foreigners fawned and cringed before me; they staggered forth from their fortresses..."

King David starts with the image of God as his fortress in the very first line of his song of thanks and praise. Forty lines later he returns to that specific image, where the invaders were defeated out of their own fortresses through God's aid to the might of King David's defending soldiers (in fact the names of his most outstanding commanders are preserved, along with their deeds, in 2 Samuel 23:8-39. I mention this to constantly, gently demonstrate to you that the Bible is a work of historical accuracy in addition to being a book of faith, and you can see that by the great detail that is recorded of the names of those who do not have an ongoing part in some "mythology," but are instead, people who said and did actual true life things). Because this is so important and here is a great example, let me make an aside to cite just one warrior so you can witness how this is a battle list of actual people, and not just part of some mythological writing.

2 Samuel 23:20-23
Benaiah, son of Jehoiada, a stalwart from Kabzeel, was a man of great achievements. It was he who slew the two lions in Moab. He also went down and killed the lion in the cistern at the time of the snow. It as he, too, who slew an Egyptian of large stature. Although the Egyptian was armed with a spear, he went against him with a club and wrested the spear from the Egyptian's hand, then killed him with his own spear. Such were the deeds performed by Benaiah, son of Jehoiada. He was listed among the Thirty warriors and commanded greater respect than the Thirty. However, he did not attain to the Three. David put him in command of his bodyguard.

We are not going too far astray from the topic of "Fortitude" in looking at the historic example of Benaiah, son of Jehoiada, because if you read it carefully it gives you crucial insight into the hardship of the times, and also the idea of the defensive fort. Benaiah clearly had reknown as having done a famous deed of slaying two lions in Moab. Now, animal lovers, don't get excited. Lions were numerous and a threat to humans, often preying on women and children as they had to gather food or go to the well (cistern) for water. When the Bible uses the word "slay," this implies a conflict, rather than use the word "kill," which may or may not be a justifiable death. So one can deduce with confidence that Benaiah was already famous for having slaying two predatory lions in Moab, and also going down into the cistern, where a lion was hiding during the snow, and slaying it, thus protecting the populace. Then it is recorded specifics of his defeat of a large and better armed Egyptian, and the specifics of his grouping in the elite unit of Thirty. There is even commentary that he was better than most of the Thirty, but did not make it into the separate better group of the Three! Yet David selected him to be his bodyguard, and I'll bet it's because of the lions too! One of the points I am trying to make is that Benaiah, son of Jehoiada, became David's bodyguard because of his protectiveness in addition to his prowess.

The gift of "Fortitude" must therefore be understood as being not only self contained and secure, but also protective of others. One with "Fortitude" is responsible and endures not just for one's self, but on behalf of others. It is not like the popular phrase of today "I am being strong for their behalf," when someone, let's say a grieving family member is "holding it together" so that others don't see him or her cry. That is being "strong," that is not having the gift of "Fortitude." "Fortitude" is when one does not have to mask or pretend because, instead, that person is genuinely serene in the face of even the greatest burden, so great is their faith in God and thus their own capabilities and capacity. This person also consistently maintains their perspective and context about life, what the big issues are and the little ones, and deals with them accordingly and, importantly, they never forget the comparative context of both human life and eternal life.

7 gifts of the Holy Spirit: (3a) Bible citations

Here is a selection of Bible passages regarding the gift of the Holy Spirit "Knowledge." The first citation does not mention knowledge, but lists some of the formats of spiritual knowledge, such as law, decree and precepts. Notice the mention of "Fear of the Lord." This demonstrates once again the constancy of the need for that gift to be the basis of all of the other gifts.

Psalms 19:8-12
The law of the Lord is perfect, refreshing the soul.
The decree of the Lord is trustworthy, giving wisdom to the simple.
The precepts of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart.
The command of the Lord is clear, enlightening the eye.
The fear of the Lord is pure, enduring forever.
The statues of the Lord are true, all of them just;
More desirable than gold, than a hoard of purest gold,
Sweeter also than honey or drippings from the comb.
By them your servant is instructed; obeying them brings much reward.

Proverbs 8:10
Receive my instruction in preference to silver,
And knowledge rather than choice gold.

