• 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!

How did Love Evolve

Faint

Well-Known Member
Angama said:
I asked a Christian friend of mine the same question and she said 2 words:

CONTINUAL SACRAFICE

AA
Nah. A willingness to sacrifice might be part of love (we sacrifice our time to be with someone, or we sacrifice energy to do things for them--sometimes we sacrifice the option of being with someone else, etc.) But this isn't all, and love would be a pretty lousy institution if it was (does anyone else get the impression that the majority of Christians are masochists?--maybe I'll start a thread on that).

To me, one of the most important aspects of love is the amount of happiness and pleasure that someone else is able to bring you, and which you also return in kind. Without that, what's the point? Commitment without enjoyment is a self-created prison.
 

Quiddity

UndertheInfluenceofGiants
painted wolf said:
So if you arn't continuously sacrificing then you don't know what love is?

hmm... love isn't very common then is it?

wa:do
Bingo...

~Victor
 

Quiddity

UndertheInfluenceofGiants
Faint said:
Nah. A willingness to sacrifice might be part of love (we sacrifice our time to be with someone, or we sacrifice energy to do things for them--sometimes we sacrifice the option of being with someone else, etc.) But this isn't all, and love would be a pretty lousy institution if it was (does anyone else get the impression that the majority of Christians are masochists?--maybe I'll start a thread on that).

To me, one of the most important aspects of love is the amount of happiness and pleasure that someone else is able to bring you, and which you also return in kind. Without that, what's the point? Commitment without enjoyment is a self-created prison.
Hitler was probably happy and received tons of pleaure. Means nothing.

~Victor
 

Fatmop

Active Member
Hitler was probably happy and received tons of pleaure. Means nothing.
Careful about dehumanizing him. Hitler was a human and could feel the emotion of love just like anyone else. The fact that he ended up causing so much hate doesn't mean, like the Emperor from Star Wars, that he was incapable of love.
 

Sunstone

De Diablo Del Fora
Premium Member
The same neurochemicals that are found in us are found in other animals, and often serve similar functions. That would seem to make one line of evidence that love evolved.

For instance: Oxytocin has been shown to play a role in pair bonding in both humans and voles.
 

Fatmop

Active Member
How did love evolve? I sure don't know, but it raises a really interesting question for theists who accept evolution: at what point did God give humanity the ability to love? At what point in evolution did God grant humanity the soul?
 

michel

Administrator Emeritus
Staff member
Fatmop said:
How did love evolve? I sure don't know, but it raises a really interesting question for theists who accept evolution: at what point did God give humanity the ability to love? At what point in evolution did God grant humanity the soul?

That's a good question.


I am not even sure at which stage of the development of a baby the 'soul' becomes 'attached' to the baby. Is it when the sperm first hits the egg, or when the cells first divide ? - but does that matter ? is it relevent ? Not to me, I am a theist, a Christian, and I take things on trust - i.e I have Faith; there is little need for the miniscule details in a faith....:D
 

sandy whitelinger

Veteran Member
Darkdale said:
Then love sucks. :)
Not when that sacrifice is for the betterment of others. One of my pastors told us that the opposite of love is not but selfishness. It is thinking and doing for others that qualifies love.
 

JerryL

Well-Known Member
Not when that sacrifice is for the betterment of others. One of my pastors told us that the opposite of love is not but selfishness.
No. The opposite of love is apathy.

It is thinking and doing for others that qualifies love.
Then what is philanthropy.

BTW, do ants love?
 

sandy whitelinger

Veteran Member
FeathersinHair said:
So, therefore, if I were to post a quote from one of my gods, it would be a fact and not an opinion?
Without getting into a debate about the supremecy of one god over another does anything your gods say contradict the statement by Christ that greater love has no man than this that he lay down his life for his friends?
 

JerryL

Well-Known Member
sandy whitelinger said:
I would think the opposite of caring is apathy.
It probably is. Why can't two things have the same opposite. Love is a type of caring (so is selfsihness... it's caring for yourself).
 

AtheistAJ

Member
sandy whitelinger said:
Not when that sacrifice is for the betterment of others. One of my pastors told us that the opposite of love is not but selfishness. It is thinking and doing for others that qualifies love.
That I agree with, but I believe the sheer idea of heaven and hell promotes selfishness.
 

Cynic

Well-Known Member
sandy whitelinger said:
Not when that sacrifice is for the betterment of others. One of my pastors told us that the opposite of love is not but selfishness. It is thinking and doing for others that qualifies love.
I am going to argue that love is not sacrificial. It is reciprocal. Selfishness is a necessity in order to live a happy and healthy life. I think it is important to be motivated by self interest, but at the same time, consider the welfare and interest of others.
 

Cynic

Well-Known Member
sandy whitelinger said:
Are these chemicals the root cause of love or are they activated by something else?
It can be activated by a stimulus. Love also involves a very complex informational process in the brain, in which processing in the limbic system leads to the release of such hormones (of the endocrine system) such as oxytocin into the blood stream.
 

gtrsgrls

Member
sandy whitelinger said:
So, just how did love evolve?
Perhaps it didn't and it was created along with everthing else.A feeling can't evolve.Because everything that evolves needs something to evolve from.Does it not?
 
Top