Theological Narcissism

According to Greek mythology, Narcissus was a hunter from Thespia renowned for his beauty. His enemy, Nemesis, lured the arrogant Narcissus to a pool of water where he gazed at his own reflection and became utterly infatuated with the image in the pool, not realizing it was his own reflection. Enraptured with himself, Narcissus could not escape the beauty of his own reflection and eventually died. We are all like Narcissus. We are infatuated with ourselves — obsessed with our own image. However, we're not satisfied merely to bask in our own importance, we want everyone around us to be as enamored with us as we are with ourselves, and, what's more, we want God Himself to be so taken with us that He makes all His thoughts revolve around us as if we were the center and ultimate end of all His plans.

Our self-centeredness is the heart of our pride and the foundation of our rebellion against God. —@BurkParsons

Our self-centeredness is the heart of our pride and the foundation of our rebellion against God. We not only want to know as God knows, we want to inform God in what He knows. Just as our archnemesis deceived our first parents, so we, too, often fall prey to his schemes when we ignore God's law, negotiate our selfish desires with God, compromise His truth, rationalize our sin, and then attempt to hide from Him by closing our eyes and pretending He doesn't see us.

Continue reading Theological Narcissism, Burk Parsons’ contribution to the March issue of Tabletalk.