There are many different kinds of love, ranging from simple preference, as in Jacob's love of Esau's savoury meat, to the love between David and Jonathan that the Bible called "greater than the love between a man and a woman." Gary Chapman, author of The Five Love Languages, wrote:
Love is the most important word in the English language -- and the most confusing. ... We use it a thousand ways. We speak of loving activities, objects, animals, nature, people. ... We also use the word love to explain behavior. "I did it because I love her." That explanation is given for all kinds of actions. ... What is loving behavior?
Robert Heinlein, in Stranger in a Strange Land, wrote:
I'll give you an exact definition. "Love" is that condition in which the happiness of another person is essential to your own.
In this study, we'll be talking about the particular type of love that results from a conscious decision to place someone else's needs and wants above your own.
