Questions

[Angelica00]

I would like to know if what I think is heresy. How can we know, in fact, if something is heretical?
I believe that every human being is allowed to have a minimum of self-love—a kind of appreciation for one's own life that sustains it, that prevents suicide or the total depreciation of God's work. Including the ungodly, even if they do not have the true source of love. Is thinking like this heresy?

 

[Edward429451]

I would like to know if what I think is heresy. How can we know, in fact, if something is heretical?
I believe that every human being is allowed to have a minimum of self-love—a kind of appreciation for one's own life that sustains it, that prevents suicide or the total depreciation of God's work. Including the ungodly, even if they do not have the true source of love. Is thinking like this heresy?

(You asked), yes it is.

It is impossible to follow Jesus with your eyes on yourself.

Think about it. ...allowed to have self love... is code talk for I think, I want, I feel. God don't care what you think. God don't care what you want. God don't care how you feel. You can do those things within your free will and God will leave you alone.

Or...you can do it God's way whether you understand it or not.

It's up to you but claiming right to self love is walking away from God.

 

[GaryA]

@Angelica00 - I partially disagree with the post that @Edward429451 made; however, I will have to address it later to explain why. The main thing is that it is a matter of priority. The "self love" that the world preaches is bad - I have no doubt about that. But, I believe there is a "good" form of 'self love' that is legitimate.

 

[ChristRoseFromTheDead]

Wasn't this already discussed in another thread?

 

[studentoftheword]

I believe that every human being is allowed to have a minimum of self-love—a kind of appreciation for one's own life that sustains it,

Self love comes from our human love which is unstable and will always fail ------it is demanding
---self love is a process you have to adopt all by yourself through your own effort ------it is self effort driven and takes much work to get to love yourself -----we are flawed human beings in our Sin Nature --

God's Agape is supplied by and through the Holy Spirit--- it is a gift a first fruit ----So Agape is given to us when we receive Jesus and so your out of self love -----and into God's Love --Agape

Big difference ----

What your trying to do is bring human love into God's love and that means your trying to keep One Foot in the World's way of loving one's self by self effort ------

and One foot in God's way of supplying His Love to you through the Holy Spirit -----

it doesn't work -----your wither in self love or your in Agape ---you cannot be in both ----- it is like you can't be in Fear and in Faith at the same time -----your either in worldly fear --or your in God's Faith


AI


Self-love is demanding
because it requires active, consistent effort to break lifelong patterns of self-criticism, process past traumas, and set firm boundaries, often fighting against a societal tendency toward self-neglect or people-pleasing.

It is not merely passive pampering but a difficult, daily practice of taking responsibility for one's own emotional well-being and worth.

Key reasons why self-love is demanding:

Rewiring Internal Dialogues: It requires replacing deep-rooted self-doubt and negative self-talk with compassion, which is challenging if not experienced during childhood.

Confronting Pain: True self-love often involves addressing past trauma, dealing with uncomfortable emotions, and stopping the urge to escape pain through distractions or unhealthy habits.

Setting Boundaries: It demands the uncomfortable, high-stakes work of setting limits with others to protect your own mental and physical energy.

It’s a Process, Not a Destination: It is not a goal to be achieved but a daily, often uncomfortable, commitment to nurturing yourself despite feelings of unworthiness.
.

 

[timf]

Is thinking like this heresy?

You should probably define your terms. Biblical love is self sacrifice. It is assumed that one sacrifices enough to keep himself alive and provide for himself much more than is necessary for survival.

I do not see this as the type of love to which you refer. Emotional affection and other feelings can complicate this subject. There is room in Christianity for different opinions.

Rom 14:5 One man esteemeth one day above another: another esteemeth every day alike. Let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind.

Heresy has more to do with denominational doctrines, unless it is something like saying the Jesus did not die for our sins.

