Veritas et Sapientia – The Sinful Pride of Presuming Your Ticket Is Punched In Heaven

Mandeville, LA – “Over the past fifty years, the fear of God, a gift from the Holy Ghost, is fast evaporating.

Presumptuous thinking people overestimate their goodness, believing that they are better than they really happen to be.

As a practicing psychologist, it is most striking to me how grandiose we have become in assessing the “goodness” of our character. How many reprobates declare, “I am a good person,” despite having a long history of despicable behavior? They take Our Lord for granted, believing that an all-merciful God would never send anyone to Hell. Although they ignore God and violate His laws, they will argue that they are no worse than the rest of the human race. In fact, they will insist that they are better than most and can cite a few acts of kindness to support their point. Even Al Capone funded soup kitchens for the poor during the Great Depression. Their conclusion that “I am a good person” is founded on this twisted logic. They hang their hat on the belief that an all-loving God will take them into paradise upon their demise, regardless of the state of their soul. Moreover, they believe that they have no obligation to attend Holy Mass, follow His laws, and receive the sacraments. A free pass into heaven is their right.

The result of the preceding leads to the sin of Presumption. Presumptuous thinking people overestimate their goodness, believing that they are better than they really happen to be. Moreover, they vastly underestimate God’s justice, assuming He so loves His people that He will take them into Heaven even if they violate His commandments.

Persons who are presumptive are rigid in their thinking. They believe that their views should be unquestionably accepted by those with whom they interact. More often than not, however, their interpretations of reality are in error. If these errant interpretations remain uncorrected, their problems only deepen.

The final words, which are recorded at the end of the parable, put the final touch on what we must do to avoid becoming a victim of the sin of presumption: “For everyone who exalts himself shall be humbled, and he who humbles himself shall be exalted.” This is the standard set by Our Lord. If we meet this expectation, we will never have to defend ourselves claiming that, “I am a good person,” when we know we should have done better. – Dr Paul Lavin, Presumption: The “I Am A Good Person” Sin

TheKingDude

Host of the Mike Church Show on The Veritas Radio Network's CRUSADE Channel & Founder of the Veritas Radio Network. Formerly, of Sirius/XM's Patriot channel 125. The show began in March of 2003 exclusively on Sirius and remains "the longest running radio talk show in satellite radio history".

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