how can god love?

Question

okay, this is one of those things that christians like to believe that really makes no sense to an atheist, so bear with me...im just trying to learn why you think the way you do.

in order to feel emotion, one must have a brain, correct? that brain can process the emotions and respond accordingly. brains are also physical matter. still with me?

now, according to christains, god does not have a physical body. well, seeing love is an emotion, emotions are formed by brains, and brains are physical matter, how can a being without a physical body possibly love anything?

as stated above, i am just trying to see why you people think how you do.

Answer 1

It's called faith. We believe in what can not be explained.

Answer 2

You atheists claim to be so good with science. Study up! Scientists have now proved that the brain is only the physical component of the MIND. In the branch of science known as experimental psychology there are still two basic schools of thought. Structuralists and functionalists. Functionalists believe that thought is due to some "function" of the brain. They have still to prove that hypothesis. Structuralists, on the other hand, have made astounding discoveries. The used to believe that thought was governed by the "structure" of the brain. So, while trying to prove their theory, one of the researchers discovered that a cow's brain structure was more complex than the human brain. The most recent research is in the field of physics. They now believe that the power of MIND is a form of energy. They have discovered that, just as there is at human conception, there is a blue wave form phenomenon involved.

Answer 3

Not all Christians believe that God does not have a physical body. It is a good question, because there has to be something real to feel emotions. A spirit does not have a physical body that we can touch, but it still consists of matter. Were God some kind of idea or force or nebulous entity he couldn't love. But God is a real person, and has feelings.

Answer 4

I understand your logic, but the only thing I can say is that there is some higher level of consciousness outside of the brain. It means that even when we die, we live on. We don't live on physically, but spiritually. We live on through our souls. Somehow we still think and feel and see and act all more perfectly than before and yet our bodies are no longer necessary. The same, of course, can be said of God. I guess I can't explain much more than that - I don't fully understand it myself - except to say that we believe in another, unseen world that does not necessarily follow the same rules as the one we live in. Other than personal experience, I have no proof of this, of course. I don't think it will ever be possible to scientificly prove or disprove the existance of God.

Answer 5

Perhaps the whole notion that emotions are based in the physical world is a fallacy. Perhaps not. Who knows? What makes you think that God exists as we do, in the physical world. If you go with the belief that God created the world and is all powerful, then how you say that he couldn't create many planes of existence. Perhaps he exists in a plane of existence that is not based on physical forms.

I am not a christian, but your question seems really narrow minded. You are trying to use the principles of atheism to disprove christianity. That is like trying to use the principles of buddhism to disprove christianity. They are based on completely seperate ideas, otherwise it would be the same religion.

Answer 6

Well how can something be intelligent and not have a physical body. Wouldn't intelligence require a brain, and here we're right back to square one. God is (supposedly) all powerful, so I suppose he can do anything, so why not have emotions?

But there is no God...

Flying Spaghetti Monster is the one and only divine being, I have been one of those blessed with his noodly appendage!

Long live the Pirates!

Answer 7

You are speaking from a human point of view and God is soooo much more than that.

God is not a being. God is pure love.

God is the formless, genderless, omnipresent, eternal energy source of life. God is the process of life itself.

Not an old guy with a beard sitting in a throne in the sky in a heaven somewhere, judging who he will and won't love and who will and won't get into heaven.

Answer 8

God is a spirit. He created everything so therefore does not need to do things that we are limited in understanding. We all have spirits which I believe allow us to feel. I'm not an expert, it just makes sense to me :D He is love. It doesnt have to have any shape or form cus it isn't love as we know it. it is unconditional- pure, not the earthly kind that seeks its own gratification alot of the time.

Answer 9

I can put this in a way you can look at. look at a tree and tell me their isnt an intelligence behind its design. try a leaf. then try humanity itself.

the infinite variety of life itself did not just "poof" itself into existence. and so we can conclude logically that the enormous varied complexities that make up life as we know it had some level of intelligence to guide its inital creation.

all of these things prove unequivocally that their is an intelligence behind us all. so this can prove that god has a brain or at the very least an intellect.

this is merely a logical way to look at and discuss your question. its a question that is analagous to the way one might ask, "how can you prove air exists?"

we breathe it in, but we cant see it so how do we know that air exists in the form we define it in? simple we take a premise logically and we apply modicrums of common sence and hint of faith to come to the best possible conclusion.

the main answer to the question you asked is faith; pure and simple faith. the simple and basic ability to look at a question that has no true logical answer and by applying faith to it come to a resolution. not a perfect one betimes but one that gets us through.

Answer 10

Have you ever considered God is beyond what we can comprehend? Would you want to believe in a God that was small enough that you had it all figured out? There is much about Christianity that makes perfect sense, but there is also a lot of mystery, things beyond what we can figure out. If anyone thinks they have everything about God figured out, then their god is too small.

Answer 11

As a Latter-Day Saint, we believe that God has a physical body as tangible as yours and mine. The idea that God doesn't have a body came into the early Christian church from Ancient Wiccans who believe that it is terrible to think that God has a body. Even though Jesus Christ and all of Gods children have bodies (that being all of us). He denies himself one. Personally I don't think I could worship a God that doesn't have a body.