Pride is a sin?

Lukamu

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Hello everyone, this thought has come back to me from time to time and I'd like to get your opinion (biblical or otherwise) on it. There are many verses in the Bible that say or allude to pride being a sin. Pride is sinful, and humility (being the opposite of pride) is a good Christian attribute to strive for. Agree with me so far?
Here's the dilemma: sometimes I do something that I'm proud of. Like today, I made a cabinet shelf from scratch. It was the first DIY project I've ever done, and it turned out rather nicely. I am proud of my work. I am proud... have I sinned?
I use this as an example, but there are millions of good examples out there: a father is proud of his son, a teacher is proud of his student, a mother is proud of her clean home... The Bible warns against pride, but all of these feelings seem like they should be okay, don't you agree?
For your (and my) perusal, here is a list of verses about pride from http://www.openbible.info/topics/pride (click on the web address to visit the page). I'd like to know what you think!
Thanks,
- Lukamu
 

fhansen

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Yes, a sense of accomplishment is good, as is self-love. Pride, OTOH, is an excessive amount of self-love, sometimes described by theologians as "inordinate self-love". All evil is a twisting or diminshment or corruption of the inherent good of something that God created. Pride is no different in this way. At its extreme, pride is the exaltation of self above everthing else, including God. It's heart is self-righteousness, and is the source and grandaddy of all other sins.
 
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Lukamu

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Yes, a sense of accomplishment is good, as is self-love.
I agree, especially when Jesus says "Love your neighbor as yourself." If we drag ourselves through the mud...
So there is some tipping point, some imaginary line, where good pride becomes bad pride?
 
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Lukamu

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I think there is good pride and bad pride, and the source of each is not really what we probably would think. This site seems to explain it well..

http://www.summit1.org/gun17/gun02.htm
Alternatively, is it the reason for our pride that makes it a sin or not a sin: "·Good self esteem is when you realize you can take pride in your actions at a particular time not because you did more than someone else or accomplished more than others but because you did the best you could with the gifts and opportunities God gave you at that moment. "(quoted from the website above).
 
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fhansen

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I agree, especially when Jesus says "Love your neighbor as yourself." If we drag ourselves through the mud...
So there is some tipping point, some imaginary line, where good pride becomes bad pride?
You could put it that way, yes. The term "pride" as used commonly doesn't necessarily mean the same thing as when used in Scripture or by the church. When Sxripture tells us that God opposes the proud and exhalts the humble, it's speaking of pride as arrogance or haughtiness. And this is the sense in which the church has defined pride in the past, as one of the "deadly sins".

Self-love is good; inordinate self-love is not good. A normal appetite for food or sex is good; gluttony or lust are not good but are destructive. To have basic needs is good; covetous is not good. All evil has no source of its own; it's based on some good or another since everything in creation is originally created good by God.
 
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Open Heart

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You could put it that way, yes. The term "pride" as used commonly doesn't necessarily mean the same thing as when used in Scripture or by the church. When Sxripture tells us that God opposes the proud and exhalts the humble, it's speaking of pride as arrogance or haughtiness. And this is the sense in which the church has defined pride in the past, as one of the "deadly sins".

Self-love is good; inordinate self-love is not good. A normal appetite for food or sex is good; gluttony or lust are not good but are destructive. To have basic needs is good; covetous is not good. All evil has no source of its own; it's based on some good or another since everything in creation is originally created good by God.
Why did you snag the quote from another thread about the atonement for this thread on pride? It made no sense.
 
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fhansen

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Why did you snag the quote from another thread about the atonement for this thread on pride? It made no sense.
Which quote-a quote of mine? I can't always keep track. The reason I brought up the nature of evil and sin and their source is because it can be confusing to try to understand how and why pride should be wrong, how pride originates, how it differs from healthy self-love. It shares the same characteristics of other sins in this sense.
 
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Fireinfolding

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Here is a few verses

Proverbs 8:13 The fear of the LORD is to hate evil: pride, and arrogancy, and the evil way, and the froward mouth, do I hate.

Prov 16:6 By mercy and truth iniquity is purged: and by the fear of the LORD men depart from evil.

