what is love ?

[BadOlPuttyTat]

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

Love is indeed a drug and harmful in many cases based on our society's understanding and perception of it.
Without hormonal love there is nothing else basically. We are limited by our physical biologically sadly.

 

[AlexBC]

Love is indeed a drug and harmful in many cases based on our society's understanding and perception of it.
Without hormonal love there is nothing else basically. We are limited by our physical biologically sadly.

Love can indeed be harmful. Depending on what definition of love you use I don't think there's a single example of "love" that hasn't given birth to some form of tragedy/pain/suffering.

 

[Jethro Bodine]

Love can indeed be harmful. Depending on what definition of love you use I don't think there's a single example of "love" that hasn't given birth to some form of tragedy/pain/suffering.

And this is no truer than for God's kind of love, 'apage', as it's called in Greek.

It's defining characteristic is it's selflessness--the cost it endures so others can benefit. It's the laying down of one's own desires and expectations in the interest of someone else's well being. To the world this is an unreasonable and unfair thing to do. By nature 'we' come first. And then, as they fit in (if they fit in), everybody else is next.

It is painful to desire the things of God (the interests of others above your own, when they conflict), just as it's painful to struggle and strain in this world to desire and satisfy your own well being. Love does cost. It is painful. It's just a matter of what 'love' you're suffering for, and for whom.

 

[Jethro Bodine]

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"?

Yes, their brain. God's love is more of an intellectual thing than it is emotional. But it certainly has an emotional component about it. For Christians, living out God's love towards others produces the fruit of joy. In fact, it's a promise of God to us that we will know his joy for obeying his command to love.

There must be some kind of hormonal activity deciding how a person acts upon some strange beam being shot into their brain.

The obedience of love does produce a physical response that is satisfying to our human bodies and minds.

And what is "supernatural". If a thing interacts with the universe it is a natural phenomenon. I hate the word "supernatural".

Natural refers to 'material'. 'Spirit' is differentiated from 'physical' and 'material'. I was amazed after I got saved that this whole other 'world' of God's Spirit existed all around me, but I didn't know or experience anything about it. That's because it is the privilege of God's own, not the world's. His Spirit is like a coach that whispers in our ears and encourages us to do the will of the Father, which is 'love your neighbor as yourself'. Remember, God's love 'does no harm to it's neighbor'. The Spirit helps us to remember that, and strengthens and encourages us to do it as learn more about it, intellectually, through knowledge.

 

[stovebolts]

Love is indeed a drug and harmful in many cases based on our society's understanding and perception of it.
Without hormonal love there is nothing else basically. We are limited by our physical biologically sadly.

Sorry your view of love is so very limited and skewed. Good luck with that and let us know how that works out for ya in 20 years.

 

[AlexBC]

Sorry your view of love is so very limited and skewed. Good luck with that and let us know how that works out for ya in 20 years.

What's the significance of 20 years?

 

[stovebolts]

What's the significance of 20 years?

Forest Gump had a very wise mother who once said, "Stupid is as stupid does"


BadOlPuttyTat seems to think that love is simply hormonal and without this hormonal love, there is nothing else to life. Now then, I don't know how old the old cat is, but as one ages, the "hormonal" love drive has a tendency to decrease. Which begs the question, if a stray cat is just out to sow it's seeds, how many feline's has he hormonally had relations with... and does the stray cat even know how many kids he has? I'd imagine with an outlook like that, one would have a very lonely life with a life of chaos.. you know, kids without fathers, broken homes etc. But hey, if it feels good... Yeah, lets see what 40 years looks like.

Hormones change, but love grows... if you let it.

 

[AlexBC]

You're just talking about the sex drive though. I think he meant the chemical precursors for emotion, the hormones that facilitate attraction and attachment that can then lead two people to spend the rest of their lives together. Certain hormones released during sex can help bond two people emotionally. They can then invest other emotions into that relationship beyond the physical and spend years together.

That's all chemicals and hormones.

And that has its own beauty.

 

[stovebolts]

You're just talking about the sex drive though. I think he meant the chemical precursors for emotion, the hormones that facilitate attraction and attachment that can then lead two people to spend the rest of their lives together. Certain hormones released during sex can help bond two people emotionally. They can then invest other emotions into that relationship beyond the physical and spend years together.