 

[tablet123]

I would like to know if what I think is heresy. How can we know, in fact, if something is heretical?
I believe that every human being is allowed to have a minimum of self-love—a kind of appreciation for one's own life that sustains it, that prevents suicide or the total depreciation of God's work. Including the ungodly, even if they do not have the true source of love. Is thinking like this heresy?

Eph 5:29 For no man ever yet hated his own flesh; but nourisheth and cherisheth it, even as the Lord the church.

Mat 5:45 That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust.

Mat 5:46 For if ye love them which love you, what reward have ye? do not even the publicans the same?

Just because we are sinners does not mean we will not love ourself.

The fact that we were sinners selfish, greedy, basically caring about ourself, testifies we loved ourself.

I say the sinners love themselves too much and think highly of themselves and their prosperity.

When we were sinners we loved ourselves.

When we come to God and are saved we are learning to love people as well as ourself on an equal level.

Which love is the fulfilling of the law.

If the heathen love people that love them then they are capable of loving themselves.

God is love and He rains on the just and unjust which they both have benefits according to this world.

God is the source of love but He is not going to deny people loving themselves.

But of course a person that loves themself without God will have its faults.

They can get depressed, unhappy, and situations can get them down.

Which they can do things to escape like drugs.

They can develop a behavior of not liking themselves as much because of their behavior lashing out at people or their sins making them ashamed.

There are situations in their life that can make them not like themselves as much.

Which they cannot combat it like a saint can.

Repenting of our sins turning from sins gives us a clear conscious feeling good about ourself.

Joy that no person can take away.

The people that go against us that joy will still be there.

We can lose happiness because it is controlled by us.

But joy is controlled by God so no matter what happens we do not lose that joy.

That is why the joy of the LORD is our strength for it keeps us loving people and carrying on in our Christian walk.

Peace that passes all understanding.

Power, love, and a sound mind.

The world can love itself but it can have faults.

Those faults can bring them to God as they want a better life.

 

[rewriter]

Let me make a couple observations. First, the root word from which we get "heresy" just means "different". Heresies were not considered really major issues until after the Council of Nicaea, and then only because they determined who was eligible for imperial funding and who was not. Nicaea voted against the Arian heresy because the emperor, who was actively dispensing cash, did not like it.

As for self-love, we are commanded to love our neighbor as ourselves. This is very hard to do unless one does love themselves. Now virtually always, our self-love is corrupted due to sin, but that holds true for both Christians and non-Christians alike until the issue of sin is totally removed by God and that will not happen while we remain physical.

 

[ChristRoseFromTheDead]

Love yourself and love others and don"t worry about it. Stop listening to guilt-trippers who say loving yourself is wrong.

 

[Dino246]

I would like to know if what I think is heresy. How can we know, in fact, if something is heretical?
I believe that every human being is allowed to have a minimum of self-love—a kind of appreciation for one's own life that sustains it, that prevents suicide or the total depreciation of God's work. Including the ungodly, even if they do not have the true source of love. Is thinking like this heresy?

No, it is not heresy. I don’t know if you read my response to your first thread, but it is relevant to this question.

 

[Edward429451]

Luke 14:
26 If any man come to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple.

27 And whosoever doth not bear his cross, and come after me, cannot be my disciple.

28 For which of you, intending to build a tower, sitteth not down first, and counteth the cost, whether he have sufficient to finish it?.../KJV

Love yourself and love others and don"t worry about it. Stop listening to guilt-trippers who say loving yourself is wrong.

So do we stop listening to the word of God also?

 

[GWH]

I would like to know if what I think is heresy. How can we know, in fact, if something is heretical?
I believe that every human being is allowed to have a minimum of self-love—a kind of appreciation for one's own life that sustains it, that prevents suicide or the total depreciation of God's work. Including the ungodly, even if they do not have the true source of love. Is thinking like this heresy?

