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LGBT Pride Month isn’t until June, but planning is well underway. This concept, which began to formalize itself in 1970, has been recognized by presidents from Bill Clinton to Joe Biden, issuing proclamations recognizing this observance. It commemorates a series of riots in New York City in 1969 following police raids on a popular gay bar in Lower Manhattan.
Where I live in north Texas, LBGT activists are gearing up for the Dallas June Pride observance. According to Dallas Voice, which promotes itself as ‘The premier media source for LGBT Texas,’ Dallas Pride Executive Director Sherrell Cross said, “Pride is not just once a year. We don’t want to be like corporations that show up once a year for Pride Month and then disappear on July 1.”
It’s been suggested that Christian Pride become a counter-weight to LGBT Pride. “Time for Christians to take pride in their Christianity and go loud, go proud and go bold,” opines one commentator. It may be a tempting proposal, but I don’t think it’s something to pursue for a very simple reason: Nothing good ever comes from pride.
“Pride leads to every other vice: it is the complete anti-God state of mind,” wrote Oxford scholar and Cambridge Professor C.S. Lewis in his book Mere Christianity. If you think that’s a harsh assessment of pride, Reformed Christian theologian, R.C. Sproul, Jr. took the issue back to its biblical core. “Pride is what brought the devil down in the first place. It is then the root sin of sin, both for him and for us.”
Many Christians believe pride is the single worst sin, and in truth, we all suffer from it. It’s a spiritual affliction that’s impossible for us to cure or escape. “There is nothing into which the heart of man so easily falls as pride,” said 19th-century pastor Charles Spurgeon. Regarded by many as the Prince of Preachers, Spurgeon observed, “There is no vice which is more frequently, more emphatically, and more eloquently condemned in Scripture.” Philosopher and Christian apologist G.K. Chesterton went so far as to declare, “If I had only one sermon to preach, it would be a sermon against Pride.”
This is probably why we don’t see efforts to coalesce around Christian Pride events in the style of LGBT Pride. Setting aside whether one agrees or disagrees with LGBT theology or Christian theology, either (or both) are equally problematic in that they promote a cancerous weakness that spawns all manner of bad behavior.
Pride can be tricky. On one hand, the Old Testament book of Ecclesiastes tells us “Nothing is better than that a man should rejoice in his own works.” On the other hand, Jesus Christ taught that pride is among the “evil things come from within, and they defile a person.” How does one reconcile rejoicing in their accomplishments while defiling oneself with evil? It’s a difficult circle to square.
The crux of the matter is the sort of pride one has and why one has it. Personal fulfillment in an accomplishment or being recognized by others for a job well done isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Neither is the pride we might feel in our admiration of someone for what they have done. On the surface, good achievements may seem to arise from talent, perseverance, and other traits. But Bible-believing Christians know the attributes that bring success are given to us by God; He gets the credit.
The Billy Graham Evangelistic Association notes, “This kind of pride isn’t boastful or self-centered, but is a feeling of satisfaction over what we’ve accomplished.” Pride becomes a problem when it is “self-centered and boastful, and makes us take credit for everything we are and everything we do. Instead of realizing that we are dependent on God, in our pride, we ignore God.”
Eve ignored God when her pride prompted original sin. The biblical account of the fall of man teaches that Eve believed the lie that her “eyes will be opened, and you will be like God” if she disobeyed and ate from the tree of knowledge of good and evil, and pride’s been a problem ever since.
I’ve never been ashamed of the Bible or my belief in it, but I don’t think Christian Pride is the answer. I am proud of how Christianity has fostered civic liberty – our Constitution is infused with many Reformed Christian principles – and I’m proud of how Christianity has brought countless people closer to God through its works. But I don’t see myself marching in a Christian Pride parade. I’m a lowly, corrupt sinner whose only chance for anything good in this or any other world resides solely in the grace of God through my faith. I think the answer is a little less pride and a little more quietude.
Pride is one of the Seven Deadly Sins or as with Shazam Seven Deadly Enemies
Taking pride in violating God’s laws with sexual perversion and deviant behavior is a strange thing to be “proud” of.
