Love?

[justaname]

Scripture tells us God is love...

Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love.
God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him.

But what is love? This is not a question necessarily seeking to find out the correlation between God and love although responses can reflect that, yet what is love.

​If your response shows me examples of love great! But I will still chase the root...you have provided great examples but you still have not expressed what it is.

We do know there are varying degrees of love, some expressing intimacy such as between a husband and wife. Some forms of love express a strong emotional and relational bond like the love between sisters. Yet other forms of love may have different qualities such as having love for your enemy. We are even told to not love the world, yet we know we must love our neighbors as our selves. Love is more than just an emotion, it is a choice in every given situation.

Is there a difference between loving as a Christian and an unbeliever? Can one love without being a Christian? How does love act. What does love do? When is love perfected?

Don't feel you have to answer every question, these are presented to provoke thought and interest.

Be creative. Be academic. Be philosophical, physiological, psychological. Be loving. :wub:

 

[lforrest]

Is there a difference between loving as a Christian and an unbeliever? Can one love without being a Christian?

I think this one scripture can answer that, yes one can love without being a Christian. Luke 6:32 But one can't be a Christian and not love. 1 Timothy 5:8 & 1 John 4:20

Love acts according to: 1 Corinthians 13:4-8


Ok now on to my opinion: Love is the spirit of creation

 

[justaname]

I think this one scripture can answer that, yes one can love without being a Christian. Luke 6:32 But one can't be a Christian and not love. 1 Timothy 5:8 & 1 John 4:20

Love acts according to: 1 Corinthians 13:4-8


Ok now on to my opinion: Love is the spirit of creation

Yeah please expand on your opinion...I am hanging in space with that one...

I love the rest of your response though, har har.

 

[Johnlove]

[SIZE=16pt]To love God one has to live God’s Word. Loving God is obeying him. [/SIZE]

[SIZE=16pt]If one is living God’s commandments then he or she is also loving his brother. God’s commandments tell us how to love others. [/SIZE]

[SIZE=16pt](John 14: 23) “Anybody who receives my commandments and keeps them will be one who loves me; and anybody who loves me will be loved by My Father, and I shall love him and show myself to him.” [/SIZE]

[SIZE=16pt](John 14: 23) “Anyone who loves me will keep my word and my Father will love him, and we shall come to him and make a home in him.”[/SIZE]

 

[lforrest]

Yeah please expand on your opinion...I am hanging in space with that one...

Love is actually very hard to define, so lets start from what we know about the loving acts. So I'm going to try to categorize motivations for them and hope in the end my assumption was correct.

Love is patient - Patience allows time for coming into conformity with our expectations. Our hope is those expectations will be met eventually, and they will become better for it.
Love is kind - Kindness can be generalized to gentleness. Gentleness is used to construct something in the most orderly manner possible from a fragile material. I.E. you don't build a house of cards with a hammer.
Love does not envy - Envy or covetousness means we want what another has, or would prefer them to have less. We should actually want them to have better, and more.
Love does not boast - Boasting is a self serving exercise which boosts your esteem and may tear others down by provoking envy. It builds up yourself, but not others. Better to do only the latter.
Love is not proud - Pride is a satisfaction with one's own accomplishments or status. Satisfaction leads to stagnation where one is not growing.
Love does not dishonor others - The proper way to act is ingrained in the fabric of society. Going against that causes people to be offended... I have no idea why we aren't supposed to offend people. Lets skip this one
Love is not self-seeking - By definition is is seeking the interests of others.
Love is not easily angered - anger is a result of being offended. Lets skip this one too
Love keeps no record of wrongs - When we hold things against others it inhibits them in some way. It is better to encourage, not inhibit.
Love does not delight in evil but [SIZE=14.3999996185303px]rejoices with the truth - evil is a corruption of God's purposes. It is like using a tool incorrectly until it is worn-out and the thing your building is an abomination. Instead work according to the truth, you will use the tools and instructions God has given to build something useful.[/SIZE]
Love always protects - Protecting allows for something to grow.
Love always trusts - Trust permits one to help make something grow.
Love always hopes - Hope allows one trust that the end result of that trust is something better.
Love always perseveres - If we didn't persevere this world would crush us, and we would be useless. Keep going and keep hoping.

If we were to describe these all in one statement. Love builds and builds and doesn't stop building, making, growing. Whatever Love is building is orderly and with purpose. If there is one word that sums up the spirit behind all these terms, that word would be 'creating'.

I love the rest of your response though, har har.

Very Punny.

 

[justaname]

To love God one has to live God’s Word. Loving God is obeying him.

If one is living God’s commandments then he or she is also loving his brother. God’s commandments tell us how to love others.

