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What is love? (Baby don't hurt me . . .)

As the blog family knows, blogfather Harvey posts Love Notes every day (except on weekends)

Well, aside from the obvious fun had by twisting the love notes into Lecherous Notes (which is occasionally harder than you might think) I did some thinking on what love actually was, and this is what I've come up with:

To define love into words is a hard thing to do. I think the Bible is pretty clear:

1Co 13:4-8

(4) Love never gives up. Love cares more for others than for self. Love doesn't want what it doesn't have. Love doesn't strut, Doesn't have a swelled head,

(5) Doesn't force itself on others, Isn't always "me first," Doesn't fly off the handle, Doesn't keep score of the sins of others,

(6) Doesn't revel when others grovel, Takes pleasure in the flowering of truth,

(7) Puts up with anything, Trusts God always, Always looks for the best, Never looks back, But keeps going to the end.

(8) Love never dies. Inspired speech will be over some day; praying in tongues will end; understanding will reach its limit. (MSG)

Through the Bible, we can know what love is, however, knowing and understanding are two different things. The only way you can understand true love is to experience it. To truly understand true love (unconditional love or agape love), you must also experience true hatred. Hatred is the opposite of love- the only way I have to describe it is to tell you how I experienced it. I came into a situation where I was willing to kill a guy if I ever saw him. I knew that he would go to Hell if I killed him, but I was willing to kill him anyway. That is hatred. It will consume you and keep you from experiencing the joy the Jesus gives his followers.

So while I can tell you what love is, and what hatred is, you can never understand them until you experience it for yourself.