speaker@umcp-cs.UUCP (02/09/84)
Newsgroups: net.religion Subject: Re: !speaker on loving God I'm not trying to pick a fight, and perhaps this discussion will be more appropriate for net.philosophy, but I'm mildly unhappy with your response to Laura concerning what it takes to love God. Fear not! I don't take every criticsm or comment as personal attacks... only flames from SOME people :-). You know what they say... "It's a free park." Problem is that this is what your head is saying, not your heart. Who knows WHAT God is like. If he's so incomprehensibly, mind-bogglingly infinite and wonderful as all that... you might actually find the capacity to love him, despite what your head tells you. I'm unhappy because you seem to be assuming that love comes from the heart, and not the head. As far as I'm concerned, true love (no, don't ask me for a definition!) comes from both places, acting in concert. If the head says "No" and the heart says "Yes," then it seems to me the emotion felt might be lust, infatuation, awe, etc -- anything but love. Perhaps I should have clarified myself (say that would be an interesting sight)... When I say that love comes from the heart and not the head, I mean that love should not be based soley on logic or reason. I agree with you that the two (the heart and the head) should work in concert. I think it is ridiculous, on the other hand, for someone to say... "Oh, you don't meet my criteria therefore I cannot love you." By this reasoning one will never find love. It is equally ridiculous to try and find someone or something according to a rational methodology. Now, the heart without any rational consideration MAY very well make one a jibbering fool... but it's still love, even if rather childish and imature love. But is it REALLY love as you have pointed out? I think so. Children can feel love... and their love can be misguided also. Perhaps the love of many Christians (which in many comes from a rational process that says, "I must love God") is a similarly childish love... imature and ill-considered. In my experience, those things that we (or at least I) cherish the most have occured in a totally spontaneous way... without my planning. Life cannot and should not be controlled to the degree that removes all of the magic from life. Yes, frequent reality checks should be done to assure the integrity of what one is doing (that's the MIL-STD me talking). Some thought and direction by the old neurons is also good. This keeps you from making a fool of yourself and adds to the experience of life. -- - Speaker speaker@umcp-cs speaker.umcp-cs@CSnet-Relay