For former Mormons who became atheists

[_subgenius]

Okay, I'll call...

Love is an emotion of a strong affection and personal attachment.

are you sure you want to rely on using "emotion" for your definition?
because it seems, based on your past opinions about emotions, that you are claiming that Love does not actually exist, since it is an emotion...a feeling...
(and as shown in my response to Themis, your definition is circular)

[_Drifting]

are you sure you want to rely on using "emotion" for your definition?
because it seems, based on your past opinions about emotions, that you are claiming that Love does not actually exist, since it is an emotion...a feeling...

Does 'emotion' = 'feeling'?

Love is just our way of looking out for ourselves when we don't want to live alone...(Keane)

[_subgenius]

are you sure you want to rely on using "emotion" for your definition?
because it seems, based on your past opinions about emotions, that you are claiming that Love does not actually exist, since it is an emotion...a feeling...

Does 'emotion' = 'feeling'?

yes, it can.
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/emotion

Love is just our way of looking out for ourselves when we don't want to live alone...(Keane)

is your quote somehow supposed to considered "true"
let me try

"Be careful -- with quotations, you can damn anything"....(Andre Malraux)

[_SteelHead]

personally the whole thing falls apart with "another person"...an atheist seeing something beyond themselves is quite difficult for them to "prove" let alone actually execute.

This is an even tougher challenge for a theist. The atheist is at least dealing with something observable, repeatable, and measurable. The theist deals in fictions.

[_Themis]

That is a lot of assumptions about me that I never said.

I thought that was directed at Steelhead

Then why did he post it under what he quotes from me?

[_Themis]

I am not sure why the OP even suggests an atheist doesn't know love.

pretty sure it is because, so far, we have all seen them do everything in response to the following questions from the OP except ANSWER them:

How can you define love? How can it be described scientifically? How can your intellect grasp it?

so, while you brag about the clarity in latest hi-resolution MRI of some guy's brain waves as he fawns over a picture of his mother, and exclaim "this must surely be what love looks like"! You have yet to actually "define" - "describe" - "grasp" that which you are looking at!

so, far we have seen amusing, and usual, arrogance about exclaiming that a runny nose and coughing must surely be what the flu is!

I provided a definition to start with, and steelhead has also provided some information. Why don't you stop being condescending and unchristian and start backing up what you think it is like you have been asked to do. At least some here have some honesty to engage the subject.

[_Themis]

and exactly what is "well enough"? in scientific terms for this subject?

If I could put it into scientific terms then it would probably be defined well enough to test.

and so if you have not seen it, then it must not be true....got it!

Provide otherwise instead of being an ass.

So, the poster stating "God/goddess is Love" somehow did not qualify with you for what they "think it is"?

It's not enough to do anything with. He could have said the Moon is love and would give us just as much information to go on.

passionate = ruled by intense emotion or strong feeling <--- a position i believe you and most atheists take exception with...and consider it unreliable and detrimental.

Why don't you read what people actually say instead of making up crap you want to believe. Why not start by showing where someone says love is a detrimental emotion, and also like asked tell people what you think is love.

[_Lightworker]

there is life after death of this mortal existence.

I am believing that more and more as I commune with Spirit. I have considered many options of what happens after death and really don't know for sure. I think life after death is irrelevant to whether or not there is a God. It is the ego that wants to live after this life. The way to find God is to shed the ego and achieve unity with all of existence. "I and my father are One" as Jesus said. I am somewhat partial to the Buddha's philosophy on this one. Focusing on the here and now is more important than worrying about where we came from or where we go after death. Of course, Jesus taught the same principle when he said "Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of it self: sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof." Live in the present moment.

I have had memories of living other lives and have also worked with mediums who have channeled spirits who claim they are former humans. There is no way to tell for sure how real this is though, considering all the trickster spirits out there. There are all kinds of spirits, and many of them are not honest. They can create false visions and revelations to continue the maya (illusion that we are all under). Joseph Smith put it well when he said "some revelations are from God, some from man, and some from the devil". The only way to know for sure is to discern which revelation has the most light and love or work with an honest spirit guide who can explain it plainly. Beware though honest spirit guides can be impersonated by the tricksters.

[_Lightworker]

God just showed up one day to the evil atheist tobin.

God does things on God's terms, not ours. If someone needs a spiritual experience to grow and learn love then they will get it exactly when they need it. Not when they think they need it (that is like a kid thinking they need candy), only when it is wisdom. The analogy of wise heavenly parents is a good way to look at it I think. If a person will benefit from belief in Mormonism, God will show love and light in the Mormon way. It has a lot of love and light in it. Some people need structure to learn how to love, and this is the divine purpose of religion it seems. That is the key in Moroni's promise, "if it be wisdom".

[_Tobin]

How does that pertain to the question at hand?

Because the former Mormons who become atheists weren't Mormon at all really. They were really atheists and unsurprisingly a religion, based on personal revelation and a "real" interaction with God, didn't work out for them. No-one should be too surprised about this outcome at all.

Still is non germane to the question of defining how love works from an atheist perspective. That some are atheist is already a given.
You have 0 posts in this thread relevant to the topic at hand. Please take your off topic discussion and start your own thread.

Please re-read the thread title. It is "For former Mormons who became atheists". I could care less about the question of defining how love works from an atheist perspective. I was pointing out that has nothing to do with why they were OR are atheists.