A clear answer would help. :) Either the Church is "most certainly about the individual" or it is not. I'd appreciate your answer on this.
The individual is saved by belief on the Lord Jesus which then makes him part of the universal “church”, the body of Christ. Not the other way around.
Again and again, your view stresses the individual when discussing Church. And, the OSAS doctrine we don't share comes between us here.
If there is no love of self their can be no reference point of loving “others”.
The reference point is God and His love for us, not our love of our self. That's so contrary to self-sacrifice that Christ taught. I believe this individual emphasis you exhibit leads to a very wrong following of Christ toward "what's in it for me as an individual."
Unless you believe in collective salvation the “church” is simply a collection of individuals who have been saved.
>>And, the OSAS doctrine we don't share comes between us here.<<
There you go again projecting a belief onto me that I don’t subscribe to. Good grief. How many times do I have to mention that tendency of Catholics? Never once have you seen in any of my posts a belief in OSOS. Now unless you believe in that your comment of “we don’t share” is projectionism and indicates a lack of understanding what I am writing.
>>The reference point is God and His love for us, not our love of our self<<
That’s nonsense. Jesus said “love your neighbor as yourself”. Please tell me what that “as yourself” means if it doesn’t mean that there is a reference point of love for others. Jesus did not say “love others as God has loved you”.