Love Is... The Meaning of Life! (page 2)

Undaunted Danny

Repost from another thread:

LOVE BOMBING Bomb

HOW DO CULTS SEDUCE THEIR PREY ?

"" ......A tactic used most often is the "LOVE BOMBING"...They swarm over you in a sort of ,"COCOONMENT".

All of a sudden,,you have,,INSTANT FAMILY,,INSTANT PURPOSE,,INSTANT COMMUNITY,,INSTANT FRIENDS.....And you don't have to look inside yourself for answers anymore,,.. because cult leaders, or their designated high disciples,,dispense all your spiritual needs..

....A mass delusion,,mass hysteria,,operating under the illusion of a master plan...In military jargon this is known as ,"Cluster F**k"...

Beware of Love Bombing.... Leonard Brenner Love-bombing is characteristic of most cults. Prospects, recruits and members are drowned in a sea of love and caring. Recently in an evangelical church I heard the pastor describe his visit to two cultic groups in which he praised their love-bombing and urged that his church adopt the same loving attitude towards visitors and members.

Should the evangelical church practice love-bombing? Is this what Christ meant when he said, "By this will all men know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another," (John 13:35)? I've heard cult members say, "Of course we practice love-bombing: Who'd want to be in a group or church that practiced hate-bombing?" This attitude highlights a common misconception. >>>Hate-bombing is not the opposite of love-bombing.<<< The opposite of love-bombing is unconditional love. Love-bombing is highly conditional. The cults will love you to death while you represent a prospective convert to their group.

As a member a tight family love will surround you as you faithfully promote their cause. However, when it is clear that a prospect will not join the group or a member voices doubts, create waves, or leaves the group, all love ceases. Indeed scorn is immediately heaped on these individuals and remaining members are told not to have any contact with them. All time, effort and love-bombing is then directed towards new prospects and the faithful members. Is this the love evangelical churches should practice? Unconditional love is what God practiced when he sent his Son to die for us..... I Love You Mug 2

FMZ

But you miss the point! The point is love. Regardless of if you believe the Bible to be true, if you find the portrayal of God to be offensive, or if you think that any time love is mentioned in relation to spirituality that it is a trap.... Why not love anyway? It takes very little, but comes back to you in spades......

FMZ

talesin

Why not love anyway? It takes very little, but comes back to you in spades......

Yes! Absolutely, without a doubt in my mind, kee-rekt!

FMZ, knowing this is a JW discussion board, you may have left the biblical references out of your initial post to ensure that the issue of the universality of love was not clouded by biblical/JW argumentation. Merely an observation, not a criticism, btw.

I got your point, but I think some will only hear the religious part of your statements, as opposed to your complete message, which was to me, about the all-encompassing power of love (which is nondenominational and universal).

t

orangefatcat

Yes FMZ I totally agree with your above statement.

One of my favourite expressions of love,

There is no remedy for love but to love more.

Henry David Thoreau (1817 - 1862), Journal, July 25, 1839

Love is an act of endless forgiveness, a tender look which becomes a habit.

Peter Ustinov (1921 - 2004)

Life's greatest happiness is to be convinced we are loved.

Victor Hugo (1802 - 1885), Les Miserables, 1862

What else is love but understanding and rejoicing in the fact that another person lives, acts, and experiences otherwise than we do??
Friedrich Nietzsche (1844 - 1900),
I love expressions of love they make me feel warm and fuzzy all over.
Love
Orangefatcat

Undaunted Danny

Ecclesiastes 12:12-13 :: The Message (MSG)

See this passage in NIV | NASB | MSG | AMP | NLT | KJV | NLV | ESV | CEV | NKJV | KJ21 | ASV | WE | YLT | DARBY | WYC | NIRV | NIV-UK |

Ecclesiastes 12
12 But regarding anything beyond this, dear friend, go easy. There's no end to the publishing of books[or postings], and constant study wears you out so you're no good for anything else. 13 The last and final word is this:

Fear God.
Do what he tells you. { The Bible sez;;this is the meaning of life }

The Message (MSG) 1 Corinthians 13 {aka the 'love chapter'}

1 If I speak with human eloquence and angelic ecstasy but don't love, I'm nothing but the creaking of a rusty gate.
2 If I speak God's Word with power, revealing all his mysteries and making everything plain as day, and if I have faith that says to a mountain, "Jump," and it jumps, but I don't love, I'm nothing.
3 If I give everything I own to the poor and even go to the stake to be burned as a martyr, but I don't love, I've gotten nowhere. So, no matter what I say, what I believe, and what I do, I'm bankrupt without love.

