Edward Menez - Selfies Are Sins of Pride
January 15, 2024
Left, Detail of Pride from The Seven Deadly Sins and the Four Last Things by Hieronymus Bosch, c. 1500.
"What has this world come to when the phone in our hands has become the Mark of the Beast?
Satan must surely be laughing and rejoicing at our constant sin.
I recommend that we should live life without constantly recording ourselves.
You will feel a lot more free without the constant worry of making life a studio photo.
God records everything in the end for us."
by Edward Menez
(henrymakow.com)
On his January 11 headlines, Henry posted this video of Jack Denmo, a twenty-something Canadian man: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QH9QVme2LM8 . Jack gives an example in the video of young people going broke just so they could take vacations every month in order to post selfies.
In another example, young losers spend all their money getting bottle service at a club for one night only.....to take selfies of the event, naturally. The main premise of this video is that people lead fake lives on social media, aggrandizing themselves when their lives are otherwise empty and impoverished when the camera is not on.
According to wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seven_deadly_sins ,, "The seven deadly sins, also known as the capital vices or cardinal sins, is a grouping and classification of vices within Christian, particularly Catholic, teachings. According to the standard list, they are pride, greed, wrath, envy, lust, gluttony and sloth, which are contrary to the seven heavenly virtues."
In modern life, especially to the younger generations--but certainly not exclusive to them--these sins are encompassed in posting photos and videos on social media.
PRIDE GOETH BEFORE DESTRUCTION
Let us start with the sin of pride. Here's what wikipedis says about it: "Pride (superbia), also known as hubris (from Ancient Greek ὕβρις) or futility. It is considered the original and worst of the seven deadly sins on almost every list, the most demonic.[38] It is also thought to be the source of the other capital sins. Pride is the opposite of humility."
Talking selfies of ourselves on lavish vacations and living it up in clubs were given as examples of how we show off, but have you seen people who post photos of what meals they're eating and the (sexy) clothes they are wearing?
As C.S. Lewis says in his book Mere Christianity, which was voted the best book of the 20th Century on religion: "Unchastity, anger, greed, drunkenness and all that, are mere fleabites in comparison: it was through Pride that the devil became the devil: Pride leads to every other vice: it is the complete anti-God state of mind. Pride is understood to sever the spirit from God, as well as His life-and-grace-giving Presence."
WHAT ABOUT ALL THE OTHER SINS?
Isn't the whole point of social media posting to create envy? Wikipedia chimes in: "According to St. Thomas Aquinas, the struggle aroused by envy has three stages: during the first stage, the envious person attempts to lower another's reputation; in the middle stage, the envious person receives either "joy at another's misfortune" (if he succeeds in defaming the other person) or "grief at another's prosperity" (if he fails); and the third stage is hatred because "sorrow causes hatred".
And as St. Thomas Aquinas alludes to, the three stages of envy in attacking another person's reputation, schadenfreude, and hatred will cause wrath. A real-world example I can give would be a woman flaunting her surgically augmented breasts paid for with child support money.
Selena Gomez
And that leads us to lust. Have you ever seen the dignified nude statues and paintings of women (and men) in past ages? Compare them to modern selfies. The old nude statues and paintings portrayed dignified faces, not the "come hither" look that evokes lust in modern photos people post on social media.
Why the sexy, lustful gazes in modern selfies? Maybe the underlying reason is greed. It could be greed to attract a rich partner, greed to promote ad revenue, or greed to be the new generation's most sought-after job in polls: a media influencer.
And although the last couple sins of gluttony and sloth might be reaching just a bit, why post photos of lavish meals? What do you think a photo of a medium-rare steak and a glass of red wine might provoke in people? The rest of us are supposed to be eating bugs. As for sloth, I can't think of a worse waste of time that spending one's life recording everything one does, and then doubly-wasting one's time by editing videos, retouching photos, and then posting it all on social media.
CONCLUSION
I have seen some pretty outlandish behavior by people on vacations, especially, in trying to get the perfect photo of themselves in their bathing suit on a beach, or placing their food perfectly on a table to be captured by the camera and then not eaten. I'm sure you have your own examples, too.
What has this world come to when the phone in our hands has become the Mark of the Beast? Satan must surely be laughing and rejoicing at our constant sin. I recommend that we should live life without constantly recording ourselves. You will feel a lot more free without the constant worry of making life a studio photo. God records everything in the end for us.
CI said (January 15, 2024):
Notice how it’s out there for everyone to see. Right there with the Apple logo on the iPhone. The literal bite from the Apple. They’re telling us openly. Who’s paying attention?