America - A Nation of Immigrants - The Real Story

Who are we?

I feel comfortable writing about America a nation of immigrants because I have spent over 50 years trying to help the indigenous Native Americans like the Hopi nation, who are the only people in our country who are not immigrants.

With the politics in Washington off the cliff, and the truth harder to find every day in the news media, I figured I could be a sort of voice in the wilderness explaining what most Americans think about immigrants.

I wrote this article for the benefit of those outside of America forced to turn to the news media for truth about the the USA  and immigration reform.  Here is  little history often overlooked.

Back when our Forefathers fought a war of independence against the most powerful empire in the world, the British, we were already debating the shape of things to come, in order to assure our freedom, and protect us from the threat of becoming an empire and exercising such control over a free people.

There are a few things I believe were of significant influence on the Founding Fathers, more than we like to acknowledge.  First, I accept that Divine Providence guided them in their deliberations and debate.  Second, the colonists of that time were far more educated than most people believe.  Third, they must have employed either oracles or psychics to see far into the future.

I believe the record since our Declaration of Independence 243 years ago is testament to the truth in what I say.  It would have taken the Hand of God to guide a bunch of farmers, aristocrats, religious fanatics, and outcasts from throughout the world with minimal money and certainly no army, to victory over the greatest empire in world history.

As for education, many Americans were self-taught while those with resources made extensive use of tutors.  Innovation, initiative, and creativity were necessary characteristics of those attempting to tame a wild land and create a civilization in a foreign world.

Now oracles, mediums, and psychics must have been available to help draft the framework of a Constitution that protected and preserved the United States through all the radical changes in world culture, religion, economy, war, and technology that would come in the not too distant future generations.  Certainly no other fledgling country had attempted such a complex and diverse effort.

Beyond the foresight, the founding documents also had to correct the flaws in the system that existed at the time, such as slavery, in order to guarantee freedom and equality to everyone.  The goal of the Constitution was to provide a pathway to achieve the lofty promises contained in the document whether they existed at the time or not.

Three key items immediately come to mind in terms of lofty promises.  Of course, there was slavery, women's rights, and there was religious freedom.  At the time, slavery was legal, women had no rights, and religious freedom was non-existent though there were attempts to institute it in places like Maryland with little success.

The Constitution also had to make it clear that America would always be a nation of immigrants like no other nation in the world.  Just think of the incredible growth that took place in America.  In 1776, there were about 10 million people.  Only forty years later, in 1816, there were 41 million people, four times as many.  During the next millennial, by 1916, we grew to 102 million and one millennial later we have reached 325 million people, from 10 million to 325 million in just 240 years.

Today we have three million indigenous peoples, plus two million more indigenous of mixed race, so five million indigenous residents.  That means 98.5% of the population in America are immigrants or ancestors of immigrants.

The roots of Americans are vast.  Here is the diversity of Americans as of 2010 represented by the ancestral ethnic mix as reported by the U.S. Census Bureau.

American Ethnic Mix 2010

1.      49,206,934 Germans 

2.      41,284,752 Black or African Americans

3.      35,523,082 Irish

4.      31,789,483 Mexican 

5.      26,923,091 English 

6.      19,911,467 Americans

7.      17,558,598 Italian

8.      9,739,653 Polish

9.      9,136,092 French (except Basque)

10.  5,706,263 Scottish

11.  5,102,858 Scotch-Irish

12.  4,920,336 American Indian or Alaska Native

13.  4,810,511 Dutch

14.  4,607,774 Puerto Rican

15.  4,557,539 Norwegian

16.  4,211,644 Swedish

17.  3,245,080 Chinese (except Taiwanese) 

18.  3,060,143 Russian

19.  2,781,904 Asian Indian

20.  2,625,306 West Indian (except Hispanic groups)

21.  2,549,545 Filipino

22.  2,087,970 French Canadian

23.  1,888,383 Welsh

24.  1,764,374 Cuban

25.  1,733,778 Salvadoran

26.  1,620,637 Arab

27.  1,576,032 Vietnamese

28.  1,573,608 Czech

29.  1,511,926 Hungarian

30.  1,423,139 Portuguese

31.  1,422,567 Korean

32.  1,420,962 Danish

33.  1,414,551 Dominican (Dominican Republic)

34.  1,319,188 Greek

This is the percentage distribution of the top fifteen.

