Love, Infatuation,

Friendship, Exploitation
Relationships & Dating
 LOVE
• A relationship characterized by
commitment, unconditional acceptance,
deep respect, and trust, kindness,
compassion, deep mutual respect,
commitment, understanding, acceptance,
forgiveness, sensitivity, consideration,
patience, trust, self sacrifice, permanence
 LOVE
• 5 kinds of love:
- Desire – Attraction (epithumia)
- Longing – Romance (eros)
- Belonging – Affection (storge)
- Cherishing – Friendship (phile)
- Selfless Giving – Christian Love (agape)
 LOVE
• Erotic Love: (Eros – Greek Goddess of
Love)
- Desire of two people to have a union of
body, minds and heart
- We misuse the term so that it includes
only physical sex
- Meant to be exclusive
 LOVE
• Romantic Love:
- Makes way for mature love

• Pitfalls of romantic love:

- Infatuation
- Idolizing
- Putting on a pedestal
 INFATUATION
• A romantic relationship involving sexual
feelings and attraction
• Also known as being ‘in love” or temporary
love
• Includes being interested, being in touch
(holding hands, notes, phone calls),
emotionally involved, in love and/or being
sexually intimate
• Challenge to love person who you are in love
with
 INFATUATION
• Fall in love with love, not with each other
• Like a roller coaster, thrilling but is over
quickly
• Absorbed with the thrill of love that they
don’t get one another
 FRIENDSHIP
• A relationship between any two or more
persons who trust each other and like to be
together
• Strong emotional bond can help the sexual
desires move beyond self-centeredness of
childhood to a mature and caring
commitment
 FRIENDSHIP
• Four guidelines for friendships
between men and women:
- See each other as humans first and a
member of the opposite sex second
- Must see each other as equals
- See beyond stereotypes of their
respective sex
- They need to refrain from sexual
relations together
 EXPLOITATION
• The focus of the relationship is on sexual
feelings and their physical expression,
using another for emotional and sexual
satisfaction
• A relationship based on selfishness and
lack of respect for the other person
• Use of another for your own purposes
 EXPLOITATION
• TYPES: -Rape/Date Rape
- Distorted Sexuality
– when the power and - Lust
energy of sexuality is
not channeled and - Pornography
expressed through - Selling through
responsible and
loving choices sex
- Criminal - Prostitution
exploitation
- Non criminal - Masturbation
 SCRIPTURE
• “Love is patient; love is kind; love is not
envious or boastful or arrogant or rude. It
does not insist on its own way; it is not
irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice in
wrongdoing, but rejoices in the truth. It
bears all things, believes all things, hopes
all things, endures all things. Love never
ends.” (1 Corinthians 13:4-7)
 SOURCES
• http://www.eldrbarry.net/marraige/clas/bm0
• http://www.stjohnsdhs.org/Faculty/Costa/sex