President Ezra Taft Benson defined pride:Pride is a very misunderstood sin. . . .Most of us think of pride as self-centeredness, conceit, boastfulness, arrogance, or haughtiness. All of these are elements of the sin, but the heart, or core, is still missing. The central feature of pride is enmity toward God and enmity toward our fellowmen. Enmity means hatred toward, hostility to, or a state of opposition. It is the power by which Satan wishes to reign over us. Pride is essentially competitive in nature. We pit our will against Gods. When we direct our pride toward God, it is in the spirit of my will and not thine be done. . . . Our will in competition to Gods will allows desires, appetites, and passions to go unbridled (see Alma 38:12; 3 Nephi 12:30). The proud cannot accept the authority of God giving direction to their lives (see Helaman 12:6). They pit their perceptions of truth against Gods great knowledge, their abilities versus Gods priesthood power, their accomplishments against His mighty works" Conference Report, Apr. 1989, 34; or Ensign, May I've been thinking a lot about pride lately as I strive for greater honesty in my life and actions. I really like the above quote from President Benson. Describing pride as this "enmity toward God" makes it far easier for me to understand pride.
I can see that thinking of myself as less than others is pride as much as thinking of myself as better than others. Trying to do things the way I can figure out to do them without consulting with God in prayer, for me, that's pride. Any way that I compete with God is pride.
What's your take on the quote above?
-- Edited by arbilad at 12:48, 2007-10-03
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"The promptings of the Holy Ghost will always be sufficient for our needs if we keep to the covenant path. Our path is uphill most days, but the help we receive for the climb is literally divine." --Elaine S. Dalton
Ok, so, the quote tag is all messed up. No matter what I try to do to fix it in the editor, it only gets worse. Sorry, folks.
ETA: Thanks for fixing that, Arbi!
-- Edited by hiccups at 12:59, 2007-10-03
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"The promptings of the Holy Ghost will always be sufficient for our needs if we keep to the covenant path. Our path is uphill most days, but the help we receive for the climb is literally divine." --Elaine S. Dalton
I'm often guilty of pride in the form of comparing myself to people. It's something I'm constantly working on.
I do notice that when we think we're not being prideful, we usually are. And when we seek to point out the pride in others, we usually need to look at ourselves. With that comparing is either "I'm better than" or "I'm worse than", which means we're looking at other people instead of in the mirror.
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"There is order in the way the Lord reveals His will to mankind. . .we cannot receive revelation for someone else's stewardship." L. Tom Perry
As soon as I think "I'm" doing good, that's pride. But I'm messed up in the head like that.
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"The promptings of the Holy Ghost will always be sufficient for our needs if we keep to the covenant path. Our path is uphill most days, but the help we receive for the climb is literally divine." --Elaine S. Dalton
I'm trying to avoid feeling prideful that I was able to fix the formatting in Hiccups' post. Actually, pride is a problem for me. But at least I recognize it and work on it. It frustrates me when people I know don't recognize their own pride. And yes, I realize that even that feeling is part of my pride problem.
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If ye love wealth better than liberty, the tranquility of servitude than the animated contest of freedom, go from us in peace. May your chains sit lightly upon you, and may posterity forget that you were our countrymen! - Samuel Adams
beefche, I would say relate it back to what Pres. Benson said. If it is putting you in any sort of competitive nature with anyone, God or your fellow beings, then that is probably a good indicator it is pride and not satisfaction with yourself for having done well or for being confident you can do something. The same thing could also be said of having pride in others (kids included), an institution, a team, a school, etc. Pride is not the same thing as the "Atta boy/girl!" pat on the back thing.
But, those who may not understand the distinction can easily fall into the trap of building a false self-confidence (actually nothing more than pride) based off the "Atta boy/girl!" comments they receive as they may start to think that they are actually something better than their fellows.
I may not entirely agree with Pres. Benson's politics, but he was pretty clear and plain on talking about pride and was definitely speaking in his role as The Lord's annointed when he did so.
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It seems to me the only thing you've learned is that Caesar is a "salad dressing dude."
I think when you want others to look up to you for your accomplishment, or you choose your accomplishments with this in mind, it can become a pride problem.
And I guess we could always define the opposite, humility.
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Life is tough but it's tougher if you're stupid. -John Wayne
A good indicator of my own pride is when I start feeling resentful of someone else's blessings or accomplishments. If I can self-satisfaction about what I've done, and I'm equally as thrilled when someone else does well, then I'm not being prideful. But if someone else's blessing or accomplishment makes me grumble that "mine was just as good" or "I deserve that", then I know I'm being prideful.
There's more to pride than that, of course. But if I can be honestly happy for someone else, then I don't worry that my own self-confidence has crossed a line.
Comparisons are my first indicator that pride is creeping up on me, or bashing me over the head and dragging me off, whichever.
So are performers full of pride? Most performers (musicians, actors, speakers, etc.) feed off the audience and love getting rave reviews. I enjoy performing musically for others. I enjoy getting pats on the back, or "atta-girl" types of comments. I also appreciate sincere criticism. How does pride fit into that?
I've always interpreted Pres Benson's talk on pride as anything that moves us away from God. Feeling good about an accomplishment and feeling good about other's recognition of that...is that distancing myself from God? Is that placing myself above God? Is that not acknowledging His hand?
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It takes a big man to cry, but it takes a bigger man to laugh at that man.
But I'm messed up in the head like that.
