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What is love?

wildthing

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I believe Love is unconditional. To say that I love you for your blond hair, or your car or your position in society is narrow. All these things can leave you. Is love a feeling? no our feeling about people change. Love should be the fact that no matter who or what you are I love you. The best example of Love is what is found in the Bible. God loved us so very much. That his only precious son die for our great wrong done aganist the father. I think about the prodigal son too. Here is guy who want his money and then splits for the high life. When the money is gone and his high life is no more. He out feeding the hogs. He wishs to be back on the farm living the dull life for the dull life was better then this. So he packs up and returns to farm hoping that Pops would take him back. For Pops had been looking for his return. When Pops see him he runs out to see him. He gets new stuff and is welcome back to the family. That is unconditional Love.
 
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HoT-MetaL

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1 Corinthians 13:4-7
Love is patient, love is kind and is not jealous; love does not brag and is not arrogant, 5 does not act unbecomingly; it does not seek its own, is not provoked, does not take into account a wrong suffered, 6 does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth; 7 bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. -- NASV (Bold, Italics added)


This is love.
 
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Ruth_T

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hotmetal said:
1 Corinthians 13:4-7
Love is patient, love is kind and is not jealous; love does not brag and is not arrogant, 5 does not act unbecomingly; it does not seek its own, is not provoked, does not take into account a wrong suffered, 6 does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth; 7 bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. -- NASV (Bold, Italics added)


This is love.

I agree. This is love
 
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LifeInYou

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This is strictly my opinion and everybody has a right to it! :D Heh, no, but this is part of a paper I wrote recently.

Today, in affluent countries such as America, gratifying the self’s desires is, sadly, the primary determination of many, many people. Not only are people working to gratify their needs and wants but, for the most part, they are doing so as immediately as they possibly can. As a result, divorce rates have sky rocketed over the last century. People aren’t getting along with their spouse one day, and the next day they’ve decided to break a life-long vow they committed to years prior. If the kind of satisfaction they first had in marriage with their partner is missing, people believe they’ve “fallen out of love” and resort to divorce because they do not want to feel “unhappy” any longer. Sociologist Glenn Norvall describes marriage in the last decade as “hedonistic.” He finds that American marriages exist to serve needs and wants, and that they only survive “as long as we both shall love.” (Meyers 160)

These scenarios perfectly demonstrate the power that Eros love can have on individuals, but also the deception that Eros brings to the situation as well. What people fail to realize is that Eros love is a love that initially attracts two people. It is a very strong, passionate, consuming feeling of desire. Generally speaking, this love is the driving force in the beginning of a relationship between two lovers. They both are excited for every moment they get to spend with their partner, they feel sick to their stomach when something is wrong in the relationship, and some partners even become insanely jealous at any object or person that posses a threat to the relationship. What people do not understand is that Eros dies down when the object of affection is no longer seen as beautiful. This is not to say that in a marriage, as soon as the feelings of excitement die down, the husband no longer views his wife as beautiful. It is to say that what is seen as beautiful in the eye of the beholder changes. For example, under the spell of Eros, a man at first may be primarily attracted to his wife’s outer beauty. When Eros dies down (perhaps because of wrinkles due to age), however, the husband can choose to find some other quality he finds beautiful about his wife and focus on it. His wife’s faithfulness and her ability to be loyal to him may be what he sees as beautiful. This shifting from one object of beauty to the next will sustain the relationship for some time, but it is not enough to make the relationship last. This is where Agape love must come into play. God’s perfect, unconditional love must fill our hearts so when all of the other, earthly loves (Eros, Storge, and Phileo) fail us, our relationships will not fail. Agape love is the unconditional type of love. “It is patient, and kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, and it keeps no record of wrongs. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, and always perseveres.” (I Cor. 13)

Over the last decade, newspapers, magazines, television, movies, and advertisements of every sort have been portraying women covered with less and less clothing. What is ‘beautiful’ in America today are women who are wearing next to nothing. Companies have realized that sex sells and even restaurants such as Carl’s Jr. have resorted to making commercials with sexual innuendos thrown about in them, in order to sell hamburgers! In an article produced by CNN Money Magazine this morning entitled “Risque ads, risky business?” Kathy Delaney, executive director for the Deutch Ad Incorporation, admitted that "A good ad always needs to have something that….makes [her] connect to the brand on [an] emotional level." (Lee 1) Thus, many advertisers are choosing to use the riotous emotions caused by Eros love, because, as we will come to see a little later, out of the four types of loves, Eros stimulates the most powerful emotion in individuals. Swift technological advancements provide people with the ability to constantly upgrade their cell phones, televisions, cd players, dvd players, cars, and probably just about any appliance one can think of. Today in America, Eros love is driving the world to consume more and more and to obtain more and more material possessions. The presence of Eros in today’s culture can be observed because people so quickly become unsatisfied with just about every object they work so hard to obtain. The King in Shakespeare’s Hamlet concurred with this same notion by saying,