German	49,206,934	17.1%
African American	45,284,752	14.6%
Irish	35,523,082	11.6%
Mexican	31,789,483	10.9%
English	26,923,091	9.0%
American	19,911,467	6.7%
Italian	17,558,598	5.9%
Polish	9,739,653	3.0%
French	9,136,092	2.9%
Scottish	5,706,263	1.9%
Scotch-Irish	5,102,858	1.7%
American Indian and Alaskan Native	4,920,336	1.6%
Dutch	4,810,511	1.6%
Puerto Rican	4,607,774	1.5%
Norwegian	4,557,539	1.5%

  

Here is the diversity of Americans represented by their religious denomination beliefs.

Denomination name	Members (thousands)
The Roman Catholic Church	68,202
Southern Baptist Convention	16,136
United Methodist Church, The	7,679
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, The	6,157
Church of God in Christ, The	5,499
National Baptist Convention, USA, Inc	5,197
Evangelical Lutheran Church in America	4,274
National Baptist Convention of America, Inc	3,500
Assemblies of God	3,030
Presbyterian Church (USA)	2,675
African Methodist Episcopal Church	2,500
National Missionary Baptist Convention of America	2,500
Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod (LCMS),	2,278
Episcopal Church	1,951
Pentecostal Assemblies of the World, Inc Churches of Christ	1,800
Churches of Christ	1,639
Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America	1,500
African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church	1,400
American Baptist Churches in the USA	1,308
Jehovah's Witnesses Baptist Bible Fellowship International	1,184
Church of God	1,074
Christian Churches and Churches of Christ	1,071
Seventh-day Adventist Church	1,060
United Church of Christ	1,058
The Progressive National Baptist Convention, Inc	1,010

NOTE: Includes the self-reported membership of religious bodies with 650,000 or more as reported to the Yearbook of American and Canadian Churches. Groups may be excluded if they do not supply information. The data are not standardized so comparisons between groups are difficult. The definition of "church member" is determined by the religious body.

Source: 2012 Yearbook of American and Canadian Churches, National Council of Churches.

This is a more detailed breakdown of the same religious information.

