I wonder what John Sanford would say about the implications of the biblical Song of Songs. They are very, very deep; I wrote a whole online commentary on them, one of the most edifying studies I have ever done for my own growth (and I hope, for that of others as well). Love between a man and a woman really can grow to be, and in this world, “a most vehement flame” or, in the original Hebrew, *shalhevetyah*, “the very flame of the Eternal” (Song 8:6). I have actually seen this happen, in the here and now!

For the sake of your audience, and so I can mention some of the results of our own counseling together, I’ll say the rest in a private note.