A woman clothed in white stares intently into the eyes of the man she has every intention of spending the rest of her life with. As a room full of witnesses quietly sits, she repeats the phrase, "'Til death do us part."
Because without death, there is no feeling of love.
That may sound a little strange, but don't hang up the phone just yet...
In the beginning, God created. 1 John 4:8 tells us "God is love." So in the beginning as God created and up until the fall of man, there was love. However, I don't think there was love as far as a feeling goes...it just was love. Imagine Adam and Eve in such a state of perfection that they didn't even experience love...they were simply living love. That's a pretty wierd thing to wrap your mind around but let me try and explain it this way. I was born a male, and I've been a male my entire life. I don't know how it feels to be a man, I just am one. I know how it feels to have certain experiences because I'm a man, but I can't compare those experiences to what a dog might feel in those same situations. As everything happens to me during my life, I don't say, "Because I'm a man, this happened or that happened..." I'm simply a man that experiences life. In sort of the same sense, I don't think Adam and Eve were people experiencing love in their lives. I believe they were just being a part of love - enjoying God's creation.
Let me back-track a little here and add something to what you just read. In saying that I can't know what a dog feels in certain situations, I would also say that I wouldn't know what a woman feels or even another man. We can examine reactions to certain events, but we can never fully understand someone else's emotions. The reason we can never fully understand is because of all the factors that are a part of shaping someone psychologically and emotionally. How I might react to someone cutting me off in traffic may differ from someone else. I see that person that cuts me off as a self-centered jerk that has no respect for anyone else on the road, but in reality, they may have just received a phone call that their son or mother or father or daughter may have just had a fatal car accident and they're trying everything within their power to get to the ones they love. My initial reaction is not to have compassion on the one that cuts me off, but someone who has been in that sort of situation may immediately begin to pray for that person that cut them off - that no one they know is seriously injured. Everything that happens in this life shapes us into what we are today. There is no one size fits all emotionally. This brings into play the importance of each individual in this world. God is Love. God is personal. Love in its purest form can't help but be personal. It can't not care about everyone.
Back to Adam and Eve. They had to understand God's love. They understood it so much that there was no question about it. They had no shame (Gen. 2:25). If it was always light outside, we would never question why the sun never set...we would simply enjoy life in the light.
That's why I say without death there is no feeling of love. When life is all there is, love is all there is.
There is no mention of the word love in the first 21 chapters of the Bible. But that doesn't mean it wasn't there. He was. This might interest you: the first mention of the word love in the Bible is Genesis 22:2.
The first time the word love is used is when God told Abraham to sacrifice his own son.
Death reveals our need for Love. Love brings life. More. Abundantly.
Because without death, there is no feeling of love.
That may sound a little strange, but don't hang up the phone just yet...
In the beginning, God created. 1 John 4:8 tells us "God is love." So in the beginning as God created and up until the fall of man, there was love. However, I don't think there was love as far as a feeling goes...it just was love. Imagine Adam and Eve in such a state of perfection that they didn't even experience love...they were simply living love. That's a pretty wierd thing to wrap your mind around but let me try and explain it this way. I was born a male, and I've been a male my entire life. I don't know how it feels to be a man, I just am one. I know how it feels to have certain experiences because I'm a man, but I can't compare those experiences to what a dog might feel in those same situations. As everything happens to me during my life, I don't say, "Because I'm a man, this happened or that happened..." I'm simply a man that experiences life. In sort of the same sense, I don't think Adam and Eve were people experiencing love in their lives. I believe they were just being a part of love - enjoying God's creation.
Let me back-track a little here and add something to what you just read. In saying that I can't know what a dog feels in certain situations, I would also say that I wouldn't know what a woman feels or even another man. We can examine reactions to certain events, but we can never fully understand someone else's emotions. The reason we can never fully understand is because of all the factors that are a part of shaping someone psychologically and emotionally. How I might react to someone cutting me off in traffic may differ from someone else. I see that person that cuts me off as a self-centered jerk that has no respect for anyone else on the road, but in reality, they may have just received a phone call that their son or mother or father or daughter may have just had a fatal car accident and they're trying everything within their power to get to the ones they love. My initial reaction is not to have compassion on the one that cuts me off, but someone who has been in that sort of situation may immediately begin to pray for that person that cut them off - that no one they know is seriously injured. Everything that happens in this life shapes us into what we are today. There is no one size fits all emotionally. This brings into play the importance of each individual in this world. God is Love. God is personal. Love in its purest form can't help but be personal. It can't not care about everyone.
Back to Adam and Eve. They had to understand God's love. They understood it so much that there was no question about it. They had no shame (Gen. 2:25). If it was always light outside, we would never question why the sun never set...we would simply enjoy life in the light.
That's why I say without death there is no feeling of love. When life is all there is, love is all there is.
There is no mention of the word love in the first 21 chapters of the Bible. But that doesn't mean it wasn't there. He was. This might interest you: the first mention of the word love in the Bible is Genesis 22:2.
Then He said, "Take now your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you."
The first time the word love is used is when God told Abraham to sacrifice his own son.
Death reveals our need for Love. Love brings life. More. Abundantly.
