Love.

[PetLuv]

Please indulge me and explain love to me.

For purposes of this thread I would like to keep it to concept of love in relation to God/religion.

 

[Ace99]

I will try a little bit then, I will let others more experienced explain, Gods love is perfect, because it doesn't come from man, so it's not selfish, it's about serving others in love, the greatest example of this was Jesus, John 3v16 For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. Jesus came down from heaven, to offer himself as a living sacrifice for you, for us all. He didn't need to, he could have stayed there in heaven and let us take our punishment after all we deserve it but he humbled himself and came to the earth as a man to take on The worlds sins, why on earth would someone do that, it's not as though the father ordered him down here, he is equal to the father, he simply did it because he loves the father, and he loves us, he really loves us, and he adores you, you are his precious daughter. When we come to Christ, we slowly get to know him, it takes time like any relationship does we slowly get to know him, what he is like, how god is and his character, he slowly but surely begins to show us true love, it is beautiful, something we never experience in the world, love in the world is tainted by self, it's not the same love we get from God, Christians when they experience gods love want to go and serve others, the world does not want to do this, his beautiful perfect love casts out fear, it endures, it helps you through hard times, you can rest in the fathers love, we are his children, you can rest in his lap, while he strokes your hair, he loves you, very much, I wish for all that they come to know Christ and feel his perfect peace and love, if they could just experience five minutes, with Christs perfect love, would they go back to the world, No nothing the world can offer comes close to what he can offer. I hope this has helped, even if it's only a little. God really does love you,draw near to him and he will draw near to you, God bless you pet luv, I hope you experience Christs love this week in such a intimate and loving way.

 

[ImperatorWall]

Love is not an emotion. Love is not warm and fuzzy feelings of self gratification you feel about someone.

Love is the volition to do good for someone. It is demonstrated by actions.

 

[MacFall]

In the context of Christian morality, Love is the choice to make another person's happiness a condition of your own, and the actions pursuant to that choice.

 

[Keri]

Love is not an emotion. Love is not warm and fuzzy feelings of self gratification you feel about someone.

Love is the volition to do good for someone. It is demonstrated by actions.

In the context of Christian morality, Love is the choice to make another person's happiness a condition of your own, and the actions pursuant to that choice.

These.

 

[Strider1002]

CS Lewis has a great explanation of love in Mere Christianity. I'll try to paraphrase. "Love thy neighbor as thyself." Well, how do you love yourself? You want the best for yourself. You do what you can to make yourself happy. You always hope that you and your circumstances are going to improve. And when you slip up, you always give yourself another chance. That is how we are to treat everyone, not just ourselves.

 

[Going Merry]

I consider love more of a place of belonging and what you will do anything for. Like I feel out of place if im not there. this is why im willing to go to lengths to do my best to live in holiness and spread his message

 

[MehGuy]

Love is a 50/50 relationship. I'd like to love someone without selfish personal gains, but emotionless love is dead too.

 

[PetLuv]

Thanks all.

 

[MacFall]

Love is a 50/50 relationship. I'd like to love someone without selfish personal gains, but emotionless love is dead too.

I thought you wanted someone who would call you names and hit you with a riding crop.

 

[Ghazkhull]

In the 90's someone dared to launch the same question as you:

Haddaway - What Is Love - YouTube

now all you have to do is dance along

 

[Neve]

In the context of Christian morality, Love is the choice to make another person's happiness a condition of your own, and the actions pursuant to that choice.

Well said.

 

[MehGuy]

I thought you wanted someone who would call you names and hit you with a riding crop.

I still need a little love in my life. You can find love in even the strictest and darkest of S&M relationships.

 

[fratbrat]

Please indulge me and explain love to me.

For purposes of this thread I would like to keep it to concept of love in relation to God/religion.

God and love are interchangeable concepts. When you find God to be mysterious and difficult, imagine ideal love with a mate.. Now make that love completely unconditional. That's a human version of what God is in Spirit. That's why marriage is so sacred. It's like Christ and the church.

My ex gf and I realized that we were not a good pic of this kind of love. I was (am) kinda selfish with my time, and she had daddy issues. So I'm not saying I know what love is.. But I guess I am learning what it isn't.

 

[PetLuv]

I have many thoughts but my mind is just not working well enough to write them all out tonight.

Though, I have noticed that some people say or indicate God's love is an emotional experience, yet others say it is not. I can understand the non-emotional aspect more than the emotional one, so from that I am wondering something else:
Those of you who find it to be more emotional, how so? Is it that you direct your love to God in the understanding that He will always accept it or is it that you actually feel loved directed towards you?

I hope I am making sense, sorry if not.

 

[MacFall]

Going off of my original post, that love is a choice and the actions pursuant to that choice:

God knew that man would require endless patience and grace from Him. He knew that man's choices would reap death, and that in order to sever the ontological link between man and spiritual death, He Himself would have to be personally subjected to death. But He chose to create us anyway. What greater example of love-by-choice, in action, could there be? I don't think a greater example is even logically possible.

Whether one experiences that love emotionally or not is the business of the individual experiencing it. But the experience is only an expression of one's perception of God's love; it is not what God's love actually is.

 

[PetLuv]

It was merely a curiosity on an aspect I can't understand; I did not mean to imply I thought one way of understanding is somehow better than another.

In truth I don't believe in love in any capacity so this topic is fairly well over my head to start with.
I also don't see death as a bad thing, in fact I find it a very good thing; so God dying for us does not impact me as it apparently should.

Perhaps I pushed myself a little too hard on learning and skipped a few needed steps somewhere along the line...

 

[Calvinator]

Please indulge me and explain love to me.

For purposes of this thread I would like to keep it to concept of love in relation to God/religion.

There are different kinds of love.

One kind might otherwise be called common decency, the kind that stops at the side of the road after witnessing a car wreck, getting out and asking if everyone is ok, giving cpr, calling an ambulance, that sort of thing.

A different kind, and much stronger love can and usually does mean some sort of self sacrifice for another. That sacrifice could take many forms, even the form of sending another away and quitting a relationship because there is a danger to the other person. I saw the movie "safe house" last night and there is a scene in it where a CIA agent who is in big trouble sends his SO away on a train, never to be seen again by him, for her own safety and well being because she had become a target because of her relationship to him.

Generally, I think the strongest forms of love are those that involve lots of care and giving, and a level of self sacrifice that honors another above self. The motive also matters. The kind that looks forward to getting something in return (even goodwill) is much less than the kind that draws Christians to the cross and to repentance - a love freely given in the face of being hated and despised, even, murdered.

 

[JonahGirl]

The aspect of love that I think is both most important and most often overlooked, is that love is an action. This applies to romantic love, God, and compassion for others. It is mercy, service, empathy, and compassion; not just in what we feel, but mostly how we treat others.