LIVE: GT7 | We make FATHER man by worshipping "car gods"!

The Biblical List of Love: New Testament

It is often said that, "God is love." And, "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten son...".

The Holy Bible is believed to be a literary work inspired by the God believed to have created the universe, Earth, and we humans. There are obvious arguments for and against this belief, but that's another topic. For now, I wanted to list the characteristics and qualities of Love as so described in the Book of 1 Corinthians, Chapter 13. As a reader of the Holy Bible, I have found other descriptions of Love in the Old Testament also, but they are not in a compiled, organized list like in 1 Corinthians 13.

Now it depends on which translation you choose, but for the most part there is a list of 14-15 qualities or characteristics love. For this blog, I chose the NIV (New International Version translation) of the Holy Bible.

1 Corinthians 13 is known as the "love chapter" in biblical circles. The whole point of this surveying endeavor about love was to see how what WE think of love compares to what the Holy Bible, or God, says about love. The apostle Paul is widely accepted as the writer of 1 Corinthians 13 and he preambles his Holy Spirit inspired list of "what love is" by mention how important having love is. Verses 1-3 state:

"If I speak in the tongues^[a] of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. ² If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. ³ If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast,^[b] but do not have love, I gain nothing."

And then, beginning with verse 4, he gives us a 14-16 characteristic list of biblical qualities describing "what love is":

Love....

1. Is patient

2. Is kind

3. Does not envy

4. Does not boast

5. Is not proud

6. Does not dishonor others

7. Is not self-seeking

8. Is not easily angered

9. Keeps no record of wrongs

10. Does not delight in evil

11. Rejoices with the truth

12. Always protects

13. Always trusts

14. Always hopes

15. Always perseveres

16. Never fails

Paul then summarizes by saying that three things are important: faith, hope and love. But that the greatest of these three is love.

So how does your view of love compare to Paul's biblical list of love? If Paul truly did write with inspiration from the God who created us all, and God knows what He's talking about, then shouldn't our view of love be on par with God's view?

Of course, it all comes down to choice, doesn't it. Some may look at this list and not agree. But when you think about love - the deep, caring affection that we have for someone or some thing based on some form of attraction or connection, doesn't the biblical list above seem more desirable?

What do you think?

 

Love Described Words: A General Observation List

According to dictionary.reference.com, 'love' has a grammatical part-of-speech foundation as both a noun and a verb - both used with and without an object. However, I have noticed that it's also used as an adjective.

In my 40+ years, I have come across all kinds of words used to describe love. But it's only recently, as a result of this Love Study, that I began compiling a list of words - both single and 3-Or-Less - that I have observed being used to describe 'love'. Some are nouns, some verbs and some adjectives.

Here's the list, in alphabetical order:

Active-Action
Affection based attraction, affectionate
Attraction based affection, attractive
Assistant to kin, assistance to kin (a-Stance?)
Is Blind, blinding
Bittersweet
Correction
Caring, careful
Consideration
Commandment
Compassion
Commitment
Confusing
Connection based affection
Chastisement, not punishment
A Cure, not a disease,
Cure to lust
Condition with definition
"Don't hurt me!" (song)
Dangerous
Devotion
Debt to humanity (Christians)
Disciplined
A Disease (Star Trek Voyager episode)
Dis-traction, distracting
Easy to feel
Entertainment, entertaining
Education, educational, educated
Fighting, a fight
Falls in, falling in
Forgiving
For-giving (bumper sticker)
Fruits
Grace, graceful
Grateful
Great
Grand
Hard
Harmony, harmonious
Humble
Humility
An Investment
Intimacy, intimate
Irrational (R, Dawkins, God Delusion)
Insightful
Inebriating, intoxicating (B. Knowles - "Drunk in love")
James 1:19-20 (for Listening)
Judgment, not law
Knowledge
Loyalty to God
Listens, listening
Laughter (Michael, the movie - "It's the path to true love.")
Letting go
Mysterious
Mercy, merciful
Mature, maturity
Medicine, medicinal
Magnanimity, magnanimous
Neutral, neutrality
Obedience to God
Passive-Passion
PAIN, PAINFUL
Perfect, perfection
Pleasure, pleasurable
Patience based affection, patient
Respect, Respectful
Relational
Righteous-indignation
Responsibility, responsible
Resistant to sin, resistance to sin (a-Stance?)
Sacrifice, sacrificial
Seeing, seer
Selfless
Supernatural
Safe, safety
Salvation
Sober, sobering
Strong, strength
Tough, tough to do
Truth, truthful
Understanding
Undefinable
Union, unity
Vegetables
War
Waiting
Working
Walks in, walking in
Wise, wisdom
Zealous

More observed words to describe Love may follow, but so far these are words that I have heard over the years that are used to describe some aspect of love.

