Mr. Farah, my brother in Christ,
Very good column! You were "on point" throughout your column!
I have but one question and a personal "confession" concerning the rhetorical question you posed.
Your question was: "Is there really a healthy pride?"
My confession to you is that, as a Christian, I often feel uncomfortable telling a family member or close friend, "I'm proud of you ...(for what you said, did, or demonstrated)."
Maybe this discomfort is because of my intense understanding of sinful pride.
I feel a tinge of this "discomfort" even when complimenting others for demonstrating adherence to a godly lifestyle (i.e. for maintaining their godly integrity in the face of intense worldly opposition, as in the case of my personal friend, Phil Haney).
Joseph, I know what I'm expressing is intended as a form of encouragement, even an affirmation to others. And I'm convinced there are multiple examples of this throughout the Bible.
(God Himself exhibited this kind of "healthy pride" when He said to Satan, "Have you considered my servant, Job? There is none like him in all the earth, a perfect and upright man, one that feared God and escheweth evil.")
My question to you (and to me) is this:
When we are tempted by Satan not to express encouragement and affirmation to others, or when we exhibit a "healthy pride" for others' actions (as God did to Satan relative to Job), are we exposing ourselves to "false guilt" and "unhealthy self-condemnation"?
Remember, "There is no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus"!
Your column focused on the inordinate expressions of self-centered, personal, ungodly pride embraced by the LGBT "community" and their left-leaning supporters and advocates.
What you, I and other Christians intend when we express a "healthy proudness" for others we care for, is something else entirely! Affirming another's personal, positive "testimony" is godly encouragement.
Your servant and friend,
Dan Scarborough