4 Love never gives up.
Love cares more for others than for self.
Love doesn't want what it doesn't have.
Love doesn't strut,
Doesn't have a swelled head,
5 Doesn't force itself on others,
Isn't always "me first,"
Doesn't fly off the handle,
Doesn't keep score of the sins of others,
6 Doesn't revel when others grovel,
Takes pleasure in the flowering of truth,
7 Puts up with anything,
Trusts God always,
Always looks for the best,
Never looks back,
But keeps going to the end.

8 Love never dies. Inspired speech will be over some day; praying in tongues will end; understanding will reach its limit. 9 We know only a portion of the truth, and what we say about God is always incomplete. 10 But when the Complete arrives, our incompletes will be canceled.
11 When I was an infant at my mother's breast, I gurgled and cooed like any infant. When I grew up, I left those infant ways for good.
12 We don't yet see things clearly. We're squinting in a fog, peering through a mist. But it won't be long before the weather clears and the sun shines bright! We'll see it all then, see it all as clearly as God sees us, knowing him directly just as he knows us!
13 But for right now, until that completeness, we have three things to do to lead us toward that consummation: Trust steadily in God, hope unswervingly, love extravagantly. And the best of the three is love."" I Love You Mug 2

{ footnote from Danny: the 13th chapter of 1 Corn. is attributed to St.Paul and is a sublime masterpiece of eloquent expression.This is a bit of a paradox as Paul was a hardass }

shotgun

Hey FMZ...I've been wondering where you are?

Looks like you found Jesus in room 222, I thought you were bunking with Gumby.

Seriously Keith....your words are right on the money about Jesus teachings, although I do need to discard most of the book they're contained in to fully appreciate them. Even the point about giving his only begotton son, something a loving father would not require in my books, a painful agonizing death to repay a debt to himself....I'd cancel out the debt instead.

Anyway lets not make this a bible discussion because I don't believe you meant to be one. Besides, billions of people over the centuries who have never seen or held a bible have practised love and exemplify the exact qualities Jesus spoke of in the bible.

Very impressive reasoning and thoughts for such a young man Keith....must have been from hanging around with us old guys in Texas...then again we all had slurred speech in Texas, so you must be just a smart young fella.

Take care bud

Undaunted Danny

Shotgun> ""Even the point about giving his only begotton son, something a loving father would not require in my books, a painful agonizing death to repay a debt to himself....I'd cancel out the debt instead.""

Exactly !!! why i questioned the entire 'ransom doctrine' from that time i was a child who could comprehend the Christian dogma.If I ever reconcile Christianity and get 'saved' It will be because I have seen profound nefarious evildom.The evil seems to be centralized ( Satan of the Christian diety structure ?) if so,,,,the inverse must be true and good is God?

One thing I am certain of; Jesus Christ did not return to power in 1914.

Puternut

Love is what you give of yourself unconditionally. Once you know how to give that, it will be returned to you unconditionally.

If you need a bible for that, or the Koran, or just common sense, it doesn't matter. I know I have found it, outside the borg.

Puternut

Undaunted Danny

What is Love?Danny sez: Altruism (alter-ism or alter-self) as opposed to egotism (ego-ism or ego-self)

noun: the quality of unselfish concern for the welfare of others

Quick definitions ( Altruism)

Encyclopedia article
Altruism is an unselfish interest in helping someone else. It is a motivation that emphasizes the welfare of others while minimizing or ignoring the individual's own welfare. The concept has a long history in philosophical and ethical thought, and has more recently become a topic for psychologists, sociologists, evolutionary biologists, and ethologists

VS.

Quick definitions (egotism)

imallgrowedup

It takes very little, but comes back to you in spades......

Once you know how to give that, it will be returned to you unconditionally.

I hate to be the party pooper in the crowd here, but IMHO, this is not necessarily true. One can not make another love them. I don't understand how "it comes back to you" - especially in the case of unrequitted love - unless it is through some kind of divine "reward". For example, I don't see my neighbor falling all over me because I love(d) someone who doesn't love back. It doesn't work that way. So - are these logical premeses which prove a divine love, or a warm and fuzzy pipe dream?!

Inquiring Minds Want to Know!

growedup

Love Is... The Meaning of Life!

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