Episode 37 - Proud Papa

Reid discusses the nature of Pride/Proud from two different angles along with a few holiday season suggestions.

Reid discusses the nature of Pride/Proud from two different angles along with a few holiday season suggestions.

Show Notes

Reviewish

Muhammad and the Believers: At the Origins of Islam By Fred Donnner, Islam and Professor of Near Eastern History at the University of Chicago.

Reid’s reflections on the Book


Proud Papa

Book Referenced - CS Lewis, Mere Christianity - Chapter 8

Passage 1

I now come to that part of Christian morals where they differ most sharply from all other morals. There is one vice of which no man in the world is free; which everyone in the world loathes when he sees it in someone else' and of which hardly any people, except Christians, ever imagine that they are guilty themselves. I have heard people admit that they are bad tempered, or that they cannot keep their heads about girls or drink, or even that they are cowards. I do not think I have ever heard anyone who was not a Christian accuse himself of this vice. And at the same time I have very seldom met anyone, who was not a Christian, who showed the slightest mercy to it in others. There is no fault which makes a man more unpopular, and no fault which we are more unconscious of in ourselves. And the more we have it ourselves, the more we dislike it in others.

The vice I am talking of is Pride or Self-Conceit: and the virtue opposite to it, in Christian morals, is called Humility. You may remember, when I was talking about sexual morality, I warned you that the center of Christian morals did not lie there. Well, now, we have come to the centre. According to Christian teachers, the essential vice, the utmost evil, is Pride. Unchastity, anger, greed, drunkenness, and all that, are mere fleabites in comparison: it was through Pride that the devil became the devil: Pride leads to every other vice: it is the complete anti-God state of mind.

Passage 2

The Christians are right: it is Pride which has been the chief cause of misery in every nation and every family since the world began. Other vices may sometimes bring people together: you may find good fellowship and jokes and friendliness among drunken people or unchaste people. But pride always means enmity—it is enmity. And not only enmity between man and man, but enmity to God.

In God you come up against something which is in every respect immeasurably superior to yourself. Unless you know God as that—and, therefore, know yourself as nothing in comparison—you do not know God at all. As long as you are proud you cannot know God. 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.

Scripture Referenced

  • Proverbs 16:18 - Pride goes before destruction and a haughty spirit before a fall.

  • 1 Peter 1:5-5-7 - Clothe yourselves, all of you, with humility toward one another, for God, opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble. Humble yourselves, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time, he may exalt you, casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you. 

Reid S. Monaghan

Reid Monaghan received a Bachelor of Science in Applied Computer Science with a minor in Physics from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. While at UNC he also competed on the wrestling team for the then perennial ACC Champion and top ten Tarheels. He also holds a Master’s Degree in Applied Apologetics, a multidisciplinary degree involving Philosophy, Biblical studies, and Theology.

After college, he spent eight years serving alongside his wife Kasey on the college campus with the ministry of Athletes in Action. He pioneered the Athletes in Action campus ministry at Virginia Tech and was the director there from 1998-2004. During his final two years on AIA staff Reid also served as regional director for the Mid-Atlantic and Ivy League schools. From 2004-2008 Reid was on the staff of Fellowship Nashville where he started a work with young adults called Inversion, preached in the Sunday rotation and taught classes in theology and Christian Apologetics.

Along with a team of friends, Reid planted Jacob’s Well, a theologically driven and culturally engaged church in Central New Jersey. He also pioneered the Acts 29 Network in the state of New Jersey, served on the Northeast lead team, and as director for church planter assessment for the US South Central Network. Reid continues to consult and coach church planters as part of his ministry.

He is a traveling speaker where he addresses students and athletes on various campuses throughout the United States. He has spoken to college students at such institutions as Brown, Princeton, Yale, Wake Forest, Rutgers, UNC Chapel Hill, and Virginia Tech. In addition to his campus work he has spoken in chapel services for the Tennessee Titans, the Jacksonville Jaguars, and the New York Football Giants.

He has long been engaged with the task of bringing the gospel to people in culture in clear, relevant and compelling ways combining theological vision, apologetics, Christian thought and popular culture.

Some of his greatest joys in life are from the gifts God has given him in his wife Kasey (married 1996), and his kiddos Kayla (arrival 2001), Kylene (arrival 2003), and Thomas Reid (arrival 2006).

Reid has a limited number of dates each year to speak in various venues. His areas of strength are with Christian apologetics, athletes, biblical preaching, family life and worship, college students, and ethnically diverse audiences. Please contact us via our Speaker Request Form if you would like Reid to come and serve with your church or campus ministry.