First Theology Essay

In his book, Mere Christianity, C.S. Lewis describes pride as the worst sin of all. He makes this claim because he argues that pride leads to all other sins. He says that all men are guilty of it, we are overly conscious of it in others, and rarely recognize it within ourselves. Lewis also brings up the point that it is the utmost evil because pride is how the Devil became the Devil. Pride or self-conceit is the opposite of humility, an important virtue in Christian morality. It is the complete opposite of Christian mentality, and makes it impossible to live as God intended.

            Lewis states that pride will never lead to pleasure. He says this because pride only results in pleasure when a man has more of a certain quality than all other men, and this is certainly impossible. Someone will always be more rich, intelligent, or famous than the person seeking to be the best. Pride not only creates hatred between men, but also between men and God.

            Pride does not allow us to know God. To describe this fact, Lewis uses the analogy that, “A proud man is always looking down on things and people: and, of course as long as you are looking down, you cannot see something that is above you” (Lewis 124). God is above all humans, no matter how prideful they are, and in order to recognize God, a man must realize his inferiority to God and be humble in his presence. Lewis also describes pride as spiritual cancer because it destroys the possibly of love, happiness, and common sense. Lewis then goes on to clarify any possible misunderstandings.

            First, he says that, “pleasure in being praised is not pride” (125). This is because finding happiness in the approval of another person, still involves respecting the opinion of others, which pride does not. This is the concept of vanity, which is not as evil as pride. Second, he says that pride in the sense of being ‘proud of’ something is not a sin unless the thing we are proud of is related to ourselves. To clarify this Lewis says, “To love and admire anything outside yourself is to take one step away from utter spiritual ruin” (127). Third, he claims that pride is not forbidden by God because God Himself is proud or cares about his dignity, but rather that God wants to make us humble so we can know him. Last, Lewis states that if there ever was a truly humble man, he would be happy and intelligent, and would only be disliked in envy of how easily life.

            Lewis closes his argument saying that the hardest part in gaining humility is admitting that you have pride, and if you believe that you are not proud of yourself, then you are actually very proud of yourself.