Self-Love And Moral Freedom

Self-love, as opposed to selfishness, is at a minimum no less righteous than love of others if everyone bears God's image (Genesis 1:31).  In fact, since one's own mind is the only one a non-telepathic being can know exists, and neither individual nor group whims make something morally binding anyway, it is folly to think loving others necessarily entails submission to them, be they a stranger, authority figure, parent, sibling, or even a spouse.  That is, it does not entail submission via tolerance (which is stupid or evil) or mercy (which cannot be obligatory because it would mean justice is not, though justice is treating people as they deserve).

Biblical or rationalistic love of others is not universal, unconditional support for them in all of their, for non-rationalists, folly.  One is free to love oneself in the same way: as long as one does not intentionally harbor affection for any irrationality or other sin in oneself that one must and can overcome, one is in the right to celebrate and explore one's own being (involuntary feelings and preferences are not the issue, but believing in what is false or doing what is evil).  We are to love our neighbors as ourselves (Leviticus 19:18).  We are to treat ourselves justly and hold ourselves in the same regard as other people, at least when it comes to base human value and rights.

Now, with love of others could come some instances of submission.  Husbands and wives can submit to each other in things like temporarily, consensually abstaining from sex (1 Corinthians 7:2-5) or try to please other Christians in general, non-obligatory individual cases--in the sense of showing them kindness or honoring their amoral wishes (Ephesians 5:21).  With matters like one person preferring another person to never play violent or sexually graphic video games or have no opposite gender friendships, among many other things, love does not require submission.  Reason and morality permit one to do whatever one wants without disregarding these two things themselves (Deuteronomy 4:2).

There is never a legitimately moral need to submit to anyone unless they are on the side of reason and justice and you are not, but each person can independently ensure that they make no assumptions, know logical axioms, discover a great deal about what follows from them by necessity, and be devoted to doing whatever morality might require of them.  If a person is already on the side of reason and God/morality, there cannot be anything necessary about submission to others in this sense.  The moral freedom of all people is to love themselves and to do as they please without betraying reason or morality.

Selfishness is living for the self over reason or obligation.  Rational, Biblical self-love can provide the psychological resolution to never give in to anything but reason, God, justice, and any affiliated thing.  One already has the moral freedom on the Christian worldview to love oneself, which is actually a requirement.  This can be an additional motivator to never take lesser people's wishes into consideration when going about one's life.  Their preferences are irrelevant!  Let any submission be out of knowing, non-fallacious mercy, non-emotionalistic love, or for a matter so trivial or amoral it does not matter how one acts.