February 7, 2011

In Mere Christianity, C. S. Lewis titles the chapter on pride "The Great Sin". He then begins his discussion of this vice by describing it as one that most people other than Christians fail to recognize in themselves. However, most people other than Christians are also unmercifully judging toward other people when they display pride. Lewis calls pride "the essential vice, the utmost evil" (Lewis 121) that "leads to every other vice" (Lewis 122) and I firmly agree with him.

A prime example of a proud person who does not believe herself proud is the valedictorian of my high school class. I met her in eighth grade and observed her pride grow each year. She was a smart girl, but just being smart was not enough. She had to point out the pride of every other smart person, drawing attention to them and putting them down. Never did anyone dare to tell her the truth that she was just as proud as any other person, if not more so. As far as I know, she never recognized this vice in herself. Her pride was also preparing her for and leading her into more sin.

Lewis calls pride "the great sin" because he believes it is the basis for every other sin. To make this claim, he says that pride "is the complete anti-God state of mind" (Lewis 122). Pride is to look "down on things and people" (Lewis 124), but God is certainly not below a proud person. He is always above everybody and everything, so a proud person can never see the true God. He may think he sees God—he may even say he worships God—but he is really paying homage to an idea he invented to approve of himself and the things he does (Lewis 124).

Pride involves putting oneself in the center of everything and viewing everything and everybody else as revolving around oneself. This often leads to other sins because if I am the center, nothing I do or say can be wrong. I am, essentially, my own god, and anybody who says otherwise should pay and pay dearly. Thus, my valedictorian was completely justified in putting down those who could most damage her reign in high school. They were quite obviously wrong, and she was most obviously right; therefore, they needed to learn a lesson from her.

Lewis says pride is "competitive by its very nature" (Lewis 122). It is not simple greed, which thinks the grass is always greener on the other side of the fence; pride does not care how green the grass is for greenness sake, just so long as it is greener than everyone else's grass. Pride thus causes people to butt heads because each wants to be better in some way than the other. As long as one person is better than me in some way, "he is my rival and my enemy" (Lewis 123).

I admit that I, like my valedictorian, have a tendency to be competitive when it comes to grades and schoolwork. I used to be really bad when it came to pride, but it took a long time for me to realize that even I had a problem with it. For example, my valedictorian and I were each in AP Psychology, although we were in different classes. Somebody came to do a study of the IQ and learning styles of the students in both classes. When the results were tabulated, no names were connected to the scores, but we were shown the results. I deduced from the information displayed that I had the highest IQ in my class, but one person in the other class had scored a point higher than me. However, racial information was connected to the data, and the person who beat me was white. My valedictorian was not white, and so I could tell that her IQ was lower than mine. I never found out who beat my score, but it was quite a while before I was able to let go and say, "Well, it doesn't really matter anyway." I also struggled with the issue of pride in Sunday school and Bible studies.

In the process of reasoning through all of Lewis' arguments for pride being the worst sin, the examples above came to mind. I realized that on the surface, Lewis' arguments are compelling and seem to line up with what I have seen of pride in my life. However, I realized that there had to be a deeper connection between Lewis' arguments and my beliefs in order for me to accept his thesis. The question I had to ask myself was, "What is the worst thing a person can do?" Based on my belief, the answer is this: "The worst thing a person can do is reject God." But does that line up with pride?

I think it does. In my opinion, based on what I have seen, people reject God primarily because they do not think they need Him. They think they can rely on themselves and they do not need God's help, wisdom, or guidance. In other words, they push God out of the center of their imaginary circle and replace Him with themselves (thus breaking the First Commandment, Exodus 20:3). That is the essence of pride: to reject God. Even pride issues with other people come down to rejecting God because we are not following His law: "You must not be envious of your neighbor's house, or want to sleep with his wife, or want to own his slaves, oxen, donkeys, or anything he has" (Exodus 20:17).

An interesting point Lewis brings up is how pride can weasel its way into religion. It is often used to cure other vices by telling a person that they are too good to act or think in such and such a way. "The devil laughs. ... For Pride is a spiritual cancer" (Lewis 125). Lewis stated earlier in Mere Christianity that evil is a consuming force. Pride, as an evil, also consumes us, especially if its use is attempted in curing other sins. It is "subtle and deadly" (Lewis 125) because, in such cases, it does not seem like such a bad thing at first. It is only later, when the prideful person goes so far as to think himself above every other sin and, consequently, other sinners, that the problem of pride becomes apparent.

I am afraid that new Christians are sometimes discipled this way. Older, more mature Christians may say, "Well, now that you are a child of God, you are too good to be involved in partying." This may cure the new Christian of going to parties that involve drinking, drugs, and sex, but they are cured in the wrong way. Their pride grows because they believe that they really are something now that they are not sinning in that manner. Before long, they may come to look down on other new Christians and even unbelievers who go to parties. After all, they are above party-going, so they must be above party-goers as well. They may choose to snub new Christians and, instead of helping to build them up in their faith, tear them down for their mistakes. This can lead to the new Christian leaving that church and abandoning his newfound faith for a while because of those hypocritical, judgmental "Christians" who never bothered to give the "newbie" the time of day. As Lewis said, "The devil laughs" (Lewis 125)—the nice piece of advice that helped one person a tiny bit led to the loss of a soul from that church. Here I differ from Lewis, because I believe the person who left the church is still a Christian who God will draw back to Himself in time, but that is another topic for another day.

In the end, after carefully considering Lewis' arguments about pride, I agree with him that it is "The Great Sin". It puts people in direct competition with each other and, worse yet, with God. As big of a deal as pride is, a lot of people do not even recognize pride in themselves. However, people all too readily recognize it in others and condemn them. The solution to this problem, especially in churches, is to follow a good bit of common sense best stated by Jesus: "Should you say, 'Friend, let me help you get that speck out of your eye,' when you can't even see because of the board in your own? Hypocrite! First get rid of the board. Then you can see to help your brother" (Matthew 7:4-5).

Works Cited

1. Lewis, C. S. Mere Christianity: a Revised and Amplified Edition, with a New Introduction, of the Three Books, Broadcast Talks, Christian Behaviour, and Beyond Personality. San Francisco: HarperSanFrancisco, 2001. Print.

2. The Way. An Illustrated Ed. of the Living Bible. Wheaton, IL: Tyndale House, 1972. Print.