Ezek 16:49 Behold, this was the iniquity of thy sister Sodom, pride, fulness of bread, and abundance of idleness was in her and in her daughters, neither did she strengthen the hand of the poor and needy.

Ezek 16:50 And they were haughty, and committed abomination before me:
therefore I took them away as I saw good.

Prov 16:5 Every one that is proud in heart is an abomination to the LORD:
though hand join in hand, he shall not be unpunished.
 
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fhansen

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Here's another one-that I always liked:

16There are six things the Lord hates,
seven that are detestable to him:
17haughty eyes,
a lying tongue,
hands that shed innocent blood,
18a heart that devises wicked schemes,
feet that are quick to rush into evil,
19a false witness who pours out lies
and a person who stirs up conflict in the community. Prov 6:16-19
 
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Open Heart

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Which quote-a quote of mine? I can't always keep track. The reason I brought up the nature of evil and sin and their source is because it can be confusing to try to understand how and why pride should be wrong, how pride originates, how it differs from healthy self-love. It shares the same characteristics of other sins in this sense.
It was a quote of mine, from an entirely different thread, that had no relationship to the topic. It was wierd. Maybe it was just CF having a case of the flu.
 
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fhansen

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It was a quote of mine, from an entirely different thread, that had no relationship to the topic. It was wierd. Maybe it was just CF having a case of the flu.
What quote where? I talk just like that all the time. In fact I made very similar statements in a different forum not long ago, more than likely this one too.
 
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Open Heart

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What quote where? I talk just like that all the time. In fact I made very similar statements in a different forum not long ago, more than likely this one too.
You can follow the arrows back post by post and find it, or you can read it again here;
The understanding of what Christ did for us on the Cross has changed over time. The early Church had no concept of substitutionary atonement, but saw it as ransom (ransom is mentioned four times in the NT, substitionary atonement is never mentioned). The idea of substitutionary atonement is reasoned out later in Church history.

Which view do you think is more accurate and why? Or do you take a third view?

Pope Benedict wrote a book on the subject which although it doesn't repudiate the atonement, is a rather "post-atonement" sort of book. I have never been able to understand his idea. If any other Catholic can condense it for me, I would deeply appreciate it. Thanks.
 
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fhansen

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You can follow the arrows back post by post and find it, or you can read it again here;
Oh, I get it. I never even noticed. It's the new change they made in this forum. I think I began to quote you for a reply in that other thread, then never finished it. Somehow that quote was kept in the system and carried over to my next post. IDK
 
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Chicken Little

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pride is about being haughty or pious ... or a thinking of others being beneath you because they eat meat or something minor .
I sure don't think it is talking about people being scary , or mean or evil or hateful and thus you avoid them or avoid talking to them so as to avoid a fight . because we are told not to fight with them.
God is talking about judging others on the little stuff .. majoring on minors denominations or whatever. , gossiping and putting them down because they are poor or don't have what you have . can't afford to have a nose job or braces like your parents paid for you to have . you know face book drama and back biting. .
so that you don't want the best seats in the place and can give up your spot on the bus, hold the door for the old ladies or anyone , and sit on the floor if an old man walks in the room , it is about respect , to give it , not to demand it etc.
 
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Crowns&Laurels

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The biblical teaching of pride is contextually along the lines of narcissism, and ties in with vanity, selfishness, and boastfulness.

A person with such a mindset is incapable of perceiving God, because they've essentially made themselves such. This is why it is brought up so much in the scriptures, because it's detestable by all accounts of the moral, obedient paradigm of the Abrahamic God.
 
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Cuddles333

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C S Lewis called the unhealthy pride the Anti-God pride. Saying it was the 'competitive' sin. He said it gave no pleasure out of having something, only having more of something than the next person. When there was no one to compare with...that this sin went into (my own word) 'remission'.
 
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fhansen

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C S Lewis called the unhealthy pride the Anti-God pride. Saying it was the 'competitive' sin. He said it gave no pleasure out of having something, only having more of something than the next person. When there was no one to compare with...that this sin went into (my own word) 'remission'.
I like that-very interesting way to put it. Pride is only active to the extent that others are looking-it's kind of a fear of what others think-and we can become easily enslaved to it. Never an over-abundance of humility in the world.
 
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