tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-648884752216444797.post6282223722558059407..comments2024-03-28T09:59:13.754-07:00Comments on bionic mosquito: Abusing Tradition bionic mosquitohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12002548958078731031noreply@blogger.comBlogger8125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-648884752216444797.post-29084370414050925392020-07-24T19:32:12.166-07:002020-07-24T19:32:12.166-07:00John Howard,
Pride can be either good or bad, de...John Howard, <br /><br />Pride can be either good or bad, depending on its use. It is important not to confuse the two.<br /><br />Some of the good side, among others:<br />1. A sense of one’s own proper dignity or value; self-respect.<br />2. Pleasure or satisfaction taken in an achievement, possession, or association. <br />3. A cause of source of pleasure or satisfaction; the best of a group or class.<br />4. The most successful or thriving condition; prime. <br /><br />Some of the bad side, among others:<br />1. Arrogant or disdainful conduct or treatment; haughtiness.<br />2. An excessively high opinion of oneself; conceit. <br /><br />[All definitions taken from https://www.wordnik.com/words/pride]<br /><br />“Pride is a virtue…” <br /><br />When you say this, I assume that you are referring to pride in the sense of the four items listed in the first section. There is nothing wrong with this so long as it is kept in perspective and moderation. We can feel good about ourselves, our accomplishments, our successes, etc., without falling into the condition known as sin. Even God saw that the creation was ‘good’ and I am willing to bet that He got a sense of personal satisfaction and pride out of it. <br /><br />“Pride is…not a sin.” <br /><br />Well, yes, it can be. Consider the items in the second section. Haughtiness, arrogance, disdain, conceit, et al. Not good human characteristics or qualities. After all, who wants to be close to someone who is full of vain conceit or tramples all over people in his arrogance and snobbery? Pride of this type convinces some that they are better than everyone else and they communicate that belief in their words and actions. One side effect of sinful pride is the inability or unwillingness to admit wrong attitudes and behaviors—stubbornness and hard-headedness, in other words-- which the Bible has nothing good to say about. <br /><br />“Those who tell others to stop being proud are no doubt proud of themselves for being so virtuous.”<br /><br />This is a personal judgment about the spiritual condition of others. You have no way of knowing this nor any moral authority in making that judgment. “Man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.” (1 Samuel 16:7)<br /><br />“To encourage others to be humble and ashamed is the work of those who wish to control others.”<br /><br />Humble is not the same as ashamed. Abased is a better term. Self-abasement is the means by which people beat themselves up emotionally and make themselves ashamed of who they are. It has nothing to do with humility. It is, in fact the opposite of arrogance and conceit. Together, these are the extremes of human self-loathing. An arrogant, conceited person might say, “I am everything”, while an abased, ashamed person might believe that he is lower than dirt, without value, and useless. Neither is true. <br /><br />“Proud people are difficult to tax and rule.”<br /><br />Define proud. It is impossible to determine why this is so unless you first define what proud is. <br /><br />“Faith, humility and self-sacrifice are lessons that proud, arrogant power-lusters teach to their prey.”<br /><br />But, didn’t you say earlier that “Pride is a virtue…”? Pairing these two, does this mean that you think arrogant, power-seeking individuals are virtuous? Or is there another explanation? Please elaborate. <br />Rogerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08156823478509665137noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-648884752216444797.post-36590470894961288712020-07-19T10:34:38.712-07:002020-07-19T10:34:38.712-07:00"A slave to your own ego" is so obviousl..."A slave to your own ego" is so obviously a contradiction in terms that I am reminded of Brand Blanshard's remark that it is difficult to perform a reductio ad absurdum on something that starts out absurd.<br /><br />Intellectually it is not possible to "account for one's limitations". How can one "know" what one does not know.<br /><br />Both of these replies are epistemologically self-invalidating. Pride does not mean pretending to be more than one is. It means being happy with what one is. John Howardhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09826480541002960583noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-648884752216444797.post-37950030884184302632020-07-16T08:11:59.599-07:002020-07-16T08:11:59.599-07:00I can appreciate that a healthy dose of dignity, s...I can appreciate that a healthy dose of dignity, self-confidence and even aggressiveness are necessary for freedom and prosperity, but surely it's obvious that failing to account for one's own limitations is also a substantial evil?<br /><br />If the goal is simply to slug it out against one another, everyone seeking to rule and no worthy man willing to submit... well, that sucks about as much as our current world of sheep led by mediocrities.cosmic dwarfhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16562864681773374828noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-648884752216444797.post-7790258077819162832020-07-16T07:44:04.554-07:002020-07-16T07:44:04.554-07:00Pride means one becomes a slave to their own ego. ...Pride means one becomes a slave to their own ego. The ego is a hard master.<br /><br />The purpose of religion is to curb the ego. The purpose of spirituality is to kill the ego outright. Only those who are rid of ego are truly free.Ahmed Fareshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07105255828394485657noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-648884752216444797.post-29491045457941448532020-07-15T08:14:21.769-07:002020-07-15T08:14:21.769-07:00Chesterton was the prophet of the modern world.Chesterton was the prophet of the modern world.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-648884752216444797.post-7579712298563903262020-07-15T04:49:43.769-07:002020-07-15T04:49:43.769-07:00Pride is a virtue, not a sin. Those who tell othe...Pride is a virtue, not a sin. Those who tell others to stop being proud are no doubt proud of themselves for being so virtuous. <br /><br />To encourage others to be humble and ashamed is the work of those who wish to control others. Proud people are difficult to tax and rule. Faith, humility and self-sacrifice are lessons that proud, arrogant power-lusters teach to their prey.John Howardhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09826480541002960583noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-648884752216444797.post-6953117595519180692020-07-15T04:42:03.712-07:002020-07-15T04:42:03.712-07:00I thought Yahwe commanded slavery and child sacrif...I thought Yahwe commanded slavery and child sacrifice in the Old Testament and then practiced child sacrifice in the New Testament by sacrificing his own innocent child to "pay" for the sins of the guilty (a very perverted brand of justice). <br /><br />Isn't child sacrifice what the nailed up body symbol is all about?John Howardhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09826480541002960583noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-648884752216444797.post-25440761665020362522020-07-13T15:48:10.530-07:002020-07-13T15:48:10.530-07:00The pride of the academy. PegThe pride of the academy. PegAnonymousnoreply@blogger.com