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==Controversy==
==Controversy==
An often repeated folk etymology proposes that sincere is derived from the Latin sine = without, cera = wax. According to one popular explanation, dishonest sculptors in Rome or Greece would cover flaws in their work with wax to deceive the viewer; therefore, a sculpture "without wax" would mean honesty in its perfection.[3] Another explanation is that without wax etymology "is derived from a Greeks-bearing-gifts story of deceit and betrayal. For the feat of victory, the Romans demanded the handing over of obligatory tributes. Following bad advice, the Greeks resorted to some faux-marble statues made of wax, which they offered up as tribute. These promptly melted in the warm Greek sun."[6] The Oxford English Dictionary states, however, that "There is no probability in the old explanation from sine cera 'without wax'". Also note the entry on sincere in An Etymological Dictionary of the English Language by Walter William Skeat (p. 555) and Storied Words: The Writer's Vocabulary and Its Origins By Jeff Jeske (p. 145). The without wax etymology is popular enough to be a minor sub-plot in Dan Brown's Digital Fortress, though Brown attributes it to the Spanish language, not Latin.
An often repeated folk etymology proposes that sincere is derived from the Latin sine = without, cera = wax. According to one popular explanation, dishonest sculptors in Rome or Greece would cover flaws in their work with wax to deceive the viewer; therefore, a sculpture "without wax" would mean honesty in its perfection.[3] Another explanation is that without wax etymology "is derived from a Greeks-bearing-gifts story of deceit and betrayal. For the feat of victory, the Romans demanded the handing over of obligatory tributes. Following bad advice, the Greeks resorted to some faux-marble statues made of wax, which they offered up as tribute. These promptly melted in the warm Greek sun."[6] The Oxford English Dictionary states, however, that "There is no probability in the old explanation from sine cera 'without wax'". Also note the entry on sincere in An Etymological Dictionary of the English Language by Walter William Skeat (p. 555) and Storied Words: The Writer's Vocabulary and Its Origins By Jeff Jeske (p. 145). The without wax etymology is popular enough to be a minor sub-plot in Dan Brown's Digital Fortress, though Brown attributes it to the Spanish language, not Latin.
==Quote==
The keys of the kingdom of [[heaven]] are: sincerity, more sincerity, and more sincerity. All men have these keys. Men use them--advance in [[spirit]] [[status]]--by [[decisions]], by more decisions, and by more decisions. The highest [[moral]] choice is the choice of the highest possible [[value]], and always--in any [[sphere]], in all of them--this is to choose to do the will of God.[http://www.urantia.org/cgi-bin/webglimpse/mfs/usr/local/www/data/papers?link=http://mercy.urantia.org/papers/paper39.html&file=/usr/local/www/data/papers/paper39.html&line=147#mfs]
==References==
==References==
# Sparknotes.com, Ethics, Section 4. Last visited, April 25, 2008.
# Sparknotes.com, Ethics, Section 4. Last visited, April 25, 2008.
