Can a man be guilty of a sin he himself seeks to purge from his being?  Can he be a mixed bag, having some good and some evil in his being?  Yes.  We all know it.  We all feel the sting of shame, of regret, when we reflect honestly on our hidden evil thoughts, when we contemplate the condemnation we would receive if a wrongful act was discovered.  We could be otherwise deserving of praise for aspects of our nature that are laudable and honorable, but in that one thing we would feel disgraced. Interesting word, isn’t it?  Disgraced.  It means to lose mercy, favor or virtue.  Therefore, its opposite: grace, means to extend the restoration of virtue, to grant mercy, to again look favorably upon someone. In the Civil War, America suffered a fall from grace. But grace was used to turn enmity into comity. This is why the Civil War monuments existed, in part, perhaps in the largest part.  A shattered nation needed to come back...(Read Full Article)