What is love to you and how do you know if it is real?

Question

I mean some people say that they don't believe in God because they have no "proof" and I was thinking that how can anyone believe in love if there is no "proof." I am not speaking of love for ones children, that although wonderful is part of the natural order. I am speaking about that intimate connection one makes with a partner for life. How do you know it's real? There is certainly no physical evidence. Can you prove that LOVE is real?

If you can't give me proof that LOVE exists then how can you ask for proof that GOD exists?

I'm not speaking of Lust of physical love. I am speaking of that Love of Self Sacrifice. Love where a man or a woman would give their life to save the other!

Answer 1

A long time ago Deb I thought that love was something that you reserved for some special set of people that you had judged worthy of it.

After a while I got to thinking about what Jesus had said about turning the other cheek and loving our neighbor I put the two together and realized that he had made no exceptions in these statements. It became obvious to me that he intended that we exclude no one from the love that we are supposed to be giving. I started thinking about my idea of love and suddenly realized that I had not been loving anyone at all. I had simply been judging everyone and every thing.

Judging someone worthy of love is not love, it is only judgment. I actually started to cry when I realized this. I saw just how much of my life I had wasted being judgmental, thinking of myself as a Christian, when I was actually doing just the opposite of what Jesus had asked us to do.

I thought about the verse judge not lest ye be judged, and I understood it for the first time.

I realized that I have a lot of catching up to do. So many opportunities were wasted. I now try to apply the love that I have for the world in a universal way like Jesus asks us to do.

If I start to feel afraid and think that I see someone that I should not love because of something I have thought or heard I try to catch my mistake as soon as possible. I tell myself that I have forgot the truth and have fallen for the same old trick that had cost me so many opportunities to be loving in the past. The horror of this realization is often all that is necessary to bring me back to my senses and make me drop the judgmental nonsense I was thinking.

I still have a lot to learn about love, but at least I’m making progress.

Love and blessings Deb

Your brother
don

Answer 2

Well actually, there has been some expiriments of human brains on CAT scans and how the react to stimulus.

Just as a far out example of this, gay men's brains react to pictures the same way straigh women's brains. (Adult pictures)

This was a study done in Sweden.

Father's can't recognize the smell of their offspring's tshirt's in a plastic bag (an evolutionary mechanism so that the father will be the parent to send the offspring out into the world)

So, theres some hard wiring going on up there.

But thanks for trying to prove God to me, I'm sorry, the God of the Gaps theory I'm afraid just won't work on me.

If the scientific explanation of what is love isn't satisfactory to you, that doesn't mean science stops trying to explain it.

K, thanks.

Edit: I can't disprove Zeus is a God. Does this mean anything? You understand that Christian websites and academics say that this tactic of "can you disprove God" is really a bad one?

Could you take a day or two and get some logic training and some apologetics courses.

Answer 3

"Love is patient, love is kind, it does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil, but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trust, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails." 1 Corinthians chapter 13 versus 4-8.

Love is "seen" through actions. We humans are imperfect, and therefore cannot love perfectly. But Jesus Christ showed us the example of perfect love by giving up his life for us. As we strive to follow his example, we may show the world a poor glimpse of God's love. Yes, love exists. It is so much more than feelings. Love is an act of the will. I choose to do good unto someone and not harm. I seek to lift people up through words of encouragement and kindness, not to harshly criticize. I seek to love even when someone does wrong unto me, by the grace of God.

The Bible has probably hundreds of verses about love (not sure how many, but a lot!) If you have a concordance, you can look up the word "love" and find every associated verse in the Bible.

Answer 4

Love is as real as anything else, meaning probably less real than we tend to think. All things must pass, all is on the move, time itself is an illusion but you may have the illusion of different kinds of love. Love must be cultivated because it is, or has the means to be, constructive. But fear not, I've never ever seen love beteween sex partners exist for really very long, depending on what youconsider to be "long"...

Answer 5

If someone says there is no proof God exists...they do not want to see the proof. The proof is everywhere and as plain as the nose on my face.
I can sit in my home, in the dark, with my eyes closed, and my ears plugged and say "I do not believe it is raining outside because I see no proof" Does that mean if there is a downpour of rain outside, there is no proof, because I in my ignorance choose not to look, hear, see & feel the proof? Open your eyes, ears, heart & soul. If you really want to see God & the proof of his existance he will show you. Cry out to him and he will make himself known to you!!!!!

Answer 6

Through direct experience you can know/feel love and what people call God.

In this case it's not a matter of believing but a matter of knowing.

As for more tangible evidence, look at how your partner treats you. Love involves some degree of self-abandonment, selfless acts, acts done for you purely for you

Answer 7

I've doubted myslef before on occasion but then quickly came to my senses. I haven't stuck around 25 years for my health. It's because I am totally and madly in love with my husband. That's how I know. That's my proof.

Answer 8

Jesus gave us the perfect example of love by putting us first and going willingly to the cross.

To me the definition of love is that love is a verb. To love is to put anothers needs before your own. Love is NOT the funny fuzzy feeling one gets when they lust after something or someone.

Answer 9

The world mixes up love wit lust. There are generally to ways of life. One is the way of "get" The other is the way of "give"
Lust would come under the way of get. In the way of get everything we do is for self.
Love is the way of give! It's not what you get but what you give, expecting nothing in return. I guess the best way of saying it is, its not what you look for in your partner, its what you look for in yourself. Give is outgoing concern for others. Its cooperation.
While get is to compete.
Give is the way of God.
Get is the way of Satan the Devil.

Answer 10

Yes the real love is that the person only love Him and don't even think about others.....