The Oxford English Dictionary has two relevant definitions for pride:

1. A feeling of deep pleasure or satisfaction derived from one‘s own achievements, the achievements of one’s close associates, or from qualities or possessions that are widely admired
2. The quality of having an excessively high opinion of oneself or one’s importance

It seems to me that the Christian sin is the second one.

For the first form, it seems to me that pride has to be earned; it’s not something that one can just feel whenever one wishes. I can see how false pride would be a bad thing, but that’s really a form of arrogance.

Aristotle considered pride the greatest of all virtues. It’s a big leap from there to the worst of all sins.

For me, pride is a psychological reward that we earn from living our values; from being just, honest, having integrity, and so on. Living unethically destroys the chance for pride — so I don’t understand how that goes along with pride being a sin.

Perhaps it’s that in order to feel pride, one must live for themselves? Is that the aspect that’s sinful?