A crisis that threatened a Philippian jailer with death prompted him to ask Paul and Silas the most important question in life: “What must I do to be saved?” (Acts 16:30) This question regarding God's requirement for salvation (GRFS) is most important, because—as sinful and mortal souls—we need saving from corruption, both moral and physical. We need saving from physical death if we value or enjoy life, and we need saving from immorality or evil-doing if it results in unhappy existence, especially after this lifetime.

Jesus expressed GRFS succinctly by saying “Repent” (Matt. 4:17) and “Ask… seek… knock…” (Matt. 7:7, Heb. 11:6, Isa. 45:19), implying that God gives every sinful soul the ability to repent and seek salvation (cf. 1Tim. 2:3-4, 2Tim. 2:25, Ezek. 33:11), which might be why Paul said sinners are saved “by grace through faith” (Eph. 2:8-9, Tit. 2:11). Seeking God is the beginning of saving faith, and not repenting or rejecting God’s salvation in Christ is the essence of evil atheism or faith in I-dolatry (Rom. 3:11, 1:18-23).

The reply of Paul and Silas to the jailer was, “Believe in the Lord Jesus.” (Acts 16:31). This is GRFS in a nutshell: “Accept Christ Jesus as Lord” (as also in 2Cor. 4:5 & Col. 2:6). The main points of Christian orthodoxy implicit in this statement can be explained or elaborated as follows:

1. There is a/one all-loving and just Lord or Creator God (Deut. 6:4, John 3:16, 2Thes. 1:6), who loves sinful humanity (Rom. 5:6-8, John 3:16) and who is both able (2Tim. 1:12) and willing (1Tim. 2:3-4, Ezek. 33:11) to provide all morally accountable human beings salvation or heaven—a wonderful life full of love, joy and peace forever.
2. Human beings are selfish or sinful (Rom. 3:23, 2Tim. 3:2-4, Col. 3:5), miserable (Gal. 5:19-21), and hopeless (Eph. 2:12) or hell-bound at the judgment (Matt. 23:33 & 25:46) when they reject God’s salvation (John 3:18, Rom. 2:5-11).
3. Jesus is God’s Messiah/Christ and incarnate Son, the way that God has chosen (John 3:16, Acts 16:30-31, Phil. 2:9-11) of providing salvation by means of his atoning death on the cross for the payment of the penalty for the sins of humanity (Rom. 3:22-25 & 5:9-11), followed by his resurrection to reign in heaven (1Cor. 15:14-28).
4. Thus, every person who hears the NT Gospel needs to repent and accept God’s grace or justification in Jesus as Christ/Messiah the Lord or Supreme Commander (Luke 2:11, John 14:6, Acts 16:31), at which moment God’s loving Holy Spirit of Christ indwells/baptizes the believer into the church (Rev. 3:20, Rom. 5:5, 1Cor. 12:13).
5. Loving Christ Jesus as Lord (Luke 2:11), God the Son (Matt. 16:16) or God in the human dimension (Col. 2:9) means reflecting divine love (DL) as empowered by the Holy Spirit, thereby obeying His command to love one another (Matt. 7:21, 22:37-40, John 13:35, Rom. 13:9)—forever (Matt. 10:22, Psa. 113:2), which will eventually achieve spiritual maturity on earth and heaven after Christ returns at God’s resurrection (John 14:6, 17&26, Rom. 8:6-17, Gal. 6:7-9, Eph. 1:13-14, Phil. 3:12-16, Heb. 10:36, 12:1, Jam. 1:2-4).

GRFS may be denoted by the use of the Greek word kerygma, meaning proclamation or preaching, referring to the good news (Gospel) concerning salvation to heaven and from a just hell (the DOD, cf. Rom. 1:16, Gal. 1:6-12, Col. 1:21-23). This Gospel was preached by Peter (in Acts 2:22-24) and summarized by Paul (in 1Cor. 15:1-8). The salient points include: Jesus was a man (1Tim. 1:16), accredited by his sinless life (Heb. 4:15) and ministry (John 10:37-38) to be God’s Messiah, who died on a cross as the sacrifice for humanity’s sins (Rom. 3:25), but who was resurrected from the dead to show his divinity (1Cor. 15:20, Rom. 1:1-4). Messiah is the Way to heaven (John 14:6).

