Christians need to reclaim expansive, beautiful, multi-dimensional love

I’ve heard some of my Christian friends say that we have cheapened love because now people say they love everything — their pets, their pop stars, the great Thai takeout down the street. I actually think this expansion of love is a good thing — provided we thank God, the One who created this universe and the good things in it. As I once said in an article about surfing, it’s natural to have spiritual stirrings when you are doing something exciting and beautiful like surfing.

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Yet there is a proper order of things. You aren’t worshipping the earth or the oceans, but the Maker of the earth and the oceans. In his encyclical Deus Caritas Est (God is Love), Pope Benedict notes that many modern pornographers and “artists” try to celebrate “love,” when, like the awful temple of eros in ancient Greece, it is nothing more than “a degradation of eros.”

That’s not love — God is love. Once that becomes clear, it’s obvious that love is essential to, well, everything. Once this is reestablished by Christians, the joy can be deep and endless.

[I love this point, if I’m allowed to say that! I don’t think we’ve “cheapened” love at all, but rather that our English language is not robust enough to allow for common-use differentiators the way that Greek does (or Latin, in the use of caritas). Affection for good things can hardly be cheapened, even for trivial good things. When our understanding of agape or caritas love is properly oriented and prioritized, as Mark argues, then we have room to experience joy in all good things. — Ed]

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