Critique of Human and Spiritual Love

In my opinion this book is very useful to understand how important purely Spiritual forces (as opposed to the desires of men) are the ones that make and keep fellowship within a congregation for its health. I do believe that there is a value and purpose for "human love" to operate within the church for the sake of its strength. Unfortunately I don't have a discourse to quote, just personal experience in order to back up my opinion....

--"The community of the Spirit is the fellowship of those who are called by Christ; human community of spirit is the fellowship of devout souls."
There was a good deal of wisdom in this concept, especially in light of the last blog entry I made on my personal preference to often be alone. Human community, in my case as in most any, is comprised of maximizing time around those whom one finds most approvable and ideal, and decreasing the opposite kind of company. But this is not how God wants us to live.

--"...in human community of spirit there grows the dark love of good and evil desire, eros."
It is important to pay attention that eros is composed of both bad and good desires.

--" In the former there is ordered, brotherly service, in the latter disordered desire for pleasure; in the former humble subjection to the brethren, in the latter humble yet haughty subjection of a brother to one's own desire. "
It could also be argued that there is a kind of eros, or desire, operating within the community of Spirit (agape), because as one believes and trusts in God's work in men, they become satisfied and comforted in those passions, confident they will be met by a God who is listening.

--"He has been overpowered, but not won over by the thing itself. Here is where the humanly converted person breaks down and thus makes it evident that his conversion was effected, not by the Holy Spirit, but by a man, and therefore has no stability."
This is a valuable insight for those times and persons who struggle to capture a real sense of identity and independence from values and regulations of peers.

--"...human love is by its very nature desire -- desire for human community. So long as it can satisfy this desire in some way, it will not give it up, even for the sake of truth, even for the sake of genuine love for others. But where it can no longer expect its desire to be fulfilled, there it stops short -- namely, in the face of an enemy. There it turns to hatred, contempt, and calumny."
This is not true if speaking of Christians, who know and are driven by both human motivations and Spiritual motivations. Human love and longing for "fusion" with another was part of God's design for us. God created man so to share His love with another. Jesus Christ, while a man, longed to be fulfilled with the closeness of those who loved him. "Father, why have you forsaken me?" "I have longed to share this passover with you." In these examples we see that Jesus did not pine just for fellowship from above but also from those on the earth. Therefore I would edit Bonhoeffer's statement to say: "human love is by its very nature desire -- desire for community (in general)." To think that it is ungodly, or unSpiritual, to find fulfillment in the face of another human being, is to deny the way that God made us, and the way that God has used the church to edify, uplift and satisfy the purpose for which we are created; in short, to live love.

--"Because Christ stands between me and others, I dare not desire direct fellowship with them. As only Christ can speak to me in such a way that I may be saved, so others, too, can be saved only by Christ himself. This means that I must release the other person from every attempt of mine to regulate, coerce, and dominate him with my love. The other person needs to retain his independence of me..."
I guess this perspective would find itself in many ways at odds with the concept of "lifestyle evangelism."

It is true to a point that, when we find fulfillment on earth with a kindred spirit and the experience of being close to such a person, the voice and presence and realness of God becomes lessened and less important to cultivate. So for those who are struggling with faith, perhaps this kind of earthly fulfillment is at odds with Spiritual growth.

However they are not always at odds. Can not an accountability partner also be admirable and desireable? I have a mentor who has been by my side for serveral years now, and while she attempts to regulate me when we are together she has not replaced or diminshed the realness of God but rather made my sensitivity to God's salvation stronger. Would not such a relationship be characterized roughly in the same way Bonhoeffer describes: "in the human community of spirit there rules, along with the Word, the man who is furnished with exceptional powers, experience, and magical, suggestive capacities"?

He is on target saying desire is what rules the human goal of community, and so what we seek and what we build can become sinful or imbalanced to deny the Spirit of God, to varying degrees. It is true that those whom I desire to be close to can become an end in itself. But as a Christian my testimony is this: the eros in me, the desires I have, do not always serve myself above others. I can say that where I admired someone I was also aware that true love called me, teaching me the corollary of God and His boundaries, which make the experience of loving a person more powerful and satisfying. Agape was born of eros. Yes, Christians are from time to time slow to obey God and, at times, make mistakes to desire human fellowship beyond what they ought. It is also true that we make the mistake of rejecting human fellowship more than we ought. But the point, as Julie and I have already discovered through an intense but brief discussion of the matter, is more importantly about learning to surrender. When we become aware that we have drifted too far off course of loving in Christ's way, a way that is letting the other person be free to believe God, we have a choice to keep on or to surrender and admit that it has turned off course. When we surrender we learn so many important things. We learn self-control from the LORD, we learn to hope the best in others, we learn more about God's grace. As Julie said, if it is all about surrender, then knowing and needing God's mercy every moment is the most pleasing way to live for God.

So, desires in themself are not bad. They are God-given that we might learn endurance through trials, to refine our faith, to transform us into His likeness.