Difference between revisions of "Pride"

Revision as of 17:12, 5 September 2019

A cartoon once featured two young boys conversing. One said to the other, “I’ve read the Book of Mormon. It’s about wars.” Although humorously said, wars are a common feature of the text, but the cause of them is usually pride.

President Ezra Taft Benson called pride “the universal sin, the great vice.”[1] In his General Conference talk in 1989 entitled “Beware of Pride,” he said that the central feature of pride is “enmity—enmity toward God and enmity toward our fellowmen.” He defined “enmity” as “hatred toward, hostility to, or a state of opposition. It is the power by which Satan wishes to reign over us.” He also said, “Pride is the great stumbling block to Zion. I repeat: Pride is the great stumbling block to Zion.”

Students of the Book of Mormon have often been taught about the pride cycle found in the narrative of the Book of Mormon. It describes a state of blessing and prosperity that can then bring about pride in one’s success and wealth, which brings about enmity and sin. In that state, God chastens his children through destruction and resulting suffering, which then brings about a state of humility and repentance. Then God provides blessings that often come with prosperity, but unfortunately, can lead to pride.

Elder Wilford W. Andersen of the Seventy said, “There is a prevalent pattern of behavior in the Book of Mormon commonly referred to as “the pride cycle.” It is repeated so frequently that one begins to sense that the Lord and His prophets are trying to teach us something important—that perhaps its inclusion in the record is meant to be a warning from the Lord to each of us in our day. He also said that “It is a pernicious pattern of thinking and behavior that permeates our society. It is so common that it sometimes becomes hard to recognize.[2]

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The Book of Mormon is not the only scriptural book that warns against pride. In Proverbs we read “Pride goeth before destruction” 16:18; pride destroyed the city of Sodom 16:49–50; the proud will burn as stubble when the Lord cleanses the earth 4:1; and those who are prideful love “the praise of men more than the praise of God” 12:42–43.

President Benson said that the antidote for pride is humility—meekness, submissiveness.”[3] Elder Andersen said, “You and I live in a society in which humility and meekness seem almost counterintuitive. Trash talk, power politics, and end-zone victory dances are celebrated while noiseless devotion to God is increasingly ignored and even at times belittled.”[4] But humility leads a person to be teachable, esteem others, render service, and to love God and submit to His will. It can lead to true happiness (see Mosiah 2:41).

External Sources

• “The Pride Cycle”, November 7, 2017, BYU Devotional by Wilford W. Andersen of the Seventy

• “Beware of Pride” by Ezra Taft Benson, April 1989 General Conference

• [https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/ensign/2010/11/priesthood-session/pride-and-the-priesthood?lang=eng “Pride and the Priesthood” by Dieter F. Uchtdorf, November 2010 General Conference