Personal Growth, Christian Living, Love & Marriage
Date Published: May 25, 2021
Publisher: Lucid Books Publishing
Explore the little-known truth about what it really means to love your neighbor as yourself.
Loving your neighbor as yourself is an act of the will, not something you feel. At least that's what most Christians believe. But is that what the Bible actually teaches? In Love Is an Emotion R. L. Lewis invites you to take an honest look at the scriptures and determine the answer to this question for yourself. As you reason your way through these pages, you'll discover:
● How the common view of "Christian" love measures up to the test of logic.
● How the subjective nature of emotion relates to the objective truth of God's Word
● How a revised definition of love can impact our understanding of the gospel of grace.
If you're eager to explore the little-known truth about what it really means to love your neighbor as yourself, this book is for you.
What was your main drive to write this book?
I’ve always been fascinated with how emotions “fit” into
the Christian life, probably because I’ve so often struggled to figure out how
to deal with them in my own life. That fascination eventually led me to the
view I hold today about love’s being an emotion. But I have rarely found a book
written from a Christian perspective that doesn’t talk about love without
defining it as some kind of action or commitment. So, I decided to write my own
book and shine a brighter light on an immensely underrepresented perspective.
What do you hope readers will learn by reading
this book?
Realizing that love is an emotion can be a frightening experience
for a believer. At least it most certainly was for me. It made me realize my
sinful condition apart from Christ was far worse than I could ever imagine. So,
I hope this book helps readers learn how to properly respond to that conviction
by walking them through God’s Word and highlighting the glorious gospel of his
grace.
Did you do much research when planning this
book?
Oh, yes, much more than I ever imagined I would! That’s
one reason why it took me so long to write such a short book. Rarely would I
find the answer to one question without having three other questions pop up for
me to investigate. I’ve often heard about how much you learn whenever you try
to teach a subject. Well, the same goes for writing about a subject!
Did you have any main people who helped you in
the process of this book or influenced you to write it?
At least five years before I started writing this book, I
read Dr. Matthew Elliott’s book Feel. He was the first person to make me
feel a little less crazy for being a Christian who thinks that love is an
emotion. So, his influence on me was profound, and I actually quote his work
several times in my book. Of course, I would also be incredibly remiss if I
didn’t mention my wife in my answer to this question. There are approximately
one billion things I couldn’t do without her in my life. And finishing this
book was certainly one of them.
How long did this book take you to write from
initial thought to hitting publish?
The whole process took about six years on the dot,
beginning in the Summer of 2015. Of course, I wasn’t working on the book that
entire time because other projects often took precedence. But it was always
there marinating in the back of my mind, especially during Saturday morning
lawnmowing sessions.
Do you have plans to write more about this
topic or new topics?
I would love to expand this book someday to include
whatever objections and further implications may surface as more people read
it. Beyond that, I definitely want to keep writing about things that hopefully challenge
and edify the Body of Christ to the best of my ability.
About the Author
R. L. Lewis was born and raised in Houston, Texas, where he currently resides with his wife, Kayla, their son, and their 11-year-old dog, Beatrice. A couple of years after earning his degree in applied mathematics from the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, Lewis moved back to his hometown to study painting at the University of Houston. Though he now works in the art industry, he enjoys spending much of his free time on projects that combine his affinity for analytical reasoning with his passion for studying God’s Word.
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