It is indicative of the times we live in that many bemoan the course which humanity seems intent on following. While not intending to trivialize legitimate concerns it is an unfortunate fact that, as King Solomon reminds us in Ecclesiastics, "there is nothing new under the sun". The fact of the matter is that humanity is moving down a well traveled road. The fact that "we never learn from history" is, unfortunately, part of that same road. Christianity has not found itself immune, and its practitioners also travel this road. It is not a great stretch of comprehension to find this pattern expounded upon throughout the bible. A particularly vivid example is found in the description of "The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypses" in the sixth chapter of the Apostle Johns Revelation.

The other day there was a dissertation between two men on faith and works. The people participating in the discussion were obviously well rehearsed in there lines and very articulate. However the whole discussion was obviously staged and poorly executed. That is to say that many things about the performance were at odds with its message. This is not a critique of the theatrical value of the performance; rather the problem was a denominational position being put forth as a theological truth.

There was once a big city preacher of some no small reputation as an orator. It is said that people would travel for miles to hear him speak. Now there was a revival meeting being held. It had been advertised for weeks. It was being held at a small country church that had enough land for the tents and for parking. However, the local pastor had not been invited to speak. Instead, this famous orator, the big city preacher, was considered the main attraction. People came from miles around.

1st John 4:7-8 Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God, and everyone who loves has been born of God, and knows God. The one who does not love has not known God. For God is Love.

The word "love" normally has around nine or ten definitions in most English dictionaries. A review of some of these definitions tends to indicate that "love" is always based on something. But this is only natural, as the roots of the word come from Latin. Specifically lubere or libere, meaning "to please". "Love", as used in the New Testament comes from the Greek language. And in Greek, there are many different shades and meanings of "love", defined by different words (like philo or agape). This is not meant to be a language lesson. The point of the above is simply that the word love, as used in the Bible has specific meanings that are much narrower in focus or have somewhat different meaning than might be implied by the use of the English word "love". In the case of the above verses, God's unconditional love is the subject. Love, in this case refers to something outside of normal human experience. But to understand it, we need to approach it from the human perspective.