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  1. Home
  2. Critical Examination of Islam
  3. What is the nature of God?
  4. Fear God OR Love God

Fear God OR Love God

Scheduled Pinned Locked Moved What is the nature of God?
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  • T Offline
    T Offline
    the_path_of_light
    wrote on last edited by
    #14

    It has been my experience that the best way to love the Infinite Creator is active engagement. A regular practice of meditation/prayer will result in an established line of communication with God, which will inevitably lead to an active love of the Sustainer.

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    • Z Offline
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      Zulf
      wrote on last edited by
      #15

      I think we cannot love God unless it is expressed through our actions and interaction with the world we live in. We may have a foundation of faith in the God, but prayers alone won't cut it... action, in any form, with proper intentions of course, is a necessary must for loving God. Philosophies won't cut it, spirituality won't do it and shunning the world will prevent it. God is not palpable, but God's creation is, and we are placed in the midst of it for a reason. That's how I see it.

      Also 'fear of God' and 'love of God' are not mutually exclusive, they are not opposites or demanding a choice. Whatever fear and love really entails, goes hand in hand.

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      • U Offline
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        unknownuser
        wrote on last edited by
        #16

        This is the exact questioning I've been pondering on for a while. It seems that Love is the general consensus here and I love the inclusion of a verse to support it. )
        For me, I love God too much that it bothers me that I can't fear Him. When I do fear anything worldly however, I replace it with the fear of God instead, as He says, Fear Me Alone. I think this is a healthy way of living in peace of mind. I worry if I'm not a loyal enough believer due to the lack of fear, but of course I respect the Lord more than anything and always do good deeds (hope so) to the best of my abilities. I do those things because they provide me comfort and happiness and I know they please the Lord, but sadly, they are not due to fear of Him so much as to avoid troublesome repercussions. As someone else pointed out, fear is the force by which evil controls in this world and obtains power. It is definitely something that should be attributed to the Lord alone.

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        • M Offline
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          muslims
          wrote on last edited by
          #17

          Allah has not made for a man two hearts in his interior. (<a href="http//quran.com/33/1-7">33.4</a&gt

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          • I Offline
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            IAMOP
            wrote on last edited by
            #18

            When God says "FEAR none but Me"...

            This is basically like so

            Imagine someone threatens to kill you or blackmail you. You have 3 parties

            You
            Attempted murderer/blackmailer
            God

            In order of strongest to weakest

            God
            You
            Attempted murderer/blackmailer

            So when God says fear Him; this means present your witness and disregard the blackmailer altogether. When you fear the blackmailer above God, you yield to their unjust desires.

            So you see why FEAR GOD. Because God = JUSTICE. Fear God = FEAR JUSTICE. Why fear the unjust? If you are afraid of the unjust, you will be swept up by their desires. Ask all the farmers who willingly buy Monsanto seeds - God drives them to suicide! Ask the hypocrites who were afraid of man instead of God when they were called to war, each of them were crushed and levelled AND they died in a state of being unjust.

            Fear God does not mean "be scared of God" like God is some kind of ghost. It means that if you have reason to fear man, then you have EVEN MORE reason to fear The God, so your fear of man is always always always unjust and your fear of God is never unjust.

            Fearing The-God means paying reverent attention to The-God's commands and executing them regardless of which stupid mortal stands in His way.

            To fear The-God, is to love The-God. To love The-God, is to fear The-God. If you love The God, you cannot fear any but The God, there is nothing else worthy of fear that remains! All else in comparison are grains of dust, even less.

            peace

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            • U Offline
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              unknownuser
              wrote on last edited by
              #19

              When God says "FEAR none but Me"...

              This is basically like so

              Imagine someone threatens to kill you or blackmail you. You have 3 parties

              You
              Attempted murderer/blackmailer
              God

              In order of strongest to weakest

              God
              You
              Attempted murderer/blackmailer

              So when God says fear Him; this means present your witness and disregard the blackmailer altogether. When you fear the blackmailer above God, you yield to their unjust desires.

              So you see why FEAR GOD. Because God = JUSTICE. Fear God = FEAR JUSTICE. Why fear the unjust? If you are afraid of the unjust, you will be swept up by their desires. Ask all the farmers who willingly buy Monsanto seeds - God drives them to suicide! Ask the hypocrites who were afraid of man instead of God when they were called to war, each of them were crushed and levelled AND they died in a state of being unjust.

