God is love. Some people can’t believe it. If God is love, how can he allow all of this suffering and murder and violence and corruption? If God exists, is love even one of God’s attributes? Others misunderstand this statement and would have it mean that God always and everywhere radiates a sentimental positive vibe toward all that we say and do.
In John’s day, the Greco-Roman world held to a hodgepodge of religious beliefs. With travel and communication being what they are today, the spiritual gumbo is thicker and gooier than ever.
It didn’t take long for the effects of sin on the human race to hit rock bottom. Adam and Eve ate a fruit – a seemingly simple act. Yet in the next generation they saw what that seemingly trivial deed actually meant when Cain killed Abel his brother.
One of the deepest human longings is the longing to belong. We have a need to be needed, a desire to be desired. We want to be part of a group where we feel accepted, where we fit in.
Central Reflections 