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girlofmanycolors -> RE: Portraying Our Lord in a romantic manner (5/22/2008 7:56:42 PM)
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Ok, before I put my two cents in here, I want to say that I am a young single woman and have been in a position of longing for love and of unrequited love and so have been fair game for these false teachings. However, I have also known the real and true and passionate (spiritually), love of Christ, so although I certainly hope I'm right in saying that Jesus is my FIRST love, my only indespensible, I also know the difference by instinct in the way I love Him and the way I love the man I'm IN love with. Yet I don't feel uncomfortable using SOME of the same words for both relationships, and yes the Christian life is a relationship. The "wet sloppy kiss" line is irreverent and sacreligious; however, I find no problem with referring to Christ as the Lover of my soul since that's what he most certainly is. I have no problem with expressing deep emotion and passion in my faith. Passion doesn't always mean lust and the fact that this is the only connotation that people see here is evidence of our over-sexed society. This is one of those things where there is a fine line that is sometimes hard to see. I do believe the Song of Solomon was written both to portray a healthy marraige relationship and to portray God's love for man and vice-versa. However, it must be understood that the book is entirely metaphorical in that sense, describing a love and intimacy that is on an entirely different level than that of human love. The agape love is deeper and more intimate than any we are able to express even in the most intimate of moments. To those of you who said that God is a Father to you, that is wonderful. He is to me as well. I have an easier time, though, thinking of God as my Friend and spiritual Bridegroom (not in a sexual way at ALL), than as my Father. It doesn't take a genius to realize that this stems from the fact that my earthly father is nowhere near as close to me as Jesus is, and I have difficulty with the whole loving father image as a result, since I've never known that on a human level. About the metaphorical image of Jesus as the Bridegroom, I believe that applies to the church and to each individual saint. There is a void that only He can fill but He also made us for companions, to interact with others, so He certainly doesn't want us to avoid marraige if that's what we desire. He made us, so He KNOWS that we have human needs as well. That's ok! We can have both without conflict as they are in two totally different realms. This said, there are women, and men too for that matter, who choose to dedicate their lives to Christ and remain single and celibate. These people experience God in a unique way because He is their sole obsession and their consuming passion. That doesn't mean they have a better or deeper experience than those of us who choose differently, it just means they have a different kind. There is a vast difference in allowing God to be one's all in this way and having sexual fatasies about Jesus- which is just sick! People who bring Him down to such a level in their thinking are undermining the very qualities that make for the right kind of passionate relationship with the Savior. The deep, real experience of love between Christ and the Christian is manifested, on a far smaller scale, in the physical intimacy two people can experience in marraige. However, it blows the roof off any human relationship. So, while I would never refer to Jesus as my "boyfriend", a term that is fickle and can be applied to a myriad of people throughout a woman's life, in a purely spiritual way Christ is my Husband. He's everything though, as no human man could ever be. He's my Father, my Bridegroom, my Friend, my King, my Savior, and the list goes on and on. However, this is all on a spiritual level. There is emotion involved, though, and I don't think that it's wrong to say one is in love with Christ unless it is meant in a sexual or erotic way, although I don't choose to use that term myself. As in all things, it's about where the heart is. If you believe you are having sex with Jesus, you are deluded. If you are in the midst of a real experience with Him that trancends anything even remotely sexual and yet brings out deep feelings that are expressed in the language of love (which is the language many of us ladies speak), you are blessed beyond belief! These are my beliefs and feelings, but alas, I am a flawed and imperfect human being who tends to err on occasion so I can only say I did my best to express what is MY truth. God bless!
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