This is for Peter's post on Pan's Labyrinth (which I've already buried).
On the self-sacrifice: I think you are noticing the difference between the natural and the supernatural virtue of sacrifice for another.
As St. Paul puts it, "Indeed, only with difficulty does one die for a just person, though perhaps for a good person one might even find courage to die. But God proves his love for us in that while we were still sinners Christ died for us."
For the obedience, I have this idea I'm mulling over that Legal Positivism breeds anarchists. I'll elaborate later.

Aha! Do tackle Legal Positivism... I've been thinking about trying to take it apart myself on my own blog, particularly as a common pitfall on the path to fuller conversion to Christ.
Posted by: Dave | February 14, 2007 at 11:44 PM