This was kept in check in "Four Weddings and a Funeral" and "Notting Hill," which were directed by other people, but, once he took command, with "Love Actually," restraint was cast aside and we were pummelled into conceding that the sins of mankind could be dissolved, or wished away, by the innocent, the loyal, and the nice.
Jesus sums up the commandments under two, the command to love God with all one's heart and soul and mind (see Deuteronomy 6 5), and the command to love the neighbor as the self (see Leviticus 19 18).
Two months ago the chaplain at another Nazarene university was demoted for a sermon questioning whether enthusiastic warmongering was compatible with Jesus' command to love our enemies.
Resentment or anger was somewhat more difficult for Butler to deal with insofar as it was ubiquitous to human beings but conflicted with the Christian command to love our enemies.
Pope Francis can confirm that, in the case of his next door predecessor, that he accords with the Gospel command to "Love thy neighbor".
Alan Chambers, former Exodus president, said he could not apologize for his biblical beliefs about sexuality and marriage, but these beliefs "will never again interfere with God's command to love my neighbor as I love myself".
Yes, good people will answer that question differently, but whatever answer the Christian gives, it needs to be consistent with the biblical command to "love those who are aliens".
Under these difficult circumstances, Elizabeth developed a strategy of rule that blended imperious command with an extravagant, histrionic cult of love.
According to Apuleius, the jealous Venus commanded her son Cupid (the god of love) to inspire Psyche with love for the most despicable of men.
As far back as 1926, Harold Ross had recognized that voice as the one his new magazine needed; Ross clung with all the devices at an editor's command (money, love, guilt-inducement) to his sometimes wriggling prize.
Having said that, they still command the love of an audience who greet seven textbookish new songs with all the disco-dancing giddiness they do the hits.
