Does God have feelings?

Maria Billingsley said:

Jesus Christ of Nazareth is God in the Flesh. Lets not loose sight of that. The Fathers essence was encapsulated in His Son, The King. If we for one moment think that God is void of emotion, then best we revisit our Lords pain all through scripture. Here is one to meditate on.
Blessings
"Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were not willing. Jesus Christ of Nazareth Can anyone feel His pain?

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Of course, and this point has been made several times.

But, can we say the same prior to the hypostatic union of the two natures in Christ? Sure, maybe you have the communication of attributes once you have the Incarnation, but prior to that?

Saint Steven said:

I think God doesn't just love us, he even likes us. - lol

I usually get an odd response when I post that statement. I think it is because we perceive "love" to be a stronger emotion than "like". And that is true in one sense. But here's where I am coming from.

Oftentimes as Christians we feel obligated to "love" people that we don't particularly "like". We can't allow ourselves (or admit) to "hate" them. So, from that perspective, "love" is merely an obligation, whereas "like" is a more genuine emotion. A free will choice. (not an obligation) So, with that in mind, I think God doesn't just love us, he even likes us.

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Oh, that is an interesting point. I hadn't thought about it that way before. In some ways, it is much easier to love someone than to like them.

Saint Steven said:

I think it is interesting that we look at an act of love and declare it non-emotional.
Maybe we should look at acts of love as emotional responses.

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My hesitation with identifying love with emotion is that warm fuzzy feelings towards someone doesn't necessarily do anything. I can feel all kinds of feelings for the person down the street in need. But I haven't loved them until I get up and help them.

Or, imagine my worst enemy comes to me dying of thirst. I couldn't conjure up a loving feeling for that person if I wanted to. But, I know they will die without water, so I give it. Have I felt good feelings towards that person? No. Have I loved them? Yes.

Saint Steven said:

I guess I was trying to come at it from the other direction. Starting with the act of love and recognizing it as an expression of emotion, even though it isn't overtly emotional.

Saint Steven said: ↑
I think it is interesting that we look at an act of love and declare it non-emotional.
Maybe we should look at acts of love as emotional responses.

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Yeah, I'm still thinking about how much easier, emotionally speaking, it is to love someone than to actually like them. It almost makes it seem as if liking someone is more virtuous than loving them, haha. That's odd. Wasn't that kind of your point that God not only loves us, but likes us? Fascinating.

Maria Billingsley said:

All I know is Jesus Christ of Nazareth is God in the Flesh and He resurrected in the Flesh and ascended in the Flesh. We only know in part so we may not have the complete picture.

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Wisely put. I tend to agree, in spite of all my questions.

Saint Steven said:

It seems that the obligation to love, with no requirement for the emotion, destroys what love should be about.

But perhaps the obligation to love is SUPPOSED to include the emotion. What we have done is become pharisaical about it. Like the "Who is my neighbor?" question. Answer= The parable of the Good Samaritan.

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You've definitely got me thinking about it in a different way.

Saint Steven said:

1 Peter 1:22
Now that you have purified yourselves by obeying the truth so that you have sincere love for each other, love one another deeply, from the heart.

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What does "heart" refer to? Surely it is the seat of emotion; however, it is more than that. It is that "place" within us from which our desires, will, intentions come. In a word, the heart is the "inner self." To have a sincere love is to have a love where the outside matches the inside. But, this doesn't tell us the essence of love. See below.

Sabertooth said:

"And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, but have not love, it profits me nothing." 1 Corinthians 13:3 NKJV

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The force of this passage is not emotion, but intention. I can give to the poor for reasons other than love. Maybe I want to make a show of being generous. Here, my intention is an appearance, and not love for the poor. People will sacrifice their bodies for various reasons, not always out of love.

The question we need to answer is, "What is the essence of love?" To be clear, I don't want to argue that emotion is unimportant. More often than not, our love is often attended by emotion. But, emotion can never be the essence of love. Why not? Well, let's think about the essence of love. So, what is essential to love?

Def: Something is essential to x, if and only if, x cannot be x without it. So, what is essential to love so that without it love cannot be love? For the sake of argument, let's assume emotion is essential to love.. If this is the case, then love can only be love when it includes the appropriate emotion. If the emotion is there, then I have love. If the emotion is not there, then I don't have love. But, now we have a problem.

Think of those relationships where you would say, "I always love that person." I love my sister. I can say, in all honesty, I always love my sister. It doesn't matter what day it is, what hour, what the circumstances. I love here, and that is that. But, can I say that I always have the feelings we often associate with love in respect to her? No. My feelings in relation to her change. Sometimes I have felt aggravation in relation her, or frustration. Sometimes I have felt sadness in relation to her. In those moments that I felt frustration, aggravation, or sadness was I feeling those emotions we often associate with love? No, I was feeling frustration, aggravation, or sadness depending on the moment. So, if emotion is essential to love, then I only love her when I am feeling the feelings often associated with love. But, of course, that is not the case at all. I always love her. I love her even when I am feeling frustration, or aggravation, or sadness. So, what is it that remains constant despite the ebb and flow of emotion? The one thing that remains constant is my desire for her good.

When it comes to love, the one thing that must be present is the desire or intention for the good of the one who is loved. Whatever else love may be, it must include the good of the beloved. I will admit that as I have thought about this over the years I have struggled to find the exact words to capture this essential aspect of love. Humans are fallible, so the best I have come up with is love always seeks to bring about what is truly good for the beloved. As humans we often miss the mark when it comes to love. Sometimes what we do is what we think is good, and it isn't. Sometimes what is good for the beloved comes into conflict with what is good for ourselves and we are unwilling to make the sacrifice. Whatever the case, love always wants to good of the beloved. Hatred, on the other hand, does not. So, yes emotion often attends love, but it is not essential.

This also helps us to understand God's love for us. God loves us, not in intended our good or desiring our good, but in bringing about our ultimate good. God cannot fail to do what God does. The cross and resurrection of our Lord is not so much an expression of God's emotion (though I will admit it may include that). The cross and resurrection of our Lord expresses God's love for us because through it God secures for us the ultimate good, i.e. everlasting life in the presence of God who Loves us. Coming from God, anything short of that is not love. God can only love us by bringing about our ultimate good, which God has done. I know some will disagree with that last statement. I'll leave that up for debate on another thread, perhaps.