Love
We love each other! [Thanks to liam maguire]
The inspiration/choice of faith & love.
God is good, and in good there is no evil, but love is often accompanied by suffering. Why do we say that love is good if it can lead to so much suffering?
Is love good even when it’s unrequited, when the object of love doesn’t even know s/he is loved, or when the object of love doesn’t even exist (the way Tom Hanks loved Wilson in Cast Away)?
How come we have no free will when it comes to who we fall in love with? And isn’t this the most important of decisions, and the one that we have absolutely no control over?
Why is love both an emotion and an action? If it's just an action, something done out of duty, it's nothing, and if it's only a feeling, it's fake. Why is a pure heart credited with righteousness for its faith and ability to feel sympathy, though it does nothing, can do nothing? Why should a prophet cry for the sins of his people if nothing can be done anyway? (Jeremiah) Didn't God tell him not to cry for his people? Didn't God tell Samuel to stop crying over Saul?
Why is love not a virtue? That is, it's not a quality or characteristic, such as patience. Rather, it's more like beauty. It is, as I said above, an emotion and an action. Why do I think like this? A brave person is always brave. A kind person is always kind, to everyone. But not everyone who loves is loving. In fact, most people who love are not loving. They only love certain people, such as their family and close friends. I don't know if this is why I think love is not a virtue, but nevertheless, it would be a good illustration of the separation between the two.
Happiness vs love. But the definition of love is caring about the happiness of another.
Paradox of love and goodness – just because you love somebody doesn’t mean that you’re going to treat them right or have the ability to treat them right, and just because you treat somebody well doesn’t mean you love them. So then which is more important (as when a mother beats her child) and which does God take account of?
I think it makes God profoundly happy when I’m affectionate to my stuffed animal because of my love for her, but how can this be, since “she” doesn’t even exist?
Love is such a strange thing. You can love someone, and yet, still not miss it if they had never existed (like when mothers will say, “I love my children, but ...”).
Can babies or dogs love?
If your spouse’s personality changed (as through some kind of brain damage), and this change was not to your liking or for the better, would it be possible to lose your love for your spouse? Would they still be the same person? Would such a person still even be able to relate to their own former self, value their history as they once did? Then let’s say to make matters worse, you meet someone who has a strikingly similar personality to your spouse’s former personality. The chemistry, naturally, is great. What would you do?
Is it vain to love somebody who never loves you and this same object of your love is going to hell (while you go to heaven)?
Love – properties vs essence and human/warm love vs divine/impersonal love
I don't consider love a virtue, for some reason.
How is it that you can love someone/thing and yet not want it, for example, your child? Surely, this isn't so with God, is it? If God loves someone (and God loves everyone), wouldn't he also want that person?
God is good, and in good there is no evil, but love is often accompanied by suffering. Why do we say that love is good if it can lead to so much suffering?
Is love good even when it’s unrequited, when the object of love doesn’t even know s/he is loved, or when the object of love doesn’t even exist (the way Tom Hanks loved Wilson in Cast Away)?
How come we have no free will when it comes to who we fall in love with? And isn’t this the most important of decisions, and the one that we have absolutely no control over?
Why is love both an emotion and an action? If it's just an action, something done out of duty, it's nothing, and if it's only a feeling, it's fake. Why is a pure heart credited with righteousness for its faith and ability to feel sympathy, though it does nothing, can do nothing? Why should a prophet cry for the sins of his people if nothing can be done anyway? (Jeremiah) Didn't God tell him not to cry for his people? Didn't God tell Samuel to stop crying over Saul?
Why is love not a virtue? That is, it's not a quality or characteristic, such as patience. Rather, it's more like beauty. It is, as I said above, an emotion and an action. Why do I think like this? A brave person is always brave. A kind person is always kind, to everyone. But not everyone who loves is loving. In fact, most people who love are not loving. They only love certain people, such as their family and close friends. I don't know if this is why I think love is not a virtue, but nevertheless, it would be a good illustration of the separation between the two.
Happiness vs love. But the definition of love is caring about the happiness of another.
Paradox of love and goodness – just because you love somebody doesn’t mean that you’re going to treat them right or have the ability to treat them right, and just because you treat somebody well doesn’t mean you love them. So then which is more important (as when a mother beats her child) and which does God take account of?
I think it makes God profoundly happy when I’m affectionate to my stuffed animal because of my love for her, but how can this be, since “she” doesn’t even exist?
Love is such a strange thing. You can love someone, and yet, still not miss it if they had never existed (like when mothers will say, “I love my children, but ...”).
Can babies or dogs love?
If your spouse’s personality changed (as through some kind of brain damage), and this change was not to your liking or for the better, would it be possible to lose your love for your spouse? Would they still be the same person? Would such a person still even be able to relate to their own former self, value their history as they once did? Then let’s say to make matters worse, you meet someone who has a strikingly similar personality to your spouse’s former personality. The chemistry, naturally, is great. What would you do?
Is it vain to love somebody who never loves you and this same object of your love is going to hell (while you go to heaven)?
Love – properties vs essence and human/warm love vs divine/impersonal love
I don't consider love a virtue, for some reason.
How is it that you can love someone/thing and yet not want it, for example, your child? Surely, this isn't so with God, is it? If God loves someone (and God loves everyone), wouldn't he also want that person?