tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4683970826895755480.post5176966508345327817..comments2024-03-28T21:32:26.550+00:00Comments on Bruce Charlton's Notions: The temptation of PrideBruce Charltonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09615189090601688535noreply@blogger.comBlogger10125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4683970826895755480.post-48170922703100421222013-10-01T06:29:26.078+01:002013-10-01T06:29:26.078+01:00@TDT - Pride is THE sin for Christians, but pretty...@TDT - Pride is THE sin for Christians, but pretty much ONLY for Christians - it is one of the things that makes Christianity different from anything else. Bruce Charltonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09615189090601688535noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4683970826895755480.post-54317860217318826032013-10-01T04:15:12.829+01:002013-10-01T04:15:12.829+01:00I think little in this post is true.
The proud ma...I think little in this post is true.<br /><br />The proud man like Spartacus the rebel is not the man who cannot love, and the humble man like Winston Smith at the end of 1984 is not the man of great love.<br /><br />To submit to betrayal and destruction, both morally and physically, and not only individually and in one life but collectively and forever, is not meritorious; to refuse that demand, which is now the demand of Christianity for some populations, is not abominable.<br /><br />This is not only a practical matter. The foundation stone of Albert Camus' "absurdism" is a naked appeal to human pride. Nothing that is supposed to follow from the supreme sin of pride then follows, only a call for piecemeal, non-revolutionary improvements in mankind's condition. Pride is what makes rebellion possible, and that is good.<br /><br />"When he rebels, a man identifies himself with other men and so surpasses himself, and from this point of view human solidarity is metaphysical."<br /><br />The pride of slaves who don't want to die as slaves is hateful to their enemies; that's all there is to the "sin" of pride.Titus Didius Tacitusnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4683970826895755480.post-90177340435155056282013-09-30T23:34:47.718+01:002013-09-30T23:34:47.718+01:00'His rejection of God is simply pride "wo...'His rejection of God is simply pride "worship of God as disgusting subservience, voluntary enslavement and abasement; cowering before power."'<br /><br />There are indeed conflicting understandings of cowering before Power vs. bowing down before Love. And perhaps only the latter can be a response of genuine, heartfelt shame and then repentance. ("Repenting" before a being of mere Power is merely a prudential change of strategy in response to an overwhelming threat.)<br /><br />Of course, with regards to current liberal religious fashion that "God is Love; therefore all will be forgiven; therefore all is permitted", that is more a case of trampling on love than bowing before it.<br /><br />The whole basic property of Love is that it is unconditional and self-giving, to the extent that the person who receives it can abuse the gift, to everyone's detriment. Which comes back to the idea of the post that the person who chooses Pride does get <i>something</i> for their choice, even if that something is quite horrible.Arakawahttp://arakawa.github.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4683970826895755480.post-2701466603983891382013-09-30T19:48:47.106+01:002013-09-30T19:48:47.106+01:00Humility is simply knowing one's place within ...Humility is simply knowing one's place within the natural order. One need not display it, or speak of it. <br />The Crowhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04323413604073160469noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4683970826895755480.post-35893425004097850252013-09-30T19:44:02.638+01:002013-09-30T19:44:02.638+01:00Great insight. There is real clarity for the belie...Great insight. There is real clarity for the believer in this post. Yet, I think of my older brother, an atheist, a highly successful (business) self-made man, a loving father and husband and a genuinely good person. His rejection of God is simply pride "worship of God as disgusting subservience, voluntary enslavement and abasement; cowering before power." But I realize now that way back he substituted God with my Father whom he hated and he has never let it go.Ughhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17267287853892482870noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4683970826895755480.post-76633939792099722672013-09-30T18:34:31.848+01:002013-09-30T18:34:31.848+01:00@AG - Sounds deep. I'll need to think about th...@AG - Sounds deep. I'll need to think about that...Bruce Charltonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09615189090601688535noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4683970826895755480.post-39049449209924740512013-09-30T17:55:44.070+01:002013-09-30T17:55:44.070+01:00Everything comes from God and has a proper use, ev...Everything comes from God and has a proper use, even pride.<br /><br />I have felt that same delight in perversion when resisting a natural temptation or a social pressure to do something. Only there the thing that is being perverted ought to be perverted.<br /><br />Humility isn't the opposite of Pride (the sin), its the corrected and moderated version. It bears the same relation to Pride that Courage bears to Rashness.Adam G.http://www.jrganymede.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4683970826895755480.post-48523267774417137312013-09-30T14:21:11.805+01:002013-09-30T14:21:11.805+01:00@ads - From this kind of description it is possibl...@ads - From this kind of description it is possible to understand why Satan - despite awareness of the consequences, rejected salvation. Bruce Charltonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09615189090601688535noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4683970826895755480.post-26205950138582218012013-09-30T13:45:26.879+01:002013-09-30T13:45:26.879+01:00"To the damned, self-damned, soul - Pride in ..."To the damned, self-damned, soul - Pride in standing alone and unbowed against the creator of the universe, and malicious delight in all corruptions, failures and sufferings of creation, is more than sufficient compensation for eternal resentment, misery and isolation."<br /><br />Wow! That is shaking.Richhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14131427883067501547noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4683970826895755480.post-57860295277013952832013-09-29T11:35:28.854+01:002013-09-29T11:35:28.854+01:00Great post. CS Lewis' I think wrote about the ...Great post. CS Lewis' I think wrote about the pleasures of hell "dark inhuman"<br /><br />Rev 14:11 "And the smoke of their torment goes up forever and ever; they have no rest day and night, those who worship the beast and his image"Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com