The kerygma/GRFS should be every Christian’s creed, and only belief in this crucial truth should be viewed as a test for orthodoxy or heresy. As Paul wrote in Romans 10:9, “If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.” Conversely, judgments concerning a person’s spiritual orientation or ultimate destiny should not be made on the basis of didachaic or secondary doctrines. (If any judgment is made, it should begin with a self-examination per Matt. 7:1&5, 2Cor. 13:5-8).

A major reason many Christians throughout history have not manifested the love and unity of God’s Spirit (Eph. 4:3) as well as they should is because of failure to realize this truth. If they did, it would free them to speak honestly and fellowship without becoming unduly upset about relatively minor issues. They would receive God’s blessing as peacemakers, who draw inclusive circles around people based on the kerygma rather than denominational lines between them due to didachaic differences. Jesus prayed for spiritual unity (cf. John 17:20-23, “May they be one…”). Thus, unity regarding the Gospel is more important than accuracy regarding doctrinal details.

 

[ChristRoseFromTheDead]

Luke 14:
26 If any man come to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple.

27 And whosoever doth not bear his cross, and come after me, cannot be my disciple.

28 For which of you, intending to build a tower, sitteth not down first, and counteth the cost, whether he have sufficient to finish it?.../KJV



So do we stop listening to the word of God also?

It says hate one's life, not one's self. And that doesn't mean hating your life, or your parents, or your children, but to not love those things more than doing God's will. In other words, doing God's will comes first

 

[Roger316]

I would like to know if what I think is heresy. How can we know, in fact, if something is heretical?
I believe that every human being is allowed to have a minimum of self-love—a kind of appreciation for one's own life that sustains it, that prevents suicide or the total depreciation of God's work. Including the ungodly, even if they do not have the true source of love. Is thinking like this heresy?

Think of it this way. Typically, the charge of "heresy" is levied against those who CONFESS heretical ideas. But people are allowed to work through difficult, complex, theological ideas with the guidance of a pastor, a priest or a minister and the Holy Spirit. So, keep on thinking and questioning, and seek the counsel of those who know the Bible.

The opposite of Heresy is orthodoxy, and the orthodox view of salvation is that a person must repent and seek the Lord Jesus for salvation. Should we love the ungodly? By all means, yes, and by our Love they shall know we are Jesus's disciples.

But don't underestimate the power of God to reach down and meet us wherever we are. If we want to talk about minimums, and people like to talk about minimums these days, Paul argues in the first chapter of Hebrews that God is willing to accept anyone who is willing to admit that God exists and that he is a rewarder of those who seek him. {Hebrews 11:6}

 

[tourist]

I would like to know if what I think is heresy. How can we know, in fact, if something is heretical?
I believe that every human being is allowed to have a minimum of self-love—a kind of appreciation for one's own life that sustains it, that prevents suicide or the total depreciation of God's work. Including the ungodly, even if they do not have the true source of love. Is thinking like this heresy?

I believe that your perception is definitely not heresy and is right on target.

 

[Gideon300]

I would like to know if what I think is heresy. How can we know, in fact, if something is heretical?
I believe that every human being is allowed to have a minimum of self-love—a kind of appreciation for one's own life that sustains it, that prevents suicide or the total depreciation of God's work. Including the ungodly, even if they do not have the true source of love. Is thinking like this heresy?

God's righteous requirements include loving our neighbour as we love ourselves. We are made in the image of God, in spite of the nature of sin. The problem is not whether or not we should, but whether or not we can. There is natural love. It's all that the unbeliever has. It's better than the alternative.

So no, I don't agree that it is heresy. What would be heresy is to claim that natural love is good enough for God. It is not. God's love is unconditional. Human love is not.