In my previous post, I talked about love.

What amazes me about the lack of soul in institutional Christianity's response to (and articulation of) love is a lack of concern for how real people express it. It seems that whenever someone brings up the question, "What is love?", in a Christian context, the first response on the part of church or Bible study group members is a bland reference to 1 Corinthians 13 (as if reading this chapter alone is the answer to any questions about love).

I've read 1 Corinthians 13, and while I see Paul talking about the importance of love in a Christian's life--and I see him spending a great deal of time talking about what love is not--I don't see the kind of discourse that many institutional Christians often assume I should see. (The fact is, Paul was more concerned with the Corinthian church's deviation from the spirit of what they claimed to believe than he was with illustrating the beauty and grandeur of love.)

Yet I'm amazed at the extent to which the denizens of institutional Christianity burp out this biblical reference and end any discussion of love at that point. Is it because they don't really believe what they're saying, because they find love to be a dangerous or potentially embarassing topic of discussion . . . or is it simply because they don't know what it is?

In Matthew 24, Jesus describes a future time in which "the love of men will grow cold." I certainly believe this verse applies to our culture and time period--it seems that after a century and a half of rapid technological changes, we have become accustomed to convenience . . . and love is one of the most "inconvenient" aspects of the human existence.

Love constantly demands more and more of us--sacrifices of time, energy, and being without end--and it doesn't demand anything be given to us in return. Do you think a mother who donates a kidney to her son cares at that moment whether or not he will appreciate it later? Do you think a man desperately attempting to move his wife out of a dangerous place cares whether or not she'll thank him for it (or even if she would do the same for him in return)?

Love never asks what it will receive in return.



I think the words of a popular 1980's song describe better than I can the great heartbreak of our age:

When you make love, do you look in the mirror?
Who do you think of?
Does he look like me?
Do you tell lies?
And say that it's forever?
Do you think twice, or just touch and see
Ooh babe
Ooh yeah
When you're alone, do you let go?
Are you wild and willin or is it just for show?
Ooh C'mon

I don't wanna touch you too much baby
'Cos making love to you might drive me crazy
I know you think that love is the way you make it
So I don't wanna be there when you decide to break it
No!

Chorus
(Love bites, love bleeds)
It's bringin' me to my knees
(Love lives, love dies)
It's no surprise
(Love begs, love pleads)
It's what I need


When I'm with you, are you somewhere else?
Am I gettin' thru or do you please yourself?
When you wake up, will you walk out?
It can't be love if you throw it about
Ooh babe

I don't wanna touch you too much baby
'Cos making love to you might drive me crazy
Oh

Chorus
(Love bites, love bleeds)
It's bringin' me to my knees
(Love lives, love dies)
It's no surprise
(Love begs, love pleads)
It's what I need

--"Love Bites," from Def Leppard's Hysteria album