“But that I know love is begun by time;
And that I see, in passages of proof,
Time qualifies the spark and fire of it.
There lives within the very flame of love
A kind of wick or snuff that will abate it;
And nothing is at a like goodness still;
For goodness, growing to a pleurisy,
Dies in his own too much” (Shakespeare 143)


Constantly moving from one item to the next, from one partner to the next, people are frantically searching for intimacy, for happiness, and for ‘true love’ but they are continually being let down in their search…because Eros love does not last.
Storge and Phileo love types are powerful loves indeed, but I believe they do not exert the same amount of power over people as Eros does. Storge is the type of love found within families. It is a love that is automatically given but it survives only when it is needed. Phileo love is the kind you can find within friendships. Not much feeling is evoked in this type of love, as it is the most rational love of all. It is the least “organic, biological, gregarious, and necessary.” (Lewis, The Four Loves, 58) Phileo love survives only if a common bond exists. These two love types are contingent upon various circumstances and they generally require one to conform to a group’s likeness. For example, all families have their set ways in which they conduct themselves. Mothers and fathers by and large pass down ideals to their children, and if the children take different routes or do not follow the ‘family way,’ the parents, often, become flabbergasted or appalled.

In friendships, people are usually required to conform in some way. Have you ever been walking in the mall and come across a young teenager with spikes in his green-streaked hair, wearing converse tennis shoes, and a trench coat? What do you always find standing next to this young man? You usually find another young man, who looks exactly the same. Americans attempt to identify themselves on an individual basis more and more every day. They generally try to avoid groups or situations which seem to want to conform their image to one that it is not. Eros love is a love that gratifies the self. It attends to the self’s need and desires, so Americans in particular, tend to pay more attention to the feelings it incites. Eros reigns with the most influence over people because it produces the most feeling in individuals. And people today, let their feelings and emotions rule their relationships more so than logic or hesed. (Hesed, Hebraic origins (I believe), a word that means to initiate loving-kindness towards another, or to act in one’s best interest, even if it conflicts with the self’s desires) The world believes that love is a feeling, so of course, when the feeling dies out, they think the love has died out.

If the world believes that love is merely a feeling and their relationships are failing, something must be wrong here, no? What is love anyways? Is that not the question that everybody seems to be trying to answer? The Hebraic definition of love, one that the Bible adheres to, says that love is more than a feeling. It says love is an action, it is something you choose to do. In Agape love, action is taken by one partner with the best interest of the other partner in mind. The greatest example the world has of Agape love can be found in the Bible. In Romans 8:31, Paul asks the world, “If God is for us, who an be against us?” “He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?” (NIV Romans 8:32) The Creator of the Universe took the first step of hesed toward mankind. The relationship between mankind and God, prior to the sacrificial death of Jesus Christ, was severed. God acted in our best interest by providing us a way to unite with him, through the blood of Christ. If Hitler had acted with Agape love, six million Jews would have had the chance to live out full lives. If white Americans had acted with Agape love towards African Americans during the Jim Crow Era and the Civil Rights Movement in the late 1950’s thousands upon thousands of African American lives would have been saved.
How then, you ask, can the world love one another in the same way God loves the world? The agent God uses to share and spread His enduring love with the world is through His body of believers. Believers are filled with the love of God because they know that God truly loves them, so they can also, by the power of the Holy Spirit, love others in the way He loves. The church is to be “the salt of the earth.” Agape love, demonstrated by believers, is the love God designates to preserve relationships that fail because they are made up solely of Eros, Phileo, and Storge ingredients. The ingredients of these loves will spoil, but God’s love, Agape love, will never spoil.
Believers who spread Agape love are also to be the “light of the world.” Agape love shines light on all the darkness that the other loves demonstrate when they are in a state of failure. The future of the kingdom of Heaven rests in the hands of God’s people, this is a task that I believe, many Christians do not take as seriously as they should. If Christ is the head of the church, and believers are Christ’s body, are Believers behaving and thinking in every moment of their lives as Christ would behave and think? The task seems insurmountable for Believers at times, but God has given the Holy Spirit to help us. The world can tell fairly quickly how connected a Believer is to The Source (God himself) simply by looking to see how closely his or her behavior resembles Christ’s behavior. If the Salvation of the world is contingent upon how the church behaves, is the church doing all that’s necessary to behave like Christ during every moment in their lives? Believers will only be able to influence the world concerning God’s Agape love for her, if they have influence or ‘standing’ with the world. We must obtain the right to be heard before we speak. Just as a Systems Administrator of a large corporation would not listen to a third grader tell him how to run a computer, in the same way, the world will not hear the voice of the church unless the church had achieved some basic level of respect from it. Respect can be obtained if the church is like-minded. If the church is in unity with one another, people will see that there is organization and cooperation extended throughout the group. The world will hear the church and consider her actions if the church stand firms in her beliefs. The church that is built upon the Rock cannot and should not be shaken. Fence sitters will put doubt in the world’s mind as to how sincere the church is about her mission. The church can inject God’s Agape love into the world by taking action, by loving others the way God loves them. No change will be accomplished in the world if the church loves in the same way the world loves. Not everyone will always feel like loving, but that does not mean that we shouldn’t act in love in spite of this. The world’s conscious will hear the church speak when she speaks in pure Truth. The church must shed light on the darkness of the world. The truth is light, and light will expose darkness. Finally, by persevering in her mission, the church can and will spread God’s Agape love with the world. “Love never fails.” (I Cor 13:8)
Is the church unified in her thought and action? Is she faithful to her purpose? Are believers taking necessary action in their relationships with non-believers to demonstrate God’s Agape love? Is the church speaking in pure truth? And finally, is she persevering day by day by the strength of the Lord? Time is short, and love is taking time out for people. Are we acting with hesed in our time?




