If pride really is a sin?

Question

Then why do religious people refer to themselves as the "Chosen People" and why do they think that there religion is more correct than ancient religions such as the Aztec one.

Isnt it pride and arrogance to think that your tribe was more right than the others?

Answer 1

I'm curious, do you seek to say pride is actually a good thing, or are you saying "they do it too." If you are making the argument that all christians turn it out to be hypocrites (I am a christian) then you will not find an argument from me. It is unavoidable for a christian for they believe in a standard of living that they have never lived up to (this is one of the core beliefs of christianity) It is much easier to not be a hypocrite when the standard is relative and you make it as you go.
However I would like to still clarify your position. From what I can tell observing other humans and myself I have not found anyone who sees pride in another as an attractive or desireable quality. As a matter of fact most people loathe pride. I tend to agree with Lewis when he said the more pride you have the more you can't stand it in another. When I say pride i don't mean loving your children or enjoying your job, pride in essence is competitive. It is to be a better parent than someone else, or have better children then someone else, or to have more letters behind your name then the guy in the office by you, or to justify yourself when your wrong by appeasing your conscience by comparing yourself to someone you see as worse than yourself. Pride is the supreme justification and exhaltation of one's self. We do it all the time, if you could sneak into my thoughts or I could sneak into yours and count all the times throughout the day pride is at work in our inner beings I don't believe we would be able to keep up on the tally marks. however, to move on to your specifics "their religion is more correct than ancient religions such as the Aztec one." I don't think believing in truth necessarily equates pride. First we must say that this position is unavoidable, for everyone believes something, and they obviously believe that there choice is more right than others or they would have chose one of the others. Now I'm not attempting to prove what belief is right in this scenario but a boy is not wrong for feeling 2 plus 2 is four and and 2plus 2 is not five. The same can be said for philosophical claims. it is irrational to believe that contradictory truth claims are equally correct. If two philosophical claims contradict one another, they obviously are not equally true. So choosing one belief over another is to just live in a rational world, otherwise it would be a little twilight zone ish, if we were to sit around and say I think we are both right 2 plus 2 is 4 and 5, or Jesus died on a cross and Jesus didn't exist are both right. Obviously this is nonsense (sadly many are passionately pushing an agenda of relative truth, which I believe to be scary) Believing in truth does not equate pride. However it is pride when one believes they are more valuable because they have truth. Sadly some religious people have gotten lost right out of the shoot by believing all of a sudden that they are somehow better than others, or more worthy, or more valueable. When in truth this is the opposite of what Jesus taught. "In humility consider others better." "they will recognize you by your love" A true representation of christianity would hold find all people infinitely valueable and would never believe that someone was less worthy than they. While they would still hold to absolute truth, no one would ever claim them to be prideful because the love and humility would be apparent. Sadly this is not the case in our culture, religious people have let that hidden, subtle anti-virtue of pride creep into things and make a mess of something very beautiful. As far as chosen people go, I have known some religious people to throw this term around concerning christianity, however, i don't know who would not be chosen since Jesus is said to be the salvation of the world. So I believe that God chose everybody. Again no need for pride. Whatever the case may be, whether christians are hypocrites or not I highly doubt you will ever be a fan of pride, so in that sense they would be right, they would just be guilty of not holding up that virtue all that well.

Answer 2

Most religious people do not refer to their selves as 'the chosen people', the Jews do however. The Aztec religion practiced human sacrifice, sometimes on a massive scale and that makes almost every other religion more 'correct'.

If you tribe is more right than others than how could that be arrogant or prideful?

Pride is a sin and most always comes right before a fall.

Answer 3

Eric S....To have pride in God is not the same as pride in ones self....the "chosen people" are the Jews of the Abraham line, that has not changed as far as I am concerned (I am not a Jew)..."religions" has more to do with man than God...all fighting to sit next to Jesus even though Jesus said that seat has been taken :)

The aztec religion and any other religion not based on God, Jesus, the Holy Spirit, and the Bible or Torah (or Tanukh) is a faith system of satan....all of their beliefs have been specifically mentioned in the Bible as such.