Religions

Explore religious groups in the U.S. by tradition, family and denomination

• Christian 70.6%
• Evangelical Protestant 25.4%

• Baptist Family (Evangelical Trad.) 9.2%
• Southern Baptist Convention 5.3%
• Independent Baptist (Evangelical Trad.) 2.5%
• Missionary Baptist (Evangelical Trad.) < 0.3%
• Conservative Baptist Association of America < 0.3%
• Free Will Baptist < 0.3%
• General Association of Regular Baptist Churches < 0.3%
• Other Baptist (Evangelical Trad.) 1.0%
• Methodist Family (Evangelical Trad.) < 0.3%
• Nondenominational Family (Evangelical Trad.) 4.9%
• Nondenominational evangelical 2.0%
• Nondenominational fundamentalist 0.3%
• -Nondenominational charismatic 0.6%
• Nondenominational Christian (Evangelical Trad.) < 0.3%
• Interdenominational (Evangelical Trad.) 0.6%
• Community Church (Evangelical Trad.) < 0.3%
• Other Nondenominational (Evangelical Trad.) 1.2%
• Lutheran Family (Evangelical Trad.) 1.5%
• Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod 1.1%
• Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod < 0.3%
• Other Lutheran (Evangelical Trad.) 0.3%
• Presbyterian Family (Evangelical Trad.) 0.8%
• Presbyterian Church in America 0.4%
• Other Presbyterian (Evangelical Trad.) 0.4%
• Pentecostal Family (Evangelical Trad.) 3.6%
• Assemblies of God 1.4%
• Church of God (Cleveland, Tennessee) 0.4%
• Foursquare Church < 0.3%
• Pentecostal Church of God < 0.3%
• Pentecostal Holiness Church < 0.3%
• Calvary Chapel < 0.3%
• Apostolic Pentecostal (Evangelical Trad.) < 0.3%
• Nondenominational Pentecostal (Evangelical Trad.) < 0.3%
• Church of God of the Apostolic Faith < 0.3%
• Other Pentecostal (Evangelical Trad.) 1.1%
• Episcopalian/Anglican Family (Evangelical Trad.) < 0.3%
• Restorationist Family (Evangelical Trad.) 1.6%
• Churches of Christ 1.5%
• Christian Churches and Churches of Christ < 0.3%
• Other Restorationist (Evangelical Trad.) < 0.3%
• Congregationalist Family (Evangelical Trad.) < 0.3%
• Conservative Congregational Christian Conference < 0.3%
• Other Congregationalist (Evangelical Trad.) < 0.3%
• Holiness Family (Evangelical Trad.) 0.7%
• Church of the Nazarene 0.3%
• Wesleyan Church < 0.3%
• Free Methodist Church < 0.3%
• Christian and Missionary Alliance < 0.3%
• Church of God (Anderson, Indiana) < 0.3%
• Other Holiness (Evangelical Trad.) < 0.3%
• Reformed Family (Evangelical Trad.) < 0.3%
• Christian Reformed Church < 0.3%
• Other Reformed (Evangelical Trad.) < 0.3%
• Adventist Family (Evangelical Trad.) 0.6%
• Seventh-day Adventist 0.5%
• Other Adventist (Evangelical Trad.) < 0.3%
• Anabaptist Family (Evangelical Trad.) 0.3%
• Pietist Family (Evangelical Trad.) < 0.3%
• Other evangelical/fundamentalist family (Evangelical Trad.) 0.3%
• Nonspecific Protestant Family (Evangelical Trad.) 1.5%
• Mainline Protestant 14.7%
• Baptist Family (Mainline Trad.) 2.1%
• American Baptist Churches USA 1.5%
• Other Baptist (Mainline Trad.) 0.6%
• Methodist Family (Mainline Trad.) 3.9%
• United Methodist Church 3.6%
• Other Methodist (Mainline Trad.) 0.3%
• Nondenominational Family (Mainline Trad.) 1.0%
• Interdenominational (Mainline Trad.) 0.3%
• Other Nondenominational (Mainline Trad.) 0.7%
• Lutheran Family (Mainline Trad.) 2.1%
• Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) 1.4%
• Other Lutheran (Mainline Trad.) 0.7%
• Presbyterian Family (Mainline Trad.) 1.4%
• Presbyterian Church (USA) 0.9%
• Other Presbyterian (Mainline Trad.) 0.5%
• Episcopalian/Anglican Family (Mainline Trad.) 1.2%
• Episcopal Church 0.9%
• Anglican Church < 0.3%
• Other Episcopalian/Anglican (Mainline Trad.) < 0.3%
• Restorationist Family (Mainline Trad.) 0.3%
• Disciples of Christ < 0.3%
• Other Restorationist (Mainline Trad.) < 0.3%
• Congregationalist Family (Mainline Trad.) 0.5%
• United Church of Christ 0.4%
• Other Congregationalist (Mainline Trad.) < 0.3%
• Reformed Family (Mainline Trad.) < 0.3%
• Reformed Church in America < 0.3%
• Other Reformed (Mainline Trad.) < 0.3%
• Anabaptist Family (Mainline Trad.) < 0.3%
• Friends Family (Mainline Trad.) < 0.3%
• Nonspecific Protestant Family (Mainline Trad.) 1.9%
• Historically Black Protestant 6.5%
• Baptist Family (Historically Black Protestant Trad.) 4.0%
• National Baptist Convention 1.4%
• Progressive Baptist Convention 0.3%
• Independent Baptist (Historically Black Protestant Trad.) < 0.3%
• Missionary Baptist (Historically Black Protestant Trad.) 0.3%
• Other Baptist (Historically Black Protestant Trad.) 1.8%
• Methodist Family (Historically Black Protestant Trad.) 0.5%
• African Methodist Episcopal Church 0.3%
• African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church < 0.3%
• Christian Methodist Episcopal Church < 0.3%
• Other Methodist (Historically Black Protestant Trad.) < 0.3%
• Pentecostal Family (Historically Black Protestant Trad.) 1.0%
• Church of God in Christ 0.6%
• Apostolic Pentecostal (Historically Black Protestant Trad.) < 0.3%
• United Pentecostal Church International < 0.3%
• Other Pentecostal (Historically Black Protestant Trad.) 0.3%
• Holiness Family (Historically Black Protestant Trad.) < 0.3%
• Nondenominational Family (Historically Black Protestant Trad.) 0.3%
• Nonspecific Protestant Family (Historically Black Protestant Trad.) 0.4%
• Catholic 20.8%
• Mormon 1.6%
• Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints 1.6%
• Other Mormon < 0.3%
• Orthodox Christian 0.5%
• Greek Orthodox < 0.3%
• Russian Orthodox < 0.3%
• Orthodox Church in America < 0.3%
• Other Orthodox Christian < 0.3%
• Jehovah's Witness 0.8%
• Other Christian 0.4%
• Metaphysical Family < 0.3%
• Spiritualist < 0.3%
• Unity Church < 0.3%
• Other Metaphysical Christian ("Other Christian" Trad.) < 0.3%
• Others in the "Other Christian" Tradition < 0.3%