That's all chemicals and hormones.

And that has its own beauty.

Odd... I don't have any sex drive for my mom or any of my brothers and not even my sister. Come to think about it, I don't have any sex drive for any of my kids either. Really, that's just gross. Hmmmm... but I love them.

Did you know that if you want to feel a different way all you have to do is act a different way? Well, most of the time anyway. So, does one have a chemical reaction before or after being stimulated: that's the real question. I say one loves, and as a result, a chain reaction of chemicals follow.

 

[tim-from-pa]

The question is asked "what is love?" and I only see scriptural responses from Danus and Jethro Bodine? C'mon all sons of God. We can do better than that!

Blessings.

 

[jasoncran]

You're just talking about the sex drive though. I think he meant the chemical precursors for emotion, the hormones that facilitate attraction and attachment that can then lead two people to spend the rest of their lives together. Certain hormones released during sex can help bond two people emotionally. They can then invest other emotions into that relationship beyond the physical and spend years together.

That's all chemicals and hormones.

And that has its own beauty.

jeff, he is a pup. love is more then just sex.its the reverse, sex is because of love those that choose to. one can have sex and not even care for the partner. its calle prostution. hmm. really you had to go there.

 

[AlexBC]

Odd... I don't have any sex drive for my mom or any of my brothers and not even my sister. Come to think about it, I don't have any sex drive for any of my kids either. Really, that's just gross. Hmmmm... but I love them.

Did you know that if you want to feel a different way all you have to do is act a different way? Well, most of the time anyway. So, does one have a chemical reaction before or after being stimulated: that's the real question. I say one loves, and as a result, a chain reaction of chemicals follow.

I was giving an example of the kind of "love" you were talking wbout in your post. There are other mechanisms at play when talking about attachment to family members (well there's a kind of overlap).

 

[AlexBC]

jeff, he is a pup. love is more then just sex.its the reverse, sex is because of love those that choose to. one can have sex and not even care for the partner. its calle prostution. hmm. really you had to go there.

Had to go where? I didn't say love was just sex. I was just giving an example of how the sex act can operate to form a bond between two people. It's a common enough occurence throughout the animal kingdom. Of course, Humans bring a lot more to it because we also use personality compatability etc to decide who we love.

And have you ever heard of the Oedipal Complex? Many women look for characteristics in a mate that remind them of their fathers. There's lots of overlap when it comes to this kind of thing.

And just because love is a chemical process (tempered with a conscious mind of course) why is it any less beautiful?

Life is just the extreme expression of complex chemistry. We're made of some of the most commonly found elements in the universe. Hydrogen, Carbon, Oxygen. Those building blocks of the universe coalesced in us to create, among other things, what we term "love". That's beautiful.

 

[Jethro Bodine]

Had to go where? I didn't say love was just sex. I was just giving an example of how the sex act can operate to form a bond between two people. It's a common enough occurence throughout the animal kingdom. Of course, Humans bring a lot more to it because we also use personality compatability etc to decide who we love.

And have you ever heard of the Oedipal Complex? Many women look for characteristics in a mate that remind them of their fathers. There's lots of overlap when it comes to this kind of thing.

And just because love is a chemical process (tempered with a conscious mind of course) why is it any less beautiful?

Life is just the extreme expression of complex chemistry. We're made of some of the most commonly found elements in the universe. Hydrogen, Carbon, Oxygen. Those building blocks of the universe coalesced in us to create, among other things, what we term "love". That's beautiful.

What you are describing here is natural, human love. The love that the Bible speaks about is God's kind of love. The two are not the same.

By nature we know little to nothing about God's kind of love. But we are real good at the human love that grasps and covets, and does good for all the people in life that delight and please us. The reverse being, human love leaves out, even hates and despises, everyone who can't make a contribution to our well being. Human, conditional love can be so ugly.

If you think of love as 'desire' then you'll be able to discern the difference between God's love and our conditional human love. It's what we desire, and for what reason that determines whose love, man's love or God's love, we are giving out.

 

[stovebolts]

I was giving an example of the kind of "love" you were talking wbout in your post. There are other mechanisms at play when talking about attachment to family members (well there's a kind of overlap).

