SHOULD WE LOVE THE WORLD?

John 3:16  For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. (KJV) I John 2:15  Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. (KJV)

Context is immensely important here.  John 3:16 is saying that Jesus sent God to save people, so what God is obviously loving here are the people of the world, not the planet itself.  1 John 2:15 is referring to the material aspects of the world, not the people in it.  While the word for 'world' is the same word in both passages (kosmos), it is a word that has multiple meanings.  According to Strong's Concordance, it can be a literal or figurative word, and can be used in a wide or narrow sense.  Only if it was a literal word used only in a narrow sense could we call this a contradiction.  Not a contradiction.