Pride

Posted on January 13, 2024 by mitchteemley

Religious war

“We rarely recognize the seeds of conflict while we’re sowing them.” ~The Wishing Map

Any ideology (religious or atheistic) that requires you to kill those who disagree with you, or even to merely hate them, is a lie. Its roots are found not in the words “You shall have no other God” (Exodus 20:13), but in the words “You shall be as God” (the Serpent’s advice in Genesis 3:5). The seed of the forbidden fruit is pride, and its attraction is not the “knowledge of good and evil,” but the desire to decide for oneself — through self-interest — what is good and what is evil, to place oneself on the throne of God.

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About mitchteemley

Writer, Filmmaker, Humorist, Thinker-about-stuffer
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32 Responses to Pride

  1. Dr. Ernie says:
    January 13, 2024 at 5:10 pm

    Um… isn’t the whole problem with ANY “knowledge of good and evil” that it ends up usurping Christ? The Pharisees didn’t think they were “deciding for themselves.” They sincerely believed they were obeying God (and in a perverse way, they were!). But they were still doing the exact opposite of honoring Him.

    Maybe the real problem with Pride is that it thinks Good is a Thing we can know and own and manage. Rather than a Whom we should love…

    Reply
  2. Priscilla Bettis says:
    January 13, 2024 at 6:54 pm

    Yes. Great insight.

    Reply
  3. Manu says:
    January 13, 2024 at 7:13 pm

    Nicely said. And an interesting thing is that even though they are arguing about accepting different gods, rabbit and duck- the picture on the flag looks exactly the same.

    Reply
  4. Rebecca Fegan says:
    January 13, 2024 at 7:19 pm

    The serpent said you shall be as God…God determined what was good and what was evil. He knew where the boundary was. The serpent’s promise came true and we had to draw our own lines. But we WEREN’T God, so we had no idea where the line should be. In determining the positioning of the line, we made decisions based on our own interests and now everything is both good and evil not one or the other.

    Reply
  5. byngnigel says:
    January 13, 2024 at 7:46 pm

    Quite deep that passage. Very insightful. Will need to ponder on this for a while. But I do agree that once we start calling the shots, side stepping divine authority, we are the usurpers. 🙏

    Reply
  6. Ab says:
    January 13, 2024 at 8:52 pm

    The comic succinctly sums up what I find problematic with organized religion and the seeds of conflict some sow and reap in the name of the “rabbit gods” and “duck gods.”

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  7. Nancy Homlitas says:
    January 13, 2024 at 9:04 pm

    Agreed-pride is hazardous to your soul. Be humble. 🙂

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  8. #hood says:
    January 13, 2024 at 10:27 pm

    exodus 45 view upon thee & thou shall be saved
    mentioned verse 13 & verse 11 is sabbath & hide the word

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  9. trE says:
    January 13, 2024 at 11:29 pm

    “Any ideology (religious or atheistic) that requires you to kill those who disagree with you, or even to merely hate them, is a lie.”

    Hundreds of Thousands of people have forgotten this. 🙏🏾💙

    Reply
  10. luisa zambrotta says:
    January 14, 2024 at 5:38 am

    Great post!!!

    Reply
  11. K.L. Hale says:
    January 14, 2024 at 6:36 am

    All in the name of self~interest!
    Such truth, Mitch.
    History, including my own, provides spiritual and practical proof of pride’s predictable promise ~the great pretending that I have power! Ha! My veil is lifted, thank God!

    Reply
  12. Anonymous says:
    January 14, 2024 at 8:02 am

    True words. Thank you so much for your blog. Sometimes you have just the right thing to put down. And sometimes it’s “Mitch”. Love you.

    Reply
  13. Linda Lee @LadyQuixote says:
    January 14, 2024 at 8:24 am

    This is awesome, Mitch.

    Reply
  14. FlowIntoWords says:
    January 14, 2024 at 9:27 am

    It’s amazing how you pack so much in a few words, Mitch. There’s a lot to reflect on here.

    Love of others does seem to be one of the few hard and fast rules that incorporates so many of the others too. A lot of other choices in life require more guidance from God to discover what is the “right choice” in this case.

    Reply
  16. Anonymous says:
    January 14, 2024 at 5:14 pm

    I confess that, like many saved sinners, my default mode is Self, so I identify with this.

    Can’t tell you how many times I’ve been in a group discussing something from the Bible and in addition to pointing people (including myself) to Jesus, point them to The Garden where it all started.

    God doesn’t mind when we ask questions. What we have to learn is to not Question God. Any sentence beginning with “But God…” should be considered cross-examination, and God isn’t the one to be judged.

    My goodness, some days I’m the biggest hypocrite I know. Thanks for all your daily posts; I appreciate your consistency.

    Reply
  17. AJ Hauser | Midwest Bass Fishing says:
    January 17, 2024 at 7:28 am

    … the Duck God shall not be mocked…

    Reply

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