Pride and Taking Offense

I've actually been meaning to write on this for a while, then we got this assignment in my Book of Mormon class today and I was compelled to actually sit down and do it. Boy, do I have some things to say about this.

One of my dad's favorite quotes is from Brigham Young: "He who takes offense when no offense is intended is a fool, and he who takes offense when offense is intended is a greater fool." He says it all the time. It's ingrained in my mind forever... It's so true though.

Brigham Young (and my dad) is saying that being offended is a choice. Someone says something that upsets you, you don't have to actually get upset. You can choose to ignore it and walk away. Whether the person intended to offend you or not, you can be the bigger person and just walk away. This issue nowadays is that people like to make a stink over everything. People get offended over literally EVERYTHING! Half the time, offense was not even intended. If only people would just let it go and walk away.

Getting offended is a key component to pride. Pride is the "universal sin" as President Ezra Taft Benson says. Everyone has/will experience some form of it in their lifetime. It is the natural man within us. Pride is what began the whole discourse of everything. In the pre-mortal existence, Lucifer wanted all the glory to be given to him. This is pride.

Pride is often mistaken as conceit, bragging, self-centeredness, and so on. You know, those people who post 500 selfies a day or who brag about their 15 fancy cars and the new swimming pool they're putting in. While those are components of the sin, that is not the core of "pride".

Pride is actually enmity towards God and fellow men. Enmity means “hatred toward, hostility to, or a state of opposition.”. Basically, if you are in opposition with someone, you have pride. Now, I'm not saying that if you disagree with someone, you're a sinner, because I know we all have opposing personalities and different opinions. No, I'm saying that when it gets to the point of contention, heated arguments, hatred, and extreme competitiveness. The example that was brought up in class today was sporting events. While it's alright to support your team and cheer for them, it is not alright to belittle the opposing team to the point of animosity and cruelty. If you get angry at the opposing team when your team loses, you have too much pride in your team.

Remember the Savior in the Garden of Gethsemane, "Not my will, but Thine be done". Pride is the exact opposite: "my will and not thine be done". The prideful want things to go their way and get angry and offended when someone opposes them; this includes God. Whether you're playing a game, watching a game, in politics, arguing with a friend/family member, talking to a neighbor, or whatever, if you get angry, offended, or overly competitive, you are "lifted up in the pride of your heart".

Now, so far, if anything I have said has irritated you, consider that it might be because it is true. When people hear/read/watch something that strikes a chord, they tend to rationalize so that it doesn't really affect them. "Well, that doesn't apply to me", "It's just that one time", "That's not true! This person's crazy!", or whatever. If you ever have these thoughts, this is a sign of pride. Like I said, pride is the universal sin. It is so easy to fall into it.

I know, the Book of Mormon paints a horrible picture of pride and you think, "I'm not like that. I'm not so bad like those people". However, there are different degrees to pride.

The world tries to tell us all "You're perfect, do whatever you want. You're entitled to this, you're entitled to that...". Lies! Entitlement is another one of the pitfalls into pride. No one is "entitled" to anything and the belief that we are is a very prideful thought indeed. Entitlement is thinking that you are so special that you deserve something whether you earned it or not. Key words "thinking you are so special", even narrower, "thinking you". Pride.

Selfishness, jealousy, envy, and disobedience are other components of pride. Also and especially, when one fears man's judgement, but not God's. King Herod in the bible did not want to behead John the Baptist when his wife asked him to. However, he killed him anyways so that he would look good to "them that which sat with him" (Mark 6:26).

When any of these traits are pointed out, people get offended. As I explained earlier, it's often because they're rationalizing because they feel guilty. Like when the Pharisees were angry with Jesus when he told them off for their corrupt ways. They felt their power was threatened and grew angry. They rationalized that he was wrong and that clearly he was the problem, not them.

If you're having these defensive feelings and try to recognize why. You are most likely prideful in some way. I know that I am. When reviewing some of this material, I realized that I was guilty of some of it. I realized this because I began rationalizing. I didn't get angry or anything, but I began thinking, "Well, I don't do that all the time...". But I caught myself. I realized what I was doing and realized that I should probably work on that. So that's what I intend to do. I hope the rest of you will too.

Please read this fantastic talk by President Benson on pride: HERE