No I don’t think these are always the same. I see a big difference in pride and self confidence.
Now they could be the same thing, if your confidence comes from your faith in yourself and your own abilities, but our confidence should come from our faith in our all powerful God.
Look at Psalms 27:1-3, David’s confidence came from God, not in his own strength.
Now compare that to Proverbs 14:16. The fools confidence does not come from God.
You can also be filled with pride and still be totally lacking in self confidence. Thinking yourself worthless, but too proud to ask for help.
Good answer, TentMaker. You should be a preacher...
They are different. My biggest problem is that since I can't always tell when I'm 'proud' vs. 'confident', I often mistake the one for the other.
In any case, a leader must have confidence (or at least show that he does). This is different than being proud. I guess the difference is in what you base the confidence upon...
I just wanted to respond to this part.
I think this is the bases of the question.
Isn't self-confidence having confidence in self?
This is a good thing in terms of the world's thinking.
But in terms of our relationship with God, we should mark out the word "self" and replace it with Christ.
If we depend on Christ, we will not be looking to self for our confidence.
I dont believe so I believe you have to have self-confidence to make it in this world.
God gives me all the self-confidence I need when I trust in Him.
I wouldnt be able to do the job I do on a daily basis without the Lord hanging in there with me giving me the boost I need.