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Do you Believe in Love? By Tom Raddatz This is something I wrote a while back (11/28/95) for Cybersight, addressed to a psychology student who wanted to explain away belief in God as a psychological weakness, or crutch. He goes by the handle Nethead. --- Nethead, may I ask you a question? Do you believe in Love?
After all, you can't see it, smell it, or taste it. You can't put it under a microscope and examine it. I very much doubt you could even recreate Love in a clinical setting. So how do we know Love exists? Is it not evidence enough that because we can feel Love, and see it's results that we know Love exists? For example, we can see hearts that are changed by Love. Is it not a testimony to the fact of Love that people find Love in the midst of "hardship?" Would you "analyse" someone who came out of such an hardship for believing in Love, and being thankful to Love that Love did whatever it took to reach them with Love? Would you, in that case, belittle Love as merely "a psychological survival mechanism?" I think not. Oh yes, "Wars, catastrophes, accidents, murder, poverty, starvation etc. are with us all the time." They are all contrary to Love, but are they evidence of the non-existence of Love? Or are they the fault of Love? I must agree with you on this one thing- "A mind that attempts to cope with such a naturalistic conception of the world has a much more difficult and erosive task to perform than one that evades this task by simply assuming an ordered and meaningful scheme watched over by..." LOVE. Yes, those of us who believe in Love submit to Love for guidance and supervision. Is it really so irrational that we do not wish to end up like those around us who are without Love? Nor to be like those who, though knowing OF Love, refuse to walk in Love? Is it really so wrong in your eyes that some of us believe our actions are, or should be, submitted to and divinely guided by, Love? Does doing so relieve us of our "moral responsibility... to make (our) own decisions?" Do you really think we feel we have shed our own responsibilities by doing all in the name of Love? And should we fail, and incorrectly apply that Love, is Love itself to blame for our weaknesses? Can our weaknesses in Love be rightly used as evidence that true Love does not exist? Is it dangerous to "give up personal responsibility and conscience" in favour of Love? Yes, it can at times be dangerous to our physical bodies, but is Love to blame, and to be shunned because of risk? Wouldn't the true fool be the one who shuns Love, or even blames Love, having been once bit by an improper application of the power of Love? Wouldn't it be wiser to re-examine one's perception of Love, and allow Love to redefine itself in our hearts instead? Wouldn't it be wiser to submit to Love, while actively seeking Love, until Love had revealed itself in all it's splendour, and then never stop growing in Love? Yes let's talk "proselytising." Is it wrong to preach the benefits of Love even though certain individuals preaching a false Love have done so with disastrous effects? Again, was Love to blame, or was it a false application of Love? Wasn't it ever so obviously the evidence of a false application of Love, with no bearing whatsoever on true Love? Doesn't that merely prove that Love must be respected (as in "feared") and not belittled, misapplied, nor taken for granted, because of it's power over man? Is Love merely "a highly individual psychological solution to cope with the world?" Is it not ever so obvious that Love, as a reality, existed before man, and will exist long after man (eternal)? Is it really so hard to believe that man didn't create Love, but rather, Love created man (indeed all things), and that man has fallen from the grace of Love? Is Love "something very earthly?" Or rather, is Love in reality something "not of this world" and indeed, above this world? Is Love merely "the product of a psychological survival mechanism designed to protect the mind from fear, despair, hopelessness, loss of meaning and orientation?" Is Love really not rather the real solution to all man's problems? Is Love merely "a construction the mind has purposefully developed to satisfy its own need for security and stability?" What a sad world for those who believe that Love is just a figment of their imagination. So what does belief in God have to do with belief in Love? Didn't you know? "GOD IS LOVE" - 1 John 4:16. But isn't God an old grey haired man who sits on a throne in heaven? No, the Bible says- "God is a Spirit" -1 John 4:24. In fact, John 1:1 says- "In the beginning was the Word (thought), and the (thought) was with God, and THE (THOUGHT) WAS GOD." Is God now so incomprehensible? Is He really so hard to imagine when we consider that God is Love? How big is Love? Is Love not eternal? Can you put Love in a box? Or under a microscope? All of eternity cannot contain Love. No matter where you go, Love is there. But you still can't physically PROVE Love exists other than by His effects on mankind. In fact, you must have faith that Love exists in order for Love to transform your life. We know that Love touches the hearts of men, and can be touched of mankind. But are all those who are touched by Love changed by Love? Do all those who believe in Love, live in Love? So it is with God, who is Love. So, who then was Jesus Christ? John 1:14 "And the Word (thought/love) was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth... 18 No man hath seen God (Love) at any time, the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of (Love), he hath declared him (Love)." So how do we know that Jesus is Love? John 15:13 "Greater Love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends." Just like Love, we know that Jesus lives because when we reach out for Him, we can feel Him, and we can see the results of Him. Allow me to quote a tract about Jesus- "More than Nineteen hundred years ago there was a man born contrary to the laws of life... "In infancy He startled a king. In childhood He puzzled doctors; in manhood He ruled the course of nature, walked upon the billows as if pavements, and hushed the sea to sleep. He healed the multitudes without medicine and made no charge for His service. "He never wrote a