Well said; beautifully spoken…as in Ephesians 4:15, “speaking the truth in love”. Thank you for sharing your thoughts on this matter. God bless you!
Damn….did I miss MLK Day and Black History Month again? And now I have to ignore the next astroturf faux Leftist holiday in two months, Pride Month?. And then Juneteenth? And then Labor Day? And the ongoing cancelation of Thanksgiving followed by the ongoing cancelation of Christmas followed by fakey fake Kwanzaa.
Has anyone noticed that most of these idiotic holidays are black oriented? As if blacks murdering whitey doesn’t get enough attention.
Thank you.
But you know of course that we can’t speak of such things in such a manner. It’s the new age of social fascism. All lefty baloney of course.
The problem with gay pride is not pride, it’s what they are proud of. Pride is good if your proud of something good. A good person should not be ashamed of himself for feeling proud of the good he does. We are responsible for our behavior, we have free will, we can choose to sin or to do good and if we encourage ourselves to do good with pride that’s a good thing.
It isn’t hard to see that the groups making the greatest public stink about their pride are the most ashamed of what they are.
There is no pride that needs to be advertised: you feel it, for others’ glorious deeds rather than for yourselves’ – or not. The rest is propaganda.
Some people may choose to practice their unnatural sexual mores at home, between consenting adults. It’s their right in this civilized part of the world, and it doesn’t concern the rest of us. But trying to force us to praise their deviant practices is preposterous. For one thing, if they were so proud of their sexual mores, they wouldn’t seek the approval of the rest of the population. As the saying goes: “Pride is like preserves: the less there is, the more you need to spread it over.”
There’s a place in the Screwtape Letters where C.S. Lewis says that God wants people to feel as good about their own accomplishments, as being God-given, as they do about other people’s – that our delight in a beautiful cathedral well-built should be as great whether we were the architects or not. Which brings us to the crux of the matter on gay pride – is it possible to say that same sex relationships are given by God? Biblically, such behaviour is described as an abomination – so any spiritual pedigree would seem to be from Hell rather than Heaven.
you say pride when you feel shame
“Eve ignored God when her pride prompted original sin. The biblical account of the fall of man teaches that Eve believed the lie that her “eyes will be opened, and you will be like God” if she disobeyed and ate from the tree of knowledge of good and evil, and pride’s been a problem ever since.”
“What is the Identity of the Forbidden Fruit Adam and Eve Eat?”
Published in Modern Ghana
January 1, 2024
Satan is the traditional identity of the serpent. But what is an identity that can be considered for the forbidden fruit eaten in Genesis 3:6, and what is an identity that can be considered for the tree that produces this fruit? There is no reason why consideration of these two identities should not stimulate discussion, criticism, and evaluation of the validity of the exegesis presented in the January 1, 2024 article in Modern Ghana. To repeat: what forbidden fruit gets eaten and what tree produces the fruit?
Homosexuality is immoral and a sin. It’s shame month. America has become the modern Sodom and Gommorah and there is no way this country will prosper in the future. Destruction is on the way.
Perhaps they are more proud of breaking down the civilization that took thousands of years to build. Unfortunately, homosexuality isn’t the only assault taking place on the natural order of things.
You are so right.
How about this.
‘Lefties Losing It’: Woman takes son to vet because he identifies as a cat
February 28, 2024 – 10:35PM
Sky News host Rita Panahi has reacted to a video of a woman who took her son to be treated by a vet because he identified as a cat.
“It’s becoming impossible to figure out what’s real and what’s parody,” Ms Panahi said.
In the video, the woman said the vet told her he could not treat her son because he had human anatomy.
“So while I do think that is a form of discrimination, because if my son says he is a cat, he is a cat – then he needs to be treated like one.
“But I’m not going to press charges because I know that he could lose his licence if he did work on my son.”
Pride is a sin. It’s also a sign of weakness and pathetic narcissism. If you’re really strong, you don’t need to prove it or boast about it. Pride is weakness..