              Fear God does not mean "be scared of God" like God is some kind of ghost. It means that if you have reason to fear man, then you have EVEN MORE reason to fear The God, so your fear of man is always always always unjust and your fear of God is never unjust.

              Fearing The-God means paying reverent attention to The-God's commands and executing them regardless of which stupid mortal stands in His way.

              To fear The-God, is to love The-God. To love The-God, is to fear The-God. If you love The God, you cannot fear any but The God, there is nothing else worthy of fear that remains! All else in comparison are grains of dust, even less.

              peace

              Those are very interesting points. I never thought about the unjust concept but you are absolutely right. Humans are unjust and imperfect and fearing one is surrendering your power and giving it to a wrongdoer. Fearing connects to disappointing - fear of disappointing someone you love, means respecting that very person's wishes. It makes sense in very many ways.

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              • J Offline
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                Jane
                wrote on last edited by
                #20

                I think fear is your ego trying to protect itself and if you fear God then something has gone wrong; I think to feel love is to love God.

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                • D Offline
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                  DrGm
                  wrote on last edited by
                  #21

                  peace,

                  2831 - ...approach and fear not. Indeed, you are of the secure.

                  2710 - ...Indeed, in My presence the messengers do not fear.

                  unless we feel secure, we'll have fear. this fear is the basic to get security from Allah.

                  i fear Him.

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                  • L Offline
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                    Loveleen
                    wrote on last edited by
                    #22

                    I have this tremendous love for Allah he is soo beautiful in every way possible his creation is just amazingly orchestrated we are beauty in every way possible and i really think the older we are the more beauty you have idk im just weird like that but i just feel like as we age how delicate we look.... lol im sooo weird but i do fear Allah because he is capable of doing things our mind cant comprehend

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                    • I Offline
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                      Israfeel
                      wrote on last edited by
                      #23

                      2710 - ...Indeed, in My presence the messengers do not fear.

                      Look how Quranists quote the Quran Majeed out of context!

                      "Now do thou throw thy rod!" But when he saw it moving (of its own accord)as if it had been a snake, he turned back in retreat, and retraced not his steps "O Moses!" (it was said), "Fear not truly, in My presence, those called as apostles have no fear,-

                      This verse is not referring to fear of Allah, but fear of other things when in the presence of Allah!

                      Fear of Allah is a sign of belief and worship of Allah. They are called as Al-Khaashioon (the people who tremble in fear) (Surah 232)

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                      • D Offline
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                        diamantinehoneybunch
                        wrote on last edited by
                        #24

                        Look how Quranists quote the Quran Majeed out of context!

                        "Now do thou throw thy rod!" But when he saw it moving (of its own accord)as if it had been a snake, he turned back in retreat, and retraced not his steps "O Moses!" (it was said), "Fear not truly, in My presence, those called as apostles have no fear,-

                        This verse is not referring to fear of Allah, but fear of other things when in the presence of Allah!

                        Fear of Allah is a sign of belief and worship of Allah. They are called as Al-Khaashioon (the people who tremble in fear) (Surah 232)

                        You have no idea what these people are talking about.

                        The person whom you replied to didn't do it in order to deceive and twist Qur'anic verses.
                        He just gave important phrases in a number of Quranic verses that talk about fearing God.

                        Also, this topic is about Fear God OR Love God.

                        Don't be hypocritical and try to act like you are innocent.

                        You have done taking Qur'an verses out of context for so many times and ending up making islam look like a militant sexist religion with your posts.
                        sigh

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                        • R Offline
                          R Offline
                          Recluse
                          wrote on last edited by
                          #25

                          Both...

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                          • H Offline
                            H Offline
                            hawk99
                            wrote on last edited by
                            #26

                            Both...

                            Agreed

                            Yet, some people set up idols to rival GOD, and love them as if they are GOD.
                            Those who believe love GOD the most. If only the transgressors could see themselves
                            when they see the retribution! They will realize then that all power belongs to GOD alone,
                            and that GOD's retribution is awesome.

                            It is the devil's system to instill fear into his subjects. Do not fear them and
                            fear Me instead, if you are believers.

                            God bless

                            peace

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                            • J Offline
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                              JavaLatte
                              wrote on last edited by
                              #27

                              Love God and fear God, both are right and both are lovely.

                              I think both can work in harmony on humans if they believe in God.

                              There is nothing wrong with fear of God. It's beautiful when it appear honestly on someone's attitude.