(John 14: 23) “Anybody who receives my commandments and keeps them will be one who loves me; and anybody who loves me will be loved by My Father, and I shall love him and show myself to him.”

(John 14: 23) “Anyone who loves me will keep my word and my Father will love him, and we shall come to him and make a home in him.”

These are interesting, yet the question persists...what is love? Are you saying love is obedience?

 

[Angelina]

Love is the spirit of creation

Ohhh well said brother!

Iove is; an unselfish act of your will.

 

[Dan57]

"Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends" (John 15:13)

 

[Johnlove]

These are interesting, yet the question persists...what is love? Are you saying love is obedience?

[SIZE=16pt]In respect to loving God yes love is obedience. Jesus told us what one needs to do to love his or her neighbor. Love is doing for one another. [/SIZE]

 

[FHII]

It's a good question, Justaname. I wish more Christians would seek an understanding of it. They latch on to "God is love", but forget that God is a man of war, someone who will laugh at your calamities, a God that has killed more people than even Satan and a God that actually said he hated some people. He's a God who, about David, said, "Now there's a man after my heart!" when David said he hates those who hate God with PERFECT HATRED. Why, he's even a God that sent strong delusions and lying spirits! All that's in the Bible, and if you need scriptural reference because you don't have a Bible word search engine or you are too lazy to look it up on one, let me know....

So sure, God is love, but that's not all he is.

The best I can come up with is we are to love. But whom? Answer: God! Now, God gave us a gift and that is "Christ in [us]". So, if you want to love God... Love me! Why? Christ is in me, and I have his mind. Furthermore, God said love the brethren. I'm a brother of Christ. A real "blood brother (by his blood, not mine) Are you? Well, then you can claim the same thing.

But not every human is of God. The Bible tells us that. So no, we don't have to love everyone. What about those verses that say love your enemies? Yea, I got those.... I'll love them the way David loved his enemies. I will pray for them.... I'll tell God about them and let him handle it. Maybe God will punish them, maybe God will change their hearts or maybe I'll be the one who gets rebuked. But I'll leave it to him and cast all my worries and problems on him to handle, if it comes to that.

I'm pretty thick skinned about stuff, and the only real enemies I have are like the ones David had.... Those who speak evil against God and take His name in vain (look at Psa 139).

Overall, I hate to say this and in a sense don't mean it as it comes out, but Christians tend to put too much thought into "God is love". If they start looking at "God is truth", well.... Wow! Imagine what would happen then!

 

[DanielGarneau]

Love does not dishonor others - The proper way to act is ingrained in the fabric of society. Going against that causes people to be offended... I have no idea why we aren't supposed to offend people. Lets skip this one
[...]
Love is not easily angered - anger is a result of being offended. Lets skip this one too

Love involves being patient and kind, if we truly want to help others:

Telling the truth in love means telling the truth in a way that sometimes confronts the other in things he would rather not hear or face, but at the same time, telling the truth in love means waiting for the proper time and choosing a way of saying things so that the other will be able to get the point we feel he needs to hear.

Sometimes people are wrongly offended by hearing the truth even if expressed in love. But sometimes the truth is said in a way that makes it unnecessarily difficult for the person who hears it to understand.

Love also involves being bold and courageous:

Some cultural settings make it seem wrong to say certain things that must be said. We are not always aware of this even amongst Christians. Love means saying what needs to be said even if it seems impolite because of culture. Yet it must be told in ways that are as kind as possible, as respectful as we know how, and in the best possible moments that we can figure out for the context.

Love requires sound judgment:

Based on what I just said, it is sometimes hard for me to figure out what to do with a person who is unsaved and approaching death, yet sometimes still in good health and in full mastery of their ability to understand and express themselve. Or yet the saved who does not want to hear about God in areas where they could be helped if they opened up to hear His Word... Any thoughts on this last point of questioning?

 

[lforrest]

Love requires sound judgment:

Based on what I just said, it is sometimes hard for me to figure out what to do with a person who is unsaved and approaching death, yet sometimes still in good health and in full mastery of their ability to understand and express themselve. Or yet the saved who does not want to hear about God in areas where they could be helped if they opened up to hear His Word... Any thoughts on this last point of questioning?

Love shapes something into a better image. Often times there are obstructions that must be removed that stand in direct opposition to that image.

Knowing what belongs and what should be removed requires judgement. Judgement we would not have without God's word or the Holy Spirit.

 

[aspen]

Serving others

 

[Raeneske]

What is love? According to this world, it is a flimsy fleeting feeling, that will flee away at the slightest provocation. According to this world, love simply is that, a feeling. But that is not love. That is merely passion and infatuation. Love is a principle, an indwelling principle to do right.

