How did love originate?

  • Thread starter Thread starter tonyrey
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
1 John 4:7-8…
7 Beloved, let us love one another; for love is of God, and he who loves is born of God and knows God. 8 He who does not love does not know God; for God is love.

Therefore - Love did not originate…Love is Eternal…

Peace
James
 
This is a great question in my opinion. If a person has a “plurality” idea of God, then the idea of love in my opinion makes sense.

Christians believe in a “community” or “commmunion” of 3 divine persons - giving themselves completely to and fully receiving from the other divine persons.

If a person has a “singularity” concept of God, then it puzzles me what they must think love really is.
 
JRKH said:
1 John 4:7-8…
7 Beloved, let us love one another; for love is of God, and he who loves is born of God and knows God. 8 He who does not love does not know God; for God is love.

Therefore - Love did not originate…Love is Eternal…

Peace
James
Click to expand...
I’m very interested in what are regarded as alternative explanations. 😉
 
jkiernan56 said:
This is a great question in my opinion by the way. If a person has a “plurality” idea of God, then the idea of love in my opinion makes sense.

Christians believe in a “community” or “commmunion” of 3 divine persons - giving themselves completely to and fully receiving from the other divine persons.

If a person has a “singularity” concept of God, then it puzzles me what they must think love really is.
Click to expand...
👍 I must admit I wrote three question marks because that is the minimum number for a new thread. On seeing them I realised how appropriate they are.

One would be the apotheosis of egoism!
 
tonyrey said:
Exactly! I have some idea of what the answer will be… 🙂
Click to expand...
I can only speak for myself - the way “love” is coming about in my own personal life is by knowing and experiencing love - and letting myself be loved by others. As I know and experience that I am loved, I in return am able to give what I have been given. I’d like to hear some of your own ideas of how you think love originates or “comes about” if you don’t mind 🙂
 
jkiernan56 said:
I can only speak for myself - the way “love” is coming about in my own personal life is by knowing and experiencing love - and letting myself be loved by others. As I know and experience that I am loved, I in return am able to give what I have been given. I’d like to hear some of your own ideas of how you think love originates or “comes about” if you don’t mind 🙂
Click to expand...
My intention in this thread was to find out what others believe before giving my own view. But it would be unloving(!) to reject your request. Perhaps the best solution is to explain my initial position and develop it during the discussion .

I believe love is the most powerful force that exists because it transforms our attitude to existence. Life without love for some one other than oneself is hell on earth! Even if we live alone and no one loves us we’re not separated from others if we’re concerned about them. To be totally absorbed by our own needs and interests is to condemn ourselves to a state of self-imposed isolation which inevitably leads to frustration and misery. We need to share what we are and what we have, at least to some extent, in order to be fulfilled and content because, as Aristotle pointed out, we are social beings.

It isn’t necessary to be social to survive. There are many species leading an independent, solitary life successfully without the need to communicate or rely on anyone but themselves. Being sociable is a luxury and a privilege - like life itself - not an inevitable product of evolution. There is no reason to believe the world has to be as it is, dominated by physical necessity and the only possible world. Other worlds could - and probably do - exist without all the richness, beauty and love with which we are blessed and for which we should be deeply grateful. Our world is undoubtedly a miracle for anyone who stops to consider how unique and mysterious it is. The very laws of nature could be different and unpropitious for life.

Aristotle also said philosophy begins with wonder. To dismiss it as a waste of time is to take everything for granted and adopt a shallow attitude to life. The notion that science will ultimately explain everything is based on a superficial attitude which ignores the most fundamental problems confronting any open-minded person. In the midst of this mysterious situation love stands out like Mount Everest, an outstanding landmark dominating our mental and physical horizon. It is a unique phenomenon that has no credible scientific explanation. The least we can do is appreciate it as our most precious gift and acknowledge that a loveless life is worthless, pointless and meaningless…
 
jkiernan56 said:
I can only speak for myself - the way “love” is coming about in my own personal life is by knowing and experiencing love - and letting myself be loved by others. As I know and experience that I am loved, I in return am able to give what I have been given.
Click to expand...
👍 Anyone who doubts the reality of love, mysterious though it is, hasn’t lived - in the full sense of the word…
 
tonyrey said:
???
Click to expand...
Since “God is love” (1 John 4:8), love therefore is of God and originates (initiates) from God. Love is a fruit of God’s Holy Spirit; and His Spirit is the Spirit of love, which He has placed within each individual, making it possible for all to love and to do good: “let us love one another, since love is from God” (1 John 4:7).
 
tonyrey said:
???
Click to expand...
LOVE can be classified as the greatest VIRTUE. Now, have you ever looked into how a Virtuous God is (in a sense) divided?
If God is perfect…then He contains every Virtue (virtus is Latin for “power”). Now, the virtues that we know of are divided into two different kinds: extroverted and recessive. For example, if God is perfectly powerful and virtuous, then He is capable of expressing absolute Justice and even raw Physical Power…these are extroverted virtues.

