Agape Love

[Moss]

What does this type of love look like in action?

Agape as I best define it is unconditional, brotherly/sisterly love, or that one is showing a keen and substantial interest in the welfare of others.

It's the word for love that the bible often uses in the new testament, and the word used in the passage "love others as you love yourself"

Couple of more thoughts:

Some (not me) believe that only Christians can show this type of love, and that only Christians through the love of God and through the Holy Spirit are the only people that could possibly love everyone. They say that without knowing God's love, a human simply could not have the emotional capacity, or the know how, to love everyone else outside of loving their immediate family and best friends. What do you think?

Also, if we all have the power to show agape love, and yet the Bible seems to put Christian's love on a higher pedestal, does the fact that outsiders cannot see the difference between a Christian's love and an atheists love put any doubt on the power of the Holy Spirit or the accuracy of the bible? Or can only Christians truly see Christian, agape love?

 

[Bill3000]

...if Christians were the only people able to use agape love, then the word wouldn't have existed in the first place, first of all (being a Greek word and thus pre-christian) and we'd have a lot of miserable families.

 

[Masquerouge]

It's an interesting take you have on Agape. To me it's simply the other facet of Eros. When you love someone, it's either Eros or Agape.

 

[Bill3000]

It's an interesting take you have on Agape. To me it's simply the other facet of Eros. When you love someone, it's either Eros or Agape.

You forgot philia

 

[fishjie]

...if Christians were the only people able to use agape love, then the word wouldn't have existed in the first place, first of all (being a Greek word and thus pre-christian) and we'd have a lot of miserable families.

atheists dont know how to show agape love. that's why countries with lots of atheists have less crime and have better living standards and conditions.

 

[MagisterCultuum]

I tend to think that Agape is really just a word used to translate Hesed from Hebrew to Greek.

 

[SS-18 ICBM]

From what I've been taught, agape love is self-less love. That's all it is. It can range from giving food to a beggar to giving up your life to protect another person. And logically, those acts are not unique to Christians.

 

[Kyriakos]

Interesting that the common greek word for love seems to take new meanings in english. The etymology of it is quite revealing. The term Agape "Αγάπη" comes from Ago (verb, meaning to direct the flow of) and Pan (noun, meaning 'everything'). So Agape would mean "that which controls the flow of all things". Sounds logical, since it is a very strong emotion

 

[Masquerouge]

You forgot philia

Mhhh no. I don't think philia belongs to the eros/agape duality.

 

[Neomega]

Agape is usually more between family or lovers, philia is the type one can have for a brother, or more precisely, the ability to treat a stranger like a brother.

 

[mrt144]

This isn't nearly as dirty as I thought it would be. At all.

 

[Bill3000]

Mhhh no. I don't think philia belongs to the eros/agape duality.

So make it a love triangle

 

[Love]

Personal threads are illegal!

 

[King of Town]

So Agape would mean "that which controls the flow of all things". Sounds logical, since it is a very strong emotion

I like this a lot. I've haerd the Christian seroms about agape as a Christian only thing. I was very skeptical even then, and it made me uncomfortable to think that the church leader felt that.

 

[Onionsoilder]

Agape love is in no way exclusive to Christians. Giving a few coins to a beggar could be considered agape, yet I see plenty of non-Christians helping out the homeless, donating to charities, etc. Anyone who thinks that agape love is a Christian feature, is quite plainly full of themselves and have a superiority complex.

 

[Camikaze]

Some (not me) believe that only Christians can show this type of love, and that only Christians through the love of God and through the Holy Spirit are the only people that could possibly love everyone. They say that without knowing God's love, a human simply could not have the emotional capacity, or the know how, to love everyone else outside of loving their immediate family and best friends. What do you think?

This belief is just preposterous. How can someone quantify of qualify the love shown by other people, or even more broadly, other groups. And it seems a rather self-defeating idea that only Christians can love all unconditionally, as by saying this, people are implying that others are in some war inferior. This is not a characteristic of love. It is also very vacuous to think you know what others levels of emotions are. So, basically, it is impossible for anyone to judge that Christians are the only people capable of displaying this kind of love.

Also, if we all have the power to show agape love, and yet the Bible seems to put Christian's love on a higher pedestal, does the fact that outsiders cannot see the difference between a Christian's love and an atheists love put any doubt on the power of the Holy Spirit or the accuracy of the bible? Or can only Christians truly see Christian, agape love?

Christian love is not love displayed by Christians. It is love displayed by anyone. For example, a Christian, such as myself, would see someone, no matter who they were, helping a homeless person, as Christian love. An atheist wouldn't see this as Christian love. It doesn't mean that it is a different type or class of love, it just means that it is seen from different perspectives, and categorised in different ways. So, yes, Christians can truly see what they categorise as Christian love, and others can see this same love too, just calling it something else.

 

[Perfection]

Christians have to devote their lives to God no their lover, therefore Christians are incapable of the kind of love that Fifty and I share.

 

[civ_king]

I notice Jews tend to give more money to charity then Christians

 

[holy king]

i'm an atheist and i cant love.

care to teach me love, christians?

 

[classical_hero]

This isn't nearly as dirty as I thought it would be. At all.

It is about selflessness. You are not thinking about what is best for you, but is best for others. Also sex plays absolutely no part in this kind of love, it does in Eros love, hence where we get erotic from. The greatest display of agape love is to give your life for the life of others.