“There are few people whom I really love, and still fewer whom I think well,” says Elizabeth Bennett of Jane Austen’s novel, Pride and Prejudice.
1 John 2:9 says to abide in the light you must love your brother… does that mean you must like him? One of the reasons I rid myself of that swelling chronical of human ignorance, self-absorbance, and depravity (Facebook) was to like people better. I feel that the less I know of what people think about themselves, the more I may like them. I’ll tell you if this works.
Is like the natural step below love, or are these separate entities? Garrett and I talked about this, and decided that while the Bible commands that you love your enemies (Matthew 5:44), it never says you must like them. It is widely accepted that you can love someone without liking them, and I believe there are also cases where you can like someone and still hate them (yes, I’m female). Mothers also seem to love their children even when their babies haven’t developed enough individuality to be likable.
Of course, we humans underestimate the meaning of love, and that concept is generally acknowledged among Christian circles. I propose, though, that we also underestimate the meaning of liking someone. Doesn’t the word “like” imply an alikeness of thought or feeling, so that if someone is unlike you, though you may love them, you plainly don’t like them? Is it unchristian to dislike someone? I think not.
This post probably reveals that I don’t understand the concept of like or love well enough to talk about it, but at least I’m thinking.
