President Dieter F. Uchtdorf: 'Pride and the priesthood'

Reflecting on a well-remembered 1989 talk by President Ezra Taft Benson, "Beware of Pride," President Dieter F. Uchtdorf addressed the same topic in his priesthood session talk.

"The promptings of the Holy Spirit have urged me to add my voice as another witness to President Benson's message delivered 21 years ago," said President Uchtdorf, second counselor in the First Presidency.

"Every mortal has at least a casual if not intimate relationship with the sin of pride. No one has avoided it; few overcome it."

An interesting side effect of President Benson's address was that "it almost became taboo among Church members to say that they were 'proud' of their children or their country or that they took 'pride' in their work," President Uchtdorf observed. "The very word pride seemed to become an outcast in our vocabulary."

In the scriptures, President Uchtdorf said, are plenty of examples of righteous people "who rejoice in righteousness and at the same time glory in the goodness of God." As examples, he cited the Father Himself, who introduced His Beloved Son with the words "in whom I am well pleased"; Alma, who gloried in the thought that he might "be an instrument in the hands of God"; the apostle Paul, who gloried in the faithfulness of members of the Church; and Ammon, who gloried in the success he and his brothers experienced as missionaries.

"I believe there is a difference between being proud of certain things and being prideful," President Uchtdorf said, adding he is proud of many things, including his wife, their children and grandchildren, the youth of the Church and the priesthood bearers to whom he was speaking.

"So what is the difference between this kind of feeling and the pride that President Benson called 'the universal sin'?" he asked. "Pride is sinful … because it breeds hatred or hostility and places us in opposition to God and our fellowmen. At its core, pride is a sin of comparison, for though it usually begins with 'Look how wonderful I am and what great things I have done,' it always seems to end with 'Therefore, I am better than you.'"

A heart filled with pride violates two great commandments he said, explaining that instead of worshiping God and loving one's neighbor, a prideful person loves and worships the image he sees in the mirror.

"Pride is the great sin of self-elevation," President Uchtdorf said. "It is, for so many, a personal Rameumptom, a holy stand that justifies envy, greed and vanity."