Hope

Of the virtues, hope is certainly least spoken of. Simply stated, faith is believe in things not seen - specifically Christ and His coming. When we believe (faith) hope is a natural outcome. We hope for what we believe in (Eternal life) and then that hope pushes us to action to make real what we hope. In the case of the gospel hope in action is charity. Faith creates hope which inspires charity for others.

The same is true in my business life. If I cease to believe in our success (where it begins) then I will not hope for the successful result and without hope I will have no action.

Before looking at the scriptures, look at this interesting write up from Wikipedia:

"In Human, All Too Human, existential philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche had this to say about hope:
Hope. Pandora brought the jar with the evils and opened it. It was the gods' gift to man, on the outside a beautiful, enticing gift, called the "lucky jar." Then all the evils, those lively, winged beings, flew out of it. Since that time, they roam around and do harm to men by day and night. One single evil had not yet slipped out of the jar. As Zeus had wished, Pandora slammed the top down and it remained inside. So now man has the lucky jar in his house forever and thinks the world of the treasure. It is at his service; he reaches for it when he fancies it. For he does not know that that jar which Pandora brought was the jar of evils, and he takes the remaining evil for the greatest worldly good--it is hope, for Zeus did not want man to throw his life away, no matter how much the other evils might torment him, but rather to go on letting himself be tormented anew. To that end, he gives man hope. In truth, it is the most evil of evils because it prolongs man's torment.

Martin Seligman in his book Learned Optimism (1990) strongly criticizes the role of churches in the promotion of the idea that the individual has little chance or hope of affecting his or her life. He acknowledges that the social and cultural conditions, such as serfdom and the caste system weighed heavily against the freedom of individuals to change the social circumstances of their lives. Almost as if to avoid the criticism, in his book What You Can Change and What You Can't, he is careful to outline the extent that people can hold out hope for personal action to change some of the things that affect their lives.

There is some evidence to suggest that in adverse situations, hope may be worse than hopelessness for overall well-being. For example, people sentenced to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole adjust better to their situation than prisoners that retain the possibility of parole. Similarly, patients who underwent a permanent colostomy showed higher life satisfaction 6 months after the operation than those who underwent a potentially reversible colostomy.[2]"

Very interesting to consider that Hope may not be a good thing. Hope can prolong suffering and torment in pursuit of a never to be acheived goal. But consider the extension of such thinking and how contrary to the Plan of Salvation.

Satan's selfish plan was to remove free agency. We normally think of that as just meaning we don't make our own choices, and therefore no mistakes, automatically qualifying all to return to the Father. Like Cain's offering of grains and fruits, on the outside it is difficult to understand why these two examples are so wrong. Considering Satan's plan and the VERY similar arguments I found researching hope in Wikipedia, if free agency is removed there can be no growth, no progression. Satan, superior to all except Christ in the pre-exsistence, would have remained in this high position on top of the glory he fiendishly hope for himself in delivering the human race. None of his brothers or sisters in the human family would every progress beyond him like a parent that doesn't want a child to be more successful than themselves.

Consider the examples in Wikipedia. Both are examples of removing free agency. With free agency and the chance to change their inherited situation removed, hope was gone. Apparently they are happier, but that is not accurate. What they really do is come to accept their situation. Is that happiness? Isn't that exactly what Satan wanted to define as happiness? Isn't that a TREMENDOUS temptation that Satan puts on us? It feels good to give up, give in, or say that we no longer need to push ourselves. But when those feelings come, we should remind ourselves that we are playing into Satan's plan to accept our situation.

Christ's plan was not to accept our situation. Christ's plan was not give up or blame the world for our station in life. Fundamentally Christ and Satan disagreed on one central point. IS HAPPINESS DEFINED BY TRYING PROGRESSION OR RELAXING ACCEPTANCE? Is happiness moving to an island in the Carribean and blissfully passing the time with no work happiness or is throwing ourselves full board into self-improvement, service, and experiments of our resolve how we become happy?