Low self esteem = insult to God?

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marmee79

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I heard a guy on the radio yesterday who said a couple things worth telling you about,:First he said “God doesn’t make junk.”
Then he babbled a little and said "To have a low self esteem is to insult God.

I believe both statements are true. Comments invited.

Marmee79
 
I heard a guy on the radio yesterday who said a couple things worth telling you about,:First he said “God doesn’t make junk.”
Then he babbled a little and said "To have a low self esteem is to insult God.

I believe both statements are true. Comments invited.

Marmee79
 
it is true, in a sense, because low-self-esteem is a distortion of the virtue of humility (sometimes called the mother of all virtues) because humility requires a true sense of one’s value in the eyes of the Creator, and one’s true relationship with God. The person who suffers in this way should focus on developing true humility. St. Therese is a wonderful guide for someone in this struggle.
 
Low self esteem is cause by many factors, including a childhood of verbal abuse. Not everyone who has low self esteem is purposely thinking badly of themselves. For many, it takes a lifetime to overcome the cruel words that their parents used against them. I don’t think telling such people that they are insulting God is going to make them feel better.

HEre is an odd fact. Studies done have shown that most hard core criminals and school bullies actually have high self esteem.
 
The book I’m reading talks about thoughts, checking if your personal thoughts you accept are from God is the key to good self esteem.

My comment is most thoughts circulating around come from the devil in our dark culture so you must differentiate between God and satan.

The key to God’s thoughts for us the Catechism of the Catholic Church.

Brother John
 
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marmee79:
I heard a guy on the radio yesterday who said a couple things worth telling you about,:First he said “God doesn’t make junk.”
Then he babbled a little and said “To have a low self esteem is to insult God.”
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No, God does not make junk. Nonetheless, what God does make is a world full of imperfect creatures. Assuming that God is omnipotent, this cannot be a result of God’s weakness, and must, therefore, be a result of God’s will: You were designed to be imperfect.
 
People with low self esteem, that is the Depressed and those with other illnesses need ones charity NOT condemnation…

Been there myself, thank the Lord I recovered!
 
Often, low self esteem is brought about by the way an individual was treated by others, in those cases it is my opinion that it is not an insult to God, rather, a serious failure of other Christians living up to their vocation to live on in Christ Love.
 
It’s interesting the connection between “self-esteem” and depression.

Once I heard a Christian singer suggest that we spend too much time worrying about self-esteem. How come we don’t worry about God-esteem?

Sometimes I think that depression may be as likely caused by finding out that “self-esteem” promoters may not be promoting the esteem of the true self, but the false self.

Also I thinks it’s a matter of people at least in our culture, having a strange sense of identity. We exalt worldly achievers with prizes and accolades, and the rest get to watch and yearn, or even be punished or impugned. This gives us the false illusion that our value as a person and a member of society is determined by our accomplishments, setting us up for a fall.

I used to win prizes for academics fairly often. When I was in college and went to activities involving Indiana State students, I tried not to let others know that I actually went to Rose-Hulman, because then undoubtedly someone would go, “oh you must be smart” and then from then on I had a feeling that they didn’t really accept me. This didn’t help me self-image, as there were times I just wanted to be with other people and not seen as some sort of freak.

Now my kids are winning prizes, and I’m trying to train them not to be confused by such illusions; of course they are very capable of achieving and there is nothing wrong with that. I tell them if they can’t win, at least make the person ahead of them break the record. It isn’t about self-esteem, though. It’s about doing our best with whatever talents and situations God has given us. We should only boast on the goodness of God. The rest is just worldly detail. Worldly prizes are useful for building confidence to a certain degree, but they are deceptive.

