This is a two sides of the mouth teaching that the WTS uses the negative part so much that the other side is ignored or diminished. Also articles being positive about pride tend to target non-jws not jws.
*** w05 10/15 p. 21 par. 1 Beware of Developing a Haughty Heart ***
HAS some event ever caused your heart to swell with pride? Most of us have experienced that pleasurable sensation. Our capacity for feeling a measure of pride is not bad. For example, when a Christian couple read a school report about their daughter’s good behavior and hard work, their faces likely glow with warm satisfaction over her accomplishments. The apostle Paul and his companions took pride in a new congregation that they had helped to establish, for the brothers faithfully endured persecution.—1 Thessalonians 1:1, 6; 2:19, 20; 2 Thessalonians 1:1, 4.
*** g99 7/8 pp. 20-21 Is It Wrong to Be Proud? ***
Is There Legitimate Pride?
In the Christian Greek Scriptures, the verb kau·kha′o·mai, translated “take pride, exult, boast,” is used in both a negative and a positive sense. Paul says, for example, that we may “exult, based on hope of the glory of God.” He also recommends: “He that boasts, let him boast in Jehovah.” (Romans 5:2; 2 Corinthians 10:17) This means taking pride in Jehovah as our God, a sentiment that may lead us to exult over his good name and reputation.
To illustrate: Is it wrong to want to defend a good name when it is slandered? Of course not. If people spoke unjustly about members of your family or others whom you love and respect, would you not feel indignant and impelled to defend them? “A [good] name is to be chosen rather than abundant riches,” says the Bible. (Proverbs 22:1) On one occasion, Almighty God said to a proud Pharaoh of Egypt: “For this cause I have kept you in existence, for the sake of showing you my power and in order to have my name declared in all the earth.” (Exodus 9:16) So God exults over his own good name and reputation and is zealous for it. We too can be interested in defending our own good name and reputation yet not be motivated by vanity and selfish pride.—Proverbs 16:18.
Respect is essential to any wholesome relationship. Our social life and business dealings suffer when we lose confidence in our associates. Likewise, a joint activity or partnership may be ruined if just one of its promoters does something that brings himself or his fellows into public disrepute. In order to reach objectives, whatever they may be, reputations have to be maintained. This is one reason why overseers in the Christian congregation must have “a fine testimony” from outsiders. (1 Timothy 3:7) Their desire for a good name is prompted, not by prideful self-exaltation, but by the necessity to represent God in a worthy and dignified manner. After all, how credible can a minister with a poor testimony from outsiders be?
What about pride in personal achievements? Take, for example, the delight parents might feel when their child does well in school. Such an achievement is a source of appropriate satisfaction. When writing to fellow Christians in Thessalonica, Paul revealed that he too rejoiced over accomplishments: “We are obligated to give God thanks always for you, brothers, as it is fitting, because your faith is growing exceedingly and the love of each and all of you is increasing one toward the other. As a result we ourselves take pride in you among the congregations of God because of your endurance and faith in all your persecutions and the tribulations that you are bearing.” (2 Thessalonians 1:3, 4) Yes, the natural tendency is to feel delight at the achievements of loved ones. So, what distinguishes pride that is wrong from pride that is right?
It is not improper to want to maintain our personal reputation, to succeed, and to be happy with such success. However, self-exaltation, haughtiness, and boasting about self or others are things that God condemns. It would indeed be sad if any began to get “puffed up” with pride or to ‘think more of themselves than is necessary.’ Christians have no room for pride or for boasting in anyone or anything but Jehovah God and what he has done for them. (1 Corinthians 4:6, 7; Romans 12:3) The prophet Jeremiah gives us a fine principle to follow: “Let the one bragging about himself brag about himself because of this very thing, the having of insight and the having of knowledge of me, that I am Jehovah, the One exercising loving-kindness, justice and righteousness in the earth.”—Jeremiah 9:24.
[Picture on page 20]
“Pope Innocent X,” by Don Diego Rodríguez de Silva Velázquez
[Credit Line]
Scala/Art Resource, NY
*** g98 2/22 pp. 25-26 What About Racial Pride? ***
Proper Versus Improper Pride
Does this mean that pride is inherently bad? Not necessarily. The Bible shows that there is a place for the proper kind of pride. When the apostle Paul wrote to Christians in Thessalonica, he said: “We ourselves take pride in you among the congregations of God.” (2 Thessalonians 1:4) Similarly, having at least a measure of self-worth is healthy and normal. (Romans 12:3) So it is not wrong in itself to take some pride in one’s race, family, language, color, or place of origin. Certainly God would not require that we be ashamed of such things. When the apostle Paul was confused with an Egyptian criminal, he did not hesitate to say: “I am, in fact, a Jew, of Tarsus in Cilicia, a citizen of no obscure city.”—Acts 21:39.
