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Pride - The Worst of the Seven Deadly Sins

Submitted by Joel on Thu, 07/11/2019 - 10:45

So if you've been following along with this series, this final entry will be no surprise to you. The other six 'deadly sins' have been covered already, so PRIDE was the obvious end to the list. Just to recap, here are the other six in the order that I ranked them, from best to worst. Or at least, from the least bad to the worst. 

Gluttony - My fave! 
Lust - A sin from a bygone era
Sloth - Ok, bad, but not THAT bad
Envy - Now we're starting to get serious
Wrath - Incredibly dangerous and personally destructive
Greed - One of the most destructive social forces

So how is PRIDE worse than wrath and greed?

Well, wrath is destructive, but usually on an individual level. Greed is worse because it causes more widespread destruction within a society. But pride beats them both because it's destructive individually AND socially. 

How is pride more destructive than anger?

Thanks for asking! Well, anger can have long lasting repercussions, but pride is something that can be a lifelong malady. It stops growth in a person, because they can't admit there's anything wrong. If something IS wrong, pride makes them think it's always someone else at fault. Yes, anger is violent, but what is the source of that anger? Often it's frustration caused by confrontation about a flaw in the person. It's pride that often causes anger. In fact, pride can cause many of the worst on the list. Envy, anger, and even greed can be caused by pride. But pride is even worse than that. Pride destroys relationships. It creates a spiral of contempt between people that can't admit they've done anything wrong. It can make leaders make poor decisions because they have to be better than the other. And everyone is affected by it. Even you!

What? You don't know me! You can't judge me!

Sadly, since it affects everyone, yes, even YOU are afflicted with pride. But knowing you have a problem is the first step to solving a problem. We are all prideful. So in order to beat it, we must be able to identify when we're being prideful. We must be able to admit our mistakes. We must strive to improve. No one is perfect. We can all be better. 

But if no one is perfect, why try to improve?

Because pride hurts relationships. It makes your life worse. We all want a better life and getting over your pride is a great way to have a better life. The biggest problem with pride is that the ones that need to improve the most will never admit they have a problem in the first place. So, really, if you don't think pride is a problem, then it probably is. 

How has pride affected your life? Do you have tricks to swallowing your pride and overcome your ego? What did you think of my ranking of the seven deadly sins? Do you agree with it? Share in the comments below!