                              We can fear God and also love Him at the same time. God is so amazing.

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                              • M Offline
                                M Offline
                                Man_of_Faith
                                wrote on last edited by
                                #28

                                Peace be upon thee,

                                If you follow what God wants from you there is nothing to fear. But for the unrighteous there is something to fear.

                                God bless you

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                                • F Offline
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                                  FreedomStands
                                  wrote on last edited by
                                  #29

                                  Peace

                                  Do you fear God....or Do you love Him?

                                  Why and Why?

                                  Peace
                                  Harun

                                  Fear is the true "love" or appreciation of God. People tend to "love" their delusions instead, and those who can not see, and can not hear, and can not understand are Fearless regarding Allah, just like a deaf, dumb, and blind person can not even know they are in a room full of scorpions or what they can do. Ignorance is bliss. The Truth is Terror.

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                                  • F Offline
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                                    Farabi
                                    wrote on last edited by
                                    #30

                                    Fearing God is good, it prevent us from doing evil. Just like MoF said, which is advanced, nothing should afraid of from God if we be good by asking Him to be good.

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                                    • S Offline
                                      S Offline
                                      Si
                                      wrote on last edited by
                                      #31

                                      Fear vs love.
                                      The only way one is able to feel fear is when the person is operating from their brain/mind/ego. Ego is an artificial entity, the false sense of self, created by the feedback that we receive from the external world (But remember that from "east, west, south and north", i.e external world, come the influence of the devil.
                                      God, in the other hand, is available when one looks deeper within. Being closer than "jugular vein", one gets the feeling of closeness with God. Love is the feeling that God has put within us, it is the feeling that connects us to our creator.
                                      In order to feel love, one needs to open up the heart (with the closed heart one is purely in the mind, operating from the ego, thus making Ego the leader) and simply surrender. Love can not be forced, it can only surrendered into.
                                      When one is experiencing love, there is no place for fear. When one is experiencing fear, there is no space for love.

                                      So this is how it works for me. When I am love, I am in a state of surrender. I have surrendered my mind, my ego, my will to that of love. In that state I experience compassion, appreciation, peacefulness. In that state, the best way for me to go makes itself known to me. My life is filled with synchronicities and things come easily. I feel blessed.
                                      When I feel fearful, it is because of what is in my mind - the thoughts that I think are making me feel this way. It is an unbalanced, closed state. In a state of fear I feel limited, stuck, not very free. In order to free myself from it, I need to stop, relax, open up my heart, and allow love to take over. I need to let go of fear. I need to let go of the thoughts that bring on the fear. Fear is to do with the worries and uncertainties of the future. But by handing the future over to God, there is nothing to fear or worry about. There are only blessings to appreciate. and love.
                                      The ego is fearful of God, because to be one with love is the death to the ego.
                                      When I am one with love, there are no fears. There is only peace...

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                                        Comrox
                                        wrote on last edited by
                                        #32

                                        Good thread. I don't think I personally fear God that much, but I try to be mindful of Him and of my actions and of how I am affecting myself and other people. Doesn't always work, but I try.

                                        It's interesting because when I read Qur'an, a lot of times I've gotten the impression that believers are very fearful of God. There's a verse I read a few days ago that said that the believers constantly seek forgiveness at night, and the only image that comes to my mind is a bunch of people on their knees, shaking, emotionally praying, and asking for God's mercy. Maybe I'm strange. Does anyone else get a different image?

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                                        • S Offline
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                                          shamsul-arefin
                                          wrote on last edited by
                                          #33

                                          fear mongering god is the devil in disguise ...thats how I perceive it. Any faith that comes out of fear is bad faith... and muslims have abused it to the fullest...ISIS is using it... Talibans used it, CIA uses it ......all dictators use it.... One can witness the horror of fear in this world today..... fear of hunger, fear of disrespect, fear of loosing, fear of what not will drive you crazy...... Fear does not bring out honesty from people rather it subdues ones inner problems to go deeper and screw up the whole process from root.......

                                          This is the term that disturbs me the most in Quran. Fear creates distance from truth . blind faith comes out of fear... devil uses it as the greatest tool. those who say fear brings them closer to God have not understood God at all....

                                          being concerned and being in the state of fear is different thing. As muslims abide by the fear to understand God, they seem to be the most derailed nation of present time....isnt it obvious..??

                                          this is my perception.....I choose God of Love over fear...no matter what books tells me .. I have stopped idolizing books..

                                          peace

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