What is love?

Since most of us have a philosophical bent on here...

Today in church, the pastor touched on love. He said that when the Church was first founded and suffered terrible persecution by the Romans, believers would empathize so much with other Christians who were in prison, that they would bribe the guards to throw them in prison as well so that they could be with their brothers and sisters.

I thought that was a powerful description of a powerful love.

But then he voiced the opinion that other, more liberal churches who focused more on God's love and less on His wrath were worshipping an idol, because they were ignoring what God is really like. He said that those Christians believe in a "cheap" love, which is why they are accepting of gay people, nonbelievers etc. He said that "merely affirming and accepting someone is not love", especially if they are on the "path to death" in their sin.

I can see how people can feel that way, especially if they believe that the person they are concerned about will go to hell if he/she doesn't change his/her ways. It is a form of "tough love". But at the same time, assuming that you are right and the other person is horribly, horribly wrong, and in danger, doesn't seem very loving if you haven't put a lot of thought into the issue yourself. I think a lot of Christians forget that God gave us His spirit to give us direction, along with our intellect, and that we should pursue the truth ourselves, rather than believing everything that our favorite pastor says.

Alright, enough with the Christian talk. I am interested what people of all faiths (or lack there of) think here. The sermon got me to thinking about what love really is.

Is love an empathetic emotion that allows you to relate to a suffering person and want to care for him/her?

Is love a deep concern for another's wellbeing to the point where you will do anything to maximize his/her contentment and decrease his/her pain?

Is love expressed primarily through self-sacrifice?

Are we obligated to love because some teaching/religion/authority told us to, or is there something wired into our perception of morality that impels us to do so?

Is love all of the above? Does it go beyond these things? Is love more than the sum of its parts? Can love be defined?

I'm interested in your thoughts.

How to define love...

I believe love is when one wants what is good for the others sake, and not for one's own sake. It's a form of altruism. It is driven by devotion but duly noted are the passions. Through time, devotion strengthens or weakens depending on how well they can dance, and how often they rehearse the dance of making one another a better dancer without stepping on each other's toes. Neither one is leading, they dance as equals and over time share a identity and dance as one. Their virtues and values makes them an ever greater dancer. It's really quite beautiful.

im the worst at describing love. I just wanted to say that.
from me...someone whos a virgin...had 1 love...been on few dates...and hasnt dated since 2007-2008...

love is two people working together as equals to make life better for each other.

I believe love is self sacrifice especially for Christians. God was self sacrificing. As a Christian when your talking about what your pastor said I can see where you go with someone in mind...Joel Osteen. if anyone has heard of him. but I dont like the way he goes about "preaching". hes more of a motivational speaker than a pastor seems like. I see him giving motivational speeches and not even preaching. he goes on and on about this story and that story. geez.

Love is whatever you say it is. You can ask 20 different people and get 20 different answers, and all of those answers will be 100% true to the people who gave them. But I don't think that means love isn't real or doesn't exist. I see it more like an emotional prism. It is something that is not an emotion itself, but something that once manifested, can invoke any of the emotions in the emotional 'rainbow' in you.

I'm not really sure but a pint of bear claw ice cream can substitute in a pinch