Glory to God, not pride, the path to safety

The world is an unsafe place, ever since Adam and Eve sinned their way out of God's perfect protection of Eden. It does not matter how "good" or "wicked" you are, nor what your intentions are behind your deeds, or your motivations behind your thoughts or actions, nor what religion or not that you are, and certainly not how "gifted" or "enlightened" you think you are. The world remains an unsafe place because mishaps and death are a fact of life.

Having said that, the one way to be the safest possible in a physically unsafe world is to use one yardstick, one measure, in all your thoughts and deeds, and even your day to day actions. Do not do anything unless you dedicate your action to the greater glory of God first and foremost. If you do something based on your own pride, you are more vulnerable to mishaps and death.

Pride causes people to take chances that they do not need to risk. Pride causes people to crave money, power and media attention with public adulation. Pride causes companies and governments to not have the correct attention to the correct risks, dangers and problems that they and other people face. Pride causes people to mistrust other people's good advice.

Proverbs 16:18

Proverbs 18:12


If you pause before anything that you do, and ask yourself just very quickly, "Is God glorified in what I am about to do, or am I about to do something based on pride?" I guarantee that while death and mishaps still will occur, one's priorities will be more correct and many mishaps will be avoided.

I hope that you have found this helpful.

Sirach 6:16-18
A faithful friend is a life-saving remedy, such as he who fears God finds; for he who fears God behaves accordingly, and his friend will be like himself. My son, from your youth embrace discipline; thus will you find wisdom with graying hair.

Proverbs 16:18
Pride goeth before disaster, and a haughty spirit before a fall.

Proverbs 18:12
Before his downfall a man's heart is haughty, but humility goes before honors.

Bible Reading: Genesis 11:4-5, 8

And they said, Go to, let us build us a city, and a tower, whose top may reach unto heaven; and let us make a name, lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth.

And the Lord came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of men builded.

So the Lord scattered them abroad from thence upon the face of all the earth, and they left off to build the city.

My opinion regarding bishops attached to abuse charges

I am writing this to give my opinion about bishops who are, with good reason (not witch hunt false charges), attached to the sexual abuse charges of either covering up or, equally as bad, being negligent in overseeing the purity of spiritual subordinates.

I believe every one of you who covered up or who looked the other way, or who should have investigated but did not, should offer your resignations. This is why.

Being a bishop does not, no matter how much the verbiage and process sound like it, confer higher status or spirituality. I'm saying this in comfort, not in criticism. You must not become so attached to the responsibilities, authority and prestige of being a bishop so much that you view stepping away from it as a diminishing. The highest genuine honors of serving God, and one's flock, is to be a parish priest or priest to a community, or even the contemplative life.

If any of you bishops (including ones who are not in some sort of hot water) cannot follow the imagery I am going to offer you, you have to do some prayer and soul searching.

Imagine that you are no longer serving a bishop's capacity, but you are back to being a parish priest, or one attached to a seminary in a formation capacity, or even entering contemplative service in a monastery. How much of this image makes you feel diminished? Compare this to the feeling of release and of being freed of burdens that separate you from first hand contemplation of God through celebrating the Mass, hearing confessions, prayer, etc.

It is not just humility that caused many saints, when priests, to literally flee when the role of bishop was thrust upon them. Most saints genuinely preferred being parish priests, or members of a community, or contemplatives than they did seeking that princely office. Some of them feigned madness or stupidity to avoid it ha.

If you are really in service to God and his flock, most of you should feel that if your bishop responsibilities were taken from you, that it would be a relief and that once again you are getting down to the brass tacks (American slang for back to the basics, the fundamentals). The more a person seeks being a bishop (or outside the Catholic church, giving themselves that title) the more I wonder why they are seeking it so very much. Usually the answer is that it is viewed as a promotion.

Friends, brothers, though, remember one thing. A promotion upward in human circles is usually a lateral promotion or a downward promotion away from God. Layers of artificial concerns intrude upon even the most well meaning bishop's office. If you stop thinking of a bishop's chair as being a promotion or "increased authority," you will move closer, again, to God. This is why I think this is a valuable mental imagery exercise of visualization for even well functioning bishops who are serene and capable in their calling. Once in a while remember that it's not really a promotion and, further, the most humble duties of a priest is usually that which is closest to God's heart.

I hope that you have found this helpful.
Honoring always JMJ.

