Trailblazer
Veteran Member
I agree with you, but you won't see Baha'is or Christians agreeing, since they like to feel loved.
-
Welcome to Religious Forums, a friendly forum to discuss all religions in a friendly surrounding.
Your voice is missing! You will need to register to get access to the following site features:- Reply to discussions and create your own threads.
- Our modern chat room. No add-ons or extensions required, just login and start chatting!
- Access to private conversations with other members.
We hope to see you as a part of our community soon!
A Christian becomes a nonbeliever
- Thread starter Trailblazer
- Start date
setarcos
The hopeful or the hopeless?
I'm curious. What is this love that you think humans have described? The Greeks for instance had described several different types. So how do you define love?
setarcos
The hopeful or the hopeless?
I believe love is not an action but a state of being. Problems arise when humans conflate Gods creative possibility with his state of being. It is believed in Christianity that "God so loved the world that he gave up his only begotten son, so that anyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life."
In this way all righteousness is fulfilled in the suffering of humanity through the suffering God. Perfection is attained in the presence of imperfection and thereby reality is secured in what is possible.
These statements are very esoteric I know, but perhaps something worthy of ruminating upon. Communing with God is often done in the form of communing with each other.
Trailblazer
Veteran Member
I believe that God is love because that makes no sense to say that God is love. Rather, I believe that God created humans out of His love for us, and that God sent Jesus to teach us and ultimately save us out of His love for us.
3: O SON OF MAN! Veiled in My immemorial being and in the ancient eternity of My essence, I knew My love for thee; therefore I created thee, have engraved on thee Mine image and revealed to thee My beauty.
I don't believe that God gave up his only 'begotten son' since God cannot have a son since God is not a human. I believe Jesus was the Son of God in a relational sense, since Jesus was to God as a son is to his father.
I do not believe that God can suffer since God is transcendent. I believe that the purpose of God was to sacrifice Jesus as a ransom for the sins and iniquities of all the peoples of the earth. I believe that Jesus besought God to confer this honor upon Him. I believe that the souls of the sinners were sanctified through Jesus' sacrifice and that Jesus confers eternal life on those who believe in Him.
Good question! That wouldn’t have been fair, would it? (Without knowing the reason.)
The Bible gives an explanation…
“Unexpected events” — good and bad — happen to everyone, & just occur by themselves.
— Ecclesiastes 9:11
PearlSeeker
Well-Known Member
Another example:
"Or those eighteen who died when the tower in Siloam fell on them—do you think they were more guilty than all the others living in Jerusalem? I tell you, no!" (Luke 13:4)
Audie
Veteran Member
I believe the word " love" gets equivocated out of all meaning.
And that "obscurantism" is not "esoteric".
And that making things up to present as fact
is dishonest and immoral.
Try chewing on that a bit.
Twilight Hue
Twilight, not bright nor dark, good nor bad.
I posted this only because the post count hit 666 and I felt it prudent to save the Christians from the curse of the devil.
I post this only because my wife has a joke about 668 being the Neighbour of the Beast.
Edit... but this post ended up as 669. Awr.
Twilight Hue
Twilight, not bright nor dark, good nor bad.
@Audie Beat me though. She was the one who saved the Christians. I turned out to be the back up.
setarcos
The hopeful or the hopeless?
Um....thanks for the reply...I guess? Seems a bit harsh and unnecessarily confrontational for a friendly discussion but perhaps that's just your style.
I agree..."love" gets equivocated, misused , misapplied, misunderstood and whatever else you wish to throw in there but only in so much as we can agree on what love is in the first place.
That is why I prefaced my conclusions about love in relation to God with "I believe".
What love "is" is hard to define except through contradistinction and comparison. I prefer the biblical description of love used in 1 Corinthians 13:4-8 as good as any.
The statements I gave are considered esoteric because you have to study somewhat in order to get a clearer picture on what is being said.
If you do not understand the Greek Koen or Hebrew nor are familiar with the culture from which these statements arose then you must show initiative in wanting to understand and gain wisdom through study, either directly yourself or indirectly through qualified linguists and scholars of scripture.
Whether or not you believe what is being said is quite different from understanding what is being said in context.
Obscurantism? Hardly. Rather your encouraged to study what is meant. Living in the twenty first century has made this easier than ever.
Context can be clarified. The cultures can be studied. The definitions of the terms and their relational uses can be learned.
Would you accuse scientists of obscurantism because you can't understand their equations?
Just remember, we are not talking about proving a particular thing correct here. Rather you would be seeking what is true about a culture or belief system in relation to itself not reality. After you have accomplished that then you might seek to determine what if anything of that truth is compatible or incompatible with what you think you know about reality.
Some use accusatory words like "obscurantism" as an excuse to lazily dismiss without effort at consideration. Hopefully your not that way.
I'm not sure what you think I made up to present as fact but I'd like to hear what you have to say so that I may withdraw what I've said or clarify further what I meant.
So....how's that taste to ya? Pretty bitter I'm sure.