The Love Response Survey: FEMALE List

Below are the responses by FEMALES in 3-Words-Or-Less.

The names of FEMALES have been removed for privacy. Again, (and worth repeating) this is done because humans often disagree in detail about important issues. This is how "bad fights" become wars. And that's what "bad fights" are....wars.

But the "fight" for Love is a "good" one. It's NEVER a War. The Head Love God and Goddess I mentioned in the Introduction Equation modeled this for us perfectly. That's because fights have rules......and wars do not.

Also, since this "love building is in the process of construction", it will allow for an easier change in perception, if so desired by anyone who wishes to do so.

This FEMALE Response List is longer because I encounter more females than males on my Messenger journey. At this posting, I have surveyed 48 FEMALES.

Here they are:

1. Unconditional, reciprocal, nonjudgmental
2. Needed, wanted, wonderful
3. Warm, sacrifice, commitment
4. Present, sure, guaranteed
5. Patience, strength, soft
6. Peace, understanding, caring [1st response - Undescribeable]
7. Happy, healthy, good
8. Caring, compassion, trust  [1st response - "Money, money, money"]
9. God, loyalty, family
10. Flowers, conversation, happiness
11. God, prayer, money
12. Jesus, God, Holy Spirit
13. Frustrating, excitement, silliness
14. Honesty, integrity, respect
15. Happiness, contentment, loyalty
16. Respect, loyalty
17. Compassion, kindness, courage
18. Giving, trust, sacrifice
19. Happy, trust, "AAHHH!!!"
20. Passionate
21. "Pain in a**"
22. Dedication, loyalty, com(mitment or passion)
23. Communication, compromise, passion
24. Laughter, loyalty, trust
25. God, Jesus
26. Husband, children, grandchildren
27. Everything
28. Family, friendship, unconditional
29. Caring, beautiful, painful
30. God, Jesus, Holy Spirit
31. Happiness, health, security
32. Compassion, understanding, patience
33. Warm, smile, eyes
34. "Oh no! I haven't been in that so long that I don't even use that word."
35. Compromise, loyalty, selfless
36. Happiness, honesty, openness
37. Amazing, fulfilling, family
38. Life, energy, God
39. God, selflessness, peace
40. Unconditional, compassion, cover
41. Beautiful, special, significant
42. Money
43. Unconditional
44. Caring, hope, forgiveness
45. Hard, unconditional, work
46. Compromise, nurturing, respect
47. "Don't get near me!" "Don't touch me!"
48. Meaningful, trust, friendship

The Love Response Survey: MALE List

Below are the responses by MALES in 3-Words-Or-Less.

The names of MALES have been removed for privacy. This is done because humans often disagree in detail about important issues. This is how "bad fights" become wars. And that's what "bad fights" are....wars.

But the "fight" for Love is a "good" one. It's NEVER a War. The Head Love God and Goddess I mentioned in the Introduction Equation modeled this for us perfectly. That's because fights have rules......and wars do not.

Also, since this "love building is in the process of construction", it will allow for an easier change in perception, if so desired by anyone who wishes to do so.

This MALE Response List is short because I encounter more females than males on my Messenger journey. But the process is ongoing. For now, I have only surveyed 11 males.

Here they are:

1. A Building Process
2. "Pain in butt"
3. Patience, teamwork, communication
4. Consideration, understanding, sacrifice
5. Commitment, companionship, affection
6. Unconditional
7. Passion, obsession
8. Trust, communication, God's faith
9. God, Wife, family
10. My Wife
11. Communication , difficult, hard work

The Introduction Equation: Love = ???

L-O-V-E!

Four letters that form the most extraordinary power of expression.

Grammatically applied, it's the square root of the heart's lifeblood, divided by the power of a clarified mind, multiplied by the energy of the air in the lungs. Mathematically expressed, it's...

4Lv = (Ht^2 + Lb)/(Md + Cf) x (MC^2 + Lg). It's the poetic science of 'love's' eternal equation of expression. So, write that down!

(I pause for effect...)