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• Non-Christian Faiths 5.9%
• Jewish 1.9%
• Muslim 0.9%
• Buddhist 0.7%
• Hindu 0.7%
• Other World Religions 0.3%
• Other Faiths 1.5%

• Unitarians and other liberal faiths in the "Other Faiths" Tradition 1.0%
• Unitarian 0.3%
• Humanist < 0.3%
• Deist < 0.3%
• Spiritual but not religious 0.3%
• Eclectic, a bit of everything, "I have my own beliefs" < 0.3%
• Other in the "Unitarian and other liberal faiths" family < 0.3%
• New Age 0.4%
• Pagan or Wiccan 0.3%
• Other in the New Age family < 0.3%
• Native American Religions < 0.3%
• Unaffiliated (religious "nones") 22.8%
• Atheist 3.1%
• Agnostic 4.0%
• Nothing in particular 15.8%
• Nothing in particular (religion not important) 8.8%
• Nothing in particular (religion important) 6.9%
• Don't know 0.6%

Finally, here is an article discussing the Pew research polling on the political preference of the various religious denominations in the last (2012) presidential election.

FEBRUARY 23, 2016

U.S. religious groups and their political leanings

By Michael Lipka

Mormons are the most heavily Republican-leaning religious group in the U.S., while a pair of major historically black Protestant denominations – the African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Church and the National Baptist Convention – are two of the most reliably Democratic groups, according to data from Pew Research Center’s 2014 Religious Landscape Study.

Seven-in-ten U.S. Mormons identify with the Republican Party or say they lean toward the GOP, compared with 19% who identify as or lean Democratic – a difference of 51 percentage points. That’s the biggest gap in favor of the GOP out of 30 religious groups we analyzed, which include Protestant denominations, other religious groups and three categories of people who are religiously unaffiliated.

At the other end of the spectrum, an overwhelming majority of members of the AME Church (92%) identify with or lean toward the Democratic Party, while just 4% say they favor the Republican Party (an 88-point gap). Similarly, 87% of members of the National Baptist Convention and 75% of members of the Church of God in Christ (another historically black denomination) identify as Democrats.

These patterns largely reflect data from exit polls during the 2012 general election. In that year, 95% of black Protestants said they voted for Democrat Barack Obama, while 78% of Mormons said they voted for Republican Mitt Romney, who also is a Mormon.

White evangelical Protestants also voted heavily Republican in 2012 (79% for Romney), which mirrors the leanings of many of the largest evangelical denominations. Members of the Church of the Nazarene are overwhelmingly likely to favor the GOP (63% Republican vs. 24% Democrat), as are the Southern Baptist Convention (64% vs. 26%) and the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod (59% vs. 27%), among other evangelical churches. (In our survey, members of these groups can be of any race or ethnicity, while exit polls report totals for white evangelicals in particular.)

