My search begins....

I love to research. I love reading and learning. I have always felt this way, but now I have had one of my dearest friends move in with me, and with her being here, it has renewed my desire for knowledge. So I am beginning a new research adventure. LOVE. There is one word in the English language that describes love. My dear friend got me hooked on this. She started it, and I am going to go with it and see what knowledge I can gain as well. So here we go.
Love! What is love? How do we, as humans, describe love and all it entails. As a follower of Christ, the Bible states that God is love. So as I research this, of course, I am going to find what the Bible describes as love. I have done this research before, but this is going to be in depth. I want to be able to know, without question, what love is.
English as a language is lacking in the description of love. If I were in a new relationship with a man, and it was only weeks into it, I feel you can develop love for someone in that amount of time. As a society, we have taken this word, and made it scary. We have made it this untouchable thing that we can not "achieve" until we "know" this person. I can have love for someone I just met. Can't we all? I have a niece that is going to be born in the next few weeks. I haven't met her. I have no idea what she looks like, or how she is going to act or be like. I have no idea what her personality traits are going to be. I have no idea what kind of person she is, but I can say with out question that  I love her. I can't wait to meet her. I can't wait until I hold her for the first time. Yet, society says it takes time to develop love. So if I love my new niece already, how can this be true? Like I said before, English is lacking in the description of love. We only have one word for this emotion, and why? Why is this so difficult for us as humans to understand? This is why I am researching it.
Websters Dictionary gives us the English definition of love, and here we go, (1) strong affection for another arising out of kinship or personal ties. (2) attraction based on a sexual desire. (3) affection based on admiration, benevolence, or common interests.
Okay, so we know it is a type of admiration. So here we go with the English language again. If I say I love someone verses I admire someone, there is a type of miscommunication isn't there? Why are we so restricted to one word to describe love for another person? I love my brothers. I also love my parents, and my nephews and sister-in-laws. But I also love my close friends. I love my job. I also love my jeep. But all of those loves are so different. The way I love my Dad, is not the same way I love the inanimate object in my garage. Crazy huh? So, I have decided to start with a writer who is very famous. C.S Lewis wrote a book called The Four Loves. I am currently reading it. (Pretty amazing by the way) But it talks about the four types of love that is found in the bible.

• Agape
• Eros
• Philia
• Storge

Agape is described as selfless, sacrificial, unconditional love. the highest of all the loves in the bible. I describe it as God's love.
Eros is described as physical, sensual love between a husband and a wife.
Philia is described as close, friendship love, brotherly love.
Storge is described as family love. The bond among mothers, fathers and brothers, and sisters.

So, in Greek, there are four types of love that are discussed in the Bible. Can we have all of these with people in our lives? Absolutely!! Not all at the same time, but some can develop from others. For example, I can have Philia love with someone, that can turn into Eros love. What I am getting at is what love is a very broad word, that can and most of the time misinterpreted over a period of time. No matter who says what, you can have love for whoever, whenever. And who is to judge to say you don't or can't love someone so quickly. The more in depth I get, the more I will write. This is it for today. I can't wait to write more!!!!


Love to all!!!  :)