It is not "pride" if you are speaking TRUTH about your name being written in the Book of life and why. As for "tribes" or one church or another claiming they only have salvation....yes, that is wrong on many different levels.

Peace be with you :)

Answer 4

Pride is one of the 7 deadly sins. I think it may be considered the worst of them all. Pride clouds your judgment and does not allow you to see your flaws. It gives you an inflated sense that your morals and judgments are superior to others. This has obviously been a problem with monotheistic religions through time.

Consider the story of Lucifer's fall from Heaven. It was not a hatred of God that caused this, it was his pride and unwillingness to serve man which caused this. Lucifer chose to torment man and try to facilitate his fall from grace.

I do not know why religious people of every sect consider themselves the "chosen" people. They always have though. Perhaps it gives them an excuse to attempt to conquer others, i.e conquest of the so called savages of the new world. We must bring them towards salvation. Perhaps they truly believed that was what they were doing.

Perhaps it is a way of reaffirming to themselves that they have made the right decision. Who knows, I guess they have doubts. I feel that if you have truly made the right decision, then there is no doubt.

Answer 5

I never heard of pride being a sin. The "chosen people" refers to Hebrews and Isrealites. the Hebrew people are God's chosen people and from them shall come the Messiah, or redeemer of the human race. People that believe they are the "chosen people" today believe they were chosen by God to act as His agent on earth or something. Or they believe that their religion is the true religion by the validity of the Law of God. Anyways peiople can believe what they want and have pride in what they believe doesnt mean it's the right religon or that they themselves are right. And pride is not a sin from my own knowledge anyways.

Answer 6

The world twists a lot of things. For example, to tell someone they're headed for an eternity of punishment unless they change their mind is now considered 'hate speech', when in actuality it's the most loving thing one could do.

To say that you have been blessed with a new life in Christ, and not all will be, seems arrogant on the surface, but is actually the most humbling experience one could ever have. It forces you to face the fact that everything you've done, or will ever do, is as nothing in the sight of God. Now that's a major humbler my friend, and you can call me arrogant for it, if you like, but nothing could be further from the Truth.

Answer 7

Pride is a sin that is the root of most other sins. I guess the difference in this case would hail back to whether or not you think that you're better because you have more truth. Are we better than the ancients? In most cases, no. We have more truth than them, which does not make us better than them. What makes you better or worse than another person is what you do with the truth that you've been given. A person with a perfect knowledge of divinity has the furthest to fall.

Answer 8

That is one of the reasons that I do not belong to an organized religion. I am not judging anyone, I accept that they have the right to believe whatever they want to believe, but I choose not to believe that I am better or less than anyone else. Your questions are interesting and I would suggest that you let their "pride and arrogance" as you call it, be their choice and not yours. Many, many religions think that they are right and everyone else is wrong, the best you can do as an individual is to let them get on with it and YOU live your life with compassion, love, forgiveness and understanding. Allow others their opinions and don't let it bother you. What is really important is that YOU try your best to be the best person that you can be.
Peace and Love

Answer 9

It is interesting that every religion seems to be full of contradiction and - dare I say it - hypocrisy.

To answer your question: I think that it is fear rather than pride. here's my argument:
1. Peer pressure: people are going to make claims like this so that the people around them can see how "devout" they are. It's a "what will people think of me?" reaction.
2: They are frightened that if they don't totally devote themselves to their god and, frankly, suck up by insisting that their god is the "best", then they won't be accepted into heaven (or whatever variation of the heaven thing they believe in).

Answer 10

Sin is subjective, but pride is on the widely accepted list of Seven Deadly Sins.
This would support your proposal.
The statement "It isn't pride and arrogance if it's true" is, first of all, not true, and second, it is a reinforcement of that very pride and arrogance.