Catholics are divided politically in our survey, just as they were in the 2012 election. While 37% say they favor the GOP, 44% identify with or lean toward the Democratic Party (and 19% say they do not lean either way). In the 2012 election, 50% of Catholics said they voted for Obama, while 48% voted for Romney.

Members of mainline Protestant churches look similar to Catholics in this regard. For example, 44% of members of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) identify as or lean Republican in the survey, compared with 47% who are Democrats or Democratic-leaning. United Methodists and Anglicans are slightly more likely than other mainline groups to say they are Republicans, while members of the United Church of Christ are more likely to be Democrats.
About seven-in-ten religiously unaffiliated voters (70%) and Jews (69%) voted for Obama in 2012. A similar share of Jews in our survey (64%) say they are Democrats, while all three subsets of religious “nones” (atheists, agnostics and those who say their religion is “nothing in particular”) lean in that direction as well.

Jehovah’s Witnesses, who are taught to remain politically neutral and abstain from voting, stand out for their overwhelming identification as independents who do not lean toward either party. Three-quarters of Jehovah’s Witnesses put themselves in that category.

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The Melchizedek Chronicles - Humility – Can I Be Proud of My Humility?

Humility, the art of being humble.  Sounds simple enough but what does it really mean? 

Good old Ben Franklin had his ideas.  He once wrote about how he decided he needed to work to overcome the Seven Deadly Sins, number one of which is Pride.  After conquering six of the seven, only pride remained, the worst of all deadly sins.  So, he focused on his humility, and in time realized it was hopeless, he could never conquer pride.  Because when he did conquer pride with his humility, he had to be proud of his humility.

Well Ben is not the only one to be frustrated with the pursuit of happiness and overcoming of sins.  But first, what is the basis of the Seven Deadly Sins and Cardinal Virtues?  Contrary to popular opinion, there is no Biblical basis for either list.  Nowhere in the Bible or Teaching of Jesus does scripture say here are the lists.

Of course, there is encouragement to master them but not in the form of a list, just in references to individual sins and virtues throughout the Old and New Testament.  So, they were made up along the way in order to encourage people to focus on sins. 

History of Seven Deadly Sins

The seven deadly sins were first compiled by Pope Gregory I around the year 600. They are pride, greed, lust, wrath, gluttony, envy, and sloth. Gregory also compiled a list of the seven virtues: faith, hope, charity, justice, prudence, temperance, and fortitude. The Bible would validate all of these concepts, but nowhere are they recorded in a list like this and nowhere in the Bible are they specifically referred to as the seven deadly sins or seven virtues.

They do not predate the Ten Commandments which were given at Mt. Sinai around 1450 B.C. It is probably true that they were used extensively to teach principles from God's Word, particularly in the centuries before the invention of the printing press when the Bible was not available for the common man to read and study.

History of the Seven Cardinal Virtues

In the book, “The Seven Cardinal Virtues” Stalker traces the origins of the seven virtues to ancient Greece, written by Aristotle and Plato.  In fact, the Greek philosophers identified the four virtues of wisdom, justice, temperance, and courage as crucial for a person to imbibe.  Later when the New Testament was studied more intently three more virtues were added, charity, hope and faith.  Hence it is common to refer to the initial four virtues as the Cardinal virtues while the later three are termed the Theological virtues.

The origin of the seven heavenly virtues can be traced to the Epic Poem, Psychopathic, containing the battle of the virtues and vices, written in AD 410 by Aurelius Clemens Prudentius. This popular work of the Middle Ages helped in propagating the concept of good virtues against the evil vices across Europe. One could be untouched by the seven deadly sins by inculcating the seven heavenly virtues.

Contribution of the Great Philosophers to the lists

Since they were first presented around the year 600 and 410, and the sins were based on earlier teaching of Aristotle and Plato.  How interesting that two of the most famous philosophers in history laid the foundation for the Christian sins and virtues and they lived between 300 and 470 years before Jesus.  I consider Socrates the third of the most influential philosophers in history and it does not hurt to look at the relationship between the three since their careers overlapped.    

