The Various Types of Love in Relationships

There are many forms of love. The highest forms of love, among many types include:

- Agape love

- Parental love

- Filial love

- Romantic love

Agape love describes God’s love. This is a pure form of love that is so strong, unwavering, unchanging, unconditional and eternal. Agape love is a love that is firm and impregnable. No one can violate this love because it is potent, solid and secure. This is a substantial kind of love that is unassailable. Nothing is too strong to successfully attack it due to the warmth that exist it this form of love. This is because; you become the sole center of attention.

Agape love is a love that is intense, invulnerable and iron like. This love serves you even when and where you least expect it to exist. The effectiveness, potency and strength in this love are sure. It is a love that can intoxicate the human heart to a point where other things fade by comparison in the presence of this love. Agape love tends to be multipotent. It is a powerful, fertile and robust love that serves. This love is immune to attack and totally incapable of being tampered with. An extremely severe kind of love that is noticeable. Where it shows up, people will notice you.

Agape love is unwavering in that, it is firm and steadfast. This form of love is unbending, unfaltering and unshakeable because, it is marked with firm resolution to stay. Agape love shows no abrupt variations. It is indeed a resolute kind of love that is unchanging. This implies that it tends to be consistent, stable and static. Agape love conforms to the same principles or course of action over time. Doubt has no place where agape love is concerned. This love is unconditional in that it is not contingent, determined or influenced by someone or anything else. It is totally independent and not modified or restricted by reservations.

Agape love is a stark and severely simple complete kind of love. It is devoid of any qualifications, disguise or adornment. Just like your creator is eternal, agape love is also eternal, ageless, perpetual, long lastingly permanent and continuing indefinitely forever. Such is the kind of love that your creator has towards you (man). It is the only kind of love that guarantees joy or happiness. Who wouldn’t like to be loved with this kind of love? I believe all types of love aspire to be likened to agape love. Sadly speaking, we can only aspire but we never make it because we are not God.

Parental love describes the love between parents and their children. A father or mother is biologically bonded with their child. No wonder there are numerous cases in court on disputes between parents for their children’s custody.

Parents have a deep genetic attachment to their children that seeks to protect and preserve. This attachment which is interpreted as love relates to both the father (paternal), and the mother’s (maternal) relation with their offspring. This is a love that is often guided by instincts. It seeks to assist, defend, always cover for, fence in, insure and look out for the child.

Parental love immunizes, overprotects, preserves, surrounds and safeguards the offspring. This concern leaves most parents unnerved in the face of inadequate information about their child’s welfare and safety. The love always seeks to shield the child from danger, injury, destruction or damage. It will protect and conserve our posterior with a view to perpetuating the procreation of every genetic species that is threatened with annihilation.

A parent will always keep a child in safety and protect them from harm, decay, loss or destruction. We want to maintain them in an unaltered condition, cause to remain untainted or ensure the child lasts. Speaking of animals, I dare you to try standing between the baby and mother elephant, you will definitely get what is coming.

Parental love is a child’s ultimate body guard. Every creature is or should be a byproduct of parental love even if fertilization is by test tube. This is due to the parent being the natural physical source of life in the creature.

Filial love refers to love that a child directs towards a parent. It relates to or is characteristic of an offspring. This love designates the generation or sequence of generations following the parental generation. Children have filial love and respect to their parents. It is fertilized with genetic attachment to ones parents. This kind of love is reinforced with a sense of belonging to a family unit. The child has a strong attachment to the parents.

Romantic love is the kind of love that exists between a man and a woman, boy and girl, husband and wife. There is a common confusion between genuine romantic love with liking, infatuation, and sexual intercourse. Liking comes before loving. When we say we like, we mean we approve of or are fond of something. We therefore consider the object to be enjoyable or agreeable to our line of thought. Liking points towards “wishing to be in the company of” most of the time.

Liking is often ones preference or wish to do something. It is also a desire to have. Infatuation is what we often regard as a crush. This is a foolish temporary extravagant passion or admiration for the opposite sex, usually experienced by adolescents. This experience comes up when we meet a person for the first time. In view of certain striking admirable attributes in another person, anybody is capable of having a crush for another person. This often leads to sexual intercourse that is not backed by genuine romantic love.

Sex is not love. It is basically canal knowledge or copulation, normally between a man and a woman and may be undertaken in the absence of love. Sex was meant for enjoyment between married couples who must be in love, for procreation, resulting in the propagation of the human race. Man’s mind has sired odd forms of sex for enjoyment that have distorted the true purpose and meaning of sex.

Same gender sex is no sex. A man cannot love a fellow man the way he loves a woman. A woman is specially created for a man’s love and vice versa. In short, to men, there is no substitute for a woman and to women; there is no substitute for a man. The real joys of sex come between a man and a woman. Those fiery embers that were concealed in your body from the beginning of man’s time on earth can only be cooled by the opposite sex. Hence, marriage between a man and a woman is holy in the creator’s eyes.

Under all manner of conditions and definitions, it is a taboo for men and other men, women and other women, or teenagers to have sex. It is also not wise to have sex with somebody you are not legally yoked to. Darling, don’t roll in the hay with anybody. You will always have it at your own risk with a big question mark in your mind, including a sense of guilt. Guilt comes as a response to your conscience trying to reason with your mind. Sex in this condition is tainted until you get married to the right person. Then and only then, does the guilt stop.

Romantic love takes over and comes with affection and devotion. Romance answers to your being enamored or in love with another person. This makes you warm and passionate about your partner. It brings about a deep feeling of physical attraction and desire to be in their company.

Your physical attraction towards them is what produces sexual desire in you. There is that strong positive emotion of regard and affection for your partner that precedes anything else. The union between you and the right person, under the right circumstances, produces great sensual pleasure. Your beloved is most dear to you. Loyalty proves genuine romantic love. The yoking of two in marriage leads to a bond in their spirits such that the two become one. From that day hence forth, if you treat her bad, expect repercussions from your creator. Your prayers too will not be answered.

A sound marriage epitomizes the coming one between the church (you and I) and the Lamb (Christ). When based on Godly principles, romantic love lasts through out ones’ marriage and beyond. Its presence or absence in a person’s life tends to show. This aspect of life has an influence on your relationship with other people in your life circles. There are other kinds of love out there, but the ones discussed above tend to be more universal in acceptance. Which kind of love appeals to you most? You may have to answer the question WHY DO WE FALL IN LOVE?