2006-11-09 05:41:25 · 20 answers · asked by fryedaddy 3 in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
Actually religion teaches almost the exact opposite of love, but tries to convince us that it's version is correct.
Religion teaches judgment and calls it love.
A long time ago 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
Your brother
don
2006-11-09 05:47:26 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 2⤋
Love is a psychological phenomenon reinforced by attributes that allow for prolonged survival of the individual and/or group associated with that individual. Religion has absolutely nothing to do with it. People without religion can "love" and I would go so far as to say Atheists are MORE forgiving and MORE tolerant than say, Christian fundamentalists. Or followers of Islam.
If a couple 'loves' one another they will stay together and serve and protect each other becuase this is more beneficial, as to say, being violent towards another. Perhaps a couple who 'loves' one another has a child and rears it with 'love'. The child has a stronger ability for survival than a child who isnt "loved". Individuals who do not "love" like others will likely not find reproduce successfullly, because idividuals will not feel secure or a need to be close with that person. That person's behaviour may die out with him/her. Love is a biochemical and subjective form of reinforced interpersonal satisfaction and is a unique aspect about being alive and breathing.
2006-11-09 05:57:09 · answer #2 · answered by Handsome Devil 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
unfortunately we are discussing this subject in English where there is this word "love" which is second runner up behind F as far as versatility. I love Icecream, and I love my sister, I lvoe children, and I love humanes, and I love dogs. With the exce[ption of ice cream I have heard the F word also used in these sentences and many more. I Eskimoe peaoples have something like 27 different words for snow we have one. The Greeks had at least 5 words all of which we cover wuth our one word love.
The great thing about your question is that all 5 of the greek words for love were used to discibe our reationship with Jesus and God. Agape love which is seldom used as our behaviors indicate in todays American world is often used with rekation to other humanes and our word love just does not quite capture it's meaning. Love is what religion is all about but has little to do that love that pops up and causes little babies to be born out of wed lock.
That which we most often call love is a chemical reaction that sets hormones intio action, and can do this for a period as long as 2 years. It can happen in a religious setting but if commitments are made even in that same environment b4 2 years is up , and as it is often underprotest of people who actually do see probably flaws (not moms cuz they often see flaws where none exist), then latter there is often lots of work and heartache ahaed.
There also is a love so rare it has not got a word for it and that is a love for God and His ways, it manifests all of the forms listed in Greek and a few more, but I do not think that is what your question is about.
Erros, Agape, Philos, affection, lust, mother's, britherly, and many more or kinds of love.
the first commansment is to go forth and multiply so to say infatuation is not a kind of love in religion is to completely misunderstand the creation and creator, which as far as I can see is a common ailment.
2006-11-09 06:11:43 · answer #3 · answered by icheeknows 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Love is a kind of emotional fever in the brain, an interaction of hormones that increases both alertness and a sense of pleasure. Love is common to the higher mammals, particularly the canines, dolphins, and anthropoid apes, including man.
Love is MUCH older than written language, millions of years older. Whereas Yehwah is a mere pup at 6,000 years. So, no, love has nothing whatsoever to do with religion.
2006-11-09 05:44:49 · answer #4 · answered by urbancoyote 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
To me love is simply caring for others above yourself. It has emotional properties to it, but without the action of love, it's not real love. In other words I'm not going to say I love you and then treat you poorly. My actions will support my words. It really has nothing to do with religion as far as I can see other that that is the one thing that "Christianity" claims to have and ironically the one area they fall short in the most! My 2 cents hon!
2006-11-09 05:50:50 · answer #5 · answered by Joeygirl 4 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Love is an emotional attachment that becomes physically manifestated and often ednures through trial and tribulation.
It can apply to religion just as easily to people and pets and even inanimate items such as favorite clothes.
2006-11-09 06:10:58 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
This is what love has to do with religion...
For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.
2006-11-09 06:05:23 · answer #7 · answered by Bad Cosmo 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
The word "love", like any word that attemps to describe the indescribable, is an approximation/concept. The most one can get out of trying to define it is light entertainment. For example, "love is like a fart, it blows you away." Oh that applies to religion as well.
2006-11-09 05:47:00 · answer #8 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Love is one of the things religion is supposed to be all about. There is God's love. We are supposed to love our neighbor as ourselves. However, when you look around you see a lot of people not practicing what they preach.
2006-11-09 05:44:15 · answer #9 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
Yes it does: True Religion...PRACTICES LOVE: True worshippers are “no part of the world,” are not divided by race or culture, and display “love among themselves.” Rather than killing one another, they are willing to die for one another.
Without a doubt, true love is appreciated wherever we go. The love that can make a real difference in life is that described by the Bible writer Paul: “Love is long-suffering and kind. Love is not jealous, it does not brag, does not get puffed up, does not behave indecently, does not look for its own interests, does not become provoked. It does not keep account of the injury. It does not rejoice over unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth. It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails.”
Yes, “love never fails.” Love heals. Love unites. Love is shown not just by words but by unselfish actions. Love has a pure motive. Paul also wrote: “If I give all my belongings to feed others, and if I hand over my body, that I may boast, but do not have love, I am not profited at all.” If we make sacrifices or give gifts just to be seen by others, then from God’s viewpoint it is in vain.
Jesus put it this way: “When you go making gifts of mercy, do not blow a trumpet ahead of you, just as the hypocrites do, that they may be glorified by men. Truly I say to you, They are having their reward in full. But you, when making gifts of mercy, do not let your left hand know what your right is doing.” Yes, love does not boast or brag.
What Is Love?
One description of love is ‘a feeling of warm personal attachment or deep affection, a warm fondness or liking for another.’ It is a quality that moves people to work for the good of others, sometimes at great personal sacrifice. Love, as it is described in the Bible, involves both the mind and the heart. The mind, or intellect, plays a role because a person who loves does this with his eyes open, recognizing that he and other humans that he loves all have weaknesses as well as attractive qualities. The intellect is further involved since there are those whom a Christian loves, sometimes, perhaps, against his natural inclinations, because he knows from his reading of the Bible that God wants him to do so. Still, love basically comes from the heart. Genuine love as it is revealed in the Bible is never merely intellectual. It entails deep sincerity and full emotional commitment. 1 Peter 1:22.
People who are selfish at heart are rarely capable of a truly loving relationship because a person who loves is prepared to put the interests of another ahead of his own. (Philippians 2:2-4) Jesus’ words “there is more happiness in giving than there is in receiving” are especially true when the giving is an act of love. Love is a powerful bond. It often includes friendship, but the bonds of love are stronger than those of friendship. The romantic relationship between a husband and his wife is sometimes described as love; however, the love that the Bible encourages us to cultivate is more enduring than physical attraction. When a couple truly love each other, they remain together even if a physical relationship is no longer possible because of the infirmities of old age or because one of them is incapacitated.
2006-11-09 08:21:51 · answer #10 · answered by BJ 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