Is wanting to show off sinful?

[RMW]

You’re calling me judgmental. You may call me whatever you wish. This man does not know my heart—nor do you.

But he did relate a story which laid out an apparent cause and effect.

If you read what I wrote, you will see that I did not in fact call you judgmental. I purposely take care with my choice of words and in this case I pointed out that your suggestion (i.e. that he seemed like seemed like an abusive parent) came across that way. I worded it that way so as to not even give the appearance of judging your heart, but instead draw attention to how your words came across. In any case, please forgive me if I wasn’t careful enough with my words, thereby resulting in a different message than the one I intended.

I also said that I cannot speak to the particular example that he offered up because I can’t know or judge what is in people’s hearts. However, even if we cannot know whether the purported cause/effect is present in the motorcycle example he gives, I have no doubt of the truth of the general principle I believe he was trying to illustrate by the example (God being willing to tear down our idols so as to help us love Him more perfectly).

Pax et bonum,
RMW

 

[Sailor_Kenshin]

How do you ‘love someone more perfectly’ after you die in a motorcycle accident?

The OP asked whether it was ‘sinful’ to show new toys to a friend. All of a sudden we have Death By Driving?

 

[Bob_Crowley]

How do you ‘love someone more perfectly’ after you die in a motorcycle accident?

The OP asked whether it was ‘sinful’ to show new toys to a friend. All of a sudden we have Death By Driving?

I made it very clear in my post that “…I’m not suggesting for a minute that this is anywhere near the setting in this post, which seems to me to be more about personal vanity in relation to a new car. But the same principle applies. If God thinks the car is a barrier in the relationship, He may well remove it. …”

This does not make me judgmental, nor have I stated that God is definitely going to remove the car in question. The original post is whether “showing off” is sinful. It can be. It can range from relatively minor personal vanity, to a much deeper level of pride. In fact, one of the attritbutes of the saints, as I read the record, is a complete detachment from worldly things. They may use them, but that’s about the end of the story.

And in the case of the young bloke on the motorcyle, I think it was a judgment, since he’d been given a warning. I happened to get to know the old pastor pretty well over the space of a few years, and if he said something was likely to happen, it nearly always did.

He predicted for example, “I think you might become a Catholic…” At the time I wasn’t even thinking about it. He predicted, “I don’t think your sister will live very long”. I’m pretty sure he even mentioned leukemia. She died of leukemia in 2005 aged 45, leaving behind 2 teenagers and a young son. But he made the prediction around 1990 or 1991. He said of his own eldest son, “I think (eldest son)'s health will be badly effected.” Around 1996 or 1997 his eldest son collapsed with a severe stroke, aged about 45. He hasn’t worked since and his health has been badly effected. Prior to that he was a very capable man.

I could give you other examples of the accuracy of his predictions, including an African-American US President, a second Gulf War in which “they (the Americans) will lose a few men the next time”, the loss of my job, and an odd prediction where he thought “I think you might be doing a cleaning job. You won’t like it much, and you only do it for a short time. I think the Lord will just want you to hear about a ghost”. Odd? It came true in 2006.

Yet the pastor himself died in 1992. So when I say, in the particular episode I related above, that I thought the young bloke’s death was a judgment, I meant what I said.

That doesn’t mean, nor did I say, that God would necessarily remove the car. I said He could, if He thought it was a hindrance. Prior to losing my job mentioned above, I had a vision one night where someone said, “Your career is becoming too important to you.”

A month or so later, it was gone, and it hasn’t been resurrected either.

 

[Holly3278]

I think that wanting to show off would be considered the sin of pride, one of the Seven Deadly Sins.

 

[DexUK]

Bob, it sounds to me like you’re getting dangerously close to believing in predestination.

Predictions which come true always stick in the mind. We rarely remember the prediction which don’t come true.

As regards showing off: vanity is vanity. But if we didn’t share our joy about new things, we’d all live pretty arid lives. God gave us our creativity: we need to celebrate it. We can’t all live - and shouldn’t all live - in such gloom and asceticism. Asceticism is a calling for only a few people. The Church has never said that enjoying ourselves is wrong.

 

[RMW]

Predictions which come true always stick in the mind. We rarely remember the prediction which don’t come true.