Proverbs 9:10
The beginning of wisdom is the fear of the Lord,
And knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.

[This proverb is structured so that the reader understands that "Wisdom" is the highest gift, the culmination of the "intellectual gifts" followed by "Understanding" and "Knowledge." One has to first start with "Knowledge" about God, which leads to "Understanding," which then leads to "Wisdom."]

Proverbs 12:1
He who loves correction loves knowledge,
But he who hates reproof is stupid.

Proverbs 19:2
Without knowledge even zeal is not good; and he who acts hastily, blunders.

[This proverb is an essential reminder that it is worse to be a zealot for God and go charging off in arrogance in his name without having any of the true "Knowledge" given by the Holy Spirit than it is to have the true "Knowledge" and appear to the zealot to be "lukewarm" in your faith. The zealot blunders and does much damage based on lack of the gift of "Knowledge," that authentically only comes from the Holy Spirit.]

Proverbs 21:11
When the arrogant man is punished, the simple are wiser;
When the wise man is instructed, he gains knowledge.

[Many of the proverbs are phrased in thought stimulating ways. This one is saying that simple people who lack an education or much understanding understand role models, including negative ones, very clearly. So when simple people see an arrogant man punished for his arrogance, they have an infusion of "Wisdom" because they immediately comprehend the overall pattern and spiritual lesson. The next line is not a contrast to the first, but another perspective of how knowledge is gained. Here the holy author is observing that a man who already has "Wisdom" can still gain "Knowledge" by instruction, having no need for the role modeling since he already has "Wisdom." There is a lot in the Bible that is instructive in observing and comprehending everyday human nature in addition to the spiritual].

Ecclesiastes 1: 12-18
I, Qoheleth, was king over Israel in Jerusalem, and I applied my mind to search and investigate in wisdom all things that are done under the sun.
A thankless task God has appointed for men to be busied about.
I have seen all things that are done under the sun, and behold, all is vanity and a chase after the wind.
What is crooked cannot be made straight, and what is missing cannot be supplied.
Though I said to myself, “Behold, I have become great and stored up wisdom beyond all who were before me in Jerusalem, and my mind has broad experience of wisdom and knowledge”; yet when I applied my mind to know wisdom and knowledge, madness and folly, I learned that this also is a chase after wind.
For in much wisdom there is much sorrow, and he who stores up knowledge stores up grief.

[Despite his self identification, we do not know who is the author of this book of wisdom because Qoheleth is a pen name, a literary name, meaning “one who convokes an assembly.” However this is a valuable citation on the subject of knowledge because this divinely inspired learned man warns that the search for secular knowledge (“under the sun” means earthly human knowledge in comparison to heavenly or Holy Spirit provided knowledge) sometimes brings a lot of unhappiness. This is as I discussed with St. Paul’s observations in the previous posting that true knowledge is spiritual, while much of secular human knowledge leads to temptation and the seamy sides of life. This is what this author is describing that he experienced when he made it his calling to seek out human based “wisdom” and “knowledge” and ended up storing a lot of grief. When one goes looking just for human based knowledge, one sees a lot of human behavior that they wish they had not seen, and also, as we see today in modern times, there are slippery ethics slopes, seeking knowledge that is based in technology and power over life and death that gradually becomes a grief filled burden rather than a blessing.]

Wisdom 1:16, 2:13
It was the wicked who with hands and words invited death, considered it a friend, and pined for it, and made a covenant with it, because they deserve to be in its possession… [who]… professes to have knowledge of God and styles himself a child of the Lord.

[In a long list of the attributes of the wicked, the learned sage who is the unknown author of this book mentions that one of the things that the wicked claim is that they have “knowledge of God.” This is yet another warning to discern between true “Knowledge” that is the gift of the Holy Spirit and the many false prophets and secularists who claim to have “knowledge of God” through wicked or occult means].

Wisdom 7:17
[God’s true wisdom] For he gave me sound knowledge of existing things, that I might know the organization of the universe and the force of its elements.

Sirach 3:24
Where the pupil of the eye is missing, there is no light, and where there is no knowledge there is no wisdom.

