Philosch wrote: ↑December 13th, 2018, 10:59 am
Yeah...unfortunately the logic is valid...which says nothing about the truth value of the premises and therefore the conclusion. Love is not god nor is god love. The statement is a cutesy metaphor or maybe even poetic but in ordinary linguistical terms "god" is a concept in that has a series of debatable attributes to describe the concept and "love" is another such concept which the OP may be arguing is a subset of "god". They are not equal to one another except maybe poetically. If they were equivalent I could say the phrase "I god you" to my daughters and it would make perfect sense....but of course it doesn't. I could also say these ten commandments were spoken to Moses by "love". I didn't say with love or because of love. I said "by" love and it's a nonsensical statement. So trying to assert the truth value of premises based on constructing proper logical form from poetic notions is silly.
Do you think love is silly? God and love are both not easily defined. Is that why you see the definition of God as love, silly - because it’s not helpful in clarifying?
What if God is a word that represents that which cannot be clarified? Taoism, Islam and probably other religions suggest that. So, should we just ignore it - not bother with it? The bible lists over 800 characteristics or definitions of God. Love is one of them. “The kingdom of God is within you” is another.
Let’s take those 2. What is love? I’d say appreciating what is, while striving for what’s best. What is the kingdom (realm/experience) of God within me? I’d say it’s all internal thoughts, feelings and intuitions which have a deep, but often misguided, desire for the highest GOoD possible. Semantics aside, who doesn’t actively believe that? And what if consciously believing in God inspires and motivates you to live better than you would without such belief?
“Empty is the argument of the philosopher which does not relieve any human suffering.” - Epicurus