What saves a Christian in this context
is an awareness of where all love comes from
If the Lord loves me, I must love myself
End of Story
If the Lord loves you, I must love you
End of Story
It is very simple from that context
Here is, what I think anyway, a very interesting, well informed, and carefully considered, Christian perspective on Ayn Rand.
Ayn Rand: The Ayngriest Roguette
http://www.tektonics.org/qt/randayn01.html
Deny self, take up the cross and follow Him.
I am always amazed at folks saying "If the Lord loves me I must love myself." That is straight out of Maslows heirchy of self actualization. Maslow, a Godless atheist, perverts the word of God to twist the meaning of scripture to his own end. To assert that I must first love myself before anyone else can love me is deceitful,....then to ascribe as ordered from Jesus Himself. So.....the logical conclusion is that the price paid by Jesus on the cross defines my value. I don't think so. Jesus love me, not because of me, but In Spite of me.....not because of who I am,....but because of who He is.....God is love, God is kind, God is longsuffering, God is just,....but God is a consumminng fire bringing vengence on those who know not God.
What saves a Christian in this context, or any context, is the shed blood of Jesus and his death, burial, and resurrection, conquering death, hell, the devil and the grave. No exceptions.
The problem is not that we do not love ourselves enough, as the New Agers teach, but that we love ourselves too much. Call it selfishness or self-idolotry. Confound yourselves if you wish, but no man ever yet hated his own flesh. Get a STrongs' Concordance and exegete "hating his own flesh". It is really very simple.
And yes, Jesus did say, "Love your neighbors as yourselves." Love the Lord God with all of your heart, mind, soul, body, and spirit." He also says, "Love not the World, neither the things in the world. If any man love the world the love of the father is not in him. For all that is of the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eye, and the pride of life is of the world and the world passeth away, but the things thereof, but he doeth the will of God abitheth forever.