Christians and the Humble Brag

Here is something I found..
Often God gives me a scripture from Proverbs. He knows I need wisdom cos I am so dense at times.
Sometimes we are encouraged by others to brag about ourselves because of 'self-esteem issues' to make us feel better about ourselves.
Too much introspection is bad for us but that is the culture of navel gazing and self-promotion (which is why, I'm just not good at the whole going it alone thing) but that individualism can go to far. Nobody really likes people who go on about themselves and boast, nor ministers who name their ministries after themselves...which some do...it then becomes a personality cult. So I'd be wary of it. esp. Health and wealth prosperity gospel..denominations named after themselves (I go to so and so's church) ....

letgodbetrue.com

Proverbs 20:6

Proverbs 20:6 Most men will proclaim every one his own goodness: but a faithful man who can find? Play Audio: Talk is cheap. Boasting is worthless. Your history is irrelevant. True character is known by present actions and results, not by self-praise, past events, explanations, or excuses (Pr...
letgodbetrue.com letgodbetrue.com

When Jesus was speaking or doing a sermon was he talking about himself? No He was talking about His Father. Did Jesus ever boast about how many people he healed or all the places he went to or what he ate. no...

John 5:31 is also helpful here.
 
LearningToLetGo said:
I believe inspiration is experiential. A person first experiences something divine and subsequently attempts to explain it with words
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How would the person know that that 'something' is divine without a previous measure/standard?
LearningToLetGo said:
One must keep in mind the society that wrote scripture.
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Yet the Holy Spirit inspired ALL of Scripture, and in no way is dependent of culture.
LearningToLetGo said:
It was their form of expression that varied.
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That would be called interpretation, correct?
 
crossnote said:
I thought you were speaking in tems of psychology, or are you making the case that psychologists are above sin and have arrived?
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.. sorry may have got our wires crossed. I thought you asking about the Bible
no psychology is just examining human behaviour and minds it can't tell us what we don't already know really about humans that we are weak and flawed, just the ways we are different --- I'm just saying that in the Bible humans are also weak and flawed too. But the difference in the Bible it shows us how we can be redeemed and be made whole.
 
Has anyone else noticed that sometimes in their testimonies that some people inadvertently glorify Satan? They do so by crediting to him all sinful thoughts and actions they either encounter or experience. They neglect to remember what James teaches--that most sin stems from our own internal lust and iniquity.

The devil is an angel with all the angelic limitations. He is not omniscient; he cannot read minds. He is not omnipresent; he is restricted to being in one place at a time. He is not eternal; he has a beginning and an end.

Most of the time he and his minions are so busy trying to influence cultures and governments that they have little time to create problems for rank and file Christians.
 
I'm not making a case for anything...

someone mentioned about Moses stuttering..I wondered if because he grew up in an Egyptian household, his Hebrew wasn't that fluent? So thats why Aaron was speaking for him? Moses and Aaron were brothers but it was just Moses who was picked out of the rushes.

I might have to go back to that story to see how they grew up. Also what was Miriams role.
 
BibleLover said:
Has anyone else noticed that sometimes in their testimonies that some people inadvertently glorify Satan? They do so by crediting to him all sinful thoughts and actions they either encounter or experience. They neglect to remember what James teaches--that most sin stems from our own internal lust and iniquity.

The devil is an angel with all the angelic limitations. He is not omniscient; he cannot read minds. He is not omnipresent; he is restricted to being in one place at a time. He is not eternal; he has a beginning and an end.

Most of the time he and his minions are so busy trying to influence cultures and governments that they have little time to create problems for rank and file Christians.
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In what way. I don't understand...everyone's testimony is about how Jesus came into their lives and what He did rather than what you did. How He saved you from sin.

I don't know what other testimonies there would be...? It's about Jesus...not yourself.
 
Lanolin said:
In what way. I don't understand...everyone's testimony is about how Jesus came into their lives and what He did rather than what you did. How He saved you from sin.

I don't know what other testimonies there would be...? It's about Jesus...not yourself.
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That's my point. Some testimonies put too much emphasis on the speakers' past in such a manner that they're almost bragging about it.
 
Lanolin said:
I'm not making a case for anything...

someone mentioned about Moses stuttering..I wondered if because he grew up in an Egyptian household, his Hebrew wasn't that fluent? So thats why Aaron was speaking for him? Moses and Aaron were brothers but it was just Moses who was picked out of the rushes.

I might have to go back to that story to see how they grew up. Also what was Miriams role.
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Exodus 4:10 Moses said to the Lord, “Pardon your servant, Lord. I have never been eloquent, neither in the past nor since you have spoken to your servant. I am slow of speech and tongue.”
 
crossnote said:
That would be called interpretation, correct?
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Not exactly. It's like this: two guys witness a crime wherein the culprits drive away in a vehicle. Witness #1 says they drove off in an SUV. Witness #2 says they drove off in a 2022 Silver Ice Metallic Chevy Blazer RS. Both witnesses saw the same thing but expressed it differently. Now imagine a third witness who knows nothing about motor vehicles. He might say they drove off in a "big car."