When we read 1st Corinthians 13, we see that love is not characterized by the Christian's ability to prophesy, or speak in tongues. It is not the ability to have knowledge, or to even have all faith. Love is not even characterized by the feeding of the poor, and the giving of one's body for destruction!

1st Corinthians 13 describes love in motive and attitude. What prompts the heart to do good works? Is it the selfish nature, or the selfless nature of Christ? It's not that the ability to prophesy that is wrong, it's not that the ability to speak in tongues is wrong (although some have a false definition of this spiritual gift), but it is what prompts the heart. Is the heart full of evil thoughts? Is it prompted to do evil, even to rejoice in it? Or is it prompted to rejoice in good works, and in truth? What is the reason for bestowing good gifts upon others? What is the reason for feeding the poor? Do we do it because we love them, or because we love ourselves?

Now some man may go to a school to teach others about Christ. But is he impatient when teaching them the truth? His going to teach about Christ does not make him a Christian, but it is the attitude of which he does it. The men feeding the hungry, do they do it because they truly want to help them, or because they want to be looked upon as Christians? What is the motive?

Romans 13:8-10 Owe no man any thing, but to love one another: for he that loveth another hath fulfilled the law. 9 For this, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not kill, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness, Thou shalt not covet; and if there be any other commandment, it is briefly comprehended in this saying, namely, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. 10 Love worketh no ill to his neighbour: therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.

The Holy 10 Commandments describe love in principle and action. The law, which is spiritual, goes to the depths of the human heart. Theft is not merely stealing from the neighbor their goods, but stealing the emotions, and affections, and withholding the truth and the light that belongs to them. Theft is withholding the money from the poor that God has so graciously bestowed upon you. He has not given such great riches to those richer for selfish gratification. But it was given to them to be a blessing to God's cause, and to the poor all around us. Love is defined in the law of God.

The impatient man, that teaches Christ, what prompts him to be impatient? Is it love that prompts him to be impatient? Or is it his anger, or even hatred, which clearly by his impatience shows he is a transgressor of the divine law. Love is the fulfilling of God's law. If you by no means will break God's law, you have indwelling love. You will obey the holy law of God in each precept, outwardly and inwardly.

God's Holy Law is the transcript of His divine character. This law is written in the very heart of Christ. And this law is to be written upon the hearts of the Christians. But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Father, but, spiritual things are spiritually discerned. The carnal mind is at enmity with the law of God. The true Christians, are those who have faith in Christ and have true love in their hearts ie. they keep the commandments in outward show and in the inward heart.

Revelation 14:12 Here is the patience of the saints: here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus.

Isaiah 8:20 To the law and to the testimony: if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them.

Revelation 12:17 And the dragon was wroth with the woman, and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.

Revelation 22:11 He that is unjust, let him be unjust still: and he which is filthy, let him be filthy still: and he that is righteous, let him be righteous still: and he that is holy, let him be holy still.

 

[Angelina]

Love is the very image of God in Christ. The wellspring of life eternal...

 

[justaname]

Love is serving others?

So are those who are in the Navy loving others, police officers? Is that fulfilling the Law? What about waiters and waitresses, butlers and maids?

Is obedience the only way to love God? If obedience is the only thing God was looking for why isn't the commandment obey God as opposed to love God?



I will venture a little further...

Love is the virtue of virtues...Love is the embodiment of all the virtues of light.

 

[Born_Again]

Okay, lets delve deeper. In the first few posts we scientifically broke "love" down. Almost to the point where it became kind of meaningless.
Love was best shown when Christ gave His life on the cross to pay for us.... Would we be able to do the same? Do we, as a society, understand love at all?? Yes we have deep feelings for certain others. But do we really know what it means to love? I don't think many of us do. There are people who make bad choices in life, or live a life, we as Christians, disagree with. But do we have compassion for them? Do we have mercy for them? Do we love them with the same power that Christ loves them, loves us???

Would you still do anything for anyone because Christ has called us to it? Love, pure, sacrificial love. Heck, my wife has moved out and wants a divorce, but I still will do anything for her not because of my earthly love for her, but because Christ has called me to love her no matter what. And I do. The same love I have for the homeless man on the street. You have to understand, the devil has a hard grip on some people, and we still need to love them as brothers and sisters. You feel the love in your heart. When you look at a person, see their pain and the lump forms in your throat. Compassion, mercy, understanding.

Love...... Pure unfailing love.

 

[lforrest]

Why is sacrificial love the greatest example of love?

 

[Born_Again]

Because that is what Christ did for us. It is putting others before yourself....

 

[Born_Again]

1 Corinthians........

8 Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. 9 For we know in part and we prophesy in part, 10 but when completeness comes, what is in part disappears. 11 When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me. 12 For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.
13 And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.