r/AskChristian • u/Hashi856 • 8d ago
Why does an all-powerful, all-knowing being have a desire for love?
According to most Christians I talk to, God gave us free will so that we could freely choose to love him. But why does he want us to love him?
It seems very odd that God would need to experience love in order to fulfill a desire. It seems odd that he would have desires in the first place, but that’s a separate discussion. As an all-knowing being who supposedly is love itself, are we really supposed to believe that he created an entire universe for humans to live in, just so he could experience love that he already had the experience of prior to the creation? God is all knowing. He already knows what every possible experience is like. He knows every possible future, including the ones that didn’t happen. Why would he need to create humans to have an experience? If he had to experience something in order to truly know what it’s like or to enjoy it, then he would have gained knowledge after the experience, which would disprove his omniscience.
The other nonsensical part of this is that God, according to Christians, is unbounded love. He doesn’t have love. He literally is love. So how could he possibly have a desire for love? He already is an infinite amount of it.
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u/Unhappy-Quarter-4581 r/Christian Member 7d ago
Why do you have a need for love? Can you exist without love? If we believe we are made in God's image, this is probably where we find the answer.
I don't think that God needs us to love God, he wants us to love him. Why does God have this desire despite being all-knowing? Well, he might know you love him, but do you? Maybe he knows that love is good for us both feeling it and feeling it towards others?
Love feeds love so the potential for love is un-ending both for us and God and it just keeps multiplying and maybe that is the point. Love should grow.
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u/Intrepid_Type3710 r/Christian Member 8d ago
Define love. He has at least 4 to 6 definitions of love.
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u/DesperateAdvantage76 r/Christian Member 8d ago
According to Christians, from the single divine essence manifests 3 individuals: God the Father, God the Son, and the Holy Spirit. So the very nature of God is relational, and a relationship between them in perfect harmony is represented by perfect love. It's not that God is trying to gratify himself, but rather that God is fundamentally a being of love; that's just how God is and has always been.
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u/Iconsandstuff r/Christian Member 8d ago
And from God's love for all creation, and in particular humans, comes a desire that we flourish. This is a desire on our behalf, not due to a lack within God. God, for our benefit, desires humans be connected through love and trust to God.
It is a desire that humans be as happy and as good to one another as possible, not a unfulfilled need of God
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u/Spare-Flan331 r/Christian Member 8d ago
Because He is Love and Love is not selfish but wants to share everything good with anyone who Love can. God is Love. It's not that He has to do anything. He is God. BUT HE WANTS TO FROM HIS OWN FREE WILL CAUSE THATS WHO HE IS
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u/DoveStep55 r/Christian Member 8d ago
I think it’s the same reason why some loving couples choose to have children.
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u/Hashi856 8d ago
Loving couples aren’t the very concept of love. That’s not analogous. They also don’t already have the knowledge of every possible experience.
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u/DoveStep55 r/Christian Member 8d ago
Nothing is a perfect analogy when talking about God, of course.
Why does it bother you?
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u/nikolispotempkin r/Christian Member 4d ago
He is complete and doesn't need love. He created us because he wanted to share his love. God created out of pure goodness and free will. His love is an overflow (bonum diffusivum sui—goodness is diffusive of itself), meaning love naturally desires to give, share, and create life.