So, I posted my other post (haha that sounds weird) to facebook, and I asked the opinion of many friends on what they thought "Love" is. There were a lot of "um"s and "well"s, but here are the quoted answers (without the names of who actually said them).
There a lot of things that commonly came up, and I'll group the ones that were common together:
Love is wanting the best for someone, willing to do whatever for them, and wanting to be with them no matter what the costs:
1. "Um, I think that it is always wanting the best for someone. Or like always doing what will help them even if it hurts you. It sounds cliche but I know what I’m trying to say."
2. "-True love= true sacrifice.
-Accepting everything in the person, good and bad
-To always want happiness for the person. Nothing but happiness and to do whatever it takes to achieve that
-Trust and loyalty
-Understanding
3. "Um well basically when you would be willing to go out of your way for someone when you would try to find a way to see them even if it's not likely and (next part for guys) be willing to accept the person and care for them and do all the above even if they aren't the most attractive- and if they are it's a bonus."
4. "Personally, I think that love is when you would do or give anything for them to live happy lives, whether you suffer of not."
5. "Love is wanting to be with someone and willing to deal with anything that might occur no matter what. Love is total trust and loyalty towards someone... love is truly always having good intentions for someone. Love is doing anything for someone in any situation..."
Love is 1 Corinthians 3:
6. "You can always use 1 Corinthians 13: 1-13."
Love is Sacrifice:
7. "Love is putting someone above yourself, to do anything for them without once thinking what's in it for you."
8. "As I see it love, is everything (# 5) described but doing what is best for them is the biggest part of love with sacrifice- so sometimes not being with someone can be more loving then being with them if it is for their better good."
Love is Change (get ready for some pretty big head-thumping theology):
9. "I'll say love is change. and the reason is as follows:
When someone truly loves someone, and that someone loves him/her back, he/she changes the partner (not as in choosing someone else to love, but changing the components of a person, if you guys know what I mean), as well as himself/herself being changed. A crush, or one-sided love, is the saddest love because one side is being changed while the other side isn't. As humanity cannot escape their fate of change, love is changing to someone as he/she changes to you. When the couple has reached the mutual point, that's when the marriage happens.
Now, my definition seems to be in contrast with God's love, as God can't change. But, we need to remember that humanity and God were already lovers. Everything was 'good' in the garden, however, it was humanity who turned away from the love. God needed not to change, because God created humanity at such mutual point, in which humanity decided to fall. Christ coming down to earth was call from God for humanity to return to the mutual point, back when they were 'lovers'. I think this is best portrayed in Ted Dekker's Circle series, in the Great Romance. Love is a two-way street, and God already played his part: its humanity who needs to play their part."
Love is something God gave to men:
10. "I think love is something that God has created and given to men and women. If it is a Godly relationship then God will give the true, selfless, undying love to those two people. (1 Corinthians 13)."
Love is a mix of the things said, but you're still not satisfied with what you think it is right now:
11. "One thing I have figured out. Things God made are pretty much impossible to understand completely, but we should always strive to find out as much as we can about them.
So back to LOVE.
I see it as no matter what happens you will never give up on someone. You will never leave them or reject them. You will always try to keep to 1 Cor. 13:1-13. And always try to be there. And that is what I have found, although it just doesn't quite satisfy me. I'm going to keep looking."
And last, but certainly not least, 12.
"I think love is sacrifice. I think it's selflessly giving what you have, all that you have, for other people. Giving your gifts, your talents, your time, your EVERYTHING. Giving up what you want, your own dreams, for the sake of others.
I haven't really come to a complete conclusion, but at the moment this is the conclusion that I've come to."
Ba-boom bam. I wanted to get this post up before I leave the internet for a week, so that I can get responses while I'm gone. Here are some questions that a person had too:
9. "Reading through the [quotes], I just had a question in my mind: Love or justice? In other words, when you are in a situation in which either you have to abandon your love in order for things to get right, or choose to preserve your lover and let justice slip by, which will you choose?"
THAT is a question that I think I will take the time to answer a LOT later, as it doesn't have so much to do with all of the other stuff I'm thinking about/asking at the moment.
Another thing to think about: Any of you know the song "How He Loves"?? If not, the lyrics are in right in this link: go read 'em. The reason I'm putting them in the link is so that this post isn't humongously long and I don't bore you with something huge to read.
Okay nevermind, I'm going to give you something huge to read. This is a Christian song, for those who don't know. Lyrics:
"Verse 1:
He is jealous for me,
Loves like a hurricane, I am a tree,
Bending beneath the weight of his wind and mercy.