[The author, Jesus, son of Eleazar, son of Sirach, a sage who lived in Jerusalem, is explaining here that one must be humble to achieve wisdom and enlightenment because one must start with gaining true knowledge before one can be wise. Knowledge is like the pupil of the eye that gathers together the law and the facts in order to shed light on a matter, and thus be part of gained wisdom. This is yet another Biblical reference that shows knowledge to be the lowest and essential foundation of what will later be wisdom and understanding.]

7 gifts of the Holy Spirit: (3) Knowledge

Working our way up the list of gifts of the Holy Spirit, the next one to cultivate in the natural order of things and in consistency with the Holy Scripture is “Knowledge.” If one has cultivated one’s receptivity to the first gift, “Fear of the Lord,” and then the second gift, “Piety,” one must now obtain the specific knowledge that serving God requires. Thus “Knowledge” refers to the facts and “know how” of both life itself and faith. In the previous commentary in this series I noted that one can have a great deal of Piety without actually knowing how to serve God. For example, there have been in history many people devoted to God, who had the gifts of both “Fear of the Lord” and “Piety,” but never learned their Catechism or possess any particular knowledge of the teachings of God. This is not recommended, of course, but throughout human history, especially in spiritually impoverished places, that was and is a fact of life for many people. In fact, that is the road that most who live in for example an atheist country eventually feel the stirrings of a calling to God, even if there is no Bible or Qur’an, or spiritual resources to be found. The foundation of all faith, and the desire for faith, is the “Fear of the Lord” and “Piety.” From that point on the person naturally seeks the next gift, “Knowledge.”

You can witness this sequence when you read the part of Exodus that describes the Israelites’ arrival at Sinai, the Great Theophany (appearance of God) and the giving of the Ten Commandments. The Israelites obviously already had “Fear of the Lord” and “Piety,” or they would never have followed Moses. But now they were about to receive “Knowledge,” which is The Law. The people feared God, knew God (as they saw him work miracles through Moses to get them to this point in their Exodus) and they had piety in the form of desiring to worship and serve God. Thus they now receive “the facts” from God, which is how to worship him, how to serve and obey him, and also how to live properly and how to treat each other. The gift of “Knowledge” is thus shown to be knowledge of the facts of both life and faith.

I want to point out an example of how each gift is not a one-time thing, and indeed, instead is constantly revisited and reinforced. One starts out with a certain level of “Fear of the Lord,” but if one works at cultivating one’s faith, one finds that one receives more and more of this gift, in more mature and comprehending, faith affirming forms, often throughout one’s life. Here is an obvious example. As I pointed out the Israelites obviously had “Fear of the Lord” and “Piety” when they first believed and followed Moses, or else they would not have followed him. After they left Egypt they witnessed miracles (parting of the Red Sea, the manna falling from heaven to be eaten, quail arriving when they hungered for meat, the water from the rock) they expressed their piety by consecrating their first born, and they fought and won their first battle with God’s help through Moses and Joshua. So they had a certain level of “Fear of the Lord,” but to be honest, they really saw the kind of open ended nurturing side of his power and majesty. People were quick to complain, as they did to Moses, when they didn’t like the food, for example. So you could say that this was “entry level” “Fear of the Lord.” And that is fine, because that is like being a child, who first learns about God’s love. But there comes a point where one must understand the extent of God’s all knowing and his might. This occurred during the Great Theophany.

Exodus 19:9
The Lord also told him, “I am coming to you in a dense cloud, so that when the people hear me speaking with you, they may always have faith in you also.”

[God understands, of course, that humans need to see in order to believe, so by planning the Great Theophany God knew that people would never forget the might of God who stands behind Moses.]

The Lord goes on to tell Moses to instruct the people how to prepare themselves to meet him, including telling them to wash their garments, sanctify themselves, not have intercourse, and to not go up the mountain or even touch its base, less they be put to death. The people are thus gaining Knowledge of how to comport themselves when God appears (and thus later in his places of worship) and at the same time, becoming more mature in their understanding of the gift of “Fear of the Lord.”

