SO CALLED "LOVE"

Understanding the concept of love 

In the Greek language there are four words for love; 

1. Agape:  ἀγάπη it refers to divine love, unconditional love with stick-ability; Agape is the highest of the four types of love in the Bible. Jesus Christ showed this kind of divine love to his Father and to all humanity. 
2. Storge:  στοργή it refers to parental love; Even though this Greek word for family love is not specifically found in Scripture, examples of it are seen throughout the Bible. 
3. Philia: φιλία it refers to brotherly love, enjoyment, fondness, friendship; Philia is the type of love in the Bible that most Christians practice toward each other.  
4. Eros: ἔρως it refers to romantic love, marital/sexual love

There is no fifth kind to this category that today many lovers would die to talk/argue about: the love between a girl and a boy, in some instance, b & b or g & g. 

Such love is actually an emotional state of an individual who is deeply infatuated to other human being (male to male, male to female, female to female). 

Today it's unanimously called love because it is mistakenly named love by our predecessors without any thought. 

Such so called love is of three kinds: 

The first one is an immature infatuation towards an individual that one finds to be more attractive or beautiful; the drive, here, is immaturity. This kind of love is usually experienced during adolescent years. Many call this as first love or first crush and recall it as foolish and funny tender days of their lives. Such infatuation can also happen in later years of an individual's life but will still remain immature because it involves the lust of our eye. 

The second kind is the attraction towards other's body. The drive here is the lust of flesh that seeks to find its fulfillment in partner's body by involving in a physical relationship. 

As once someone said, "The best buy of lust can be through love". And this is seen quite often than the usual these days.

The third kind, which is the good one, is an individual's attraction towards one's persona. This kind requires a management skill to perceive such characteristics in an individual that sees partner as an apt candidate to meet all his/her subjective marital/social/fiscal standards and finally seeks to marry with proper approach. 

And many such so called love-relations we see every then and now emerges out of second kind which is lust. That's why we see among youngsters a trend of hopping in relationships or frequently changing their partners in a disguising vague name of love. And such love is so frequent that it happens to them every second morning to every second face they see. This is insatiable, therefore, leads to simultaneous multiple relationships. Finally leads to post break up trauma and depression. And it's not hard to witness this in our sex-driven postmodern society. 

A Jewish research shows that after having spent a period of time in a relationship (pre-marital) or multiple relationships it's hard for an individual to be committed in a single (post-marital) relationship because the gum of binding is lost. This, eventually, leads to infidelity in marital life. Therefore, things like live in relationships are very trendy in our times because no one wants to be answerable/accountable about their relationship's limits to anyone anymore. 

Out of these three disguises of love, it should not be called love any longer but infatuation, lust and management. The third one which is management is most acceptable among the three and to an extent is Biblical. Because it doesn't lead one towards the sin of lust neither leads towards an immature relationship through infatuation, which, eventually is a dramatic waste of energy, time and money.

Another reason it should be named management because it requires careful philosophizing of one's purpose of life, therefore, right selection of life partner who meets all the demands and then gradually develops caring attitude towards the partner which is the golden key for any relationship to last (seen mostly in traditional arrange marriages). 

So let's stop using the word love by seeing such so called affairs around us, instead, use the more clearly defining words like; infatuation, attraction (lust) or management.

Bible says LOVE never fails/fads; so if it fails/fads its not LOVE then but something else purposefully disguised in the apparel of LOVE. 

To Be Continued...!!!! 

Image Source: https://www.google.co.in/imgres?imgurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.icytales.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2015%2F09%2FLove-vs-Logic.jpg&imgrefurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.icytales.com%2Fthe-g-d-discussion-love%2F&docid=MawNK755bjntxM&tbnid=yiF4WKt6nmeGZM%3A&vet=10ahUKEwiTkLD9hfvSAhWLpI8KHRmRAooQMwhbKCQwJA..i&w=2880&h=1800&noj=1&bih=629&biw=1364&q=love&ved=0ahUKEwiTkLD9hfvSAhWLpI8KHRmRAooQMwhbKCQwJA&iact=mrc&uact=8#h=1800&imgrc=yiF4WKt6nmeGZM:&vet=10ahUKEwiTkLD9hfvSAhWLpI8KHRmRAooQMwhbKCQwJA..i&w=2880 

The Four Loves is a book by C. S. Lewis which explores the nature of love from a Christian and philosophical perspective through thought experiments

Read More

IS GOD A FRIEND?