Maybe I’m just a grouch, but I even think “employee of the month” if based on merit, rather than rotation, is potentially divisive to a work force even though it ostensibly sets good examples. I still remember the Employee of Month named “John” that got selected. Good brown-noser but completely disliked by peers. This was before Photo Shop, where my coworkers had to use actually cut and paste (for the computer-only crowd, that involves actual scissors and tape) and b&w copy machines, to place John’s face in a photo of a donkey, with the caption, “can you find the EOM in this picture?” 😃

Alan
 
Ah Crikey! I have like the worst self esteem eva! so i must be an abomination to God 24/7 even in my dreams 😦
HEre is an odd fact. Studies done have shown that most hard core criminals and school bullies actually have high self esteem.
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That is interesting, and I know as i’ve been a constant victem of bullying that bullies do have very high self esteem, so high they think they are better than everyone else and they are popular for letting others down.

I can’t remember where in the bible but it does say alot about “blessed are those who are poor in Spirit”
and
“the lord is near to those with a contrite heart”
and stuff along the lines of “the lord being near those with a brokenheart”

So it may not necessary be an insult.

Evanescence
 
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Evanescence:
HEre is an odd fact. Studies done have shown that most hard core criminals and school bullies actually have high
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self esteem.

That is interesting, and I know as i’ve been a constant victem of bullying that bullies do have very high self esteem, so high they think they are better than everyone else and they are popular for letting others down.
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Let’s not confuse high self-esteem with a psychological defense mechanism which is a cover/over compensation for *low self esteem – *the correct terminmology for many bullies/abusers is gradiosity:

*grandiosity, defn: *An inflated appraisal of one’s worth, power, knowledge, importance, or identity. When extreme, grandiosity may be of delusional proportions. abess.com/glossary.html#G

The task for folks with “low self-esteem” is to learn to love themselves based on the truth of God’s love for them. It can be very difficult (if not impossible) to love others (neighbor) as God loves them without first loving yourself with the knowledge of God’s love for you personally (a real tongue twister). I am not sure if the preacher cited fully appreciates the condition of living in an fallen world tainted by the stain of original sin.

“And he answered, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbor as yourself.” (Luke 10: 27)
 
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Melanie01:
People with low self esteem, that is the Depressed and those with other illnesses need ones charity NOT condemnation…

Been there myself, thank the Lord I recovered!
Click to expand...
 
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Melanie01:
People with low self esteem, that is the Depressed and those with other illnesses need ones charity NOT condemnation…

Been there myself, thank the Lord I recovered!
Click to expand...
I suffer from depression and low self esteem at times.
My spiritual director said the same thing someone else said it all has to do with true humility. There is false pride out in the world too.
He said that true humility is the honest knowledge of ones self with all their plusses and minuses. Marmee79
 
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Evanescence:
I can’t remember where in the bible but it does say alot about “blessed are those who are poor in Spirit”
Click to expand...
Blessed are the poor in spirit,
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. (Matthew 5:3)
“the lord is near to those with a contrite heart”
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For this is what the high and lofty One says—
he who lives forever, whose name is holy:
"I live in a high and holy place,
but also with him who is contrite and lowly in spirit,
to revive the spirit of the lowly
and to revive the heart of the contrite. (Isaiah 57:15 - Was that the one?)
stuff along the lines of “the lord being near those with a brokenheart”
Click to expand...
This may be the same as the above.

Anyway, you can find them quickly and easily here.
 
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marmee79:
I heard a guy on the radio yesterday who said a couple things worth telling you about,:First he said “God doesn’t make junk.”
Then he babbled a little and said "To have a low self esteem is to insult God.

I believe both statements are true. Comments invited.

Marmee79
Click to expand...
Then I guess we’ll have to throw out (most) organized religion, because in my opinion, it’s the number one offender in this category. We’re taught that we’re “bad” from the beginning, just by being born, and virtually everything we do is “bad.” We can do nothing “good” on our own, etc, etc. This is fed to us from the time we can understand the spoken word, and we wonder why we have low self-esteem?
 
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marmee79:
I suffer from depression and low self esteem at times.
My spiritual director said the same thing someone else said it all has to do with true humility. There is false pride out in the world too.
He said that true humility is the honest knowledge of ones self with all their plusses and minuses. Marmee79
Click to expand...
God bless You Marmee!

