Lovers And Saints

My understanding of Christ as the Lover of my soul has landed me in trouble in the past. I try to treat the topic gently and without argument. Some cannot relate to the imagery. Perhaps being male is an inhibitor for some ... or abuse for others ... the existence of so much perversion .... the butt of obscene jokes .... the queer, the kinky. Sex has been so marred that we can scarce see it as it was intended. To understand the intent we need to ask the author and he would take us back to the beginning .... for much of what is now was not intended at the beginning.

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For in the beginning he made them male and female .... one man and one woman charged with the duty to be fruitful and to multiply. The man was to love his wife and the woman was to respect her husband. That was the aphrodisiac .... love and respect. Could we imagine Romeo and Juliet taking a third into their marriage bed? Yet they did not live long enough to become bored, spiteful or arrogant in their union.

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Yet even if they had lived a full life able to forsake all others they would have been in danger of sucking each other dry. In truth there is a third party that should be involved in their marriage. This third, the author of their union, is there to fill their spiritual need so that they do not drain each other but remain fresh. He is there to ensure the purity of that union for what God has joined together let not man separate. If God is not the third person in the marriage something and someone surely will be. Go back to the beginning and to the original intent. Then from that vantage point see Jesus Lover of the soul.

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Does this offend you? Is it so funny? "My words are spirit .... the flesh counts for nothing." Yet there are many other metaphors in scripture ..... Father, brother, shepherd to name a few. Favor the one that speaks to you ... Father may not work for some. Again, because something has been lost in the translation or the original intent. Might I suggest that there is not a problem so much with the metaphor as with the perspective. Perhaps something needs to be healed and set right then the metaphor will no longer be a problem.