Questionable Theology

     The other day I was watching a Lindsay Stirling concert on the television. I enjoyed the music and concert a good deal as I quite like her music and dancing. At one point during the show she talked about how, when she is in a dark place, having a good relationship with God helps her tremendously. I thought that was rather nice, but then she went and ruined it. A little later in the concert she said , "I really believe you've got to love yourself before you can love others".

Darn it! YOU get out of here Osteen!

     Its an interesting philosophy. I wonder where she got it from, since it certainly is not in the Bible. In fact, that nice book generally teaches that by loving others, including God, you will then be restored to a right relationship with yourself. According to Matthew 22: 36-40, the greatest commandment is, "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind". I suppose Jesus should have added, "Once you love yourself though, cause you can't love God until ya do that, man."
     I think the reason people get this messed up is actually because of one of the verses that follows this, 39, where it says, "Love thy neighbor as thyself". People therefore assume you must love the self before the neighbor. However, David Guzik, in his commentary on the passage, availible on the Blue Letter Bible website, writes of the passage, "This doesn't mean that we must love ourselves before we can love anyone else; it means that in the same way we take care of ourselves and are concerned about our own interests, we should take care and have concern for the interests of others". There, now you can't say you never learned anything of value reading this little blog.
-Captain Joshua