….where does love come from?
If there is no God, where does love come from? And what is it? If you can only believe in things that can be proven how do you prove love?
Or right and wrong?
Why do we have human values? Where did they come from?
And beauty – what on earth is that all about? I understand how it can be advantageous as a species to feel some sense of attraction for each other. But sunsets? How does that help? Or flowers, rainbows, stars, waterfalls, rolling hills, majestic mountains. Why would we develop a sense of awe at all? What advantage is there in that? I get that there is an evolutionary advantage in finding babies cute, but kittens and puppies? How does that help? Surely kittens and puppies would grow up into cats and dogs and in the wild they aren’t good news at all. How does it help us to protect them? How did evolution produce a species that likes baby animals, including animals that are potentially dangerous?
And music. And art. And dance. Why?
Where does love come from? If it isn’t from God then I just don’t know.
But I certainly know what it looks like.
Praying Out Loud 
Moral values come from the conscience which is something all humans have. The values may vary from country to country but they are always there inside.
Animals do not have consciences so they can do no wrong or right. Life for them is easy but for us it is a battle. Do we obey our conscience or do as we wish which may be far more satisfying.
Man developed his conscience when he became self-aware and we do not know when that happened.
I believe the conscience developed with superior intelligence and at about the same time he began to look at the world around him and seek to control and use it. Art was born around this time and sensitivity to nature and creation.
Religion also sprang up to give man some moral direction and it has been with us ever since.
Because of mans knowledge and sensitivity the feeling of love in him was particularly special.
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Is this really intellectually satisfying? Simply answering every question with “God did it.”? Does it answer anything? Why? Doesn’t it simply lead to the next question “How does love come from god?” – with you only being able to say “Well… Because?”? Sorry, it doesn’t answer anything. It doesn’t make anything simpler. It’s not an explanation. It’s an admission of defeat. “I don’t know, somehow it must be god.”.
Do I believe in love? Well, I feel it. BUT if you now want to say “Well, I feel god” – then I will tell you… Fine, if you wanted to convince me that god is only a feeling in your brain, you have now totally convinced me. Same thing for love. It’s a feeling in my brain. If I die, my love does, too. Why does it have to be more than that?
Same thing with right and wrong. Human conceptions. Some things can be (reasonably) proven, other things not. Most totally depend on the premises. Where did the values come from? Well, I would guess, evolution, biological, social, cultural. Some values worked, brought stable societies and thus spread.
And beauty. Why can’t it be simply a side effect. We also have an appendix. We can grow teeth that have to be removed, etc. Some things are not a direct advantage – but they are not a real disadvantage, too. So why should these things not develop? Perhaps they are a very indirect advantage? Perhaps they are simple side effects of a more and more complex brain? Who knows? Still… “God did it” isn’t an answer until you have more to offer…
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The existence of mankind is evidence for the existence of God.
1. There is no evolutionary reason for homo sapiens. If man went extinct only a few bacteria might notice as they migrated to another creature.
Earth’s ecosystem consists of myriad interdependent niches of creatures. Man is not part of any ecological niche.
Consequently, if being part of nature is not man’s purpose, then what is man’s purpose?
2. With his language, poetry, art, architecture, technology, and mastery over nature, it is almost obvious, but certainly self-evident that man is above and beyond nature.
Why would nature evolve a creature that is the master of that which evolved it, Mother Nature, herself?
The list goes on, but the point is clear:
The Bible provides excellent answers for the questions posed in this comment.
Science does not and cannot.
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som,
What Atomic Mutant said. He’s right. You’re wrong.
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Humanist,
Making a bold claim without absolutely no support is what atheists do.
That’s what makes atheists the greatest religious fanatics since the Jihad first rampaged out of Arabia in the 7th century.
Since you are not God, but only a man like me, you are required to explain whatever stupendous claim that issues forth from the labyrinthine recesses of your Godless mind.
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som,
As much as I’d enjoy rolling around in the dirt at recess with you, I will refrain from polluting some nice stranger’s blog with that. Have fun playing with yourself.
