It's kinda cool, right? Maybe you've seen this new video somewhere on the internet this past week. A giant screen displays full size X-Ray type skeletons dancing, kissing, embracing.
Then, like magic, the real life skeleton people peek from behind the screen to reveal what an X-Ray can't see--gender, age, disabilities, etc. The music is engaging telling us that "love is patient, love is kind." The message is "love has no labels."
Tweet This: Diversity and Inclusion is almost biblical. Except that it isn't.
The crowd appears to be completely drawn in. It's almost, well, Biblical. Except that it isn't.
The now viral video titled, Diversity and Inclusion, is difficult to criticize without looking like a judgmental hater or worse, "just not cool." The wave of "feel-good-truth" completely sweeps away the subtle deceptive message that love has no limits. When "love" can mean everything, it no longer means anything.
One of the first things I learned as a young teenage youth group kid were the four Greek words for love. All four of the words were used throughout the New Testament and it wasn't really rocket science. You could love your dog, love your mom, love your husband, and love God and feel confident that you had the philia (companion), storge (family), eros (romantic or sexual), and agape (unconditional) in their proper places, like apples and oranges.
It seemed to me (even as a 14-year-old) that eros was going to be the tough one because romance and sexuality were so often distorted and counterfeited. And that's what's happened with the skeletons-they're mixing apples and oranges-equating sexual love with friendship or familial love. (If an apple is the same as an orange, then neither one will taste as good!)
Let's step back from the video for a moment and look at eros, or sexual love, from God's perspective. What was God trying to tell us about ourselves, about His character, and about our purpose? Here are just a few things that come to mind.
- God celebrates Gender differences. He is best seen in two genders. "Let us create them in our image and after our likeness...in the image of God He created them, male and female He created them." Genesis 1:26-27. We need to see both male and female in a covenant relationship to get the whole picture of God. Natural marriage celebrates gender. Same sex eros type love segregates and diminishes gender differences.
- God loves Creativity. The first command in the Bible is to "Be fruitful and multiply!" After creating everything on earth, God gives us a chance to share in the creative process, "Fill the earth!" Natural marriage is creative, bringing new life. Same sex eros is limited and cannot complete the creative process because it can't ever create life.
- God communicates with Covenants. He tells us about himself by giving visual aids, symbols, parables, and physical road marks that clearly communicate His values and character. The great promises of God are made with signs that cannot be missed: Blood of animals, circumcision, the rainbow after the flood, sex and virginity. Marriage is a covenant between two people that together reveal the image of God-one flesh.
God is trying to tell you something every time you go to a wedding and see a man and a woman get married: I love you, my Bride, my Church. I am your husband, you are my love. Other relationships that try to imitate marriage cannot provide the insight to God's divine covenant.
Tweet This: Let's speak truth in love to a culture that longs for all four "loves" God shares with us.
Many in our culture are seeking the four types of love. And sadly, many miss the beauty of friendship, family, and God breathed love because they have settled for a cheap counterfeit of eros. The "four loves" are distinct and do have limits.
Let's make sure that we speak the truth in love to a culture that longs for all four of the "loves" God has shared with us.
Article by Amy Scheuring, Executive Director of Women's Choice Network.
