Why does God require love from the beings he created?

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aprilfloyd

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Why would a God create beings and want them to love Him. If he is a God, why does he need to be loved.? Is he insecure?
 
aprilfloyd said:
Why would a God create beings and want them to love Him. If he is a God, why does he need to be loved.? Is he insecure?
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He doesn’t.
We need to love Him in order to experience true joy and happiness.
He commands us to love Him totally because we need it.

This isn’t rocket science actually; if you simply googled it, assuming it is too hard to read scripture or the CCC, you would have seen this same thing stated thousands of times.

What is the point of your Post?
 
aprilfloyd said:
Why would a God create beings and want them to love Him. If he is a God, why does he need to be loved.? Is he insecure?
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He doesn’t need love, or anything else, from us. We need to love him not the other way around.
 
I recommend this answer given by a Protestant apologist (and here referred to by an atheist questioner):
“In your debate with Victor Stenger, he advanced the argument that God could not logically be a perfect being and creator of the universe [he would be “lacking” in love from others; he’d be needy]. In response you [Protestant apologist] stated that God does not create because of anything lacking in Himself, but because the creation of the universe benefits man . . . [so that man] can come to know God and have a loving relationship with Him” (www.reasonablefaith.org/does-creation-benefit-the-lost#ixzz2Nq1JMg2X).

So, God is not in need of love (the relationship between the Trinity is one of perpetual love anyway). He creates other beings to share in that relationship of love which he already has; he does it for their sake, not for his sake. I think it is plausible to say that God wants us to love him even if he doesn’t need that love.
 
aprilfloyd said:
Why would a God create beings and want them to love Him. If he is a God, why does he need to be loved.? Is he insecure?
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Hello aprilfloyd
God has no need and is far from being insecure.
War broke out in Heaven as a consequence of God not being loved by some. God has commanded that he be loved for no selfish reason but rather for our own benefit.
 
Hello,
Thank you for your post. I hope that there you may find some helpful insight from the previous responses. Immediately, I consider a few thoughts:
  1. God created human beings not out of an insecurity or inadequacy, but out of a sheer abundance of goodness and love.
  2. Human beings were created by Love (the Triune God), for Love. The greatest Love is in the Trinity. By sharing in God’s love, we become more truly ourselves.
  3. God honors free will. He did not create us to be “other gods” or “minor gods” but to be human beings with the dignity of creation and the honorable task of co-creating with Him. By “co-creating” I mean that human beings have the ability of participating in God’s creation by our thoughts, words, and actions. However, because of Original sin, human beings are capable of choosing destruction over creation, death over life, evil over good. Nonetheless, God never gives up on our ability to choose the better good, which is His will. But God would never force us to choose Him because He loves us and respects the dignity with which he created us.
Perhaps the core of your question is this: why would an all powerful God allow his creation to not be as perfect as Him? The answer is His creation chose to be imperfect and God did not make us to be puppets. What kind of creation or existence would there be if we could not freely choose to love or act in accordance with love? God did not make us to be puppets or robots and therefore He created human beings with the potential to love. It is the absence of grace, love, goodness, all attributes of the presence of God - that leads to evil.
 
God is love. We hear that saying so much that it almost has lost its meaning. What God created, He created out of perfect love. There are three types of love: 1) agape 2) filial and 3) eros.

#3 refers to the lowest form of love: human desire (aka: usually sexual desire). #2 refers to the love that we have for our brothers and sisters (not just family, but our neighbors as well). And #1 refers to the love that God has for us. Many people mistake agape for the love that we have for God, but that is incorrect. Agape means the love that God has for us. And no one can ever express agape love toward another because it is exclusively God’s alone. But, we can try to imitate that love when we love (not like) even those who hate and persecute us. Jesus said we have to LOVE one another, He didn’t say we had to LIKE one another. And love, in this case, does not refer to the syruppy, saccharinney definition of love.

God does not need our love for Him to be perfectly happy. He did not have to create us or the universe. But, He did so out of love–“Why did God make us?” “He made us to show forth His love and to be happy with Him in Heaven forever.” Simple concept but difficult to understand sometimes. Remember we are applying finite definitions to an infinite God. It is like trying to describe the taste of a sweet strawberry to someone who’s never tasted one. It has to be experienced to be understood.
 
aprilfloyd said:
Why would a God create beings and want them to love Him. If he is a God, why does he need to be loved.? Is he insecure?
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Is this a philosophy question or a morality question? Why ask it on the moral theology forum unless loving God, who created you, is something offensive to you? It’s like asking, ‘why would my mother give birth to me and then expect me to love her? Does she need my love?’ maybe she does, but that is irrelevant. You should love your mother because she gave birth to you, and gave you everything you have and are. If you are glad to be alive why would you question it? The same goes for loving God. He gave you your life and existence. Why question whether you should love God?
 
jimmy said:
Is this a philosophy question or a morality question? Why ask it on the moral theology forum unless loving God, who created you, is something offensive to you? It’s like asking, ‘why would my mother give birth to me and then expect me to love her? Does she need my love?’ maybe she does, but that is irrelevant. You should love your mother because she gave birth to you, and gave you everything you have and are. If you are glad to be alive why would you question it? The same goes for loving God. He gave you your life and existence. Why question whether you should love God?
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I question it as it does not make sense. The replies indicate the we need to love God, but why? I understand about Mothers, but we know they exist. We have still not established that any gods exists, yet it is taught by the Catholic church that, we should love the Catholic God. How does that love manifest itself and how do people know that they god they love exists and that he ‘receives’ their love.

