Love (religious views)

Whether religious love can be expressed in similar terms to interpersonal love is a matter for philosophical debate. Religious 'love' might be considered a euphemistic term, more closely describing feelings of deference or acquiescence. Most religions use the term love to express the devotion the follower has to their God. This love can be expressed by prayer, service, good deeds, and personal sacrifice. Reciprocally, the followers may believe that the deity loves the followers and all of creation. Some traditions encourage the development of passionate love in the believer for the deity. Refer to "Religious Views" below. The tension between religious love of the other and self-affirmation is resolved in part by contrasting both love and self-affirmation with their impostors. Further analysis and references about such contrasts are summarized by Roderick Hindery in comparative religious contexts and in the framework of love as confirming the other.

pecific religious views

In alphabetical order:

Bahá'í

Quote box
width=35%
align=right
quote=Love is the mystery of divine revelations! Love is the effulgent manifestation! Love is the spiritual fulfilment! Love is the light of the Kingdom! Love is the breath of the Holy Spirit inspired into the human spirit! Love is the cause of the manifestation of the Truth (God) in the phenomenal world!. Love is the necessary tie proceeding from the realities of things through divine creation!
source=`Abdu'l-Bahá, "Tablets of `Abdu'l-Bahá" v3 [cite book |author = `Abdu'l-Bahá |authorlink = `Abdu'l-Bahá |year = 1909 |title = Tablets of Abdul-Baha Abbas |publisher = Bahá'í Publishing Committee |location = Chicago, USA |pages=p. 524-526 |id = |url = http://reference.bahai.org/en/t/ab/TAB/tab-573.html] |
Bahá'u'lláh, founder of the Bahá'í Faith, taught that God created humans due to his love for them, and thus humans should in turn love God. `Abdu'l-Bahá, Bahá'u'lláh's son, wrote that love is the greatest power in the world of existence and the true source of eternal happiness. The Bahá'í teachings state that all genuine love is divine, and that love proceeds from God and from humans. God's love is taught to be part of his own essence, and his love for his creatures gives them their material existence, divine grace and eternal life.cite encyclopedia |last= Smith |first= Peter |encyclopedia= A concise encyclopedia of the Bahá'í Faith |title= love |year= 2000 |publisher=Oneworld Publications |location= Oxford |id= ISBN 1-85168-184-1 |pages= p. 227-228]

The Bahá'í teachings state that human love is directed towards both God and other humans; that the love of God attracts the individual toward God, by purifying the human heart and preparing it for the revelation of divine grace. Thus through the love of God, humans become transformed and become self-sacrificing. It is also stated that true love for other humans occurs when people see the beauty of God in other people's souls. The Bahá'í teachings state that Bahá'ís should love all humans regardless of religion, race or community, and also should love their enemies.

Buddhist

In Buddhism, "Kāma" is sensuous, sexual love. Some believe it to be an obstacle on the path to enlightenment, perceiving it as selfish, but some sects of Buddhism, such as Tantra, believe that sex can be used as a tool to achieve enlightenment.

"Karunā" is compassion and mercy, which reduces the suffering of others. It is complementary to wisdom, and is necessary for enlightenment.

"Advesa" and "maitrī" are benevolent love. This love is unconditional and requires considerable self-acceptance. This is quite different from the ordinary love, which is usually about attachment and sex, which rarely occur without self-interest. Instead, in Buddhism it refers to detachment and unselfish interest in others' welfare.

The Bodhisattva ideal in Tibetan Buddhism involves the complete renunciation of oneself in order to take on the burden of a suffering world. The strongest motivation one has in order to take the path of the Bodhisattva is the idea of salvation within unselfish love for others.

Christian

Quote box
width=35%
align=right
quote="Love is patient; love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres."
source=1 Corinthians 13:4–7 (NIV)|

In "Works of Love" (1847), Soren Kierkegaard, a philosopher, claimed that Christianity is unique because love is a "requirement".

