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Agree or Disagree!

Runt

Runt

Well-Known Member
Fluffy said:
Disagree!

It is never informative to equate apples with bananas even if I have a special apple that has attained a very high level of bananeryness. Banapples are an entirely different kettle of fish.

If we are speaking literally then God is clearly not love since both concepts contain characteristics not contained by the other. If we are speaking metaphorically then this is one metaphor that is more appropriate for creating an aura of mystery than enlightenment and so not one that I find particularly useful.
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I'm inclined to agree. Love is love. God is God. It doesn't do, for me, to redefine the latter and attach supernatural signfificance to the former. I'd rather just believe in love than believe that God is love.
 
Ringer

Ringer

Jar of Clay
Buttons* said:
God is love.


Yes? No? I'm made up of the stuff of cupcakes?
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God Is Love

1 John 4:7-11
7Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God.

8The one who does not love does not know God, for God is love.
9By this the love of God was manifested in us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world so that we might live through Him.
10In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. 11Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.

I probably didn't need to post this much of the chapter but it expounds a little on God being love.
 
Buttons*

Buttons*

Glass half Panda'd
Runt said:
I'm inclined to agree. Love is love. God is God. It doesn't do, for me, to redefine the latter and attach supernatural signfificance to the former. I'd rather just believe in love than believe that God is love.
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Let me ask you this:

If you believe in Love... and believe in God... are you not following two separate dieties?
 
Buttons*

Buttons*

Glass half Panda'd
jringer04 said:
God Is Love

1 John 4:7-11
7Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God.

8The one who does not love does not know God, for God is love.
9By this the love of God was manifested in us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world so that we might live through Him.
10In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. 11Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.

I probably didn't need to post this much of the chapter but it expounds a little on God being love.
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cool, about time someone threw proof in here!

What faith do you follow, my fellow RFer?
 
Hema

Hema

Sweet n Spicy
Buttons* said:
Intrusive, perhaps... and what is "love" to you?
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The most powerful force on earth. In my beliefs, when God (Brahman or the Absolute Reality) manifested us, it was out of love, when the universe was created, it was out of love. Love is what the universe thrives on. It is a deep spiritual feeling that comes from the Divine, out of our heart chakras. When we love others, we grow spiritually because the heart chakra is constantly active.
 
Fluffy

Fluffy

A fool
Lemme see if I get this right Fluffster :)

So, apples really can't ever be bananas? :sad4:
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Except for banapples.

What is your concept of God? What is your concept of love?

So you'd reject this because you cannot be enlightened by mystery? I'm a mystic, and I'd really have to disagree with all my heart if this is, infact, what you mean.
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For me God is an approximation of many different belief systems. I can't really tell you any of his characteristics since there are too many versions of God for any single characteristic to be consistent across them. I can think of belief systems where God is all powerful and where he is weaker than humans, where he is a single entity and where he is part of everything etc etc.

My concept of love is very specific but the vital component that differentiates it with God is that love is merely an emotion and I know of no belief system that deifies an emotion. Christianity, for example, clearly does not hold Jesus to be an emotion.

So that leaves us with metaphor...
So you'd reject this because you cannot be enlightened by mystery? I'm a mystic, and I'd really have to disagree with all my heart if this is, infact, what you mean.
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We must have different ideas of mystery and enlightenment because in my mind they are directly opposed.

Mystery is something that occludes the truth and enlightenment is something that reveals the truth. If you have the truth then you can present it in a mysterious way by making it unnecessarily complicated or you can present it in an enlightening way by explaining it clearly.

Think of a mystery novel. The whole point is that you can sort of work out whodunnit but not for sure until the mystery is revealed at the end. A much more boring way would be to simply note down the key statistics (who, how, what, why) on the first page. Mysteries make for interesting stories but I don't think they are as useful for explaining the truth. You can be enlightened by mystery but I don't see how they can be more enlightening than a simple explanation.

At any rate "God is love" is one mystery, in my opinion, that could do with less repetition and more elaboration. If there is no difference between stating that God is identical to love and that God expresses love to perfection. I know it seems a tad pedantic but if you trace God's other characteristics throughout the centuries (omnipotence is one quality in particular) then you can easily see the way they change by putting one vague explanation on top of another until the original meaning is lost.
 
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