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If you believe in love, you believe in God

epronovost

epronovost

Well-Known Member
Windwalker said:
When you speak of her love to her children, that is unconditional and not bound to emotional states.
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That's very poetic, but completely *** backward. Mothers don't love their children unconditionaly, nobody does. There is no such thing as unconditional love. Many mothers don't love their children, some hate them, some despise them, some resent them, some feel trapped and abused by them, some ignore to various degree. Some grow into such emotions after exposure to their children and the reality of motherhood; some relationship evolve over time and not always for the better. Don't confuse your fancy and belief about love for the reality.
 
Shad

Shad

Veteran Member
sciatica said:
Noted
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I get the idea that God is the personification of many emotions and traits humans hold dear. However that requires the person, me in this case, to accept that association as true characteristics of God instead of a manufactured paragon we call God.

Just for clarification purpose that I believe I understand your point and why I reject it.
 
Polymath257

Polymath257

Think & Care
Staff member
Premium Member
Windwalker said:
I think I'm one of the few ones who gets what you are saying. To say God is Love, is not talking about emotional love, or feelings in general. Love in the divine sense is in the embracing and accepting sense of security and freedom, like the love of a mother. Mother may be emotionally unhappy, angry, or bubbling with joy and whatnot. But those are all human emotions. When you speak of her love to her children, that is unconditional and not bound to emotional states.
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I strongly disagree. love for ones children is an emotion produced in the brain and mediated by, for example, oxytocin.

It is actually an attitude, a perceptual lens through which we hold our thoughts and impressions of the world, which informs values systems, and ones actions in the world and to others. Love is an approach to life. Emotional love, is not love in this sense. Emotional love, is not what we think of when we speak of a parent's love for their child, or an adults love for their mate. If that love is nothing but emotional, that marriage won't last for long.
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Again, this makes no sense to me. Of course it is emotional. It is just a longer term emotion rather than the intense emotion of short term endeavors.

So, any human who embraces that attitude to life, that sees love as the greatest good to live by, they are in fact "obeying God", or "Love" as it were. They serve love, for love's sake. It's not about themselves. And since "God is Love" is talking about that, whether or not anyone intellectually believes in God, they are "serving" what "God" symbolizes. In this sense, the atheist who loves his neighbor as himself, is much more a child of "God" in this sense, than the believer who claims faith, but does not love unconditionally this way.

People get hung up on beliefs, both the theist and atheist alike. Whereas the focus is on love, and which is why Jesus said that sinners who know love, will enter heaven before the righteous who have their firmly held beliefs. (Mt. 21:31)
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Once again, what does that attitude have to do with a deity? God, supposedly, isn't a symbol, but an actual entity. So, while I agree we should learn to love and respect others, I don't see any connection between that and a supernatural.
 
Polymath257

Polymath257

Think & Care
Staff member
Premium Member
WhyIsThatSo said:
pssst…..hey Poly....
what is an "emotion" ?
could it be ...ENERGY......in motion ?
or was Einstein wrong too ?
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No, emotions are NOT 'energy in motion'. At least, no more than thoughts are, or any other neural activities in our brains.
 
Polymath257

Polymath257

Think & Care
Staff member
Premium Member
sciatica said:
too sharp for me.

Interestingly I didnt mean to annoy atheists but it really gets under their skin.
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Well, yes, of course it does. It essentially denies to atheists one of the common positive emotions *all* humans can experience.

Suppose I claimed that science is trust, so if you trust anything, you believe in science. Pretty much every step of that progression is absurd. That's how your claims of love and deities seem to me.
 
sciatica

sciatica

Notable Member
Polymath257 said:
Well, yes, of course it does. It essentially denies to atheists one of the common positive emotions *all* humans can experience.

Suppose I claimed that science is trust, so if you trust anything, you believe in science. Pretty much every step of that progression is absurd. That's how your claims of love and deities seem to me.
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science is partly trust though. you trust what the famous scientists tell you
 
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