Hi John,
First, I’m glad you and the elders have taken a stand and have chosen, through God’s leading, to lead us away from the Vineyard. I’ve read the documents carefully and am confident that you are taking the best of what the Vineyard was into a fellowship newly regenerated in the image of God.
About this morning’s message, I have the following ideas. For most of us, the problem is not that we love ourselves too much, it is that we hate ourselves too much. Self-hatred leads to (or comes from) self-judgment and a desire to punish ourselves. This judgment and punishment really sets us up as our own god, which is a form of idolatry.
Self-hatred and idolatry cannot coexist with love of God within the same person.
If you are not a Christian it may be that the opposite of self-hate is self-love. But, if you are a Christian, you must renounce the self-hate, which is idolatry, and fill up instead with love of God and all that entails.
Maybe this sounds like I’m disagreeing with what you said (or maybe you see ramifications that lead me into a contradictory position), but I don’t think I disagree with anything in today’s message.
The answer to self-hate is not self-love and maybe there are therapists that head in that direction. While I don’t agree with anyone teaching self-love, I do think some people need help with letting go of the idolatry that is self-hate.
Just a few thoughts…Michael Sprague
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