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Leviticus states that one should love their neighbor as themself. It seems that some people a completely selfless and live only to serve others. If this is true, it is contradicting what it says in Leviticus. What are your thoughts on this?

Not a contradiction in the understood sense. If you, for example, like to live in a clean and safe neighborhood, you will like all your neighbors to be safe. But sometimes self-love exceeds the required amount, so it becomes more of an obstacle than a solution. Because each of us has his own perspective on self-love, and as long as my self-love or help-love doesn't hurt or suffocate others around me, it will be a mutual victory. But the thing I personally experienced is that no one will love you as they love themselves, even the closest people. It is a human instinct that often dominates. Consequently, you will not be able to offer healthy love to anyone if you do not know how to love yourself first.

Yes, it is possible to love someone without extending the same love to yourself. Fear is the common cause of that.

Of course. I have seen people sacrifice to prove their love to others, especially romantic love. You do more jobs that drain you just to raise enough to give a lover a good life. That to me sounds the same as not loving yourself but loving someone else.

Gerry Steen wrote: ↑08 Oct 2024, 21:09 Leviticus states that one should love their neighbor as themself. It seems that some people a completely selfless and live only to serve others. If this is true, it is contradicting what it says in Leviticus. What are your thoughts on this?

Love and service to others is also an expression of love. No one gives what they do not have, ability to love means its possible. Eating daily and skincare is a type of self-love

Joule Mwendwa wrote: ↑10 Oct 2024, 09:36 Of course. I have seen people sacrifice to prove their love to others, especially romantic love. You do more jobs that drain you just to raise enough to give a lover a good life. That to me sounds the same as not loving yourself but loving someone else.

The person compliments you, gives you joy, gives your life a meaning and something what living for, I still see it as love.

How you love yourself will reflect on how you love others, and vice versa.
If you serve others because you are so full of love that you can share it with others, this is loving both toward yourself and others. If you sacrifice something, you do so through love.
If you serve others while suffering yourself and over-sacrificing, that is not loving. Does love go hand in hand with pain and suffering if we assume these are consequences of sin? What feeling drives you—are you filled with love, or are you motivated by a desire to please, fear, etc.? The most important thing is what is inside yourself: the feeling, and the motivation behind your actions.
The choice is to suffer, hurt, and struggle, or to dissolve pain, suffering, and sin in love. Perhaps it is about the internal struggle within a person—what prevails: pain or love.

Owuamanam Eberechukwu wrote: ↑10 Oct 2024, 12:21

Joule Mwendwa wrote: ↑10 Oct 2024, 09:36 Of course. I have seen people sacrifice to prove their love to others, especially romantic love. You do more jobs that drain you just to raise enough to give a lover a good life. That to me sounds the same as not loving yourself but loving someone else.

The person compliments you, gives you joy, gives your life a meaning and something what living for, I still see it as love.

But not all do that

To truly understand love, you must learn to love yourself first, then all these things will be added to you. Jesus teaches us to love our neighbor as we love ourselves. So even he expects us to love ourselves. This is the temple God provided us to live in, and he expects us to love and take care of it, not to the point of obsession, but with a Godly love.

Not a contradiction at all. For someone to become a selfless person, they must learn to love themselves first. If one did not love themselves, how could they show love to another?

To be honest, I've always thought that loving yourself and loving others are deeply interconnected. It's hard to truly love someone else if you don't have a positive relationship with yourself.

I think loving others and serving others are different things. Service comes out of duty while love can be expressed in different ways. I agree with Leviticus that one should love their neighbor as they love themselves. Those who don't love themselves are reckless with themselves. Hence, they cannot show compassion and care towards others.

Yes I do believe that it is possible to love someone else without loving yourself. But then you would be acting very selfishly to your self because how do you love someone else without loving yourself first. The bible says love your neighbour ad you love yourself. So if you don't love yourself, then how do you love someone else

You cannot give what you don't have. So if you cannot love yourself then you cannot love someone else. Even the Bible said to love our neighbors as we love ourselves.

I think Leviticus calls for a balance between loving others and valuing oneself. If someone is entirely selfless and neglects their own well-being, they might be missing the part of the command that says "as yourself." To truly love others, I believe you must first have a healthy sense of self-respect and care. If not, it can lead to burnout or resentment. Loving yourself allows you to serve others from a place of strength, rather than depletion, which aligns with the spirit of Leviticus' message.