1. Welcome to Baptist Board, a friendly forum to discuss the Baptist Faith in a friendly surrounding.

    Your voice is missing! You will need to register to get access to all the features that our community has to offer.

    We hope to see you as a part of our community soon and God Bless!

Types of Self-Righteous People

Discussion in 'General Baptist Discussions' started by J.D., Sep 21, 2006.

Top Posters
Page 1 of 2
  1. J.D.

    J.D. Active Member
    Site Supporter

    Joined:
    Feb 21, 2006
    Messages:
    3,553
    Likes Received:
    11
    Just some loose thoughts on the subject: Types of Self-Righteous People

    1. The libertine that thinks he will be go to heaven in spite of his love for sin.

    2. The non-church-going that are decent or at least semi-decent neighbors and citizens that think they're "good enough" to go to heaven.

    3. The no-or-very-little-bible religious crowd that thinks they're not only good enough, but even think are very righteouss (this would be the Pharisee that prayed I thank thee that I am not as this publican).

    4. The very religious - Legalist zealots - they think righteousness is a question of form, not heart.

    Did I miss anything?

    Now, what do you think is the underlying cause of self-righteousness?
     
    #1 J.D., Sep 21, 2006
  2. DeeJay

    DeeJay New Member

    Joined:
    Oct 1, 2005
    Messages:
    1,916
    Likes Received:
    0
    Pride and the need for a person to feel they are better then somebody else.
     
    #2 DeeJay, Sep 21, 2006
  3. FBCPastorsWife

    FBCPastorsWife New Member

    Joined:
    Sep 27, 2004
    Messages:
    4,271
    Likes Received:
    0
    DeeJay beat me with the answer... I would have to agree that pride is a main cause!
     
    #3 FBCPastorsWife, Sep 21, 2006
  4. thjplgvp

    thjplgvp Member

    Joined:
    Mar 21, 2006
    Messages:
    978
    Likes Received:
    25
    Under pride one might place education, financial security, ability to minister in various avenues, station in life and nepotism.
     
    #4 thjplgvp, Sep 21, 2006
  5. Pipedude

    Pipedude Active Member

    Joined:
    Apr 10, 2005
    Messages:
    1,070
    Likes Received:
    0
    Is there a definition of "self-righteous"? I see the putative examples, but I'm unsure of the common essence.
     
    #5 Pipedude, Sep 21, 2006
  6. Brother Bob

    Brother Bob New Member

    Joined:
    May 13, 2005
    Messages:
    12,723
    Likes Received:
    0
    Just seems to me like a name for someone you don't like. [​IMG]
     
    #6 Brother Bob, Sep 21, 2006
  7. Marcia

    Marcia Active Member

    Joined:
    May 12, 2004
    Messages:
    11,139
    Likes Received:
    1
    I've been thinking lately that it's self-righteous to call someone self-righteous. Don't you have to be righteous yourself to label someone else self-righteous?
     
    #7 Marcia, Sep 21, 2006
  8. Brother Bob

    Brother Bob New Member

    Joined:
    May 13, 2005
    Messages:
    12,723
    Likes Received:
    0
    I don't know if you would be righteous or not. You would be making yourself Judge and jury to do so. :)
     
    #8 Brother Bob, Sep 21, 2006
  9. ituttut

    ituttut New Member

    Joined:
    Jun 26, 2004
    Messages:
    2,674
    Likes Received:
    0
     
    #9 ituttut, Sep 21, 2006
  10. Marcia

    Marcia Active Member

    Joined:
    May 12, 2004
    Messages:
    11,139
    Likes Received:
    1
    Exactly! So you better be sure you are righteous to call someone else self-righteous! I think you saw what I was getting at.
     
    #10 Marcia, Sep 21, 2006
  11. whatever

    whatever New Member

    Joined:
    Dec 7, 2004
    Messages:
    2,088
    Likes Received:
    1
    I am not sure that I follow your reasoning. A person does not have to be righteous to recognize other sins like gossiping or being a busybody, so why would a person have to be righteous to recognize self-righteousness?
     
    #11 whatever, Sep 21, 2006
  12. pinoybaptist

    pinoybaptist Active Member
    Site Supporter

    Joined:
    Mar 17, 2002
    Messages:
    8,136
    Likes Received:
    3
    Faith:
    Baptist
    Because the self-righteous who judges others to be self-reighteous often tend to think of themselves as not self-righteous which is in itself self-righteousness.

    When we feel we are humble and do not fall under the label of self-righteousness, then we should be very, very aware that we may be committing a presumptous sin.