• Socrates is mostly known through the accounts of classical Greek writers, but Plato describes him as his teacher.
• Plato’s Academy (AKA the Academy) was founded by Plato in circa 387 BC in Athens.
• At seventeen or eighteen years of age, Aristotle joined Plato’s Academy in Athens and remained there until the age of thirty-seven (c. 347 BC).
• Aristotle left Athens and, at the request of Philip of Macedon, tutored Alexander the Great beginning in c. 343 BC.

Socrates, born in Athens in 470 BC, is often credited as one of the founders of Western philosophy. The cloud of mystery surrounding his life and philosophical viewpoints propose a problem; a problem so large that it’s given a name itself: The Socratic Problem. Since he did not write philosophical texts, all knowledge related to him is entirely dependent on the writings of other people of the time period. 

Plato, student of Socrates, also has mystery surrounding him. His birth day is estimated to fall between 428 BC and 423 BC. He’s known for being the founder of the Academy in Athens, the first institution of higher learning in the Western world.

Aristotle, student of Plato, lived from 384 BC-322 BC. At eighteen, he joined Plato’s Academy in Athens and remained there until the age of thirty-seven. There, he honed his talents of understanding the world.

These three laid the foundations of many of the beliefs of the rest of the Western world. Philosophers such as John Locker and Descartes use the theories these brilliant minds brought forth in their own works.  What a remarkable century when all three walked the earth.

So back to my mission, humility, I have now destroyed any Biblical origin for the list of sins and virtues and traced their origins to three centuries before Jesus amidst a group of pagan scholars who explained about everything in the world.

All my life I have been fascinated at how three such brilliant and productive people could have been on Earth during the same period and had such a lasting impact on everything we do today, nearly 2,500 years later.  It was almost as if God sent these “adepts” to change the world and get it back on track.  Not unlike the chaos of today.

Back to the Lists of Today

Regardless of the source, we have these lists because the Church liked the idea of such things, it was a new way to generate money for the Church through the sale of indulgences, and it was only appropriate to tie these famous heathen scholars to the Church for credibility.

Pride is the deadliest of the deadly sins, and pride can only be counteracted with humility.  Certainly, humility is the polar opposite of pride, thus satisfying the need for polarization in Creation while attacking the number one deadly sin.

However, it leaves me a bit perplexed because there are some pretty extreme acts of pride that can be committed, so are there parallel extreme acts of humility needed to offset the extreme acts of pride?  If so, does that mean humility can be deployed as a means of targeting and defeating pride, adjusting to whatever extremes pride throws its way?

I tend to view humility in a more passive way that is not interest in beating down and punishing the opposition, whether it be pride in the form of conceit, self-confidence, self-importance, arrogance, or stupidity.  To me pride agitates, humility calms, it works to bring things back in balance.

Somehow it instinctively seeks out and finds the middle ground, the compromise, and quickly shepherds the far more aggressive and obvious aspects of pride to that point.  Humility can be a very deceptive and decisive tool in your weaponry.  Often underestimated, always overlooked, it prefers to operate in silence, invisibly avoiding attention.

While humility seems to be desperately needed because of the vast legions of cocky, chest-thumping, righteous, self-centered, conceited know-it-alls inhabiting our world, it might be better used and more successful at helping those who are good but need some guidance.

Why do I say that, because there is an aspect of humility that can be counter-productive to the teachings of Jesus, and can be a tool of the Dark Side to disrupt the path of the righteous when seeking Our Father?

Often the greatest progress on the Road to Kingdom Come can result from removing obstacles to your path rather than learning new things.  Since the entire spectrum of sin deals with a reality or dimension beyond our everyday physical life on Earth, it plays out more as metaphysical warfare in the ethers of space.

Most sins are an emotional rejection of truth that then are manifested in your physical reality.  The emotional rejection of right is played out in the mind of the sinner where free will makes a choice counter to the teachings of Jesus.