I think your confused... or maybe I am... But I thought that's what kitty cat was talkin bout...

 

[stovebolts]

The question is asked "what is love?" and I only see scriptural responses from Danus and Jethro Bodine? C'mon all sons of God. We can do better than that!

Blessings.

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

We're just gyrating...

 

[pokemons]

I really like and agree with Aristophanes discourse on love in Plato's symposium.

Just a taste on love

"And the reason is that human nature was originally one and we were a whole, and the desire and pursuit of the whole is called love"

http://www.anselm.edu/homepage/dbanach/sym.htm

 

[jasoncran]

Had to go where? I didn't say love was just sex. I was just giving an example of how the sex act can operate to form a bond between two people. It's a common enough occurence throughout the animal kingdom. Of course, Humans bring a lot more to it because we also use personality compatability etc to decide who we love.

And have you ever heard of the Oedipal Complex? Many women look for characteristics in a mate that remind them of their fathers. There's lots of overlap when it comes to this kind of thing.

And just because love is a chemical process (tempered with a conscious mind of course) why is it any less beautiful?

Life is just the extreme expression of complex chemistry. We're made of some of the most commonly found elements in the universe. Hydrogen, Carbon, Oxygen. Those building blocks of the universe coalesced in us to create, among other things, what we term "love". That's beautiful.

so is choking a man to death, its euphoric to that murderer and fun for those in mma when we submit. theres more to life then chemistry.

man you need to get real! if i told my wife i love you because of the right mixture of oxycotin produce by my brain which was induced by your pheremones. yeah that would work? NO i have been married 11 years. yeah often its not said but done in action that has very little to do with touch and feely stuff. love is more then the puppy love/lust common to those that are enganged.

love is when your spouse has ptsd and lashes out and has nightmare.she remains.love is when she has health issues and is overweight and i still find her attractive. or when she has menoapause and i work through the issues with her.

man you have much to learn.

 

[abide]

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 love”. 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 a choice.

John 3.16 For God so love the world, that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life.
There are other scriptures but to me this is the essence.

love knows no bound. No oceans of water can quench love.

The are different aspect of love. Love of family, husband, child, and other people. country etc.

Even if a politician is disgraced, the only place that he feels safe to go to without any condemnation is at his mother.

I worked at one of our local courts a few years ago and when someone has been handed down a sentence for murder or any other crime and is sent to jail. The cries of a mother holding her stomach is something that I would never forget. This is love...love for someone who is a criminal..but still a son/daughter.

I believe when you love someone nothing can cause you to hurt them. Love covers a multitude of sins. When we reach this stage this is really love.
Sexual love for a spouse is something that cannot be explained. Why a person would want to be with a particular person rather than another.

A couple who is deeply in love and care for each other deeply, with the sexual act this is physical love at its highest. To me after salvation, sexual love is the greatest thing.

 

[AlexBC]

so is choking a man to death, its euphoric to that murderer and fun for those in mma when we submit. theres more to life then chemistry.

man you need to get real! if i told my wife i love you because of the right mixture of oxycotin produce by my brain which was induced by your pheremones. yeah that would work? NO i have been married 11 years. yeah often its not said but done in action that has very little to do with touch and feely stuff. love is more then the puppy love/lust common to those that are enganged.

love is when your spouse has ptsd and lashes out and has nightmare.she remains.love is when she has health issues and is overweight and i still find her attractive. or when she has menoapause and i work through the issues with her.

man you have much to learn.

I'm a little unsure what the choking example was relating to. :

And the existence of Pheremones in Humans has been a hotly debated topic. I'm pretty sure they only just discovered evidence of a possible Human pheremone last year.

And...I agree...If you told that to your wife she'd have every right to look at you with blank stares. :o

And i'm not saying that love is just sexual attraction at all. We bring a lot more to the table than just that because we have higher brain functions that tell us how best to act on those chemical precursors in a given situation. And you mention Oxcytocin. We've seen that people with an inability to produce sufficient quantities of that hormone are more prone to psychopathic/sociopathic tendency. So it seems that hormone is doing a lot to keep people on the straight and narrow.

And some people DO fall out of love simply because a spouse is fat.