Monday, March 19, 2007

Are You a Christophile?

"Sanskrit has ninety-six words for love; ancient Persian has eighty; Greek three; and English only one. English speakers do know the 96 forms of love - they just jam them into one word! That is why we are all confused over what "love" is, since we have dozens of definitions for it!" - N.S. Gill, Ancient/Classical History

Christians are always tossing out "love God" and "love your neighbor".

Non-Christians often observe (accurately) the non-loving behavior of many such Christians. Why does the behavior of so many "Christians" appear to be such poor examples of love? Here's my theory.

Three times, Christ asked Peter, "Do you love (agape) me?" When Peter answered, "Yes, Lord, I love (philia) you." Christ replied, "Then feed my sheep."

Why did he do this three times?

Philia -- the love Peter offered Christ -- means to have an affection, attraction, sentiment, passion, or feeling for. We use philia in words like bibliophilia, audiophilia, and pedophilia. Christ was not asking for Peter's affection. He wasn't looking for a buddy or groupie. He wasn't asking Peter to be a Christophile.

The love Christ asked Peter for was agape, which means a mental choice to seek the best for others. Agape love requires behavior, not feelings. The kind of love Christ wanted from Peter was the working kind -- the "doing for others" kind.

Most folks (including Christians) wait until they are emotionally moved to help others. That was not what Christ taught. He asked why anyone should think they deserve a reward for such behavior. He stated that even the "infidels" do that. Sharing bread with others for no other reason than their hunger is the love Christ taught. We call that "caring", but Christ taught that we should do it whether we care or not. He even expects us to do it for our enemies -- for those we hate.

Love is what we do for others regardless of our feelings towards them. In my opinion, this is the most important concept Christ wanted us to understand. During his entire ministry on earth, from the Sermon on the Mount to the parable of the Good Samaritan, Christ taught sacrificial, agape love. He taught it with his words, his life, and his death.

John states, "Whoever has the world's goods, and sees his brother in need and closes his heart against him, how does the love of God abide in him? Little children, let us not love with word or with tongue, but in deed and truth. We will know by this that we are of the truth ..."

If "Christians" had always loved in this way, I doubt if even Mr. Sam Harris or brother Richard Dawkins would have a beef today. If the foundation of every marriage was agape instead of just philia and Eros, far fewer divorces would occur. But such love requires sacrifice -- time, money, etc. Without such sacrifice, love is, like Tina Turner sang, "just a second-hand emotion".

It's unfortunate that so many Christians "feel" and teach Peter's Christophilia instead of Christ's self-sacrificial agape. If agape love was understood and shared, I imagine more Christian" songs would have at least as many "give" lyrics as "praise" lyrics.

Steve

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