Bible, in many places, through various lives, events and parables, talks about maintaining a strong relationship with God. However, this article is a chronological probe into the origin and development of God-Man relationship.  

First thing first, when God created Adam, ironically and initially Eve wasn’t there (BTW, I thoroughly accept woman as God's creation equal to man in all respect; no offence of inequality here). This tells us something vital to cognize in the Edenic scenario. God wanted to have a relationship with Adam and this relationship was to be so concentrated only between God and Adam that even the idea of woman's creation was not conceived in the first place. This was the primary purpose of man's creation, I suppose, that God desired to be with man (an ultimate free creature not as robot, with the capacity to choose to relate with God deliberately) in a relationship, with no interruption whatsoever. subsequently, we find another creature formed as man needed or desire (Genesis 2: 20 b. But for Adam there was no help found to meet him ERV) and sin followed in the form of disobedience. Eventually, the relationship with God was lost. And in order to restore the relationship God with all His mercy made multiple attempts and ended up developing: King-subject relationship and Father-Son relationship. 

Let’s look at them little more closely and find whether God was really able to restore the way He intended the relationship to be initially with man. 

1. KING-SUBJECT RELATIONSHIP

KING; this is how people in the Old Testament saw God. They never understood the Edenic relationship which God wanted them to have. They saw God as high, most powerful, sovereign King of whom everyone is subject and has to obey Him without any failure. Right from the call of Abraham till the advent of Christ we find man understood God in relation to His Kingship. And, if anyone want to see, this portrayal of God happens to appear throughout Old Testament. This was not the kind relationship which God initially planned for man because this kind of relationship has its drawbacks and limitations. When you see someone as your king; fear and demanded-respect follows. Everything becomes mandatory and eventually formality. Though this relationship was not as Edenic but something to be appreciated about this relationship was that it was far better than the after-fall animosity between the two. 

2. FATHER-SON RELATIONSHIP

Later, in the New Testament, we see Jesus, God Himself, coming in the form of man, calling himself Son of God. This introducing of the ‘Son-Father relationship’ grew as ulcer in hearts of Pharisees and Sadducees. They could not comprehend God being father and having children, in result Jesus had huge opposition so that the theologians have today. And Jesus, making condition worse, offered everyone to believe and become the sons and the daughters of God. (John 1) Unbearable, as it appeared to all the Jewish community. Because they cant imagine God having children. 

Father-son relationship again has many limitations. This relationship can't be compared with the relationship God intended for man. This could be seen in every family.  All are not comfortable and free to share everything with their father or mother. As far as need is concerned being sons and daughters, one can approach to father but if it something confidential, more sinister or anything we all know as children, we tried our best to hide it from our father. And may be in childhood it was close relation but as we grew it became less intimate or got limited to need-fulfilment. Simply say, we were not as comfortable as could have been in some other relationship. 

This was again not as Edenic but came with more improvements then the Old Testament King-subject relationship. 

3. FRIENDLY RELATIONSHIP 

Now after a while, we see Jesus, again, bringing final improvement in the relationship and called man friend (John15). 

This is the culmination or the zenith of all relationship. Where you come to a place where you can call God your friend. And as we know and experience every day of our life that friendship is the only relationship which has no boundaries and confidentiality between the people who are relation on this bound relationship. 

Nothing to hide, nothing to feel shame about, no confidentiality, no fear of being disclosed, no fear of being punished, no feeling of loneliness.

This epitome of relationship match precisely to the Edenic relation that God had initially planned. God never meant His people to see or regard Him as King, father or whatever but only an intimate related being which only falls in relationship of friendship. Evan to Abraham God called friend.

Now some may argue HUSBAND-WIFE relationship to be the BEST but we should understand this relationship is apparently symbolic not practical (Paul talks about it to believers who were in disunity, not willing to submit to the authority. So Paul portrayed Jesus, symbolically, as the bride for all to submit themselves to Him as wives to husbands; and also in Revelation, Jesus is presented as lamb, who would marry His bride, to fill the readers with hope amidst hopeless and turmoil).

However, this relation of friendship to be actualized, requires a huge amount of maturity from the side of the one who want to establish it. Anyone newly converted would require a lot/less of time to come to this place, which solely depends on passion which one has to get intimated with God in the relation.  

Image Source: http://fearlesslifestyleculture.typepad.com/.a/6a0120a54c44fc970b014e8b9cbe17970d-pi

Read More