If you know anything about the Gospels, you know people are always coming to Jesus with questions about anything and everything. They ask questions about life, God, theology, and law. You name it, they ask it.

Love. “Maybe you’re not finding it because you’re not defining it right.” That is one of my favorite lyrics from the rap group Beautiful Eulogy’s song Take It Easy. And I think it’s a true story for so many people today. In the first century, they didn’t wash feet for symbolism. They washed feet out of sheer necessity. And it was a nasty job. One that was saved for the lowest of the low. The bottom of the barrel. Only servants. Only the lowest servants. It’s hard to even compare the job to something equivalent today. Mr. Comer lays a good foundation when he introduces love as both feeling and action. I think that Christians are sometimes fearful of feelings and are afraid to make positive comments about them. Here, caveats are provided, but feelings are affirmed as a good and necessary part of love. To be human is to have emotions. We were created to love, and emotions are a part of who we are. In a recent Guardian interview, Spektor reflected on that early-career outpouring of songs that generated “Loveology” and “Raindrops.” “I didn’t have any responsibilities,” Spektor recalled. “I would read a book; I would write a song.”

For me, I found about the first half of the book to contain useful elements. The last half, although interesting to read the arguments for theologies of complementarianism and heterosexual-only marriages, it was something that I did not find useful otherwise.

In the book of Matthew, chapter 19, we read one example. The Pharisees — the religious teachers of the day — come to Jesus and test him. They ask him if it is lawful for a man to divorce his wife. I will do my best to leave actual religious preferences and beliefs out of this, because my concerns for this book come from a different place.It is easy to thrive as a Love Coach, Relationship Expert or Master Sexpert because everyone wants to have a great relationship and love life. Singles want to find their soul mate and couples want to live happily ever after. Before you watch the video, take time to dig into the following question. Think about how it relates to you as an individual. And then there’s the original picture of love. The unadulterated plan. God’s initial intent in all its innocence and beauty and grace. The Garden of Eden.

Describe the different words for “love” in Hebrew. How are they different from or similar to our modern view of love? But the stories go on. The Scriptures are full of accounts that give us vivid pictures of Jesus’ love for humanity. And seldom were they pleasant. One of the most graphic pictures of his love comes in John 19. The scourging. The Via Dolorosa. The cross. The death. All love. All grace. Life-changing if you can grasp the gravity and reality of it all. John Mark’s descriptions of his own experiences are refreshing and much-needed in today’s society, as they paint a picture of a healthy relationship, marriage, and sex life centered around the Creator. Through this painting, Comer dispels some of the great myths & practices surrounding love that swarm our culture today.

Fiction

The book plays into common weaknesses of soft complementarian, evangelical talk of love and sex (which I've heard and received most of my life). It settles for pat explanations of intricate realities and easy evaluations of perplexing experiences. Its eschewal of the sacramental life weakens its reflections on matrimony and children, and its selection of scriptural texts for allegorical or prescriptive readings is patchy at best. A salient example of this last weakness is that Comer breaks with thousands of years of allegorical readings of Song of Songs that, without doing violence to the text, tell us that this is love poetry and a testament to God's love. It's both/and. Comer thinks it's only worth reading as love poetry, and, in the process, draws some dodgy gender theology from the poem (do not arouse that love!). Love Coaching is a rewarding career where you can help others revolutionize not only their love lives, but overall wellbeing so they can learn to thrive! Imagine working from the comfort of your own home, or anywhere in the world, having more time and freedom to live and enjoy life on your own terms. Enjoy a flexible schedule that you design for your own lifestyle, take control of your career path and use your special skills, talents and experience to create a job you LOVE! Contrary to what you might think, divorce was at pandemic levels in first-century Jewish culture. And sadly, more than 2,000 years later, here we are struggling with the same dysfunction and brokenness. We are all facing abysmal odds when it comes to marriage and love. And many would argue it’s because somewhere along the way we lost the plotline. We’re confused, at best, when it comes to love.