Exodus 19:16
On the morning of the third day there were peals of thunder and lightning, and a heavy cloud over the mountain, and a very loud trumpet blast, so that all the people in the camp trembled. But Moses led the people out of the camp to meet God, and they stationed themselves at the foot of the mountain. Mount Sinai was all wrapped in smoke, for the Lord came down upon it in fire. The smoke rose from it as though from a furnace, and the whole mountain trembled violently. The trumpet blast grew louder and louder, while Moses was speaking and God answering him with thunder.

There is an interesting subtlety that amplifies not only the relationship between Moses and God (the likes of which was never seen again, nor will it be) but also how the people learned to respect God in a way they had not previously done so. God summons Moses to the top of the mountain and then tells Moses to repeat to the people that they should not “break through toward the Lord in order to see him; otherwise may of them will be struck down. The priests too must sanctify themselves” and Moses basically replies that God already told him that! But Moses goes back down and reiterates, coming back, as God instructed, with Aaron. It is OK to see a little humor when you read this, because reading between the lines you can tell that Moses is saying something like “Um, don’t worry, they got that message.” And sure enough we read Exodus 20:18-21.

When the people witnessed the thunder and lightning, the trumpet blast and the mountain smoking, they all feared and trembled. So they took up a position much farther away and said to Moses, “You speak to us, and we will listen; but let not God speak to us, or we shall die.” Moses answered the people, “Do not be afraid, for God has come to you only to test ou and put his fear upon you, lest you sin.” Still the people remained at a distance, while Moses approached the cloud where God was.

While God was in that form, where people saw his power and feared to even approach as close as they were originally allowed to, it is then that God told Moses to tell the people “You have seen for yourselves that I have spoke to you from heaven. Do not make anything to rank with me; neither gods of silver nor gods of gold shall you make for yourselves.” God who is all knowing obviously knows all there is to know about human nature. He forbad the making and worship of idols while the Great Theophany was still in plain sight of the Israelites. The point of having “Fear of the Lord” before receiving “Knowledge” is not to make the person frightened of being harmed. The point is that humans should be under no delusion about God’s might and all knowing. When humans do not comprehend and respectfully fear God’s might, they are easily prone to sin because they think that both God and the impact of their sin is weak. Humans make idols, for example, because they forget or they truly do not understand how powerful and in control God is, not in the sense of punishing them directly for an act of idolatry (“smiting”) but because they think that the supernatural power can be so trifled with that it can be put into an object. This is one of the main reasons that humans must have “Fear of the Lord,” because otherwise they do not comprehend the reality of his might and the impact of their sin upon the collective lot of humankind in the long run.

A child’s development in his or her faith likewise follows the same path as does, less obviously, a convert’s development. Both first learn to believe there is a God, and to fear God, in the sense I have previously explained which is that they do not want to be estranged from him just as they would fear a parent not being there for them. So a child first hears about the all knowing and all powerful God from his or her parents or religious instructors. This is then followed by a desire to be “grown up” and to make God happy, if one is a child. The first step then is the gaining of “Knowledge” in the form of folding one’s hands to pray, learning what a prayer is and how to say one and if they are Catholic, for example, making the sign of the Cross. The convert likewise moves quickly from “Piety,” the desire to worship and serve, to observing and then participating in Church ritual, Bible study and other endeavors that adds to one’s knowledge about God and how to worship and serve God. One cannot distinguish between the gaining of faith knowledge and the gaining of life knowledge since much of learning how to live joyous, gratifying and decent lives is from following the rules that God has given, and following the examples of the prophets and other holy people, including lay people. This is all part of the Holy Spirit’s gift of “Knowledge.”

Just as in the Old Testament we can see that the giving of the Law by God to Moses and the Israelites was the bestowing of “Knowledge,” the Sermon on the Mount by Jesus in the New Testament is another example. During the Sermon on the Mount Jesus taught them the Beatitudes, how to glorify God the Father through their own good deeds, that Jesus is fulfilling the Law, not abolishing it, how important it is to control one’s anger, how to be faithful in marriage, avoid divorce and the seriousness of oaths, how to replace righteous retaliation when one is wronged with “turning the other cheek,” how to love one’s enemies, the importance of almsgiving and prayer, the saying of “The Lord’s Prayer,” how to fast, the difference between earthly and heavenly treasure, how to depend on God and how to ask him for good things in prayer, to not be a hypocrite in judging, to not cast what is holy to the profane, to “Do to others whatever you would have them do to you. This is the law and the prophets,” how easy it is to do bad and risk losing heaven, how to beware of false prophets, how to be a true disciple to him, and an analogy how those who hear him and obey will be like houses with firm foundations.

