(August 30, 2018 at 11:44 am)polymath257 Wrote:(August 30, 2018 at 9:54 am)Catholic_Lady Wrote: Because God is literally love and goodness itself. Love does not exist apart from Him, the same way rain does not exist apart from water. Because rain literally is water.
As humans, we were made for love because we were created by Him, who is love. Meaning that is ultimately how we will find fulfillment - through love. Without it, we cannot be joyful, by nature.
In this life, we can find distractions. Like money, sex, activities, etc. A person who is greedy and has pushed everyone away and has 0 love in their lives but still has a lot of material things and a lot of bodily pleasures, isn't a truly happy and fulfilled person. But since they still have those distractions, they may not always feel completely empty.
However, when we die, we don't bring money with us. We don't bring our bodies with us. Meaning all that is left is our souls. There are no material possessions or bodily pleasures. So if you reject God (ie reject love), there is nothing to distract you from your lack of love. And since love is integral to our sense of fulfillement and joy, a person who rejects love in the next life cannot be happy.
Love is an emotion. It is mediated in the brain. It isn't some universal force.
That's not to say I think it meaningless or bad--quite the contrary! But to identify it with a supernatural entity just seems, well, unusual. To think an emotion is the same as a creator of the universe is perverse.
God is clearly *not* the same as love. When I love my wife, I don't have to have a belief in a deity, even though I believe that I have that emotion.
Poly, it is a hypothetical question.
You know how sometimes atheists on this site set up hypothetical scenarios asking us what we would do if God told us to kill people, or if we found out God was evil? And then they complain when theists say "well God wouldn't do that", rather than actually answering the hypothetical?
Well, I always try to answer. I would appreciate it if someone answered my own hypothetical in return.
(We can address you loving your wife later.)
"Of course, everyone will claim they respect someone who tries to speak the truth, but in reality, this is a rare quality. Most respect those who speak truths they agree with, and their respect for the speaking only extends as far as their realm of personal agreement. It is less common, almost to the point of becoming a saintly virtue, that someone truly respects and loves the truth seeker, even when their conclusions differ wildly."
-walsh
-walsh
