God is Love

[9Harmony]

Most religions that teach a concept of God, include this among their teachings...

I admit I am approaching this from a Baha'i perspective, but please feel free to add your thoughts from your perspective as well.

Right now, i have alot of jumbled thoughts, trying to put them down into something that's semi-coherent. Hoping you can help.

"God is Love"

what does that mean exactly?

On the surface it sounds and nice. But is that all it is?

First of all, what is love?

this definition seems to fit best in line with my line of thought here.

noun: a strong positive emotion of regard and affection.



our moods create energy which either attracts or repels. Personally I've felt both ends of the spectrum.

In the movie the "Celestine Prophecy" there was a scene about how we affect each others energy levels. Being angry drains a person, but love is mutually beneficial to both parties, both give and receive and it rejuvenates us in the process. I believe this to be true.

love = emotion = thought = peptide = releases endorphins = energized = share energy with others

the Baha'i Writings state:

"...the reality of man is his thought..."

"If you desire with all your heart, friendship with every race on earth, your thought, spiritual and positive, will spread; it will become the desire of others, growing stronger and stronger, until it reaches the minds of all men." (Abdu'l-Baha, Paris Talks, p. 29)

(imho) Golden Rule = treat others as you wish to be treated = love

This again, i see as much more than just a nice thought. I see it as an extremely important aspect, why else would every religion teach a form of it? I believe if we could truly grasp the significance of this we could experience Heaven on Earth now.

Also, prayer when done truly out of love, seems to have greater effect.

This verse from the Baha'i Writings really spells it out nicely. I was wanting to highlight certain points, but every line is significant, so consider it all high-lighted.

"Know thou of a certainty that Love is the secret of God's holy Dispensation, the manifestation of the All-Merciful, the fountain of spiritual outpourings. Love is heaven's kindly light, the Holy Spirit's eternal breath that vivifieth the human soul. Love is the cause of God's revelation unto man, the vital bond inherent, in accordance with the divine creation, in the realities of things. Love is the one means that ensureth true felicity both in this world and the next. Love is the light that guideth in darkness, the living link that uniteth God with man, that assureth the progress of every illumined soul. Love is the most great law that ruleth this mighty and heavenly cycle, the unique power that bindeth together the divers elements of this material world, the supreme magnetic force that directeth the movements of the spheres in the celestial realms. Love revealeth with unfailing and limitless power the mysteries latent in the universe. Love is the spirit of life unto the adorned body of mankind, the establisher of true civilization in this mortal world, and the shedder of imperishable glory upon every high-aiming race and nation."

(Abdu'l-Baha, Selections from the Writings of Abdu'l-Baha, p. 27)

If Love is all these things, and God is Love...wow! just wow!

I have a very limited understanding of the realm of Quantum physics, but seems to me, that it is a step towards understanding the magnificent processes underlying all that is.

probably still not very coherent....but it's a start.

thoughts?

[wil]

Originally Posted by 9Harmony

"God is Love"

Yea, not that G-d loves, but G-d is the embodiment of love.

Originally Posted by 9Harmony

(imho) Golden Rule = treat others as you wish to be treated = love

imo a truly loving Golden Rule= 'Treat others as they wish to be treated'

Originally Posted by 9Harmony

"Know thou of a certainty that Love is the secret of God's holy Dispensation, the manifestation of the All-Merciful, the fountain of spiritual outpourings. Love is heaven's kindly light, the Holy Spirit's eternal breath that vivifieth the human soul. Love is the cause of God's revelation unto man, the vital bond inherent, in accordance with the divine creation, in the realities of things. Love is the one means that ensureth true felicity both in this world and the next. Love is the light that guideth in darkness, the living link that uniteth God with man, that assureth the progress of every illumined soul. Love is the most great law that ruleth this mighty and heavenly cycle, the unique power that bindeth together the divers elements of this material world, the supreme magnetic force that directeth the movements of the spheres in the celestial realms. Love revealeth with unfailing and limitless power the mysteries latent in the universe. Love is the spirit of life unto the adorned body of mankind, the establisher of true civilization in this mortal world, and the shedder of imperishable glory upon every high-aiming race and nation."

(Abdu'l-Baha, Selections from the Writings of Abdu'l-Baha, p. 27)

If Love is all these things, and God is Love...wow! just wow!