How is the humility business coming along?

I hope people are making progress in realizing that they are not 1) players or involved in "divine" matters in any way and 2) not reincarnated at all. I'm concerned that still too many people are realizing that upon their death and it is exactly too late.

God has promised that the worst punishment will be for the prideful and the false prophets. It's all there in the Bible (and the Qur'an).

Gaining wisdom

Fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. (This and other citations regarding fear of God are in the Bible: see my previous posts on these topics via the labels.)


Fear of the Lord is appropriate and just for two reasons. First is that one should fear (as opposed to be "scared" of) God because only then does one have the proper perspective regarding humanity and all their many flaws and God's mercy and love, and ultimately, his perfect judgment. People must fear losing God, fear losing his love, and fear bringing down upon one's self the consequences of sin and disobedience.

Second, Fear of the Lord is the antidote to human pride. Human pride is toxic in both secular and spiritual matters, and it leads to numerous errors, evils, lack of justice, sin and ultimately eternal chastisement. When one genuinely fears God one is taking the best medicine against the deadly human ailment of pride.

The road to hell is paved with pride

Pride: inordinate self-esteem; conceit; worldly, materialistic

A damning vice:
...Rash and self-willed, such men in their deriding do not regard majesty; whereas angels, though greater in strength and power, do not bring against themselves an abusive charge...They promise them freedom, whereas they themselves are slaves of corruption; for by whatever a man is overcome, of this he is also the slave (2 Peter 3:10-11, 19).

Do not love the world, or of the things that are in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him; because all that is in the world is the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life; which is not from the Father, but from the world. And the world with its lust is passing away, but he who does the will of God abides forever (1 John 2:15-17).

Stirs up strife:
The greedy man stirs up disputes, but he who trust in the Lord will prosper. He who trusts in himself is a fool, but he who walks in wisdom is safe (Proverbs 28:25-26).

Prevents instruction:
They answered and said to him, "Thou wast altogether born in sins, and dost thou teach us?" And they turned him out (John 9:24). [These are the Jews, specifically the Pharisees, who refuse to believe in their pride that the man witnessing to them had been cured of his blindness by Jesus.]

Leads to enmity:
Proudly the wicked harass the afflicted, who are caught in the devices the wicked have contrived. For the wicked man glories in his greed, and the covetous blasphemes, sets the Lord at nought. The wicked man boasts, "He will not avenge it"; "There is no God," sums up his thoughts (Psalm 9B (10): 3-4).

Leads to ruin:
Pride goeth before disaster, and a haughty spirit before a fall (Proverbs 16:18). [Yes, God's word in the Bible is the origin of the famous expression "Pride goeth before a fall."]

Will be abased and destroyed:
For lo, the day is coming, blazing like an oven, when all the proud and all evildoers will be stubble,
And the day that is coming will set them on fire, leaving them neither root nor branch, says the LORD of hosts (Malachi 3:19 or in some older Bibles Malachi 4:1).
[The prophet who calls himself Malachi (which was like saying "anonymous" back then, since he was in fear of denouncing, even though he spoke with God's authority, the wickedness of the chosen people the Israelites, including the priests) is repeating God's words and notice that God is going to burn not only the evildoers but also the proud.]

How to ruin a good party

So you are a 'saved' Christian, and to your delight, *BAM*, the tribulations commence, you survive them, and the Jesus Christ arrives for the End of Times and the final judgment, riding his white horse (and with a double edged sword emitting from his mouth).

Delighted, you run up to him, thrilled you were right, and before He says anything to you, you bleat out to him:

"I knew I was right, that I'd be saved, and that the End of Times would come while I'm alive. My sister, who is reincarnated Blessed Virgin Mary, and my aunt, who is reincarnated Mary Magdeline, also agreed with me! Though actually sometimes we wondered if my brother was Mary Magdeline, since we know that in reincarnation the sexual genders often change!!"

That ruins a good party for sure. And you won't even have time to get your asbestos underwear (aka "long johns") donned before you will need them ;-)

Bible reading: Luke 1:51-52

He has shown might with his arm, he has scattered the proud in the conceit of their heart.
He has put down the mighty from their thrones, and has exalted the lowly.

Bible Reading: Abdia 1:1, 2-4

[Thus says the Lord God:]...

