Sets and subsets

     Most people in the world would acknowledge that love is a powerful force. Being a Christian, I have read and continue to study scriptures which refer to love, probably the most famous being Christ's admonition to "love one another even as I have loved you". The ancient Romans had specific terms for different types of love, recognizing that love for a parent is not the same as love for a friend which is not the same as love for pink flowers, etc. I have found that opposing opinions, while creating dissension which makes me uncomfortable, also motivates me to analyze exactly what I believe/feel/prefer and why. As I am exposed to different people's concepts of love, I have come to an analogy that I want to share with whoever might be interested. In terms of the arithmetic concept of sets and subsets, love would be the large all-encompassing set. Hate would be a separate circle, a separate set. Inside the circle/set of love would be all the many types of love, one of which would be the love in a marriage. (Love between two people who are not married but simply living together wouldn't be included because it doesn't involve the same commitment or deep covenants. It might be really passionate and feel like it will last forever but if it doesn't inspire the covenants with witnesses so it really isn't the same.) 
     Marriage involves many aspects of relationship including but not limited to: friendship, counseling, learning and teaching, support in various forms (such as financial, moral, physical), recreational partners, co-nurterers of offspring, comforters, job sharing, and on and on. God made us with the ability to reproduce, as long as there is a male and female. He also made us with a physical desire to enjoy the pleasant sensations attendant with sex. That desire is at different levels in different people and at different times in our lives. Biologically, it assists in reproduction. If sex wasn't so pleasant, why would people do it when the result could be undesirable, e.g. diseases, pregnancy which causes great discomfort for nearly a year for females to say nothing of the agony of birth, offspring which can interfere with plans the adults have and cost lots of time and money? Sex is a biological function but humans are more than biological entities. We have an element that doesn't exist in other living things. Many animals come close because they seem to feel emotions toward others of their species as well as other species. But humans are unique in their advanced state and that is because we are not just creations of God, we are His children, His offspring. Sex is so powerful in that it allows us to conceive and produce more biological entities which will house the spirits of other offspring of God. Sex also causes us to attach ourselves to others emotionally as we grow and develop in a mature love as opposed to just lusting physically or coveting the undivided attention of someone. It grieves me that sex is portrayed in media as simply a recreational activity that "sometimes" leads to a decision to make a commitment. When sex is not in the subset of love called marriage, it is not truly in the larger set of love. It is a different element altogether. If sex is not for the purpose of reproducing or for bonding a male and female longterm, it is destructive. Growing up in the 60's and 70's I tried to go along with the cultural attitude of free love or "if it feels good, do it". But I soon realized that it was "fun" for the body (biological entity) but it raised havoc with the mind, emotions, and spirit. There is more to us than physical reactions. If we don't acknowledge that, we cause ourselves grief.