what is love ?

[arunangelo]

Love is not a feeling or emotion; it is a person; and that person is Jesus (John 4:8). To love, therefore, is to put on Jesus-that is to do and think as Jesus did. He did not condemn us, did not feel sorry for himself when he carried his cross and hung on it to die; instead he was concerned about the sufferings our sins would bring us. Furthermore, he compensated for our offenses we committed against him; and prayed for us so that his joy may be ours. We may find it extremely hard to do what he did. However, if we love him we should do it out of pure love for him, and out of obedience to his command. We must therefore, swallow our own pride and pray for those who hurt us and do good deeds for them. Then his Spirit working in us will heal our heart and we will be able to love those we hate and restore broken relationship. This will turn our bitterness and self-pity into love, hope and joy. A simple prayer we can pray for those we hate or those who hate us, is, “Come Lord Jesus, fill (name of the person) with your Holy Spirit and kindle in him/her the Father’s loveâ€. We can also say the same prayer for our self.<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" /><o></o>

 

[Grazer]

Love is not just a word or emotion because it is those things as well

 

[Fedusenko]

Love is an action of selfless servitude, not an emotion or feeling (those are the same thing). It isn't making whoopy with your ol' lady. It is affection. It isn't holding hands or kissing or special letters passed in secret. Love is a verb, only a verb. Love is working to benefit someone ELSE.

Don't confuse love with infatuation, lust, eros, phileo, dependency, jealousy, anger, chemical imbalances, happy, angry blahblhablah... they are not love.

 

[Brightmorningstar]

I agree Fedusenko, except that is only half of it, God is love. To love is to love God and love our neighbour (humanism removes God from love)

 

[Grazer]

Love is an action of selfless servitude, not an emotion or feeling (those are the same thing). It isn't making whoopy with your ol' lady. It is affection. It isn't holding hands or kissing or special letters passed in secret. Love is a verb, only a verb. Love is working to benefit someone ELSE.

Don't confuse love with infatuation, lust, eros, phileo, dependency, jealousy, anger, chemical imbalances, happy, angry blahblhablah... they are not love.

I'm not confusing them, just pointing out a scientific and linguistic fact. To me you're describing true love or the true essence of it which is very different and in which case I agree with you. Think C.S Lewis wrote brilliantly on this.

 

[Fedusenko]

As opposed to false love? That is where the confusion lies, all these artificial definitions. Did Jesus ever qualify the type of love He gave for any given moment?

Amalgamations 3:39-41
And Jesus said, "My love for you is a superficial phileo type of love." A certain boy heard Jesus' teaching by the well and asked, "Teacher, isn't phileo just a display of affection? Can I not show affection on my face while my hand steals your coins? How can that be love?" And Jesus was stumped.
-The Sarcastic American Edition

 

[Fedusenko]

I agree Fedusenko, except that is only half of it, God is love. To love is to love God and love our neighbour (humanism removes God from love)

Are you sure that the context is the same in how it was said in the past to how it is commonly understood now? Example:

John said, "You son of a biscuit!"
Translation: While you are not the offspring of a biscuit, you certainly have the nature of a biscuit, flakey, crispy, and warm with delicious gravy dripping all over! (That is the original meaning of a similar phrase at least.)

God is love ≠ love is a being that created all things.
God is love = God's nature is that of love.

 

[Christ_empowered]

baby don't hurt me/don't hurt me/no more


--Haddaway

 

[jasoncran]

baby don't hurt me/don't hurt me/no more


--Haddaway

lol. im not the only who has had that earworm since this thread. hearing it now

 

[stovebolts]

1 cor 13 shows us exactly what love looks like. If you can't wrap flesh around the commandment, its just a mental gyration....

 

[elijah23]

Love is not a feeling or emotion; it is a person; and that person is Jesus (John 4:8). To love, therefore, is to put on Jesus-that is to do and think as Jesus did. He did not condemn us, did not feel sorry for himself when he carried his cross and hung on it to die; instead he was concerned about the sufferings our sins would bring us. Furthermore, he compensated for our offenses we committed against him; and prayed for us so that his joy may be ours. We may find it extremely hard to do what he did. However, if we love him we should do it out of pure love for him, and out of obedience to his command. We must therefore, swallow our own pride and pray for those who hurt us and do good deeds for them. Then his Spirit working in us will heal our heart and we will be able to love those we hate and restore broken relationship. This will turn our bitterness and self-pity into love, hope and joy. A simple prayer we can pray for those we hate or those who hate us, is, “Come Lord Jesus, fill (name of the person) with your Holy Spirit and kindle in him/her the Father’s loveâ€. We can also say the same prayer for our self.<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" /><o></o>

Love is doing unto others as you would have them do unto you.

 

[stovebolts]

Love is doing unto others as you would have them do unto you.

I'm not so sure that's always the case. Sometimes we can be prettyhard on ourselves and sometimes we can even be a little self destructive. Actually, I can think of more than one occation where I've even been my own worst enemy.

That's why I posed 1 cor 13 because it shows us what love looks like when we apply it in our lives or it is applied to the lives of others.

Scripture isclear that God is love... but exactly does that love look like? Well, john 3 16 gives us a pretty good starting point.