When it comes to scripture, people definitely witnessed something and did their best to describe it within the framework of their lived experience. Maybe they described it perfectly (the 2022 Silver Ice Metallic Chevy Blazer RS) or perhaps they called it a "car" and left it at that. It's up to each of us to make that determination for ourselves.
 
LearningToLetGo said:
When it comes to scripture, people definitely witnessed something and did their best to describe it within the framework of their lived experience. Maybe they described it perfectly (the 2022 Silver Ice Metallic Chevy Blazer RS) or perhaps they called it a "car" and left it at that. It's up to each of us to make that determination for ourselves.
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So when Jesus foretold of His bodily resurrection in Jn 2:18-22; Mark 8:31 etc..
and Paul described the resurrection in 1Cor 15:20-28; (also being a witness of His resurrection),
and the 11 Apostles were eye witnesses to His Bodily resurrection, dying as martyrs for what they witnessed, do you mean to tell me that they 'did their best to describe the resurrection within their lived experience?
This is not open for subjective analysis like 'is it a Blazer, SUV or car?'
When it comes to our eternal fate, having the Apostles 'do their best' at recounting the events or Paul 'doing his best' at laying out the Gospel, just isn't good enough. That is why we have the promise that ALL Scripture is inspired by the Holy Spirit. This is a message that plays for keeps.
 
BibleLover said:
Has anyone else noticed that sometimes in their testimonies that some people inadvertently glorify Satan? They do so by crediting to him all sinful thoughts and actions they either encounter or experience. They neglect to remember what James teaches--that most sin stems from our own internal lust and iniquity.

The devil is an angel with all the angelic limitations. He is not omniscient; he cannot read minds. He is not omnipresent; he is restricted to being in one place at a time. He is not eternal; he has a beginning and an end.

Most of the time he and his minions are so busy trying to influence cultures and governments that they have little time to create problems for rank and file Christians.
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Hello BibleLover;

For example, when a Christian who was once a drug lord, made a lot of money and people died from overdose? Then later Christ saved them?

Or a Christian who used to hustle in the streets, got slapped by her pimp and developed an illness from too much solicitation? Then one day circumstances brought her out of darkness into the light and Jesus saved them?

In both they are inadvertently "glorifying Satan," a sort of humblebrag (without including their own confession of lust, greed and iniquity,) but jump ahead how Christ delivered them?

I don't feel the devil made us do it. I do believe the devil and his demons are devious and in the dark spiritual realm will entice us in our temptations, instead of relying on God's strength to walk away.

I don't know if I articulated this to your point but I do see what you're sharing.

God bless you, brother.
 
Good discussion all. I won't quote any specific post here because several at once have addressed some of these tendencies, so I'll just make a general comment.

I've observed through the years, only with God's guidance, that our natural sin tendency is to ALWAYS blame something or someone else other than ourselves.

This is why true repentance is the hardest and most supernatural thing, and can only come from God convicting the sinful heart of man.

This might be more evident now than ever in our current society.

Everyone these days thinks they're a victim. But no one ever thinks they're the oppressor.

We can always easily see faults in others. But seeing faults in ourselves? Hardest thing for people to do. Only possible with God.

We blame the devil. Women blame the patriarchy for oppression and toxicity. Men blame the women for enticement and emotionalism. Minorities blame the majorities for oppression and supremacism. Majorities blame the minorities for lawlessness and low IQ. Millennials blame the Boomers for the economy. Boomers blame Millennials for snowflakism. And of course Republicans and Democrats always blame the other.

Of course, since we're ALL so sinful, sometimes these groups of people are right. All these groups have sinned against each other in some way. BUT, the focus is always on the OTHER group. The people who are part of any of the aforementioned categories, never like to think about what they've done to anger their opposite.

Maybe some of us don't strongly identify with any of those groups. Maybe we have "pride" that we think we don't succumb to groupthink. Sometimes as a woman, I get filled with pride because I think I'm smarter and less emotionally gullible or sentimental than other women. This in and of itself is a sin! Rather than find fault with seemingly stereotypical women, I should go before God and confess my own prideful sin.

Without God convicting me, I'd be as arrogant as all the unbelievers, comparing myself more favorably.

The Bible tells us to esteem others as better than ourselves in Philippians 2 because God knows how much our tendency is to do the opposite!
 
I think as christians many are actually confessing our sins more than others, especially that of pride....if we confess our sins, He is just and faithful to forgive us.

A lot of people keep sin hidden because they fear there will be no forgiveness...only punishment.

The other thing is Jesus is our advocate - he knows what its like to be falsely accused of things. Sometimes we may need to disobey men so that we can obey God (this sometimes puts us in a difficult position) and we'll need to endure persecution. The other thing is even Jesus forgave men who didn't know what they were doing, or they were ignorant. Also lot of the time we sin because we just don't know any better (we are deceived)

When the wicked are in power, the righteous do suffer and everything is turned upside down.
 
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