In his book, Mere Christianity, C.S. Lewis asserts that the worst sin of all is Pride because "[I]t was through Pride that the devil became the devil: Pride leads to every other vice: it is the complete anti-God state of mind" (Lewis 122). By beginning his argument about Pride with the "infinitely ancient" story of Lucifer's fall, Lewis places Pride on a higher level than all other sins because of the way it has managed to survive through time in its various ways. Lewis explains this point by declaring how Pride "leads to every other vice"; that is, Satan has constantly hidden the seeds of Pride in his victims by building their self-esteem and faith in their own moral strengths and standards in both Christians and non-Christians. Unfortunately, especially for believers, allowing Pride to dictate one's actions removes God as the ideal center for one's life and replaces Him with one's own concerns and fleeting emotions. Some examples of this concept's manifestation in the rest of the world include governments controlled by dictators, such as Saddam Hussein and Moammar Gadhafi, whose extensive reigns over their countries no doubt inflated their pride and sense of invincibility. By refusing to give any glory to God, just as King Herod, both of these dictators, and many like them, have fallen to terrible fates they could have never imagined. The reason why wars break out stems from individual nations' refusal to admit that they might not have the best solution for conflicts with another country. Indeed, even the world of economy, or at least certain economic systems, are built off of the principle that the greatest rewards come from staying ahead of one's economic and financial competition--the drive to remain better than anybody else is what drives one to pay for the cost of living as a whole. Returning to a more spiritual definition, however, it is impossible to lead a fulfilled, godly life, to be "still and know" that Christ is Lord of All, or to even be a "follower" of God at all if one is constantly following his or herself. In other words, the self-centeredness that rides on the coat-tails of Pride brings one's spirit into direct rebellion against the sovereignty of God. This is what Lewis is referring to when he calls Pride "the anti-God state of mind".
Paragraph 2: Personal Perspective
Worst of all, when God sees one's unwillingness to heed Him in their life, He will remove His Hand from his or her life, which will crumble into an unsuccessful mess without Him. For Christians, there is a spiritual arena whose boundaries are created from Christ's Blood and God's supreme order. As long as Christians act in a way pleasing to God, they exist within the arena and they benefit from God's protection and blessings. However, there is only one thing that can cause a believer to trespass God's Will by walking outside the arena: Pride in one's own ability to lead one's own life without a need for God. Unfortunately for those who do give in to Pride and let it drag them outside the arena, Satan has the right to devour their spirit in despair and humiliation. Personally, the concept of evading the traps of Pride is extremely important because of the career I wish to enter--the field of medical sciences and research. Science is notorious for being one of the most "anti-God" schools of thought, which correlates perfectly with Pride being the "anti-God state of mind". This prospect is even more ominous when one realizes that many of the principles behind science highly revolve around the abilities of the analysis possessed by the human mind. My goal, then, as a Christian in the field of science, is to try my best to include God in all my scientific work and understand that without Him, I have no reason to be proud of my mental abilities.
