Lovers of Self
October 3, 2010

"For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy" (2 Timothy 3:2)

One of the dangerous teachings of the "New Age" movement which has spilled over into modern evangelicalism is the notion of "self-love." Many psychologists--even Christian professional counselors--are attributing society's ills, especially among young people, to the supposed lack of a "positive self-image" or "self-esteem" on the part of those exhibiting anti-social behaviour. What they need, we are told, is to learn to love themselves more, to appreciate their own self-worth. The problem with this idea is that it is both unscriptural and unrealistic. People do not hate themselves. The Bible says that "no man ever yet hated his own flesh" (Ephesians 5:29).

Instead of learning to esteem ourselves, the Scripture commands us each to "esteem other better than themselves" (Philippians 2:3). Even the apostle Paul, near the end of his life, considered himself so unworthy that he called himself the chief of sinners (see 1 Timothy 1:15).

We are told by some Christian leaders that the measure of our great value in the sight of God is the fact that Christ paid such a high price--His own death--to redeem us. The fact is, however, that His death is not the measure of our great value, but of our terrible sinfulness. "Christ died for the ungodly" (Romans 5:6).

In fact, as in our text, the rise of this self-love idea is itself a sign of the last days, when men shall be "lovers of their own selves." It is the main characteristic of "New Age" humanism which is based squarely upon evolutionary pantheism.

Christ died for our sins because He loved us, not because He needed us. We should live for Him in thanksgiving for the "amazing grace, that saved a wretch like me!" HMM

For more . . . .

mmmh topic reminds me of prosperity gospel adherents and preachers!

So olaadegbu? You hate yourself? That would explain a lot.

You're told that you're not worthy to keep you in line, slobbering at the feet of religion.

Doesn't the Bible also tell you that you are part of God? That He is within you and you in Him? By that logic, if you hate yourself, you also hate God.

OLAADEGBU:

Christ died for our sins because He loved us, not because He needed us. We should live for Him in thanksgiving for the "amazing grace, that saved a wretch like me!" HMM
For more . . . .

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When olaadegbu says, "Lovers of self", the "self" he meant(whether he knows it or not) is the false self, the egoic self within which most of us live in and take as our true identity, thus inflicting untold sufferings on ourselves. Lovers of "self" means, lovers of the false self or the EGOIC SELF, or simply the ego. We should endeavor to differentiate here because misunderstanding is very easy to happen if one does not.

Any human being who loves his/her true self(not the egoic/false self) shall be impecable in all he/she does. But to love your true self, you will have to find it first. And this is my problem from religions like christianity because it keeps man from finding his true self by keeping him/her buried deeply inside the false/egoic self for all his/her life.

@Jenwitemi,

Spell "Self" backwards and then add "h" for him or her, what do you get?  Flesh.

"Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God." -- Galatians 5:19-21

This is in sharp contrast with the fruit of the Spirit:

"But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law" -- Galatians 5:22-23

What is ego?  EGO can be described as; [b]E[/b]dging [b]G[/b]od [b]O[/b]ut.  Have you been edging God out of your life because of "self"?

KunleOshob:

mmmh topic reminds me of prosperity gospel adherents and preachers!

Yeah. It also reminds us of those who are too tight with their money that they cannot afford to tithe.

Bastage:

So olaadegbu? You hate yourself? That would explain a lot.

You're told that you're not worthy to keep you in line, slobbering at the feet of religion.

Doesn't the Bible also tell you that you are part of God? That He is within you and you in Him? By that logic, if you hate yourself, you also hate God.

The Bible says that "no man ever yet hated his own flesh" (Ephesians 5:29).

Look at it this way; You cannot say you love God if you hate your brother.

If a man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar: for he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen? And this commandment have we from him, That he who loveth God love his brother also -- 1 John 4:20-21.

Jenwitemi:

When olaadegbu says, "Lovers of self", the "self" he meant(whether he knows it or not) is the false self, the egoic self within which most of us live in and take as our true identity, thus inflicting untold sufferings on ourselves. Lovers of "self" means, lovers of the false self or the EGOIC SELF, or simply the ego. We should endeavor to differentiate here because misunderstanding is very easy to happen if one does not.

