Romans 3:18

Joshua P Ladd/...          well I wouldn’t list Eros in the list of love

Joshua P Ladd/...          Eros is a matter of biology not love

Joshua P Ladd/...          now do you have to be romantic to maintain love? yes

Tristan M Gray/...         in marriage, it’s the unity of souls as well

Tristan M Gray/...         its just fornication outside of marriage

Joshua P Ladd/...          but as a sub category not an initial category of love

Tristan M Gray/...         I just learned it in counseling

Joshua P Ladd/...          so I would place probably: Agape and philio as prime catergories

Joshua P Ladd/...          then sub categorize Eros under marriage

Joshua P Ladd/...          it is a desire of the physical man to have Eros in order to maintain marital bliss

Joshua P Ladd/...          so more of a biological sub category in my opinion

Joshua P Ladd/...          so not "love" directly lol otherwise all Eros would be considered love and many have physically been romantic and used Eros to satisfy themselves but not been in love

Joshua P Ladd/...          where as you couldn’t separate love and agape or love and philio

Tristan M Gray/...         the 3 main reasons for failing Christian marriages are sex, money, and backsliding, that’s what I heard

Joshua P Ladd/...          all related to selfishness

Tristan M Gray/...         and surprisingly sex was top of the list

Tristan M Gray/...         true

Joshua P Ladd/...          none directly related to love it’s when you get your eyes of true love (God) and get your focus on the self that a relationship disintegrates

Tristan M Gray/...         definitely

Tristan M Gray/...         got to have God first, but has to have a balance as far as time for sure

Joshua P Ladd/...          So you would ask. "Why then are their relationships in the world that last as long as they do or forever even though both would acknowledge they don’t believe in God etc.?" Well you would have to look at the individuals in these cases. I think the first thing to do is acknowledge that these relationships are becoming far less common as the world makes a marked turn towards social selfishness. However the reason these relationships work out I believe if you were to study them would be the simple fact that these relationships are mutually beneficial to the selfish necessities of the individuals. Each member of the couple gives to the other what they need selfishly. SO would you categorize this as "Love" no I wouldn’t look at a company and say they work so well because they love each other or they have so much business because they love their customers no I think it is a basis of Selfish give and take as long as you are supplying the needs physically of your counterpart you are in a mutually benefiting relationship that has no necessity to end

Joshua P Ladd/...          the world would call this love but if that mutual relationship sends both parties to hell in the end because it supported the physical selfishness of the party to never have a necessity of God or prompt the drive to seek God and heaven then that relationship is not love it is selfish. What have you gained if you gain the whole world (or find the one that satisfies your flesh) but lose your soul??

Joshua P Ladd/...          Roms 8:13 for if we live after the flesh, ye shall die; but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live. This doesn’t negate the necessity of Eros in marriage but it does help us understand that if our first focus isn’t on true love “For God is love” then we are doomed either in this life or the next. Our whole focus in love shouldn’t be on the Eros but on pushing each other to a closer relationship with the Lover of our souls.

Joshua P Ladd/...          I would make the same relation with parental love. The honor of being a parent satisfies an under lying part of humanity but if we aren't as believers of heaven and hell doing all we can to get our children into heaven, perhaps that includes going to church and displaying the life of a Christian even when we don’t feel like it or consider ourselves backsliders, can we say those parents are in "love" with their child? Yes all parents make mistakes and all humans are responsible ultimately for their own salvation but a parent who believes in the after life has a big question to ask. Do I love my child or do I just have them to gratify my own selfish needs?

Joshua P Ladd/...          Being a parent, husband, wife, aunt, uncle, brother, sister, friend, etc. has eternal         implications and we all share the burden of either succumbing to our selfishness or living in love with those people we have