There is no evidence that the Catholic God gave me my existence - that is why I question it.
 
Sister_Terese said:
God is love. We hear that saying so much that it almost has lost its meaning. What God created, He created out of perfect love. There are three types of love: 1) agape 2) filial and 3) eros.

#3 refers to the lowest form of love: human desire (aka: usually sexual desire). #2 refers to the love that we have for our brothers and sisters (not just family, but our neighbors as well). And #1 refers to the love that God has for us. Many people mistake agape for the love that we have for God, but that is incorrect. Agape means the love that God has for us. And no one can ever express agape love toward another because it is exclusively God’s alone. But, we can try to imitate that love when we love (not like) even those who hate and persecute us. Jesus said we have to LOVE one another, He didn’t say we had to LIKE one another. And love, in this case, does not refer to the syruppy, saccharinney definition of love.

God does not need our love for Him to be perfectly happy. He did not have to create us or the universe. But, He did so out of love–“Why did God make us?” “He made us to show forth His love and to be happy with Him in Heaven forever.” Simple concept but difficult to understand sometimes. Remember we are applying finite definitions to an infinite God. It is like trying to describe the taste of a sweet strawberry to someone who’s never tasted one. It has to be experienced to be understood.
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What does an infinite god mean?
 
aprilfloyd said:
I question it as it does not make sense. The replies indicate the we need to love God, but why? I understand about Mothers, but we know they exist. We have still not established that any gods exists, yet it is taught by the Catholic church that, we should love the Catholic God. How does that love manifest itself and how do people know that they god they love exists and that he ‘receives’ their love.

There is no evidence that the Catholic God gave me my existence - that is why I question it.
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Then you asked the wrong question. If you don’t believe God exists, it is pointless asking why we should love God. The question assumes the existence of God according to the Catholic understanding.
 
jimmy said:
Then you asked the wrong question. If you don’t believe God exists, it is pointless asking why we should love God. The question assumes the existence of God according to the Catholic understanding.
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I asked the question in the manner I did, because a) I can’t find any evidence for Gods and b) Catholics, similar to other religions, put great store in loving their God. I am trying to understand the nature of ‘Catholic God’
 
aprilfloyd said:
I asked the question in the manner I did, because a) I can’t find any evidence for Gods and b) Catholics, similar to other religions, put great store in loving their God. I am trying to understand the nature of ‘Catholic God’
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Then I reassert my first response. God gave you your life and existence, and everything you have. If you are glad to be alive, or have the hope and intent to be happy, then you should love God, simply out of thankfulness for what has been given. Without him you wouldn’t have any of it, so you should be thankful. Of course this assumes that you accept the existence of God.
 
jimmy said:
Then I reassert my first response. God gave you your life and existence, and everything you have. If you are glad to be alive, or have the hope and intent to be happy, then you should love God, simply out of thankfulness for what has been given. Without him you wouldn’t have any of it, so you should be thankful. Of course this assumes that you accept the existence of God.
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With all due respect, other religions suggest different positions. There is no proof that I was born via the interference of a God, that is a pretty astounding thing to say. But it is not even mentioned on my birth certificate.
 
aprilfloyd said:
With all due respect, other religions suggest different positions. There is no proof that I was born via the interference of a God, that is a pretty astounding thing to say. But it is not even mentioned on my birth certificate.
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Its pointless to ask if you dont believe He exists. If you believe He exists for the.purpose of your questions, then youd have to believe He exists at least for the purpose of the answer youve already been given.
 
aprilfloyd said:
With all due respect, other religions suggest different positions. There is no proof that I was born via the interference of a God, that is a pretty astounding thing to say. But it is not even mentioned on my birth certificate.
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I don’t care what other religions say. They could believe in the flying spaghetti monster for all I care. This is a rational discussion though. Part of a rational discussion is that the assumptions of the question apply to the answer as well. You can’t ask a question that makes an assumption, and then deny any answer that makes the same assumption. That leads to a breakdown of communication.
 
PetrusRomanus said:
Its pointless to ask if you dont believe He exists. If you believe He exists for the.purpose of your questions, then youd have to believe He exists at least for the purpose of the answer youve already been given.
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I believe that he ‘exists’ in the sense that gods are very ‘real’ for believers. People take their religions very seriously and act on their beliefs. I see that is a fact. But not that any one of the gods *actually exists *

The various religions have a strong hold on their core followers. I was born into a catholic family and so intrigued from an intellectual standpoint in what they believe and why the believe. Religions have a large effect on society, so worthy of studying the effects.
 
aprilfloyd said:
I believe that he ‘exists’ in the sense that gods are very ‘real’ for believers. People take their religions very seriously and act on their beliefs. I see that is a fact. But not that any one of the gods *actually exists *

The various religions have a strong hold on their core followers. I was born into a catholic family and so intrigued from an intellectual standpoint in what they believe and why the believe. Religions have a large effect on society, so worthy of studying the effects.
Click to expand...
So you are a troll
 
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