I personally think love is a feeling that we act upon, but I do not think love is the action itself. Christians have told me that love is an action. What do you think?
2007-09-14 03:56:55 · 22 answers · asked by Linz ♥ VT 4 in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
Love is an emotion that inspires actions. Most of which are completely irrational...
2007-09-14 04:08:39 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
Hmmmm, the classic Christian verse on love is 1 Corinthians 13. Love is patient, kind long suffering, believes all things bears all things...to paraphrase.
If you look at this verse, it seems like a list of character traits more than anything else, as if love were a type of person even more than an action or feeling. If we think of the perfect manisfestation of that person, it would be in Jesus Christ.
Christians believe that when Christ is in our lives, we become, slowly, over time, more like him because of GOd's work in us. If our character is more like his, we become more loving...more truly loving. I don't mean loving in a mercenary sort of way where we are looking to get something back.
If our character is such--if we are truly loving people--then our actions AND our feelings will be in line with that love. We should strive for that goal by letting Jesus' love transform us. If we are truly loving, there will be nothing fake o forced about our actions.
If you are asking about romantic love or the love that we have for friends or family, that is in a way a different thing. This love that I am talking about is the kind of love that undergirds romantic or friendship love and deepens it, making it less self interested and longer lasting.
"To say, love is an action, not a feeling," may be an oversimplification.
2007-09-14 04:14:54 · answer #2 · answered by bean1976 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Love has multiple meanings and connotations. The concept of Love understood in Greek and Hebrew and even in English connote both actions and feelings. In some cases you could simply be referring to the action of love and other times you could be referring to the feelings of love.
I have heard non-Christians say, "I saw love today." or "I was loved today" after receiving some sort of assistance or being served in some way. In both of these cases it wasn't the feeling it was the action of love.
Just like in marriage. You are supposed to love your spouse for the rest of your life. Well guess what those feelings will go away or they will at least fade temporarily. Yet even when the feeling is gone one needs to choose to love that person. Love can be a choice.
2007-09-14 04:14:54 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Oh dear, let me finish my coffee before answering this.
Love is both. Love is many things. The English language is incredibly limited when it comes to this. There are other words we use such as "compassion" and "charity" and "lust" to describe the many meanings of love found in ancient languages.
Furthermore, I think there are many feelings which are falsely identified as love. I don't think romanticism is love. I don't think butterflies in your stomach is love. I guess it's a form of love, maybe the basest form.
Yes, love can be an action too. Ultimately, I think love is a choice, and you can only choose your "feelings" to an extent. I think about my brothers. I love them, although my feelings towards them aren't always positive.
So my answer, the ultimate cop out, is that love is both an action and a feeling, and so much more.
2007-09-14 04:05:08 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
I agree that love is a feeling that can cause action.
We do things because of love, but love is not an action.
It is true that the word "love" can be used as a verb, but it is a verb to describe the emotion of loving. "I love my fiancee" "john loves his family".... it's about the emotion.
Love itself is not an action because those very same actions without love are the same as they are with love.
A man protects his family out of love. A police officer protects, but he probably does not love everyone he protects... so protecting isn't necessarily associated with love. People have sex.... some people feel love is necessary to have sex.... others do not need love to have sex.
Love is an emotion that can be a catalyst for action, but i do not believe that love is the action itself.
2007-09-14 04:16:54 · answer #5 · answered by DaveFrehley 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
In all reality it is both. The feeling is more rightly called "affection". But to act loving, the verb "to love" means doing something in the best interests of another regardless of the cost. Or it is sometimes defined as the process of meeting needs.
Feelings come and go with a bad meal. They are at best transient. If you live your life based on the way you feel alone, then you will find your life chaotic and disturbing. If you act loving and live that way regardless of how you feel, you will find your life stable, consistent, and beautiful.
2007-09-14 04:49:23 · answer #6 · answered by epaphras_faith 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Love is an emotional dependency. More feeling than action. It may dictate what actions we would take (influence reason and decision making), but love itself is not an act.
2007-09-14 04:01:58 · answer #7 · answered by Armless Joe, Bipedal Foe 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Love is a decision to unselfishly do what is in the best interest of the other. When this type of love is institute into relationships the "feeling" of love will continue. This euphoric feeling of love that is experienced when we fall in love is only a temporary state. Your feelings change and you cannot depend on them. God wants us to demonstrate our love out of actions. If this pattern were followed there would be a lot less divorces and broken relationships.
2007-09-14 04:17:00 · answer #8 · answered by Freedom 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
there are different kinds of love I think- and yes, love can be a feeling- however, it should be a verb. Look at Christ, His love was not just a feeling that He had one day for us- He acted upon that love by dying on the Cross. We can never trust our feelings, but when we say we love someone, and act upon that love by showing them we love them, that is the most important kind of love. Emotional love may last for awhile, however when the feeling is gone, so is the love, but when we base love on truth and on truly loving someone by looking out for their best interests- then that is really is love
2007-09-14 04:07:08 · answer #9 · answered by AdoreHim 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
English is limiting in this case as it uses one word, Love, to mean many things. We have feeling of love, we have a hormonal and chemical states of love, love for friends, family and lovers as separate and distinct loves. You can love as an action without the feeling and feel it with out the action, but perhaps the hardest is to commit to love, not as in deciding to marry, but in committing to love another day in and day out regardless of their actions.
2007-09-14 04:07:46 · answer #10 · answered by Pirate AM™ 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