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Message: <blockquote data-quote="DonAdam" data-source="post: 784289" data-attributes="member: 2446">I don't think anyone here has tried to differentiate between different kinds of love.I'll use the Greek terms (no promise on spelling):eros: erotic love. I think any sensible person would have to admit that this one is up for grabs. Regardless of one's views on sex and marriage, it is clear that acts motivated by this can be downright heinous, like rape or adultery.I just totally forgot the term for brotherly love. This is the love that exists between friends and siblings. Again, this can go wrong. If my friend is a bloody murderer and I cover up for him...Then there is agape, or the latin charitas, or the english charity. This was a very infrequently used term until it was commanded by Christians to describe God's love for man. The most concise definition I've ever found satisfactory for day to day human existence (though it fails to capture the theological dimensions) is " to will the good of another." This makes it a kind of love that can be practiced universally, regardless of whether one even knows the other person.This one is most important because I think it illumines what my answer would be to this question.I'll try to avoid making "religious arguments," and just give an example from Catholic interpretation of Paul's three fundamental theological virtues, faith, hope, and charity. All three represent a response to God's saving initiative, but charity is the only one that really contains any morally imperative content, whereas faith and hope are more descriptive (ie, charity says "I should," faith says "This is").Faith and hope play the role, then, not of getting the believer to do something but rather determining what it is that he should do. They direct the energy of charity. If charity is to will the good of another, faith and hope (esp faith) tell you what that good is.Going back to the original question, my answer would be this: properly informed, brotherly love or charity always leads to good acts, as I will do what is truly good for the other person.Eros I would have to do more thinking on, and so I will not as yet venture forth an opinion.If any part of this post is too religious (I tried to avoid saying yay or nay to any religious arguments, but rather to just give them as example) the moderators are, of course, more than welcome to delete it and I apologize.</blockquote>

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