book, and yet all the libraries of the country could not hold the books that have been written about Him. He never wrote a song, and yet He has furnished the theme for more songs than all the songwriters combined. "He never founded a college, but all the schools put together cannot boast of having as many students. "He never marshalled an army, nor drafted a soldier, nor fired a gun; and yet no leader ever had more volunteers who have, under His orders, made more rebels stack arms and surrender without a shot fired. "He never practised psychiatry, and yet He has healed more broken hearts than all the doctors far and near... "The names of the past proud statesmen of Greece and Rome have come and gone. The names of the past scientists, philosophers, and theologians have come and gone; but the name of this Man abounds more and more... He still lives. Herod could not destroy Him, and the grave could not hold Him. "He stands forth upon the highest pinnacle of heavenly glory, proclaimed of God, acknowledged by angels, adored by saints, and feared by devils, as the living personal Christ, our Lord and Saviour". The Incomparable Christ, Oradell, N.J.: American Tract Society. We have no more evidence that Love exists, than we have for the life, death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. If you've read any of my posts here on CyberSight, you know that I stand ready to earnestly contend for my faith. Is this Love? Should Love not be defended? Should those who preach a man-made "love" go unchallenged by the truth in Love? Would I be loving to keep silent during an onslaught of error? I think not. Since Love existed before man, man does not define Love. When man attempts to redefine Love, true Love is compromised. When true Love is compromised, it is changed. When Love is changed, it has become less than Love, and is therefore no longer Love. That is what idolatry is to God, and it's effect on man. About atheists and agnostics. From my perspective, an atheist is one who does not believe Love exists. An agnostic then is one that doesn't believe Love can be proven to exist or not, and Love cannot be reached or realised by man. Do either of these views have the ability to negate Love by their beliefs? It is no different with their reasoning against belief in God! No less foolish, either, I might add, from my perspective. So go ahead and let anyone tell me not to proselytise about Love. Go ahead and let them tell me not to speak of Love at work or school. Their words will fall on deaf ears. I simply must speak. I know too much not to. Though Love can and should be glorified through man, Love does not rely on man for existence. Since only Love will last forever, only those who put on Love, and become Love walking in Love, will likewise endure forever. (Not just in memory, but also in truth). Love conquers all things, but Love is not over-bearing. All things will eventually be brought into subjection of Love, but Love is not domineering. Love will overcome, but not all will come over to Love. Love will destroy all evil, but Love is not destructive. Love has been fought over, yet remains blameless, and passive. Love is ready and able to battle all opposition, yet Love is not war-like. Love has been merchandised, but it cannot be bought or sold. Love has been misrepresented, but never did Love change. Love is not man-made, Love transcends man. Love is not a man, He is a Spirit. I believe in standing up for Love, in truth, without sacrificing Love or truth. I believe in putting Love first, before others or myself. For this reason I stand up in brotherly opposition to those who wish to impose man-made definitions of Love in falsehood. For example, there are those here on CyberSight that I have talked with that believe Love is a family of gods, having been born from an eternal line of Fathers and Sons (Mormonism). This is to make Love an earthly thing. Does Love require itself to be regenerated by intercourse? No, Love is a Spirit, a Thought, with personality yes, but not a person. Am I loving and just in challenging misconceptions such as this of Love? I believe so. I believe I owe it to Love and my fellow man to do no less. It is not much different with the Love the world knows. Just because someone falls in Love, do they automatically understand Love? Will they automatically practice all the facets of true Love? Should not those who understand Love, share the truth of Love with others? Is it unseemly that those who know be adamant of what is, and what isn't, Love? So why should we be so surprised that many reflect God incorrectly, in the same way as love? Just because many, maybe even most, will fail, does that mean true Love cannot be obtained and practised? In the same way there are those who preach a Trinity of Persons in Love (God). This again, is a man-made conception. Love does not contain "Separate Persons." Yes, Love has many was in which to manifest Himself, but Love cannot be separated into separate entities. Love is a Spirit, a Thought, and God is Love. Man-made conceptions are the kinds of things that cause wars and strife in the name of Love. These man-made contrivances cause people to feel they have a "patent" on Love (God). Fortunately for us and truth, man-made institutions of Love (denominations) are not what Love is all about. The ones who suffer are those who buy-in to false religions and put their trust in a false Love. Love Himself is above all that, and remains unchanged, and unhindered by all that. Nonetheless, agnostics and atheists seem to feel justified in belittling the existence of Love due to errors in discerning Love. In truth, all they have done, in doing so, is resisted Love. Thereby, they have rejected the only possibility of salvation from themselves- LOVE. If this world has produced evidence of anything at all, it is that in these five things there is NO PROFIT-
It is no controversy among those who have known Love, that a person hasn't lived until they've been in Love. 1 John 4:7 "Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God. 8 He that loveth not knoweth not God; FOR GOD IS LOVE. 9 In this was manifested the Love of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him." Now, all I am asking you here, is this- Do you believe in Love? May God bless, -Tom Raddatz |