Romantic?

There’s something that’s been bothering me that I want to get off my chest.
Why, oh why do love songs praise the little devil Cupid as if he was good?!!!
Hasn’t anyone ever read Virgil? The little infant is pretty much a murderer! (See: Aeneid, Book IV)

When a love song calls on Cupid to “draw back his bow”, isn’t that almost as inappropriate as making reference to Chucky in an attempt to be romantic?!
Is that supposed to be romantic? No, thank you!
(Ok, that may be a bit harsh, but still let us be reasonable!)

Anyway, this topic along with the story of poor Dido has had me thinking of the contrast between Didoic love (the newest word I’m adding to my fabricated dictionary) and Christian love.

Dido was afflicted with a “deadly wound” that eventually drove her to madness and suicide. She was poisoned with an obsessive need for Aeneas that could never be fully quenched. Love did not pour out of her; rather she was always grasping and gleaning all the love that she could get her hands on in order to just stay alive. This is Didoic Love.

The contrast to this would be the love of Christ. His love was actually poured out of Him. This was demonstrated in that He, rather than taking His own life, gave it up for others; greater love has no man… This is Christian Love.

Dido sacrificed nothing for Aeneas (he sacrificed nothing for her either, in fact it seems that the guy was only messing with her head; but since Aeneas is another topic and I’m here to address Cupid, I’ll continue…); her death was not for him, but was an attempt to ease her own pain. Rather than give, she only demanded of him to fill her needs.
Once again, in contrast to this we have Christ, who takes all of mankind’s need on Him and gives them all of Himself.

Christian love is free to give because, in Christ, we have all things. A Christian loses nothing by giving because his cup is flowing over. Didoic love can only take because it lacks; it is ever in need of filling the void.

When was the last time you heard a “love song” that did not express Didoic love? Unfortunately, this twisted idea seems to have become our only definition of love.

Wouldn’t it be nice to hear a real song about real people that didn’t leave you waiting for the movie credits to roll? It’s occurred to me that whenever I hear one of those songs, I’m really never compelled to think of two actual people I know. The song only makes me think of characters in a movie; these characters could be replaced with faces of people I know, but the whole of it never seems to express a plot that is true to life (much like a chick flick).

There. I feel better now.

*sigh*