The Christian version of that imo, surely someone will correct me if I am wrong is Pauls letter...
1 Corinthians 13

The Way of Love

1 If I speak with human eloquence and angelic ecstasy but don't love, I'm nothing but the creaking of a rusty gate. 2If I speak God's Word with power, revealing all his mysteries and making everything plain as day, and if I have faith that says to a mountain, "Jump," and it jumps, but I don't love, I'm nothing. 3-7If I give everything I own to the poor and even go to the stake to be burned as a martyr, but I don't love, I've gotten nowhere. So, no matter what I say, what I believe, and what I do, I'm bankrupt without love.

Love never gives up.
Love cares more for others than for self.
Love doesn't want what it doesn't have.
Love doesn't strut,
Doesn't have a swelled head,
Doesn't force itself on others,
Isn't always "me first,"
Doesn't fly off the handle,
Doesn't keep score of the sins of others,
Doesn't revel when others grovel,
Takes pleasure in the flowering of truth,
Puts up with anything,
Trusts God always,
Always looks for the best,
Never looks back,
But keeps going to the end. 8-10Love never dies. Inspired speech will be over some day; praying in tongues will end; understanding will reach its limit. We know only a portion of the truth, and what we say about God is always incomplete. But when the Complete arrives, our incompletes will be canceled.
11When I was an infant at my mother's breast, I gurgled and cooed like any infant. When I grew up, I left those infant ways for good.
12We don't yet see things clearly. We're squinting in a fog, peering through a mist. But it won't be long before the weather clears and the sun shines bright! We'll see it all then, see it all as clearly as God sees us, knowing him directly just as he knows us!
13But for right now, until that completeness, we have three things to do to lead us toward that consummation: Trust steadily in God, hope unswervingly, love extravagantly. And the best of the three is love.

Originally Posted by 9Harmony

thoughts?

I think we are clearly staying in the range of unconditional, agape love in this discussion so far...not straying into familial or eros...yet....but I would tend to think that in all reality G-d encompasses all of that in one.

[Prober]

Originally Posted by wil

The Christian version of that imo, surely someone will correct me if I am wrong is Pauls letter...
1 Corinthians 13

The Way of Love

Oh wil...you knew you'd bring me in on that one!

Big Amen!

If I don't have love, I am nothing.

[lunamoth]

I agree Amy, God is Love is the central principle of my faith. How can I resist a chance to quote one of my favorite Bible passages on this:

Originally Posted by 1 John 4

7Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. 8Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. 9This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son[b] into the world that we might live through him. 10This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for[c] our sins. 11Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. 12No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.

13We know that we live in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit. 14And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. 15If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in him and he in God. 16And so we know and rely on the love God has for us.
God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him. 17In this way, love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment, because in this world we are like him. 18There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.

19We love because he first loved us. 20If anyone says, "I love God," yet hates his brother, he is a liar. For anyone who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen. 21And he has given us this command: Whoever loves God must also love his brother.

And the upcoming Gospel for next Sunday. Jesus only brought us one commandment:

Originally Posted by John 13

34"A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. 35By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another."

[lunamoth]

I'm also going to put in a plug for Off the Beaten Path, where today Brendan has a post about the Gospel message of Love and non-resistance.

luna

[wil]

Namaste Luna very good...the one we so often miss... Whoever loves God must also love his brother.

Funny how 'liberals' like me like to take some things literally!

[lunamoth]

Originally Posted by wil

Namaste Luna very good...the one we so often miss... Whoever loves God must also love his brother.

Funny how 'liberals' like me like to take some things literally!

Good catch wil! I was getting so carried away with the red ink I stopped before the end.

[dauer]

I would not say that God is love. I would say that love is God.

Dauer

[Prober]

Originally Posted by dauer

I would not say that God is love. I would say that love is God.

Dauer

I like that!

[dauer]

Re-reading it, I want to make sure I'm not misunderstood. I wouldn't want to limit God by saying that God is love. But I would say love is God and... is God and... is God and... is God and...

Dauer

[Thomas]

You've had a haircut!

[17th Angel]

Originally Posted by dauer

I would not say that God is love. I would say that love is God.

Dauer

Makes it seem that he is a mere emotion.... Hate is the devil I assume?

[seattlegal]

It's a living thing...

[17th Angel]

Hmm to say love is god... so god is an emotion used by a living thing, not it is a living thing ;\

[Dondi]

Is love a noun or a verb?