Geoffrey, The Word says how can we say we love God if we don't love the brethren. You are very harsh on fellow Christians if they do not agree with you politically. You are not the only one, but it does seem to be a leftest trait to get angry, call names and imply that those not in agreement with them are of lesser intelligence.
First, it should be "The Word asks". Second, "The Word" neither says nor asks anything. In this case, it is St. Paul, in his letter to the Corinthian church, that asks the question. I have never implied or stated explicitly that those who disagree with me are "of lesser intelligence". When people demonstrate a certain lack of intelligence, or at least a lack of the grasp of facts, I might point that out. I do believe that Mom2 has a bit of an issue here, but I will set that aside for the moment.
Living in a post-Enlightenment and (more important) post-Romantic age, we too often think of love either as an emotion swamping our reason or as the expression of affection towards others. Along with the idea of love being primarily emotive, i.e. something within our heads, is the idea that love expresses itself, when it does so, without any admixture of anger, rancor, bitterness, spite, or any other "emotion". For Christians influenced by the Enlightenment/Romantic notions both of love and of the overwhelming nature of the Divine Nature, Christian love most especially is expressed in tenderness, in empathy, without dilution from other emotions.
Since Christianity was not born in the Enlightenment, I think the best way to sum up this view is to say - malarkey.
My own view of Christian love is this - The beaten, bloody, pierced, and dying Jesus hanging on the cross is the full expression of God's love. That same Jesus, dead from his wounds, raised from the dead - this is the full expression of God's love. God's love isn't a Precious Moments figurine or a Hallmark card. It is the love expressed in the death and resurrection of Jesus. It is the love that is willing to go so far as to be outside of God's grace, to be abandoned and alone - dying without any friends, family, loved ones, or even the Divine Presence. This is Christian love. It is not an emotion; Christian love is love that understands itself as intimately linked with death, and, of course, resurrection.
But we can't get to Easter without going through Good Friday, folks. Jesus had to die, first, and he died pretty horribly.
When Mom2 seems to think I do not have "love" for the "brethren", I think what she means is that I should be nicer, more polite.
As I said to here in comments, "Nah, I don't think so." The love of God isn't polite. It isn't nice. It's confrontational. It's demanding. It claims us in our totality, demanding our entire lives.
I am, like the rest of us, free to say "No" to such a demand. I am free to refuse to turn my whole self over to God. I am free to confuse warm and cuddly feelings for the harsh demand for sacrifice unto death of the Gospel. I gain nothing and lose far too much if I do so.
Again - this barely scratches the surface of what I think of Christian love, but I think it is a sufficient starting point, at least for now.
