“Love is love” is a powerful rhetorical statement, but it is also patently absurd. There is obviously good love and bad love. But as with all good ideas, including those which we use to challenge wicked modern movements, those good ideas were once thought by the great thinkers of the past. In this case, Aristotle got there well before us, again:
“By ‘attacking your opponent’s own statement’ I mean, for instance, this: if his enthymeme should assert that love is always good, the objection can be brought in two ways, either by making the general statement that ‘all want is evil,’ or by making the particular one that there would be no talk of ‘Caunian live’ if there were no evil loves as well as good ones.”
Aristotle, Rhetoric
What is Caunian love you ask?
“According to mythology Kaunos was founded by King Kaunos, son of the Carian King Miletus and Kyane, and grandson of Apollo. Kaunos had a twin sister by the name of Byblis who developed a deep, unsisterly love for him. When she wrote her brother a love letter, telling him about her feelings, he decided to flee with some of his followers to settle elsewhere. His twin sister became mad with sorrow, started looking for him and tried to commit suicide. Mythology says that the Calbys river emerged from her tears.”
Of course not all love is love, some love is really destructive obsession or sinful lust. In fact, because of cultural and media influences, most people are not aware of how the Bible defines love itself. Everyone knows the command, ‘love thy neighbour as thyself.’ But look at the original context:
“You shall not hate your brother in your heart, but you shall reason frankly with your neighbor, lest you incur sin because of him. You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against the sons of your own people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the Lord.”
Leviticus 19:17-18
To truly love someone you must be concerned for their welfare and concerned to lead them to the truth. Many people today think they can hide the truth from someone, and still love them. But biblically this is hating them.
To love your neighbour as yourself is to be honest with them, as you would like someone to be honest with you.
If you are not being honest with your neighbour or if you are not being honest about what true love is, stop hating your neighbour and practice good love, biblical love, true love.
True love is willing to be returned with hate because true love is willing to do the right thing, even if you suffer for it. True love, biblical love is very different to how many people today, even many Christians, conceive of it.
