{"id":42173,"date":"2016-12-31T10:35:58","date_gmt":"2016-12-31T08:35:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/copticocc.org\/site\/?p=42173"},"modified":"2017-01-10T10:43:43","modified_gmt":"2017-01-10T08:43:43","slug":"%d9%85%d8%a8%d8%a7%d8%af%d8%a6-%d8%aa%d9%8f%d8%b3%d9%8e%d8%b1%d9%91-%d8%a8%d8%a7%d9%84%d8%a7%d8%b3%d8%aa%d9%82%d8%a7%d9%85%d8%a9-31122016","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/copticocc.org\/en\/%d9%85%d8%a8%d8%a7%d8%af%d8%a6-%d8%aa%d9%8f%d8%b3%d9%8e%d8%b1%d9%91-%d8%a8%d8%a7%d9%84%d8%a7%d8%b3%d8%aa%d9%82%d8%a7%d9%85%d8%a9-31122016\/","title":{"rendered":"Principles \u2013 &#8220;You have pleasure in uprightness&#8221; \u2013 Saturday 31st of December, 2016"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><\/p>\n<h2 dir=\"ltr\" style=\"text-align: justify;\"><\/h2>\n<h2 dir=\"ltr\"><span style=\"color: #000000; font-family: 'andale mono', times;\">\u00a0 \u00a0In the previous article we said that principles cannot be compromised and we also tackled a critical question at the present time: to what extent high values and principles are established in our hearts and applied in our life. In few hours, a new year will begin; a gift from God to step further in our lives and make progress that is preserved before God and recorded in history.<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #000000; font-family: 'andale mono', times;\">\u00a0 \u00a0One of the fathers once said &#8220;<span style=\"color: #800000;\">I know also, my God, that You test the heart and have pleasure in uprightness&#8221;<\/span> Indeed, everything is exposed before God; he knows all the hidden secrets of man&#8217;s heart and mind and nothing is concealed before Him. Uprightness of mind, heart and ways is His delight.<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #000000; font-family: 'andale mono', times;\">\u00a0 \u00a0An upright mind is void of evil thoughts. It rather seeks the goodness of humanity and its delight is in walking uprightly. Nowadays, integrity may be deemed a sign of weakness. Pardon me; it has never been a weakness, but rather a sign of man&#8217;s true strength and it will always be so. Moreover, it is always a rewarding behavior, no matter how time passes on. Men of integrity are memorable and if their lives come to an end, they would enjoy true joy in heaven with God.<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #000000; font-family: 'andale mono', times;\">\u00a0 \u00a0A man with upright mind enjoys a heart full of love to all people even enemies and even in time of tribulations, he is able to restore his great love to all. I recall Mr. Nelson Mandela, the great leader who was one of the prominent heroes of goodness through history. His good deeds did not pay off for 27 years; however his faith was never shaken and his uprightness never ceased. When he was released from prison, he was still a man of great integrity. Thus, his life deemed memorable and fruitful.<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #000000; font-family: 'andale mono', times;\">\u00a0 \u00a0If you have an upright mind and heart, your deeds would depict that. You would spare no effort to do good deeds and help all people without waiting for a reward. Your motive would be your love of God and your fellow man.<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #000000; font-family: 'andale mono', times;\">In the beginning of the New Year, it is worthwhile for us to stop a little to examine our mind, heart along with our actions so that we deservedly make use of the new opportunity that God gifted us with.<\/span><\/h2>\n<h2 dir=\"ltr\" style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"color: #800000; font-family: 'andale mono', times;\">General Bishop<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #800000; font-family: 'andale mono', times;\">Head of the Coptic Orthodox Cultural center<\/span><\/h2>\n<p><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>\u00a0 \u00a0In the previous article we said that principles cannot be compromised and we also tackled a critical question at the present time: to what extent high values and principles are established in our hearts and applied in our life. In few hours, a new year will begin; a gift from God to step further [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":11215,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[51],"tags":[6447,7360,14115,7359,175],"class_list":["post-42173","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-articles","tag-principles","tag-you-have-pleasure-in-uprightness","tag-14115","tag-7359","tag-175"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/copticocc.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42173"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/copticocc.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/copticocc.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/copticocc.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/copticocc.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=42173"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/copticocc.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42173\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":42175,"href":"https:\/\/copticocc.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42173\/revisions\/42175"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/copticocc.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11215"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/copticocc.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=42173"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/copticocc.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=42173"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/copticocc.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=42173"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}