Stop for a minute and ask yourself, what in the world does humble little me have that would be of interest to Satan and the Dark Side.  Well humble little you just refused in that assessment to recognize your power, your strength, and your road to salvation.

What you have, what you have forgotten, and what you must find and remember, is the perfect love of Our Father, the Creator.  That astonishing miracle comes to you in the form of your Creation, duh!!!, in the gifts Father Creator has embedded in you, in the Father’s desire to see you use those gifts to help others find the way back to the garden, and in receiving (but not yet acknowledging) the Perfect love of the Father for all of Creation.

So, what is an obstacle to your purpose and mission in life?  It would be so easy for anyone associated with the Dark Side to use humility as a ploy to convince you that it would be egotistical or conceited to think you could excel above all others in anything in your life.  Or to say you cannot fulfill the Father’s desires for you to use those gifts, because you might give people the impression you know what is best for people.

Jesus never needed pages and pages of laws, rules, orders, definitions, and court rulings to determine what is right and wrong.  Why do we need such things?  People who preach conformity, preach normality, preach continuity, have forgotten Our Father is perfection and there is no reason his creations cannot represent perfection.  In fact, his desire is for you to achieve perfection in the gifts he gave you.

People who press the issue of humility on you are trying to prohibit you from achieving the recognition from the Creator for your actions.  If it is not intentional, then they have been duped by the Dark Side to take such a stand.  They work to suppress your efforts to use the gifts of the Creator by excelling in the gifts he gave you.

Humility should be a source of inspiration and nourishment for the soul.  It cannot be a source of limitation, of being an obstacle between you and Our Father’s desires for you.  Humility means you acknowledge the love and gifts of the Creator and excel in your use of them to help, or inspire others.  That is your expression of thanks, that is what the Creator wants to see.

Enlightened people and those on the road to enlightenment desire to seek out the truth, and desire to please Jesus and the Father very much.  When they are successful they seem to infect people all around them with the love and grace of the Father they have received and the compassion, empathy, and spiritual growth they have attained from the teaching of Jesus.

Suzanne singing Pie Jesu
Click

https://www.soundclick.com/html5/v3/player.cfm?type=single&songid=13680463&q=hi&newref=1

Just the mere act of turning down the volume and moderating the blood pressure in these good souls touches the people around them, radiating calmness, warm thoughts, joy, happiness, satisfaction, and respect for others.  That pleases Jesus.

People pleasing the Father and Jesus do not have to be poor, do not have to dress in rags, do not have to suffer from hunger, drug addiction, sexual abuse or anything else, in short, they do not have to be the epitome of humility forsaking all that makes them special so as not to disrupt or disturb those who are not special.

Give me a break.

Jesus was the model for humility, yet he changed water into wine, healed the sick, drove out demons, and even raised the dead.  As if that was not a sufficient example of the good in exceptionalism, he then was crucified, died, raised himself from the dead (with a little help from the Creator), then sailed off into the sky to Heaven with Moses and Elijah on either side while promising to return one day.

He taught there was nothing he did we could not do, if we just have faith.  We are all the children and Creation of Father Creator.

Seriously, we can do anything you can do?

My soul, my spirit, my heart all long to be just like Jesus, but my mind says don’t be a fool, you are not flying anywhere on your own.  I have work to do.

Fortunately, I also have a hyperactive imagination that kicks in just when my mind most needs it, when it thinks it knows everything, has all the answers, or starts to view things from a superior perspective.  The only thing that being wealthy, sophisticated, or intellectual has to do with it is to make it harder to be humble.  

Sometimes being humble is going as far as you can on three flat tires.  It is running out of gas going down the mountain rather than up the mountain.  Good things come to those who are humble up to a point, the point being when humility becomes that obstacle to your achieving perfection.  The point when it stands in the way of your full use of the gifts the Creator gave you.  The point where the Father’s desires for your success and perfection are derailed by an overzealous humility.

You must not use humility as an excuse to not seek perfection in the eyes of God and Jesus, for perfection in the perfect love of Father Creator is what the Father desires.  Nor should you use it as an excuse to mask your fear of failure, of disappointment, rejection, or just plain dumb things you may be inclined to do in the course of life.