 

[BadOlPuttyTat]

Love is a serious of hormonal releases into the body and neurological excitement in the brain. It is most often felt during the releases of oxytocin in the brain and functions as a neuromodulator. Serotonin and Dopamine are also highly prevalent hormones released causing the sensation human beings call love. It causes bonding between organisms and sexual behavior that of in which we call friendship and lust. In essence love and lust are not different, not even socially as all biological effects determine the social effects of ones behavior. Love is the word humans have used for centuries end to describe a primitive action that has the most shallow meaning in the mammal species.

That is love, nothing more nothing less

 

[Danus]

1 Corinthians 13
New International Version (NIV)
13 If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. 3 If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing.

4 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5 It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6 Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7 It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

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

 

[AlexBC]

I confess i'm a little confused about this one. What definition of love is being used here?

The word love has far more than one connotation, many of them poetic, some of them related to hormonal influences, some related to altruism/self sacrifice etc.

 

[AlexBC]

Love is an action of selfless servitude, not an emotion or feeling (those are the same thing). It isn't making whoopy with your ol' lady. It is affection. It isn't holding hands or kissing or special letters passed in secret. Love is a verb, only a verb. Love is working to benefit someone ELSE.

Don't confuse love with infatuation, lust, eros, phileo, dependency, jealousy, anger, chemical imbalances, happy, angry blahblhablah... they are not love.

Well, a better word to describe what your talking about here is ALTRUISM and not LOVE. Now the reasons behind someone's altruistic actions can vary and you can apply the word LOVE to some of those but working to benefit someone else is not the sole province of LOVE in the way I think you're using it.

I think that makes sense:

And the things you mention as not being LOVE are most of the time the very things that drive people to work for someone else's benefit.

 

[Jethro Bodine]

I confess i'm a little confused about this one. What definition of love is being used here?

This one:

"10 Love does no harm to a neighbor." (Romans 13:10 NIV)


And it's not given out according to the value or worthiness of the person to us:

"32 “If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners love those who love them. 33 And if you do good to those who are good to you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners do that. 34 And if you lend to those from whom you expect repayment, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners, expecting to be repaid in full. 35 But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back. Then your reward will be great, and you will be children of the Most High, because he is kind to the ungrateful and wicked. 36 Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful." (Luke 6:32-36 NIV)


The world loves in order to do good for itself...that's why human love is conditional and is only given out to those who can benefit our well being. God's love is not like that. God wants his people to have his kind of love in them, "Then your reward will be great, and you will be children of the Most High" (vs.35 above).

As you can see it has nothing to do with hormones, or circumstances, or anything like that. It's a super natural love that comes from God into a person. It has no earthly rationale. It's illogical to natural humans. In fact, it's impossible for mere mortals to live up to. That's why this love, God's love, is the sign of the person who belongs to God. It is the sign of salvation in a person. It shows you know God, not just know about him.

 

[AlexBC]

This one:

"10 Love does no harm to a neighbor." (Romans 13:10 NIV)


And it's not given out according to the value or worthiness of the person to us:

"32 “If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners love those who love them. 33 And if you do good to those who are good to you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners do that. 34 And if you lend to those from whom you expect repayment, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners, expecting to be repaid in full. 35 But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back. Then your reward will be great, and you will be children of the Most High, because he is kind to the ungrateful and wicked. 36 Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful." (Luke 6:32-36 NIV)


The world loves in order to do good for itself...that's why human love is conditional and is only given out to those who can benefit our well being. God's love is not like that. God wants his people to have his kind of love in them, "Then your reward will be great, and you will be children of the Most High" (vs.35 above).

As you can see it has nothing to do with hormones, or circumstances, or anything like that. It's a super natural love that comes from God into a person. It has no earthly rationale. It's illogical to natural humans. In fact, it's impossible for mere mortals to live up to. That's why this love, God's love, is the sign of the person who belongs to God. It is the sign of salvation in a person. It shows you know God, not just know about him.

Ok, i'm not even going to attempt to dissect all the poetic attributes you're giving the word "love" but if it was bestowed upon a person wouldn't their brain still have to process that "thing"? There must be some kind of hormonal activity deciding how a person acts upon some strange beam being shot into their brain.
And what is "supernatural". If a thing interacts with the universe it is a natural phenomenon. I hate the word "supernatural".

 

[Brightmorningstar]

So we see there are different definitions and understandings of love.


"God is love" not "love is god"

 

[stovebolts]

Love is a serious of hormonal releases into the body and neurological excitement in the brain. It is most often felt during the releases of oxytocin in the brain and functions as a neuromodulator. Serotonin and Dopamine are also highly prevalent hormones released causing the sensation human beings call love. It causes bonding between organisms and sexual behavior that of in which we call friendship and lust. In essence love and lust are not different, not even socially as all biological effects determine the social effects of ones behavior. Love is the word humans have used for centuries end to describe a primitive action that has the most shallow meaning in the mammal species.

That is love, nothing more nothing less

Meth, heroin and cocaine have the same afffect... well, the sex part does deminish after sustained abuse. Ahhh, when love rrun dry huh?