See, I make you small among the nations; you are held in dire contempt. The pride of your heart has deceived you: you who dwell in the clefts of the rock, whose abode is in the heights, who say in your heart, "Who will bring me down to earth?"

Though you go as high as the eagle, and your nest be set among the stars, from there will I bring you down, says the Lord.

Flaws and brokenness of human beings (Case 1)

One example of the flaws of humans

I am going to do a series of tutorials that describe one by one various examples of inherent human flaws and examples of their brokenness. I am not at all doing this to be depressive or judgmental. To the contrary, I am going to put into words so that they can have a beneficial effect those things that are disturbing and harmful to humans without their even being aware of them. You’ll understand what I mean better after this first example.

One very destructive flaw of humans is that they are sad when they hear, and refuse to believe, good news that contradicts their own erroneous long held beliefs. In other words, humans would rather continue to believe something painful, bad and awful than be forced to shed those beliefs by news that they are wrong in them, and that actually something else that is more positive and joyous is the truth.

This comes about for two reasons. One is based on biology and survival instinct, and the second reason has come about from the domination of the emotion of pride over the logic of both faith and reasoning.

Humans, like the animals they spring from, are stubborn for a reason. If an animal can only eat one kind of forage, for example, the animal will be “stubborn” in not “trying new food,” because its biological and instinctive programming lets it know that it must stick to its own life sustaining forage. So if an animal eats only hay, for example, it is wise to reject efforts by someone to give it only squash. Humans have this same programming, but through their rise to self awareness, and their conflict between conscious intellect and instinct (which they no longer understand in themselves), they are confused about when to “hold their ground” and not change their beliefs, and when to do so.

Thus, suppose a human drinks a horrible and harmful liquid everyday that he or she was raised to believe is a “health tonic.” Not only are they emotionally and through upbringing attached to the vile tasting liquid (since their parents or other “role models” taught them to do this from an early age) but they are also emotionally attached through love of power, because they think they have a secret vile liquid that is a “health tonic” that other humans, who are “unenlightened” do not have. So believers in that liquid will continue to drink it even when evidence starts to pile up that not only is the liquid harmful, but that they would be joyous and happier without it. Many humans would resist giving up drinking that liquid to the end of their lives. But here is the point that I want to make in order to be helpful. Suppose that a human who used to drink that liquid is persuaded to give it up, or even is forced to do so due to life circumstances. A human who does not understand that flaw I am describing might short circuit his or her own rewarding feeling of improvement, and instead have a depression.

Here’s an analogy. Suppose a person has a cut in their arm, and they were taught by their family to rub a “magic mud” in it while it is healing. And because humans are strong, and the body does work hard to heal, the cut does eventually heal. So they believe they are “on to something special,” not noticing two things. One is that others who don’t use the “magic mud” are healing just fine without it, possibly even faster and cleaner in their scars. But unbeknownst to them, an unseen microscopic element in the “magic mud” accumulates in the body and one day causes cancer. Well, one day scientists discover this microscopic carcinogenetic element in the “magic mud” and realize that there is a group of people who rub it into their own and their children’s wounds. They are told not to do it, and some will believe and immediately stop, while others will resist, even if the evidence is irrefutable. That is the flaw I am speaking of, where humans, as a group, and to different degrees individually, have a biological and self imposed mental/ego barrier to giving up incorrect beliefs, even ones proven harmful, and even when the guaranteed reward is more joy and happiness.

By the way, of course just because I use an analogy, these are not code words for the usual arguments about alcohol, drugs, “natural healing,” nutrition, food additives, etc. I am using an analogy to describe a BELIEF, not the actual substance. I am explaining that humans have a flaw about giving up harmful beliefs that are proven to be wrong and more so, proven to be barriers to genuine well being. I use the dirt, food and cancer analogy only because it helps people to better understand through an example, not as code words about arguments involving those very topics.