Any human being who loves his/her true self(not the egoic/false self) shall be impecable in all he/she does. But to love your true self, you will have to find it first. And this is my problem from religions like christianity because it keeps man from finding his true self by keeping him/her buried deeply inside the false/egoic self for all his/her life.

Now i truly understand you dont read anything more than your biblos of awareness $hiittss. . .because if you do, then you'd have come across passages like this

Rom 7:21-25

21 I find then a law, that evil is present with me, the one who wills to do good.

22 For I delight in the law of God according to the inward man.

23 But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members.

24 O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?

25 I thank God — through Jesus Christ our Lord!

So then, with the mind I myself serve the law of God, but with the flesh the law of sin.

I really should stop here

Nice wordplay, olaadegbu, but it does add any value to your point, because that is all it is, clever wordplay.

And talking about the "flesh", what does that word denote other than things of this world? Things of this world are things we met here, that we did not bring here with us, like physical things(your body, bible, etc) and non-physical things like religious and political ideologies etc. All those are things of the flesh.

OLAADEGBU:

@Jenwitemi,

Spell "Self" backwards and then add "h" for him or her, what do you get?  Flesh.

"Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God." -- Galatians 5:19-21

This is in sharp contrast with the fruit of the Spirit:

"But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law" -- Galatians 5:22-23

What is ego?  EGO can be described as; [b]E[/b]dging [b]G[/b]od [b]O[/b]ut.  Have you been edging God out of your life because of "self"?

Jenwitemi:

Nice wordplay, olaadegbu, but it does add any value to your point, because that is all it is, clever wordplay.

And talking about the "flesh", what does that word denote other than things of this world? Things of this world are things we met here, that we did not bring here with us, like physical things(your body, bible, etc) and non-physical things like religious and political ideologies etc. All those are things of the flesh.

The Word of God puts it proper perspective and it reads thus:

"Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.  For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.  And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever." -- 1 John 2:15-17

You can see from the Scriptures that God commanded that we should not love this world's system at all. The love of the world consists of the lust of the flesh which is earthly, the lust of the eyes, sensual; the pride of life (devilish), and all these passes away with the worldly system but those who abide in the will of God abides eternally.

Tonye-t:

Now i truly understand you dont read anything more than your biblos of awareness $hiittss. . .because if you do, then you'd have come across passages like this

Rom 7:21-25

21 I find then a law, that evil is present with me, the one who wills to do good.

22 For I delight in the law of God according to the inward man.

23 But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members.

24 O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?

25 I thank God — through Jesus Christ our Lord!

So then, with the mind I myself serve the law of God, but with the flesh the law of sin.

I really should stop here

Good job.

The Self Life

"O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?" (Romans 7:24)

This despondent cry follows Paul's disturbing monologue on the inner strife between his two natures (Romans 7:13-24).  Here the apostle describes the conflict that goes on in the life of every Christian, until the self-life is completely subjugated and the will of Christ reigns supreme.  The ascendancy of self is indicated in these verses by the fact that the personal pronouns "I," "me," "my" are used no less than 35 times in verses 15-24 alone as Paul records his inner thoughts and feelings (e.g., "that which I do I allow not: for what I would, that do I not; but what I hate, that do I"--v. 15).  Such a testimony is pervaded with introspection, relating everything to self instead of to Christ.  No wonder the conclusion is so miserable: "O wretched man that I am!"

Unfortunately, this is the status of most Christians whose interests are almost completely self-centred.  Most Christian books and sermons are designed to appeal to such personal interests, and the explosive modern growth of Christian professional "counseling" likewise reflects the existence of multitudes of self-centred Christians.

But the happy and useful Christian is the one whose concerns and activities centre around others and who earnestly seeks to follow and honour Christ and His Word.  And this is exactly the conclusion to which the apostle Paul comes in his melancholy soliloquy.  "Who shall deliver me from the body of this death?" he cries. Immediately the answer comes: "I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord" (Romans 7:24-25).

We do still have to battle the old nature, but in Christ we have both the incentive and power to "put off the old man with his deeds" (Colossians 3:9), and to "put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness" (Ephesians 4:24). HMM