 
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mrstace said:
There is so much talk about love, but what really is love? Conway Twitty once sang "Some say love is like a razor and it leaves the soul to bleed". I can relate to that, but what do you say love is?

Hmmm good question. I think there's different types of love. There's parental love, brotherly/sisterly love, and romantic love among others.

I like the 1st corinthians 13 definition of love, it's so beautiful.
 
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kiwichristian

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Love, for me (and Im sure many others) can be a complicated thing, therefore its quite complicated to explain it :D
I think love is not really feelings, but its a state of mind, an attitude. But I agree with the others about the love thats mentioned in 1 Corinthians 13 (one of my favourite chapters in the whole bible!)
 
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JPPT1974

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Love also is hoping, praying, kind of feelings you want from a person and to give that person the feeling of understanding, also it is patient and also is never, ever angry and/or never, ever, full of arrogance, boasting, condescending,envying, heartlessness, painful, & pride!! Also to give than to receive.
 
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Tenorvoice

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A husband is to have 4 kinds of "love" for his wife...........


Scarifical love...willing to die for her at anytime (just as Christ did for the Church)

Purifying love....cleansing love (true love will not defile the other person)

Caring love.....nurrish, Love thier wife in the same way that we treat our body, Provide and protect

Unbreakable love.....Gen. 2:24....anymore need to be said?


Love does not do what it feels, it does what is right!!

True love seeks not its own.

peace
 
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HoT-MetaL

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Just to expand on Tenorvoice's great post, the names for love are as follows.

Eros: Sexual Love
Philia: A 'like' love, "I Philia chocolate."
Storge: A family love, "I love my brother."
Agape: A sacrificial love, such as that found in John 15:13

As a language, English, chose to translate these words for love (there are more, these are the main ones) into one word. When I say to a mate "I love you" I dont want to cook him a romantic meal, and see where the evening ends up! I love him because hes my friend!
When I say to my brother, "I love you." I certainly dont wanna take him out on a hot date! This is stoge love.
When I say to my wife [in the future!] "I love you" at certain times this may be speaking about sexual love, or Eros.
When Jesus died for us, he loved us. This was an Agape love, something sacrificial. At Christmas parents LOVE to give their children parents, even though it has cost them something.

God Bless, metal.
 
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kermit the toad

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hotmetal said:
1 Corinthians 13:4-7
Love is patient, love is kind and is not jealous; love does not brag and is not arrogant, 5 does not act unbecomingly; it does not seek its own, is not provoked, does not take into account a wrong suffered, 6 does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth; 7 bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. -- NASV (Bold, Italics added)


This is love.
It would be hard to say it better. :D
 
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kiwichristian

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Love is desiring to bring out the best in other people.
Love is more of an action than just words
Love is reaching out to people in need with the gospel of Christ.
Love is the opposite of hate (hehe, just thought Id put that in there for fun) :D
 
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