“Recessive” virtues that God could also express are infinite Mercy, Patience, Humility and raw Physical Restraint…these are introverted virtues.

So you can quickly see that a Perfectly Virtuous God would be capable of both extroverted (male) and recessive (female) acts of virtue. The Bible states: “He made them both male and female, in His own image He made them”.

Now, extroverted and recessive also implies a kind of “heirarchy”…that perhaps God explains to us through a Father/Son relationship.

Your question…“How did love originate?”…can be seen in the relationship between the “male” and “female” interaction of God…and/or… the relationship between the Father and the Son…and/or…the essence of the Holy Spirit.

If the Holy Spirit is the pre-existing virtues of TRUST (for example…that the Son has in the Father while pouring out Perfect Obedience, Faith, Hope, Humility, etc…etc…on the Cross)…then a kind of LOVE can be said to be “actualized” by Creation…but was forever within God’s VIRTUE.
 
Pugsly said:
LOVE can be classified as the greatest VIRTUE. Now, have you ever looked into how a Virtuous God is (in a sense) divided?
If God is perfect…then He contains every Virtue (virtus is Latin for “power”). Now, the virtues that we know of are divided into two different kinds: extroverted and recessive. For example, if God is perfectly powerful and virtuous, then He is capable of expressing absolute Justice and even raw Physical Power…these are extroverted virtues.

“Recessive” virtues that God could also express are infinite Mercy, Patience, Humility and raw Physical Restraint…these are introverted virtues.

So you can quickly see that a Perfectly Virtuous God would be capable of both extroverted (male) and recessive (female) acts of virtue. The Bible states: “He made them both male and female, in His own image He made them”.

Now, extroverted and recessive also implies a kind of “heirarchy”…that perhaps God explains to us through a Father/Son relationship.

Your question…“How did love originate?”…can be seen in the relationship between the “male” and “female” interaction of God…and/or… the relationship between the Father and the Son…and/or…the essence of the Holy Spirit.

If the Holy Spirit is the pre-existing virtues of TRUST (for example…that the Son has in the Father while pouring out Perfect Obedience, Faith, Hope, Humility, etc…etc…on the Cross)…then a kind of LOVE can be said to be “actualized” by Creation…but was forever within God’s VIRTUE.
Click to expand...
It’s an interesting theory but the Father-Son relationship doesn’t correspond to a male-female relationship! If Jesus had been born into a matriarchal society He would probably have chosen to be a woman and told us to pray to Our Mother! Otherwise His public ministry wouldn’t have lasted three months, let alone three years - such is the inability of many people to recognise and appreciate divine love…
 
So far love has not been defined, not surprisingly because definition implies limitations to which love is not subject. It is clarified by the idea of negative capability that John Keats applied to the poet who loses himself or herself in the contemplation of beauty. Love is a form of self-annihilation when we identify ourselves totally with another being. For Keats the world is a vale of soul-making where suffering is essential for spiritual development… … This vale of tears is not tragic but transformed by love into a realm of joy and hope. Joseph Severn who cared for Keats in Rome during his illness when he was constantly vomiting blood described how during the last three weeks his eyes were full of unearthly brightness and his anguish had given way to serenity. In his final moments he demonstrated his unselfishness:… Severn–I–lift me up–I am dying --I shall die easy; don’t be frightened–be firm, and thank God it has come… Richard Dawkins has acknowledged that the teaching of Jesus is from: one of the great ethical innovators of history and the Sermon on the Mount was: way ahead of its time. Not only the truth but love shines by its own light. It is implicit in the famous lines of Keats: Beauty is truth, truth beauty,’ - that is all ye know on earth, and all ye need to know…Why do we need to know? Because truth and beauty are evidence of creative love - without which reality would be as cold and heartless as the figures on a Grecian Urn.
 
Man and woman were created to love and to be loved. There’s no getting around the fact that we are wired to be lovers … all of us.
 
PUGLY: Since God is love (1 John 4:8), love therefore is of God and originates (initiates) from God. Love is a fruit of God’s Holy Spirit; and His Spirit is the Spirit of love, which He has placed within each individual, making it possible for all to love and to do good: let us love one another, since love is from God (1 John 4:7)… T: I agree with you. (:
 
Charlemagne_II said:
Man and woman were created to love and to be loved. There’s no getting around the fact that we are wired to be lovers … all of us.
Click to expand...
In other words we are “live wires”, not collections of lifeless components. It is Love that gives us life…
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top