God is Love

[Stevil]

"God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him" 1 John 4:16

Love is extremely complex but how would you define love?

"If you love something let it go free. If it doesn't come back, you never had it. If it comes back, love it forever" seems to be a fantastic quote and expresses the freedom aspect of love that most of us hopefully understand.
Going by this quote above, Love does not mean captivity, Love does not mean coercion, Love does not mean conceited manipulation.

Would one consider an abusive relationship where the abuser demands obedience from the abused and delivers physical and mental abuse for disobedience, would one consider this love?

This human abuser can only abuse for a limited amount of time, can only abuse in limited terms, but God...

Those that believe and obey the god's law go to heaven for eternal happiness, those that do not believe or disobey the god's law go to hell for eternal torment.

Everyone will exist eternally either in heaven or hell (Daniel 12:2,3; Matthew 25:46; John 5:28; Revelation 20:14,15).
Heaven or hell is determined by whether a person believes (puts their trust) in Christ alone to save them (John 3:16)
Hell will also punish the sin of those who reject Christ (Matthew 13:41,50; Revelation 20:11-15; 21:
he will be tortured with fire and sulfur in front of the holy angels and in front of the Lamb (Revelation 14:10)
and throw them into the fiery furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth (Matthew 13:50)
And the smoke from their torture will go up forever and ever (Revelation 14:11)

If given the choice of either an abusive partner's love or god's love I would choose the abusive partner. At least that way I could potentially escape that predicament, but at worst, it will undoubtedly, one way or another, come to a desperately desired end.

Can someone please explain how God is Love?

[AnimatedDirt]

"God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him" 1 John 4:16
"If you love something let it go free. If it doesn't come back, you never had it. If it comes back, love it forever" seems to be a fantastic quote and expresses the freedom aspect of love that most of us hopefully understand.
Going by this quote above, Love does not mean captivity, Love does not mean coercion, Love does not mean conceited manipulation.

Can someone please explain how God is Love?

I think you already did above in your own words.  And if you think about it, *YOU have been let go to do as you see as reasonable or more intelligent.  If you haven't come back, you're not His...the fictional God, that is.

[Stevil]

I think you already did above in your own words.  And if you think about it, *YOU have been let go to do as you see as reasonable or more intelligent.  If you haven't come back, you're not His...the fictional God, that is.

But then the fictional god presumably would then torture me in hell for my crimes against him. Are you able to explain how this is a display of love?

[AnimatedDirt]

I think you already did above in your own words.  And if you think about it, *YOU have been let go to do as you see as reasonable or more intelligent.  If you haven't come back, you're not His...the fictional God, that is.

But then the fictional god presumably would then torture me in hell for my crimes against him. Are you able to explain how this is a display of love?

Do you doubt a parent's love because they punish their child?  You seem to know all the information, yet choose to disregard it.  If you know the consequences, then what complaint have you?

Torture...no.  Death...yes.

[Gawen]

It didn't take you long to put out that fallacy, AD. When are you going to stop equating a supernatural entity with humans?

[Gawen]

1 John 4:7-21 (ASV):
7 Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is begotten of God, and knoweth God.
8 He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love.
9 Herein was the love of God manifested in us, that God hath sent his only begotten Son into the world that we might live through him.
10 Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.
11 Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.
12 No man hath beheld God at any time: if we love one another, God abideth in us, and his love is perfected in us:
13 hereby we know that we abide in him and he in us, because he hath given us of his Spirit.
14 And we have beheld and bear witness that the Father hath sent the Son to be the Saviour of the world.
15 Whosoever shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God, God abideth in him, and he in God.
16 And we know and have believed the love which God hath in us. God is love; and he that abideth in love abideth in God, and God abideth in him.
17 Herein is love made perfect with us, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment; because as he is, even so are we in this world.
18 There is no fear in love: but perfect love casteth out fear, because fear hath punishment; and he that feareth is not made perfect in love.
19 We love, because he first loved us.
20 If a man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar: for he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, cannot love God whom he hath not seen.
21 And this commandment have we from him, that he who loveth God love his brother also.
_________________________________________________________

That is probably the quintessential Christian scripture pertaining to "God is love".

[Stevil]

I think you already did above in your own words.  And if you think about it, *YOU have been let go to do as you see as reasonable or more intelligent.  If you haven't come back, you're not His...the fictional God, that is.

But then the fictional god presumably would then torture me in hell for my crimes against him. Are you able to explain how this is a display of love?

Do you doubt a parent's love because they punish their child?  You seem to know all the information, yet choose to disregard it.  If you know the consequences, then what complaint have you?

Torture...no.  Death...yes.

What is meant by the following:
1. he will be tortured with fire and sulfur in front of the holy angels and in front of the Lamb (Revelation 14:10)
2. and throw them into the fiery furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth (Matthew 13:50)
3. And the smoke from their torture will go up forever and ever (Revelation 14:11)

My parents always kept me away from fire and sulfur, they never tortured me and never threw me into a fiery furnace. Does this mean they didn't love me?

[Sandra Craft]

Do you doubt a parent's love because they punish their child?  

I would doubt a parent's love if they tortured their child, and I would doubt their sanity if they tortured their child with fire.  I would also doubt both the love and the sanity of a parent who killed their child (no matter how "humanely") for disagreeing with them. 

[Sweetdeath]

Do you doubt a parent's love because they punish their child?  

I would doubt a parent's love if they tortured their child, and I would doubt their sanity if they tortured their child with fire.  I would also doubt both the love and the sanity of a parent who killed their child (no matter how "humanely") for disagreeing with them. 

[Guardian85]

Do you doubt a parent's love because they punish their child?  

I would doubt a parent's love if they tortured their child, and I would doubt their sanity if they tortured their child with fire.  I would also doubt both the love and the sanity of a parent who killed their child (no matter how "humanely") for disagreeing with them. 

The scary bit is that this is not obvious to a lot of people.

[pytheas]

That is why I am Dionysus incarnate

[Stevil]

1 John 4:7-21 (ASV):
7 Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is begotten of God, and knoweth God.
8 He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love.

Doth God hath a lithp?

[Gawen]

1 John 4:7-21 (ASV):
7 Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is begotten of God, and knoweth God.
8 He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love.

Doth God hath a lithp?

I....don't think God doeth....but.....King Jameth muth have had.

[Gawen]

God said, "Don't eat this", but they did anyway. Which of you would not punish your own children for eating something you told them not to? Some disgustingly lax parents would think that eating food with horrible effects would be its own punishment.

Me, I raised two kids; a son and daughter. When they were still young enough not to know right from wrong, not knowing what death is because they hadn't seen anything die, I put a plate of cookies in front of them and told them that they'd die if they ate it, and then I left and stayed away for a while.

When I came back, some of the cookies were gone. Well, they told me that the dog came along and ate one of the cookies. And the daughter (the oldest) claimed that the dog told her that it was OK, that I hadn't poisoned the cookies. So she ate one, and then talked her brother into eating another.

Now, what parent likes being disobeyed? For eating the cookies, I kicked them out into the woods, naked except for their underwear (because I couldn't find fig leaves) where they could have incest with each other, and posted a guard to shoot them if they came back. The dog? I cut off his legs.

My fundy neighbors tell me I showed Godly love.

[The Magic Pudding]

Doth God hath a lithp?

I....don't think God doeth....but.....King Jameth muth have had.

Jesus may have, he had a scary father.
I think that can be an indicative thingy.