Humility can be mastered without sacrificing the expectation, desires, and love of the Father.  There is nothing wrong with being right, nothing weak about being strong, nothing bad about being good.

Do I ignore the effort I put into being good at what I do?  Do I reject as excessive the knowledge I learn about something in order to excel?  Do I discount the lessons I learned, both good and bad, from my experiences?  Do I, in the interest of being humble, let other people take credit for what I create?

Suzanne singing St.Theresa's Prayer
Click to listen

https://www.soundclick.com/html5/v3/player.cfm?type=single&songid=13680464&q=hi&newref=1

If I did it might be the “humble” way to approach life in order to master humility, but does it please the Father, who is perfection?  That don’t seem right to me, the title of a song I wrote.

It sits on a shelf with a few hundred other songs I wrote, victims of my humble view of myself as a prolific writer, poet, or composer.  That seems like an extreme use of humility, to deny myself the opportunity to share a part of my heart and soul with you through music.

I’m counting on getting over that notion before Judgement Day.

Yet another problem with humility I see is it puts a great big bullseye on your back for those of the Dark Side to find you, because they live to disrupt the salvation of all souls, especially yours, and block any actions pleasing to God.

That sucks too.

In the end we have to strike a balance in our lives.  We honor the Father by using the gifts he gave us to the best of our ability.  We please Our Father by doing whatever we do in a humble way.  We succeed in our mission when miracles do happen.

Kind of a sharp contrast or dilemma, excel or not, succeed or not, be who we think we are or we think we are meant to be.

In closing, let me share an experience that demonstrates what I mean.  Once I met a young woman who was the pinnacle of perfection, as I know it.  She lived in a state of Grace.  Somehow, her transfiguration was achieved early in life or she was born with it.

She loved and served Jesus, talked to him every day, and did nothing without asking his permission first.  Suzanne was the epitome of humility, safely secure within a state of Grace, and she was happy, fearless, and lived for the moment.  At the same time she radiated that golden glow of Father Creator to a degree that she was virtually invisible to most around her.

I spent many hours talking to her, knowing that her time with me would be short as so many people needed her message of inspiration, hope and joy.  Always she had a soft smile for everyone and never pushed an agenda of what they needed to be saved.  Her dress was humble and understated her beauty and remarkable faith in Jesus.

Shortly before she left to continue her journey, she said she played the harp and loved to sing to the Lord and Jesus.  As she prepared to drive away, she gave me a CD and said I might enjoy it.

It was her, playing beautiful music on her harp, singing angelic songs and praising Jesus and the Lord.  There was accompaniment from some nuns and minimal music so as not to interfere with the message.   The recording was clearly done in a magnificent Cathedral.

The sound was the most soothing, beautiful, well produced album I ever heard. Mind you I had a lot of involvement in Christian and Gospel music working in the industry in Nashville and doing sessions in some exceptional studios.  A nationwide radio show I created featured and introduced many Christian artists to the world.

Suzanne singing How Great Thou Art
Click

https://www.soundclick.com/html5/v3/player.cfm?type=single&songid=13680465&q=hi&newref=1

The album Suzanne gave me was at the top of the charts from my perspective, a magical voice with perfect pitch, and a production second to none.  I listened to the CD after she left.  Then I looked at the disc.  She titled the album “My Soul Magnifies the Lord,” half the songs were called “Quiet Meditations” and half were called “Sacred Hymns.”   It was a masterpiece, and her name was nowhere to be found on the CD or cover.

A year later she wrote and told me she wanted to share her gifts, but not attention for performing them as it might distract from the message in the music.  No greater proper and perfect demonstration of humility could be found, and all it took was an angel to show me the way.  

In summary, if humility was the answer it would be a Cardinal Virtue, but it did not make the cut.  However, there is a time and place for it as long as you do not let it stop you from seeking perfection in the gifts you received from the Creator, from trying to live up to the Creator’s desires for you, and from finding joy and happiness in our world.