Fear God OR Love God
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Good question. I can't really say I FEAR God. I might be worried not to live up to His expectations (actually I am quite sure I don't) but it is not fear I feel. It is not good to live with fear all the time, you don't take wise decisions out of fear, it damages your health feeling fear all the time. So I don't believe it is fear we should have.
It ist actually quite the contrary of fear, namely trust in God, I try to cultivate inside myself. Yes, it is love (but love is not always the contrary of fear, I suppose). So love-trust instead of love-fear, so to say.
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Peace Reee
I think we should fear the Day when we will be naked from the point of view of our deeds....It is very very difficult to cultivate this feeling... I think that is called Jihad.....to struggle to cultivate the fear of the Day
But i think Quran tells us that we should love God.....and see Him as a master..... Although I may commit sins a lot .... but I get a very serene feeling when I feel this way....
Kind of like
My Lord is My Master, I am His slave. My Lord is my shepherd, I am a sheep......
One should really try this feeling....its real fun... sun
Peace
HarunP.S. Reee, I know you live in Berlin, Germany. But one could also deduce this fact from your post.....
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I'll go with love. There's enough fear in the world, and I think it leads to exactly the type of nuthouse this entire planet seems to be turning into. However, there might be times when fear is good. It's all just words. Generally, fear doesn't seem to do me much good. But maybe I'm being oversimplistic...
Nah, I'll go with love being the best approach to relate to the Creator. Love your friends. Love your parents. Someday, we might all live in a world that my more cynical friends consider to be a utopian pipe-dream.
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Salaam,
Fear God is relative, for a disbeliever this is critical, but for a Believer it is a healthy respect for Him.
If you love Him and are a righteous person, you have nothing to fear or worry about.
If you choose to side with God, Satan's whispers is what you must be cautious of. He will be mad that you understood the Truth and will try to sabotage as much as possible.
God bless you
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Peace.
The concept of "fear" doesn't always imply the notion of being afraid. It can also mean to have a profound reverence and awe of something or someone. I think that's closer to what people mean when they say that they 'fear' God. So, in this case, many people's position would be that they fear AND love God, since the two ideas complement each other.
Peace,
Ahmad
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Peace,
Thanks for the clarification, brother Ahmad. Well formulated.
God bless you
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Peace.
The concept of "fear" doesn't always imply the notion of being afraid. It can also mean to have a profound reverence and awe of something or someone. I think that's closer to what people mean when they say that they 'fear' God. So, in this case, many people's position would be that they fear AND love God, since the two ideas complement each other.
Peace,
Ahmad
Good point.
And, 'fear of God' can also mean a respect for the system of cause and effect, the 'you reap what you sow', and 'what goes around comes around'...
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Peace all,
Love God, because God grants blessings, comfort, peace, guidance, perseverance,
intellegence, love, wealth, children, sustenance, friends, free minds, mercy, and much
much more why wouldn't we love God who does so much for us and fear abandonment
of such a benefactor.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.peace
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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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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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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. -
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
GodIn order of strongest to weakest
God
You
Attempted murderer/blackmailerSo 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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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
GodIn order of strongest to weakest
God
You
Attempted murderer/blackmailerSo 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.