Kathleen Norris writes in Amazing...
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Kathleen Norris writes in Amazing Grace: A Vocabulary of Faith, "Young people grow up understanding that love means possessing and being possessed. It is a consumer model of love, an 'If I can't have her, nobody will' psychology that all too often turns deadly." She tells that "domestic" murders make up almost half of all murders in North Dakota. "Owning" someone becomes more important than the person. It's easier, and safer, to have an idol than a real person who can demand from you, love you back, or even leave you. "People who have murdered their spouses," Norris writes, "often talk about how much they love them, and they mean it." But they can only keep loving them in their "ideal" form by doing away with him or her.
"Let love be genuine," Paul writes to the Roman church. The challenge of today's church is to teach people how to love in a genuine way when they have learned only how to possess another. When Jesus spoke of loving one another, he spoke of giving, not taking; of laying down one's life, not taking another; of sharing, not owning.
"Let love be genuine," Paul writes to the Roman church. The challenge of today's church is to teach people how to love in a genuine way when they have learned only how to possess another. When Jesus spoke of loving one another, he spoke of giving, not taking; of laying down one's life, not taking another; of sharing, not owning.
