Ways of Loving

"What is love?" was the most frequently searched question on Google in 2014. In an attempt to answer that question I developed a chart entitled "Ways of Loving." Whenever I encountered an author that tried to define just what love is I added his definition to the chart. These authors are theologians, philosophers, psychologists, or psychiatrists. I also included the teaching of Jesus known as his "Golden Rule." I developed the chart as a tool to use with the people I counsel as a Christian pastor who are seeking to better understand what love is and how they can better give and receive love. The book is my own reflections on the chart. The book is organized following the Rabbinical notion that when God undertakes a work he does so in 4 stages - conception, creation, formation, and completion. Thus, love also evolves through those stages. I also include a section on shame, what we experience when love is interrupted, and forgiveness, how we can be restored to love. In the afterward I briefly address the question of "Why is there love?" I answer that as a Christian that believes in the Trinity of God where the three persons of God dwell in love and achieve union and communion. From the joy and peace of their mutual love they create creatures in love for love.