I have seen people cling to the most vile and vicious erroneous beliefs because of this basic flaw in humanity, even when those beliefs make them miserable and cause havoc and suffering in other people’s lives. It is one of the worst of the human flaws. Biblically, it falls under the general heading of “pride.” But I wanted to compassionately explain that it’s not just pride, but there is a biological and instinctive imperative that humans to varying degrees do not understand in themselves, yet will subjugate themselves to it in inappropriate circumstances. They almost have “crossed wires,” to use an electrical term, in modern times. Again, for convenience, here is a food analogy. Humans are omnivorous, which means they eat both meat and vegetation. Suppose a child is raised to believe that hitting him on the head once a day with a hammer is a good and “magical” thing. Instinct should tell the child that is wrong and against self preservation, to hit him with the hammer, yet instinct fails him in this case. Yet that same child may give up eating meat because he has an “instinct” that humans are not “meant” to eat meat. Again, I’m not pushing either a meat eating agenda (or an anti-hammer agenda) in this analogy, LOL. I’m showing how this human ego based flaw overrides and cross connects the protective power of instinct. Where instinct should tell the child to eat meat and not get hit on the head with the hammer each day, humans override and short circuit true instinct (to say nothing of common sense and learning) so that instinct seems to “enable” the harmful belief, and instinct “deprives” them of the helpful belief.

This is one reason why humans are often depressed when they have gone through some sort of legitimate rehab program, such as giving up drugs or alcohol. It’s not just the biology of craving and it’s not just the missing of the habit and its social scene. That flaw in humanity, where they cling to obvious wrong and harmful beliefs directly in the face of the beliefs being proven wrong, is an underlying source of humanity’s weakness and brokenness. This is not necessary and humans are not forced to feel that way. For example, someone who is humble and who loves “correction,” as the Bible puts it, is much less prone to this flaw and sin of pride than someone who is an insecure smarty pants. Children used to love to learn from their parents, and they still do. But parents used to teach the children only sane and correct things, because in an agricultural and hunter society, ultimately one must do things correctly and in a reality based world, otherwise one goes hungry. Moderns, however, feel free to teach their children totally insane things, and to live based on insane and wrong beliefs, even when they are proven to be not only wrong but devastatingly harmful.

I understand that no one enjoys being “proven wrong,” that it is often an embarrassing situation. But here is my main point. When one is wrong about an insane and harmful, even vile, belief or situation, one should feel the flood of joy at being proven wrong. Upon being corrected, sure, the person may think “What an idiot I was.” But the whole point of learning the correction is that the correct belief feels better instantly. This is documented in abundance in the Bible during conversion, for example. In true conversion, people do not mope around and mourn that they used to believe that a piece of wood was “god” and get depressed that they were “wrong.” They are thrilled and elated to discover the true God in their genuine conversion. The ancient humans were much more philosophical and well balanced even the most uneducated and ignorant. When it came to correcting a self destructive belief, the ancients were not as “superstitious” as moderns like to accuse because their survival instincts were still balanced and intact. You’d not be able to convince an ancient that his corn would grow better if you threw the seeds in spring up in a tree rather than plant it in rows in the ground. But there would be no problem in modern times finding people to convince that they will get a successful corn harvest if they just throw the seeds up into tree tops. Ancient people wanted and needed to know what are correct when it came to their basic ability to survive, while modern people have the luxury and delusional powers to cling to anti-survival instinct beliefs.

So, to summarize, one inherent flaw in humanity, one that used to be self managed, but has in modern times become a serious problem, is the refusal to give up even erroneous and demonstrated harmful beliefs. Further, even when people give up the incorrect beliefs, many hamper themselves from feeling the benefit and joy of the elimination of the wrong belief. For many moderns, pride and ego have overcome both correct self preservation instinct but also access to happiness and peace of mind. Many moderns have equated “peace of mind” with their possession of erroneous beliefs, rather than in the possession of correct beliefs. Thus, rather than gain “peace of mind” with correct beliefs, many lose their “peace of mind” (which is actually pride and ego based) when they are forced to give up their erroneous beliefs. They then wonder why they don’t feel “better” when they finally do the correct things. This is because they incorrectly threw away their capacity to feel better, because they linked it to the strength of holding their incorrect beliefs. This is one of the problems that I focus on when I conduct counseling and spiritual direction.

I hope that you find this helpful.

Qur'an Reading 16:22-26

Your God is one God; so (as for) those who do not believe in the hereafter, their hearts are ignorant and they are proud.

Truly Allah knows what they hide and what they manifest; surely He does not love the proud.

And when it is said to them, what is it that your Lord has revealed? They say: Stories of the ancients.

That they may bear their burdens entirely on the day of resurrection and also of the burdens of those whom they lead astray without knowledge; now surely evil is what they bear.

Those before them did indeed devise plans, but Allah demolished their building from the foundations, so the roof fell down on them from above them, and the punishment came to them from whence they do not perceive.