Okay. All joking aside, just what is this potently expressive word that garners so much emotional praise; and is used so frequently, so vehemently by virtually every human being on the planet - and yet, causes so much confusion? It is a truly complex phenomena. Thought to be so mysterious that if it is defined, it will lose some of its power, if not all of it. But how can you feel something or do anything if you don't know what it is or if you can't properly define it? This inquiring mind would like to know.

Over the years, I have heard love described in many ways using many words, sentences, maxims, adages, and full blown 200-400 page books. People have done many things in the name of love, both honorable and dishonorable. Honorable, such as giving one's life to save another. And dishonorable, like lying to someone or for someone all done in the "name of love". This begs the question, "Is the act of love both a good AND a bad, or dare I say evil thing?" Hmmmm...

It is believed that supernatural beings exist. To some, many. To others, only one. We use the term 'God' or 'gods'. To go along with this belief, I looked up to the heavens and asked the Love Gods and Goddesses just what is love to them?

The Male Gods were quick to say, "a building". The Female Goddesses responded in kind with, "a process". The Gods came back again with, "a building!" The Goddesses once more, "a process!!" Back and forth in reciprocity this continued. There was a noticeable rise in vocal impetus as each side endeavored to further exert their influence on the answer.

For a moment, in my limited human understanding, I thought they were arguing; a battle of some sort with each side trying to prove who was right and who was wrong. But as they went back and forth, I realized they were smiling. Their words were furious, their eyes ablaze with passion for their sides' position on the matter of love; almost to the point of what we humans may view as bloodlust.  

There were sparks, dazzling sparks with varying colors of intense light emanating from their 'bodies'. But their voices were pleasantly harmonic, a musical composition that enraptured me into a venerated state of spiritual enlightenment. They were indeed fighting, but it was a good fight. A pleasurable fight. A battle of passionate emotion for one another. They were enjoying themselves.

Then it hit me! They were fighting.....for love. And they were IN love as they fought.

For these Gods and Goddesses, this love fight was a sport. A choreographed dance. Entertainment. Joy. And I got the impression that they have been doing it for all eternity. That's when I realized that they were we showing me what love was to them in their words and by their actions. An understanding that reached into my soulful spirit.

For the Male Gods, love was a building because they saw the end, the goal, the complete imagination of a finished construct. And they moved with the speed of ultraviolet light.

For the Female Goddesses, love was a process because they reveled in the beginning, relished the journey, the long romantic walk in, around and through Paradise. And they moved with the pace of infrared radiation.

For them, love is "A Building Process" that works to reflect the Kingdom of Love where peace, rest, relaxation and eternal joy makes their residence. But every building takes vision, planning, time and the use of proper materials in order for it to function properly. And from what these Divine Beings showed me, a piece of true love resided in every human being. A seed planted in the "earthen soil" of our hearts longing to burst forth and envelop the whole of our existence. Nevertheless, seeds need a little help from the rain colors of the bow spectrum of Ultraviolet Light and Infrared Radiation. And ultimately, the Water of their Spirit to give it life.

So it is with this understanding that I descended back to the land of the humanfolk in order to locate these pieces, these seeds; gather them and begin the construction of an earthly love kingdom to reflect that of the Supernaturals. However, my endeavor came with a warning: "Beware! For an evil seed has slithered its way into the hearts and minds of humanity. Therefore, mount the wings of the Dove Spirit and use the wisdom of the Dragon."

My fellow humans! There is a "darkness" that veils our understanding of true love that makes it difficult to find and recognize its pieces; the natural nature of its seeds. So many of us have so many views on love, so many seeds that the task has become excessively laborious to prevention. We seem to have become confused. The enemy seed has disrupted the purity within the communication of our ability to properly 'love'.

Therefore, with the wisdom of the Supernaturals, the Gods and Goddesses of Love, I began a journey to discover those hidden seeds of love that every human being has within themselves. To reassemble them into the big ole completed picture of Love so that we can conform to its beauty.

You see, the Love Gods and Goddesses have two leaders, parents, if you will, who guide and teach the essence, the characteristics of love. And they have a list of at least 14 of them! Yeah! And it doesn't include ALL the abstract elements. But 'let not your heart be troubled'. For the Head God and Goddess first SHOW what 'love' is, then they TELL the secret ingredients to those who seek it. But....we have to do our part.

The question of what love is to us has yielded a dizzying array of responses. Some people have trouble thinking of one word to describe love and others can't even name one. However, since it has been made known that, "Love is a building process", we're not expected to list all 14 known characteristics. The Head God and Goddess gave me a template based on their concept: 3 simple words...or less.

Therefore with this in mind, let us begin construction.