Controversy and Love

“But now faith, hope, love, abide these three; but the greatest of these is love.”
1 Corinthians 13:13


Yep, I started out this entry with a verse from the Bible. So what follows is my take on it. Before I lose any readers who don’t feel quite obliged to follow Biblical statements, this post is not meant to convince of the Bible’s soundness or convince you that you should regard it as truth; that’s more of a class than a blog entry. This entry, then, will serve as food for thought about that verse, so whether you believe that one should believe in it or not, I think it’s good fodder for thought.


Anyway, you read this far. Might as well read the rest.


If you’ve been to any cookie-cutter Christian wedding, you’ve heard this verse before. This is the same reading where St. Paul states that if he is loveless, he is like some annoying percussion instruments, and he gives love some nice adjectives (i.e., patient, kind, etc.). This nice little passage ends with the verse that is at the top of this post.


I question why this verse isn’t more controversial.


Think about local religious authorities to you. Do they have a Facebook page. Most likely, the answer is yes. (Sadly, Facebook steals almost everyone’s personal information.) Look at people’s last five posts on Facebook. Are they about faith, hope, or love?  Almost entirely about faith, eh? Why is this so?


Make no mistake: faith is in no way bad. It is fantastic that information on faith is being shared on Facebook. However, if one is faithful to any type of Christian belief and his posts are only about faith, wouldn’t he be a clanging gong or a clashing cymbal? 


Maybe one could argue that posts on faith, like children in contemporary families, were conceived in love. Indeed, this would allow people to feel validated in their own opinions. However, the point of this blog (and moreover, the point of me) is to make one step back from his regular acts and thoughts and consider it as an outsider. 


For me, faith is considered belief and it is not only, but commonly, equated with religion, the history and philosophy of the types of believer. Hope, the sadly most elusive of the three, focuses not on the past, but on the future, and its outlook on the present. Love is the topic of poets and artists. Philosophers may shed great light on this topic, but seem (in my perspective) to focus more on intellectual pursuits. (In effect, choosing faith over love.)


These are three huge theological topics in my meek and grotesque nutshell. Feel free to chase me through town with torches and pitchforks.


My point of this topic is to relay that love seems really lacking in most religious leaders’ persona. Heck, mine included, if you want to look at me that way. (But for the sake of your soul and mine, please don’t!) I want to challenge any readers and myself on what drives most of our actions in the name of religion. If you choose not to go to a family members’ wedding because it doesn’t meet the Church’s standards, is that choosing faith or love? If your sister’s best friend, a known atheist, dies, are your comments compassionate or judgmental?


Again, I am not saying that faith or intellect is bad; just that love is better. Choosing a response based on faith, hope, or love is like the opposite of choosing the president. Instead of picking the lesser of two evils, we are asked to choose the best of three goods.


I’ve always been a “sentimental fool” according to my friends, so speaking on the topic of love is pretty easy for me. It’s funny for me how some people view that as a weakness of intellect. For me, it’s a complementary relationship.  But, I am wrong often.


I think it’s good for all of us to consider our motivations for all we do. Judging from our lives, if we follow St. Paul’s teaching, are faith, hope, and love all good? If so, which one drives us most?