From the YouTube site, God’s Will:
“We Have Been Deceived To Follow Our Heart by Dr. Voddie Baucham. In this video, Dr. Voddie Baucham talks about the dangers of being in a relationship with an unbeliever according to scriptures. Break Up That Relationship NOW if you’re in one.”
The following points are only HIGHLIGHTS, they cannot convey the message preached, but only recount points he touched upon:
- Our culture is largely deceived by the Greco-Roman (GR) concept of romantic love
- Cupid –> arrow –> overwhelming passion that moves one to say things such as the following
- This thing is bigger than both of us; we don’t choose who we fall in love with; the heart wants what the heart wants
- The above concepts are believed even in the church
- The Bible says that the heart is deceitful above all things and is not to be trusted
- [Jeremiah 17:9 The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it? – ESV]
- When we believe the GR myth of romantic love, we have several problems:
- 1) No marriage is safe [his explanation basically indicates that because the GR concepts of romantic love are based on feelings, which are fickle…no one can be safe because the other person may undergo sudden change any time]
- 2) The idea of the “ONE,” when combined with point 1, creates further vulnerability in marriage
- 3) A person can never objectively know if they have found the “ONE.” Thus, a year after marrying, when difficulties are experienced a person who believes the GR myths is likely to begin believing that he/she has not yet found the “ONE”
- Definition of biblical love derived from Matthew 22 and Deuteronomy 6 indicates that it is an act of the will accompanied by emotion that leads to action on behalf of its object; it is a choice wherein one is NOT led by emotion
- Christ is our model of biblical love: He does not love the church because she is ‘fine;’ He doesn’t love the church because she makes Him happy; He loves the church because she is His bride and He is in covenant with her; He chooses to love
- He did not experience an overwhelming emotional force that had to be sustained over the years, or that moved Him to sacrifice His life for the church, or that made Him feel good…but He died for His bride because that was the only way she could be redeemed
- An example of a woman who stayed in a relationship based upon the GR myth
- The biblical concept of leading with the will is obvious in the following behaviors that women [men to, but he was talking of a woman and kept on so] should note that a man keeps her at a distance to protect each of them until they know that the other is qualified: is a believer; wants marriage….
- One should note how the other enters into relationships, how they have done so in the past; what they are searching for….
- That is, do they want marriage or something else?
- Men, until you are the right kind of man with the right kind of goals in a relationship, you do not deserve a Christian woman
- Those who lead with the will, seeking biblical love, will be able to weather difficult times: he gave an example of such a marriage wherein the man cares for his wife who got MS after they married
- For those who are still saying, “No romance?” Voddie provided an example of what he looks forward to in arriving home from his speaking engagement to illustrate the strength of biblical love
The following link is to the video page of the site, God’s Will. He has a lot of video excerpts of biblical preachers such as MacArthur, Baucham, Washer and Lawson. Videos on fear, anxiety, tribulation, prayer, salvation, faith….
I have just begun to explore this site, based on the preachers above, I’d say it is worthy of subscribing to if you want weekly encouragement.
https://www.youtube.com/c/GodsWillMotivation/videos
Addendum:
8-28-22, I added the following link to a Bible Key-Word Study (that is one of the categories of this blog) of Dr. Duane Spencer which talks about the forms of love in the Bible. It will complete what was said above from a different perspective. Also, there are numerous other Key-word studies in that category which you might want to hear.