What Are The Three Things Which Hinder Our Path To Holiness?

[Lil Red]

[quote name='kafka' post='1747589' date='Jan 9 2009, 05:00 PM']What are the three things which hinder our path to holiness?

And what is their order?[/quote]
+J.M.J.+
Pride

Pride

and Pride.

Let me explain. in Archbishop Fulton Sheen's book [u]The Cross and the Beatitudes[/u], he talks about three types of pride:

-economic pride (pride of what one has)
-social pride (pride of what one is)
-intellectual pride (pride of what one knows)

[Theologian in Training]

I think there is only one, since all sin stems from it, in fact, it was how the paradise of Eden was forfeited. It is the sin of pride. The serpent told Eve that God did now want her to eat of the forbidden fruit because she would have the knowledge of good and evil, in other words, she would be like God. Up to that point both Eve and Adam only knew the good, they were preserved from evil, but chose it because it was so tempting and the serpent made it appear as a good even though it was, in fact, evil. Once they had that knowledge they became like God, and the promise was fulfilled but they reaped the consequences.

All sin finds its root in pride and all pride wants the same thing to be like God. Whether consciously or subconsciously when we sin we are essentially saying we will be like God, but just like our first parents we don't want the humility that comes along with admitting our sin. Adam hid from God and when confronted blamed Eve who, in turn, blamed the serpent. No one wanted to take responsibility for their actions, no one wanted to admit their fault, their sin. That is pride and that is why humility undoes that and why Mary is so hated by the Devil.

[Era Might]

[quote name='Theologian in Training' post='1758650' date='Jan 22 2009, 04:16 PM']Adam hid from God and when confronted blamed Eve who, in turn, blamed the serpent. No one wanted to take responsibility for their actions, no one wanted to admit their fault, their sin. That is pride and that is why humility undoes that and why Mary is so hated by the Devil.[/quote]
In his book "Lord Have Mercy" Scott Hahn connects this hiding and blaming by Adam and Eve with confession.

It wounds our pride to have to confess our sins to another human being. Maybe that's one of the reasons why God gave us confession, to humble us.