Something else I have learned…NEVER put yourself down as others have so much fun doing it for you. YOU always need a cheer squad even if it is just yourself…😉
 
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mhansen:
Then I guess we’ll have to throw out (most) organized religion, because in my opinion, it’s the number one offender in this category. We’re taught that we’re “bad” from the beginning, just by being born, and virtually everything we do is “bad.” We can do nothing “good” on our own, etc, etc. This is fed to us from the time we can understand the spoken word, and we wonder why we have low self-esteem?
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Can anyone say, “Duhhhh?” :whacky:

To you, mhansen, this is obvious. Why is this not completely obvious to practically any adult? :confused:

When you say “religions” you might just as well include some of the political ones, too.

We are taught that we the enemies of Mother Nature. I heard from a fairly credible source that in some schools they actually played games to celebrate “earth week” and one of the points that the game made was that Mother Earth cannot do without her rain forests, but she can do without her children.

We call the most brilliant people of the past “dreamers” and we say to “dream big dreams.” Then when such a “dreamer” in the making asks a silly question in class we cut them down to size. Not only that, we call them “dreamers” in a pejorative way because we want them to comport themselves just so, and to pretend to fascinated and hanging on every word of the stuff we are feeding them which is designed to turn them into little lemmings on the assembly line, which served the public well a couple generations ago.

We tell children to resist influence from worldly sources, and to be responsible and make Good Decisions about right or wrong, then we go ballistic when they get big and try standing up to us because they think we are wrong, and apply increasingly severe worldly influences until they quit trying to make their own decisions.

We command them to love us, and to do so not because we are commanding them but because they want to – and they had better be convincing about it or we will punish and impugn them. If we think they are acting nice only because they have to, we increase the pressure. Usually we don’t notice, though, because we are so convinced We Have Won Them Over just because of our awesome superiority as adults.

Is it any wonder children commit suicide so often?

Again I have the urge to say, “duhhhhh.” :whacky:

Alan
 
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Melanie01:
God bless You Marmee!

Something else I have learned…NEVER put yourself down as others have so much fun doing it for you. YOU always need a cheer squad even if it is just yourself…😉
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In our household we have a rule. Not only can we not call each other names but we can’t refer to our ownselves in a derogatory fashion. One day I made some silly mistake. I said outloud, “Sheesh, I am such an idiot.” My nine year old quickly corrected me and informed me that “in this house we are not allowed to insult ourselves.” WHich happens to be the exact words that I tell my kids.🙂 Perhaps what I am doing is working and she will grow up with a normal, healthy self esteem.
 
I have suffered from depression for most of my life. It’s the product of several factors, including a developmental disorder.

Low self-esteem stemming from such things is not an insult to God in any sense, as it is an illness which needs healing.

People have told me in the past that I just need to “pick myself up” or “shake it off.” Depression sufferers know that it is not helpful to hear that. It can make things worse.

My own depression and low self-esteem persist in spite of some remarkable abilities and an array of gifts which make my condition all the more unbelievable to the people who know me. They think of me as funny and charming, while I often see only my twitches, pain, and insecurities.

In my prayers I ask for healing, for understanding, and for a way to recover the hope and sense of worth I once had. My low self-esteem is not an insult to God; it is a cross which I carry every day. There are times I wish to lay it down, but I can’t.

When the fog lowers on me and the depression blurs my view of everything, including the love of God, it becomes so hard to “lift up my heart” to Him, since I feel lower than dust and more worthless than old salt. At such times, He feels so distant that no amount of prayer seems to help.

When you meet people suffering from “low self-esteem,” realize that there are many reasons for the condition. And offer prayers that God will somehow break through the fog. Low self-esteem is no insult to Him; the insult to Him often comes from those who fail to see its sufferers as children of God and brothers and sisters in Christ.
 
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