15 Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 16 For everything in the world—the cravings of sinful man, the lust of his eyes and the boasting of what he has and does—comes not from the Father but from the world. 17 The world and its desires pass away, but the man who does the will of God lives forever.
"The world" is a loaded term in Christian circles. Dan Edelen has been kicking that concept around this spring quite a bit even if he hasn't hit it exactly on; he takes a contrarian view from a simplistic take on this part of 1 John-
[D]oesn’t Christ’s death redeem ALL of life?
What verse in the Bible is more astute than this one?
To the pure, all things are pure, but to the defiled and unbelieving, nothing is pure…. —Titus 1:15a ESV
Interestingly, the Greek in play here is kosmos. Yes, that's where we get the synonym for universe and what the Russians raided for cosmonaut, but the second meaning listed is "ornament, decoration, adornment."
Bling.
Try this rewrite of the second part of 15-"If you love bling, you don't have God's love." It turns agape into something materialistic.
That leaves room for simple pleasures like a warm bed on a cool morning or a good plate of spaghetti without having to see if Archangel Michael.......Bloomberg is looking to zap all your creature comforts.
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