When all of a sudden,
I am unaware of these afflictions eclipsed by glory,
And I realise just how beautiful You are,
And how great Your affections are for me.
Pre-Chorus:
And oh, how He loves us so,
Oh how He loves us,
How He loves us all
Chorus 1:
Yeah, He loves us,
Whoa! how He loves us,
Whoa! how He loves us,
Whoa! how He loves.
Yeah, He loves us,
Whoa! how He loves us,
Whoa! how He loves us,
Whoa! how He loves.
Verse 2:
We are His portion and He is our prize,
Drawn to redemption by the grace in His eyes,
If grace is an ocean, we’re all sinking.
So Heaven meets earth like a sloppy wet kiss,
And my heart turns violently inside of my chest,
I don’t have time to maintain these regrets,
When I think about, the way…
Find More lyrics at www.sweetslyrics.com
Chorus 2:
He loves us,
Whoa! how He loves us,
Whoa! how He loves us,
Oh how He loves.
Yeah, He loves us,
Whoa! how He loves us,
Whoa! how He loves us,
Whoa! how He loves.
Verse 3:
Well, I thought about You the day Stephen died,
And You met me between my breaking.
I know that I still love You, God, despite the agony.
...They want to tell me You're cruel,
But if Stephen could sing, he'd say it's not true, cause...
Chorus 3:
Cause He loves us,
Whoa! how He loves us.
Whoa! how He loves us.
Whoa! how He loves.
Yeah, He loves us,
Whoa! how He loves us,
Whoa! how He loves us,
Whoa! how He loves."
Right, I won't talk about that song right now, but I just wanted to have it up there. However, thanks to a friend, I learned the story behind this song and what John Mark McMillan is singing about in his song. If you want to see the vid for the story, here's the link for it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-NXWE6AC8ao
Anyways, John says this one part in the video that caught my attention:
“The love I am singing in that song is not a pretty clean, it’s not a hollywood hot pink love. It’s a kind of love that is willing to love things that are messy, and willing to love the difficult, and sort-of um, y’know kind of gross kind of things. That’s really the kind of song I wanted to write, it’s through this frustrating period He could, in my anger and in my resentment and in my frustration he could still love me through that.. and in this process of dealing with my buddy dying he could love me through that; he wasn’t offended at the fact that I was angry at God. This song is in celebration of weakness and anger, this is in celebration of a God who would want to hang and be apart of those things and despite who we are he would want to be apart of us and want to be apart of our community. And that’s the kind of love I think I’m talking about.”
Another thing I'm putting up here: 1 Corinthians 13. I know that some of you aren't Christian, but here it is because this is what a lot of us are discussing in our "What is Love?" discussion.
1 Corinthians 13: “If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I AM NOTHING. If I give all I posses to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing. Love is PATIENT, love is 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, it KEEPS NO RECORD OF WRONGS. Love DOES NOT DELIGHT IN EVIL but REJOICES WITH THE TRUTH. It ALWAYS PROTECTS, ALWAYS TRUSTS, ALWAYS HOPES, ALWAYS PERSEVERES. Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when perfection comes, the imperfect disappears. When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me. Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known. And now these three remain: faith, hope, and love. But the greatest of these is love.”
One last quote to put up here real quick. I kind of forgot who said it, but he's some author that wrote "How I Kissed Dating Good bye" or something similar to that. Also a Christian author.
“True love isn’t just expressed in passionately whispered words or an intimate kiss or an embrace; before two people are married, love is expressed through self-control, patience, even words left unsaid...” Some of you might not agree with that, but I just stuck it up here.
OKAY! So that was a lot of random stuff jumbled together! But now you're going to get my organized(ish) thoughts. And questions.
So, I personally agree that Love is 1 Corinthians 13. If you noticed, I made a lot of parts in caps, and one part really big and bold. I won't do any explaining on that part, I think it's pretty evident that I agree and believe in those parts. Love is 1 Corinthians 13. You can agree with me, or you can not agree with me. That's my thought.
My main question is this; Are there different kinds of love for different kinds of people you love? Or is it all different components of the one big sha-bang called Love?
Just do add another complication to the equation: What about all that "loving your enemy" stuff? And "love your neighbor as yourself"?
“Do not arouse or awaken love until it so desires” Is this a DIFFERENT kind of love? Or is it one part of it in the big equation?
I'm going to leave it at this right now. I need some more thunking time.