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Humanist,
You don’t offer any reply to my comments because you can’t.
But don’t feel badly, no atheist can.
As you have so eloquently demonstrated, atheism is an intellectually vapid, inhumane and totally immoral faith that belongs nowhere near the family of man.
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Oooh, ouch. som, that really hurt. You’re just a big meanie with a very small and dwindling set of verbal tools on which to draw. That saddens me for you. Honestly. Alas, a genuinely kind thought or gesture would seem to have no meaning to you. Sad.
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Humanist,
Your bullying continues with the emotional abuse inherent in your sarcasm and mockery.
You have proven yourself to be the very thing you find so loathsome.
Truly you do hate yourself which is consistent with your earlier claim that you disagree with everything the Bible teaches (love thyself and thy neighbor).
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Haha! Haha! Haha! Haha! Haha! Haha! Haha! Haha! Haha! Haha! Haha! Haha! OYG, you are hilarious.
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Humanist,
Laughing at people and casting them into a joke is bullying.
Normally I am appreciative when people prove me right.
But in your case, tragedy is nothing to celebrate.
Say, who taught you how to be such a great, relentless bully?
Was it your mom or dad?
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OYG. Seriously?
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Humanist,
May God bless you and keep you and grant your heart’s desire.
Jesus commands the Christian to greet abuse with blessing.
Amen!
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After I read this yesterday this keeps coming back to my mind. You have posed an interesting question.
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In order to explain where love comes from (if it doesn’t come from God)… I need you to first imagine in your mind a universe that exists without a creator. Humor me, please 🙂 Like love, there are other emotions that we cannot see, touch, taste, or feel… at least not in the physical sense. One of those emotions is fear. Now imagine that there is a world in this universe that harbors many forms of life–much like the life we see on Earth today. Now imagine that a large animal is attacking a small animal. Can we agree that the small animal will exhibit emotions of fear? I could not imagine that it wouldn’t. Thus, I must conclude that the emotional response of fear does not come from any super-natural entity. Further imagine that there is intelligent life on this planet. If your position is that they cannot experience emotions such as love, the only conclusion to draw is that they would be analogous to zombies that do nothing but merely exist for the sake of finding their next meal. I doubt that would be the case, since I believe that we can have some degree of confidence that an emotion of fear would most likely exist in this world without God. Emotions such as love and hate would develop in intelligent life forms based on the premise that those you fear, would illicit feelings of hate, and those you find pleasant, would illicit feelings of love. Although these intelligent life forms may not have a word for these emotions unless they had a language to express their feelings. I also have no doubts that the animals on this planet would demonstrate feelings for their offspring. Mother animals would naturally tend to their offspring in the same manner we see on Earth.
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Thank you for your reasoned and non-inflammatory reply and I accept that you have a point. Is it your premise that the love you feel for people you find pleasant is the same kind of love that you feel for a partner? And why would such a love develop? Fear gives you an evolutionary advantage but love?
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You’re welcome 🙂 It is really difficult to say with certainty whether it is the same kind of love. I suppose if I had to measure the love I have for people, it would somehow correlate to two things: 1). How desirable I find that person; and 2). The level of respect I have for them.
Using those two factors as a foundation for love, I suppose that there would be different degrees of love. The degree of respect you have and how desirable you find your partner would naturally tend to be higher than anyone, or else you would not have chosen that person to spend your life with. It would be very difficult for anyone to claim that they love someone for whom they have zero respect for and do not find at all desirable. I have known parents who disowned their children, and I have no doubt that the love dissipated… and it did so because desirability and respect ceased to exist.
As for why such a love would develop, I think for precisely the two factors I mentioned. You respect someone for their integrity. You desire someone who makes you feel safe (opposite of fear). I think you might be able to make a case for the evolutionary advantage of love… only to the extent that when you love someone, you help each others’ survival. Although that may not necessarily translate to passing on the genes that are most beneficial to survival.
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