Being proud?

Question

My dad says that there's nothing wrong with being proud of yourself if you accomplish something or do something right. but what about all those sayings that say pride cometh before a fall and what the Bible says about pride? i'm confused.

Answer 1

Listen to your Dad.

Answer 2

It probably depends on what you mean by proud. I don't think there's anything wrong with being pleased when you accomplish something. It's that sort of pleasure in acheiving goals which will often spur you on to do things well. But if you start to feel like you're a better/higher class/superior person because of these things, that probably creates a problem. I think a crucial thing is to keep in mind your status compared to God. Being humble isn't about thinking badly about yourself, it's about recognising that God's so much greater than you, and having the right perspective about your importance. It's God who's made you who you are and given you the abilities you have, so you can be pleased when you exercise them, but if you start thinking that you've managed it entirely by yourself that's probably over the line.

Answer 3

Pride is a harmful thing. It caused the fall. It ruins marriages. It leads to anger and self-righteousness. It has no place in the Christian's life. Never admitting you are wrong is being prideful. If an atheist, or anyone, proves you wrong is something, be kind and courteous. Admit you made a mistake and go on. Everyone makes mistakes, even atheists. There is nothing wrong with admitting an error. It no more proves you are wrong about Christianity than being wrong about the color of a boat means boats don't exist. But, if you never admit when you are wrong, you will not be able to convince anyone in a discussion of your position. You will simply loose the respect of the one with whom you are debating.

Answer 4

To be proud of a job well done is one thing. To be prideful is a completely different case. Being prideful means that you think everything you do is perfect and wonderful, you never accept defeat or ask for help because you believe you need no one else's help to achieve your goal. See the difference?

Answer 5

I would define it this way.
Proud - a sense of self worth.
Pride - a sense of being superior.

Being proud can mean that you have a feeling of being of some worth, while pride tends to say that I am better than other people.
It can be a subtle difference, and being proud can turn into pride.

Pride is a sin because a person does not recognize their need for God.

Answer 6

This is hard to put gently. Pride will no doubt be the cause of many of the worst times of your life here on earth. If you do a word study in the Bible using (pride) you will no doubt find your answer.

Answer 7

Taking satisfaction in a job well done or in something beautiful that you have created is good. Sometimes that is referred to as pride. But pride in the negative sense is dangerous because it blinds us to the reality of what is around us.

The first penalty of pride is always ignorance. Pride in our ability to do something often leads us into situations where we have underestimated or have not even considered all of the facts.

Answer 8

i think its because pride leads to gloating and beleiving that you are above others. not saying that this is true in your case but if you think about people who seem to have it all and then lose it this could be true for them. there isn't anything wrong with taking pride in what you do. the tricky part is not making others feel less because of it. this is hard because have you ever noticed that when you have good news about yourself to share people listen at first but then get annoyed if you try to continue to talk about it. it's not because they don't care it's just seems to be human nature to feel a little envious of people who have success.

hope this helps

Answer 9

Listen to your Dad, he's right on the money. You should always take pride in yourself and your accomplishments.

Answer 10

That is not the same kind of pride that the bible is talking about. Here it is talking about a person so proud that he thinks his "doctrine" is the only right one, and won't listen to anyone else. Your father is right, to have good self esteem, makes you a more happy person, with a good outlook on life.

Answer 11

The best way I can give my answer is through quotes.

"Pride is a very misunderstood sin, and many are sinning in ignorance. In the scriptures there is no such thing as righteous pride—it is always considered a sin. Therefore, no matter how the world uses the term, we must understand how God uses the term so we can understand the language of holy writ and profit thereby.
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—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 God’s. When we direct our pride toward God, it is in the spirit of “my will and not thine be done.” As Paul said, they “seek their own, not the things which are Jesus Christ’s.”
Our will in competition to God’s will allows desires, appetites, and passions to go unbridled.
The proud cannot accept the authority of God giving direction to their lives. They pit their perceptions of truth against God’s great knowledge, their abilities versus God’s priesthood power, their accomplishments against His mighty works.
Our enmity toward God takes on many labels, such as rebellion, hard-heartedness, stiff-neckedness, unrepentant, puffed up, easily offended, and sign seekers. The proud wish God would agree with them. They aren’t interested in changing their opinions to agree with God’s.
Another major portion of this very prevalent sin of pride is enmity toward our fellowmen. We are tempted daily to elevate ourselves above others and diminish them.
The proud make every man their adversary by pitting their intellects, opinions, works, wealth, talents, or any other worldly measuring device against others. In the words of C. S. Lewis: “Pride gets no pleasure out of having something, only out of having more of it than the next man. … It is the comparison that makes you proud: the pleasure of being above the rest. Once the element of competition has gone, pride has gone.” (Mere Christianity, New York: Macmillan, 1952, pp. 109–10.)" - Ezra Taft Benson April 1989

For the whole talk use the link below and on the left hand side click on Gospel Library, then Church Publications HTML (text), and at the top do a quick search (keyword: pride, Search in: Ensign) it will be the first in the list. It is titled Beware of Pride.