Matthew 7:28-29
When Jesus finished these words, the crowds were astonished at his teaching, for he taught them as one having authority, and not as their scribes.

The thousands who listened to Jesus at the Sermon on the Mount therefore recognized that he spoke “with authority.” This is what the scripture means when it says that “Knowledge” is a gift from God. Just as no human, no matter how intelligent or “visionary” could have created the Law (to say nothing of delivering it during the Great Theophany), no human who did not have authority from God could have taught what Jesus taught. It is easy to try to diminish what Jesus said from a world weary and cynical perspective of this century, but you must understand that the people who were there did an instant comparison of Jesus to the wisest of their scribes and were “astonished.” True “Knowledge” comes from God, including both the secular and the spiritual.

St. Paul wrote in Romans 7:14 “We know that the law is spiritual; but I am carnal, sold into slavery to sin” and in 7:25 “Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord. Therefore, I myself, with my mind, serve the law of God but, with my flesh, the law of sin.” This is another way of understanding that true “Knowledge” is a gift of God through the Holy Spirit. St. Paul understood that true “Knowledge,” as in the law, is spiritual and that due to the bondage of the body, humans follow a “law” of sin. Temptation prevents human beings from developing true “Knowledge” if they try to do it without the foundation of the Law and the Knowledge that God has provided. When moderns, especially atheists, speculate that they can develop codes and laws based on “Knowledge” but not God, they are dead wrong. First of all, temptation will always skew one’s perception of what is truly good and healthy for humans (we will discuss the gift of “Wisdom” as the seventh gift). No matter how noble one thinks that one is, one is always creating knowledge and law that is self serving at some level, either consciously or unconsciously. The second reason this is wrong is because obviously God has already placed the groundwork of human ethics through his Law and his revelations to the authentic prophets; whether an atheist admits it or not he or she would already be “plagiarizing” what God has already provided to humans. Genuine knowledge, and one of its manifestations, law is, as St. Paul points out “spiritual.”

7 gifts of the Holy Spirit: (2a) Bible citations

A selection of citations regarding the gift of the Holy Spirit “Piety.”

Proverbs 2: 8
[God is] guarding the paths of justice, protecting the way of his pious ones.


Proverbs 11:9
With his mouth the impious man would ruin his neighbor,
But through their knowledge the just make their escape.


Proverbs 16:6
By kindness and piety guilt is expiated,
And by the fear of the Lord man avoids evil.


Proverbs 20: 28
Kindness and piety safeguard the king,
And he upholds his throne by justice.



[Notice the narrower focus of the benefits of Piety. Notice also that it is mentioned hand in hand with justice. Piety enables humans to exercise certain qualities, notably justice. Lack of Piety is the source of specific human flaws and misdeeds.]

[Proverbs 11:9 is very interesting as it provides a quite specific scenario. A person who lacks Piety views his own neighbor as someone to ruin for whatever reasons he or she has. However, a person who has Piety understands that his or her neighbor has knowledge (another of the gifts of the Holy Spirit) that could save him or her. That is the meaning of "the just make their escape." A person with Piety who instead of destroying his neighbor as the impious egoist will want to do, instead allies with the neighbor, when there is time of trouble they will make their escape through the knowledge of the neighbor.]

[In Proverb 16:6 notice that if one has both kindness and Piety, their sins will be forgiven. The first gift we discussed, "Fear of the Lord" is the way to avoid evil and sin in the first place. If one is both kind and has Piety, God will forgive them of their sins, sins they did not avoid because they had not cultivated sufficient "Fear of the Lord" in the first place.]

[Notice that in Proverb 20:28 it is repeated that both kindness and Piety are needed, and in this case the King is used as the example. Remember in Biblical times when they say "King" they mean both the secular and faith leader consecrated King. Reinforcing the link between Piety and access to justice, this proverb explains that the kind King with Piety is able to dispense perfect justice and hence maintains his moral authority ("upholds his throne.")]