LOVE

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Permalink Reply by Mercy777 on March 16, 2009 at 8:14pm

Hello Cracker, here are a few scriptures to think about,


John 15:13
Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.Would we do this for our neighbor?


John 17:26
I have made you known to them, and will continue to make you known in order that the love you have for me may be in them and that I myself may be in them."

Romans 5:5
And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us.

2 Corinthians 5:14
For Christ's love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died.

1 John 2:5
But if anyone obeys his word, God's love is truly made complete in him. This is how we know we are in him:

1 John 2:15
Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.

1John 4:10
This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for [ Or as the one who would turn aside his wrath, taking away] our sins.

1 John 4:19
We love because he first loved us.

God Bless you,
Mercy

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Permalink Reply by Cracker4Christ on March 17, 2009 at 9:55am

Thank you very much for the reply Mercy. It is much appreciated and I agree with it 100%!!! It does however point me to dig even deeper. When we as Christians talk about our love of God or His love for us we understand and it seems to automatically be put into the proper perspective. This love is so beautiful that I want to share it with the entire world. What gets to me is when the focus of the word "love" is shifted from a religous standpoint to a secular one, everything changes. I am referring to our abilities and understanding of giving and receiving love. This is where the walls start going up. Are we that afraid of love??? The Holy Spirit can and will change peoples hearts.........I guess what i'm driving at here is this: If mankind has such a distorted understanding of love wouldn't be natural for him/her to shun something that he/she is afraid of??? How can we preach the message of love when the word love is so distorted and misunderstood? If we can plant the seed of God's love and at the same time change the human perception of the word love, I think we could help lead more people to God. That's my goal anyway. Please share any thoughts y'all might have..........................Cracker

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Permalink Reply by Leonard T on March 17, 2009 at 2:34pm

Cracker,

This is an important question for the believer to attempt to wrap our minds around. I think that the best definition of love is found in the loving actions of believers that are submitted to Jesus and seek to glorify the Father and carry one anothers burdens. We can teach many truths and define many words, but the greatest impact on a life is that truth in action. John 13:34-35 tells us that they will know we are His disciples because of our love (visible to the world) for one another.

There is an old saying that I think rings true. "Before they care how much we know, they want to know how much we care."

If we want to find a biblical definition for love, the best place to go is the Greek. There we see a clear difference between "Agape" and "Phileo." There is a third word in Greek that is often viewed in the English as love and that is "Eros." "Agape" is the love of God, and is one of His attributes. It is an unconditional love. "Phileo" is the type of love man is capabale of prior to salvation. It is a "brotherly love." This love falls short of the kind of love God wants operating in and through us. It is a conditional love. "Eros" is where we get the word erotic. It is based on selfihness and phsyical aspects and gratification. This si a basic view on the three.

Lord Bless,
LT

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Permalink Reply by Cracker4Christ on March 17, 2009 at 6:45pm

Thank you very much for your input LT. This kind of input is exactly what I am looking for. Boy the Greeks sure seemed to have a pretty good grasp of love. Only trying to expound on what you have already stated, my research shows that the Greeks catergorized love into 5 different types:

1. Eros - a passionate love with sensual desire and longing.

2. Philos - friendship (modern greek) or a dispassionate virtuous love.

3. Agape - unconditional love to all, both friend and enemy.

4. Storge - affection (modern greek) like parents feel for their offspring

5. Thelema - dersire (modern greek) the desire to do something, to be occupied, or to be in prominence.


Given this information, what kind of love is prevalent in todays society? As I see it, Thelema fits the bill. We "love" to eat a certain food, we "love" to be occupied by a movie, or we "love" to have a specific job or title. The greeks may have defined this as a type of love, but this again seems to de-value the essence of love. We may really like food, or a movie, or even a job. But do we honestly "Love" these things? As I said before this seems to desensitize us to the true meaning of love. By over-using the word love, the basic core meaning has been shifted to mean something entirely different. No wonder non-believers can not understand the simple message of love. It has been so polluted that it's just like the water in a river. You can't see anything. Fortunately for everyone, love has no bottom or end to see........................................ Cracker

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Permalink Reply by RoxChelseaGilmore on April 22, 2009 at 10:40am

Speaking about Love Can I tell you something amazing?? I have a boyfriend and he fancies me as a sister and I fancy him as a big brother
He is so handsome

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