As regards showing off: vanity is vanity. But if we didn’t share our joy about new things, we’d all live pretty arid lives. God gave us our creativity: we need to celebrate it. We can’t all live - and shouldn’t all live - in such gloom and asceticism. Asceticism is a calling for only a few people. The Church has never said that enjoying ourselves is wrong.

I agree with both of your points. It seems to me that the way to answer the question of the OP is to define ‘showing off’ in terms of vanity and/or pride in order to highlight the underlying intention of the act and the state of mind/soul of the person in question. In the final analysis, only the person him or herself (and God) can know for sure whether they are showing off. All we can do is clarify the kinds of motives/intentions that make it more likely that the act in question is an example of ‘showing off.’

 

[RMW]

How do you ‘love someone more perfectly’ after you die in a motorcycle accident?

The OP asked whether it was ‘sinful’ to show new toys to a friend. All of a sudden we have Death By Driving?

I think I should clarify that I did not endorse the particular motorcycle example, but only the general principle which I believe it was meant to illustrate. Would I have chosen that particular example to illustrate that meaning? No, but in any case I don’t think that’s the main point of contention here.

It seems to me, and please correct me if I’m wrong, that your real disagreement is with the general principle of God being willing to tear down the idols we build for ourselves and/or the assessment that showing our new possessions to others can be sinful depending on our underlying motives/intentions.

Even if I’m wrong about what the real disagreement seems to be, either way I don’t think we should berate someone up over a bad example. Of course, pointing out a doctrinal/theological error is a different matter. Doing so is advisable, so long as one does so in a charitable way.

Anyways, I’m out of town starting tomorrow, but it’s been great discussing the OP’s question with everyone!

 

[Bob_Crowley]

Bob, it sounds to me like you’re getting dangerously close to believing in predestination.

Predictions which come true always stick in the mind. We rarely remember the prediction which don’t come true.

As regards showing off: vanity is vanity. But if we didn’t share our joy about new things, we’d all live pretty arid lives. God gave us our creativity: we need to celebrate it. We can’t all live - and shouldn’t all live - in such gloom and asceticism. Asceticism is a calling for only a few people. The Church has never said that enjoying ourselves is wrong.

It’s not a case of believing in “predestination”. I’m well aware we make our own decisions.

And that included the young bloke who ignored the warning he was given.

In the case of the pastor, as far as I’m concerned, he was a good and holy man. I think God gave him a limited gift of prophecy, and a lot of wisdom. From time to time he knew what was going through my head. He’d suddenly ask, “Who’s so and so?” I’d tell him and then ask why.

He’d reply “There seemed to be a thought going through your head that ‘…’”.

And then he’d quote back the thought word for word. This only happened a couple of times, but it happened. I’ve done the same thing on very rare occasions, and as far as I’m concerned neither of us was reading minds. But God does, and very rarely will tell someone what someone else is thinking.

In the same way God would tell him, in a limited fashion, what was going to happen down the track.

Even the night my own father died, he appeared in my room. One of his specific statements was “You’ll meet a pastor. You’ll think he’s great. But all he’ll do is discourage you even more!”

The pastor he was talking about was in fact the same old pastor I’ve just mentioned. While I learnt a great deal from him, he could be discouraging. Sometime in 1991 he said to me, “I owe you an apology. You needed encouragement, and all I’ve done is to discourage you even more!” He’d quoted back what my father said, almost word for word, 12 years before. My father died in 1979, and I didn’t even meet the pastor till late 1982.

What do you call that? Non-predestination?

 

[Bob_Crowley]

…Even the night my own father died, he appeared in my room. One of his specific statements was “You’ll meet a pastor. You’ll think he’s great. But all he’ll do is discourage you even more!” …

That’s how my father said it. But I’ll rephrase it to give it the emphasis it deserves.

"Even the night my own father died, he appeared in my room. One of his specific statements was “You ***will ***meet a pastor. You ***will ***think he’s great. But all he ***will ***do is discourage you even more!” …

 

[Edward_H]

if the intent is to bring attention to you and not to God, it’s a sin.

 

[Sailor_Kenshin]

There will always be Scribes and Pharisees lurking in the bushes, ready to leap upon all passersby shouting, 'Sinner! Sinner!"