    Our righteousness is imputed upon us and comes to us in Christ because our own righteousnesses are as filty rags before God.

    Best to keep our eyes on Jesus, the Author and Finisher of our faith.
     
    #12 pinoybaptist, Sep 21, 2006
  13. Scarlett O.

    Scarlett O. Moderator
    Moderator

    Joined:
    May 22, 2002
    Messages:
    11,541
    Likes Received:
    1,010
    Faith:
    Baptist
    It's easy to recognize self-righteousness in others because we all know what it looks like. We know what it looks like because we have mirrors. :flower:

    Self-righteousness is when a person declares himself or herself as "righteous" based in their own set of rules.
    • "All I have to do is love everybody."
    • "All I have to do is be good."
    • "All I have to do is give to the poor."
    • "All I have to do is go to church."
    • "All I have to do is avoid sin."
    • "All I have to do is keep the law."
    • "All I have to do is be better than the average christian."
    • "All I have to do is avoid drinking, swearing, and dancing."
    • "All I have to do is maintain what I determine is righteousness in my own sight."



     
    #13 Scarlett O., Sep 21, 2006
  14. J.D.

    J.D. Active Member
    Site Supporter

    Joined:
    Feb 21, 2006
    Messages:
    3,553
    Likes Received:
    11
    Pipedude, that's a good question. Do you have a good, theological-dictionary-type definition of self righteousness?
     
    #14 J.D., Sep 21, 2006
  15. J.D.

    J.D. Active Member
    Site Supporter

    Joined:
    Feb 21, 2006
    Messages:
    3,553
    Likes Received:
    11
    Scarlette, thank you, and that's pretty much my understanding of what self righteousness is too. Notice how many times the pronoun "I" is used to describe it.
     
    #15 J.D., Sep 21, 2006
  16. whatever

    whatever New Member

    Joined:
    Dec 7, 2004
    Messages:
    2,088
    Likes Received:
    1
    No doubt that's true, and it is certainly possible that one who considers another to be self-righteous is himself self-righteous instead, but the argument (as I understood it) was that no one could ever see another's self-righteousness without first being righteous himself. I don't see why that has to be true. A gossip may know when someone else is gossipping without necessarily recognizing his own gossipping, so why can the same not be true of the self-righteous?
     
    #16 whatever, Sep 21, 2006
  17. J.D.

    J.D. Active Member
    Site Supporter

    Joined:
    Feb 21, 2006
    Messages:
    3,553
    Likes Received:
    11
    And Scarlette has captured the "jist" of my point. It seems to me that most people imagine a "self-righteous" person to be the fighten fundy that strictly follows a set of man-made rules and condemns everyone that does not do the same. As Scarlette said "Self-righteousness is when a person declares himself or herself as "righteous" based in their own set of rules."

    And that's exactly what most of the world says about their own ability to be saved. Don't you see that in the people you witness to? Ask them "how do you know if you're going to heaven?", and they'll say "I think I'm good enough", or, in the case of the libertine, "I think God is liberal enough and therefore I'm good enough".

    So if all of these people (and I'll include myself if it will make some of you feel better) are self-righteous, from the fundy to the libertine, what is the common root that they all share?

    Someone said "Pride". I agree. So how can we preach the Gospel in a way that excludes pride altogether?
     
    #17 J.D., Sep 21, 2006
  18. Marcia

    Marcia Active Member

    Joined:
    May 12, 2004
    Messages:
    11,139
    Likes Received:
    1
    It may be one thing to recognize self-righteousness and another thing to label people that way. What is the point of that? If we call others self-righteous and give lists of what traits make self-righteous people, what is the point of that? Are we being edified? Have we become better than the self-righteous in doing this? Have we become less self-righteous?

    My point was that starting a thread and posting all the traits of self-righteous people strikes me as a very self-righteous thing to do.
     
    #18 Marcia, Sep 21, 2006
  19. whatever

    whatever New Member

    Joined:
    Dec 7, 2004
    Messages:
    2,088
    Likes Received:
    1
    I know what your point was, but 1) I am not sure that your logic holds, and 2) do you see what you are necessarily saying about yourself if your logic does hold?
     
    #19 whatever, Sep 21, 2006
  20. whatever

    whatever New Member

    Joined:
    Dec 7, 2004
    Messages:
    2,088
    Likes Received:
    1
    We could start by forgetting about "God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life" and get back to speaking like this:
     
    #20 whatever, Sep 21, 2006
(You must log in or sign up to post here.)
Page 1 of 2
Loading...