Why is Love what it is?

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DL82

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OK, this is a real mind-bender, I remember a few years ago when I used to help out with an Alpha course at my old church a science student came up with this one and stumped me:

God made the Universe so that we would love Him and one another.
Love requires free will.
Therefore, God had to give us free will in order to choose to love Him.

That’s the traditional formula, but…

Why did God make Love what it is? If He is truly all-powerful, couldn’t he simply have made the most valuable thing in the universe something else - something that didn’t require free will?

In other words, could God have said “Love is building tall stone pillars”, and then create a bunch of creatures who are programmed to build stone pillars all day long? We might think this is pointless, but if God is God, couldn’t He make such an activity supremely significant?

I suppose at the heart of this question is 1 John: God is Love. To answer this question, we need to answer the question, ‘Can God change His own nature?’

Most people would argue that God has to have the best possible nature, but this raises a further question, is the good good because God chooses it, or does God choose it because it is good? If the former is true, then the whole purpose of life rests on something that could have been otherwise (i.e. yes God could have chosen to make the universe for a different purpose, one not requiring free will, and that other purpose would have been equally as good as Love). If the latter is true, then who is the judge of goodness, who put goodness there before God?

OK, that’s the limit of my puny ability to wrestle with this odd question. Any other takers?
 
That isn’t as bad as it could be. God gave us free will so we could choose to love Him. Love isn’t love unless it is freely given. Would you want someone to love you in any other way? Would you want to be loved out of necessity? Or do you want to love and be loved out of choice?

As far as God choosing good. He chooses because He is good. Also, God made everything that is good. When Satan and his cohorts rebelled, they caused the evil to sprout. God kicked them out of heaven. Oh, yes, He does know what was going to happen. This also plays back to free will. When He made the first couple, He gave them that choice. Obey Him in all things, leaving one tree untouched. Or disobey Him and bring misery to the whole world.
 
God can’t do the logically impossible because the logically impossible cannot be done. It is logically impossible for Love to be anything other than what it is since Love is part of God’s nature.
 
DL82 said:
God made the Universe so that we would love Him and one another.
Love requires free will.
Therefore, God had to give us free will in order to choose to love Him.
Click to expand...
The flaw is in the question itself. The act of creation is an the act of God’s love. It add nothing to God, a pure gift with nothing expected in return. Creation was not created to love Him and we have the free will to do so or not.
Love does not require free will, it is part of our nature. Since we are created in the image of God, the nature of love is part of that image. We can use our free will to choose what our loves will be. Some use this part of us as God did , to unselfishly give to others niether requiring or expecting it in return.

Peace,
FAB
 
Who besides God could possibly know what the highest good is?
 
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