The Need For Self-Love

There are sinful attitudes one could take towards one's own self that have nothing to do with arrogance.  Instead of revolving around a wrongly heightened understanding of oneself, they revolve around a wrongly lessened view of oneself.  As a result, self-love can be demonized and misunderstood, yet the Bible insists on the opposite.  It is not just that self-love is a helpful but unnecessary part of Christian life for those who are not ruled by selfishness; it is actually true that self-love is a fundamental part of Christian morality as described in Leviticus 19:18 and Matthew 22:37-40, as God instructs people to love their neighbors as themselves.

In other words, Christians sin when they think less of themselves than they truly are in light of Christian theology, and this is of no small importance.  It is indeed sinful to think of oneself as having greater value than one possesses (as in thinking oneself above God) or to think of oneself as having value for the wrong reasons (because of one's gender, race, nationality, beauty, and so on), and to think less of other people on such grounds is the associated error.  However, Christian theology does not teach that only other people are made in God's image and therefore have certain rights.  The Bible extends this to all people.

As such, it is sinful to trivialize one's own metaphysical status for the same reason it is sinful to trivialize another person's metaphysical status, regardless of whether or not they are Christians.  To regard oneself as having no value or deserving any kind of unjust treatment is therefore just as vile according to Biblical morality as it is to regard anyone else as being worthless or deserving of injustices.  As aforementioned, this actually goes beyond a mere mistake in self-perception to a concrete example of sin.

This is not the attitude many Christians are pressure to have in the evangelical church.  It is not abnormal to find Western Christians who are even pressured to not affirm their own Biblical rights when they are mistreated by abusers or to intentionally think so little of themselves that they neglect their own nonsinful psychological needs.  Rather than develop moral or spiritual character, such pressures reveal that a congregation, no matter how "benevolent" they are, is actually philosophically inept and adrift in delusions about Christian spirituality and ethics.

Only when a Christian regards and treats themselves and others justly do they fulfill the obligation of Leviticus 19:18.  To neglect either the love of others, which is merely about treating them justly instead of affectionately or in a subjectively appealing manner, or the love of oneself is to violate the command.  Because of this, it is outright irrational and contrary to the Bible to insist that a person ignore their own moral rights, psychological needs, and personal development in favor of others.  In fact, one must love one's own self in order to best understand how to love others.