The New Testament, which was written in Greek, only used two Greek words for love: "agapē" and "philia". However, there are several Greek words for love.
*"Agapē". In the New Testament, "agapē" is charitable, selfless, altruistic, and unconditional. It is parental love seen as creating goodness in the world, it is the way God is seen to love humanity, and it is seen as the kind of love that Christians aspire to have for others.
*"Philia". Also used in the New Testament, "philia" is a human response to something that is found to be delightful. Also known as "brotherly love".
*"Eros" (sexual love) is never used in the New Testament but is more prominent in the Old Testament.
*"Storge" (needy child-to-parent love) only appears in the compound word "philostorgos" (Rom 12:10).

Saint Paul glorifies "agapē" in the quote above from 1 Corinthians 13, and as the most important virtue of all: "Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away." (13:8 NIV).

Christians believe that because of God's "agapē" for humanity he sacrificed his son for them. John the Apostle wrote, "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved." (John 3:16–17 KJV)

Most Christians believe that the greatest commandment is "thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment"; in addition to the second, "thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself", these are what Jesus Christ called the two greatest commandments (see Mark 12:28–34, Luke 10:25–28, Matthew 22:37–39, Matthew 7:12; cf. Deuteronomy 6:5, Deuteronomy 11:13, Deuteronomy 11:22, Leviticus 19:18, Leviticus 19:34). See also Ministry of Jesus#General Ethics.

In the Gospel of John, Jesus said: "A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another." (NIV, John 13:34–35; cf. John 15:17). Jesus also taught "Love your enemies." (Matthew 5:44, Luke 6:27).

Most Christians also believe that God is the source and essence of love, "Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love." (1 John 4:8 NIV)

Hindu

In Hinduism "kāma" is pleasurable, sexual love, personified by the god Kama. For many Hindu schools it is the third end in life.

In contrast to "kāma", "prema" or "prem" refers to elevated love.

"Karuna" is compassion and mercy, which reduces the suffering of others.

Jewish

Quote box
width=35%
align=right
quote="And you shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might."
source=Deuteronomy 6:5|

In Hebrew "Ahava" is the most Commonly used term for both interpersonal love and love of God. Other related but dissimilar terms are "chen] " (grace) and "chesed", which basically combines the meaning of "affection" and "compassion" and is sometimes rendered in English as "loving-kindness".

Judaism employs a wide definition of love, both between people and between man and the Deity. As for the former, the Torah states: "Love your neighbour like yourself" (Leviticus 19:18). As for the latter, one is commanded to love God "with all your heart, with all your soul and with all your might" (Deuteronomy 6:5), taken by the Mishnah (a central text of the Jewish oral law) to refer to good deeds, willingness to sacrifice one's life rather than commit certain serious transgressions, willingness to sacrifice all one's possessions and being grateful to the Lord despite adversity (tractate Berachoth 9:5, tractate Sanhedrin 74a). Rabbinic literature differs how this love can be developed, e.g. by contemplating Divine deeds or witnessing the marvels of nature (Maimonides, "Mishneh Torah", Hilchot Yesoday HaTorah, Chapter 2).

As for love between marital partners, this is deemed an essential ingredient to life: "See life with the wife you love" (Ecclesiastes 9:9). The Biblical book Song of Songs is a considered a romantically-phrased metaphor of love between God and his people, but in its plain reading reads like a love song.

The 20th-century rabbi Eliyahu Eliezer Dessler is frequently quoted as defining love from the Jewish point-of-view as "giving without expecting to take" (from his "Michtav me-Eliyahu", vol. I). Romantic love "per se" has few echoes in Jewish literature, although the medieval rabbi Judah Halevi wrote romantic poetry in Arabic in his younger years (he appears to have regretted this later).

Mythology

Different cultures have deified love, typically in both male and female form. Even though in monotheistic religions, the God is considered to represent love, there are often angels or similar beings that represent love as well. Here is a list of the gods and goddesses of love in different mythologies.
* Áine — goddess of fertility and passionate love in Irish mythology
* Amor or Cupid — god of passionate love in Roman mythology
* Antheia — goddess in Crete mythology of love, flowers, gardens, and marshes
* Aonghus or "Aengus"— god of beauty, youth, and sensual love in Irish mythology
* Aphrodite — goddess of beauty and passionate love in Greek mythology
* Astarte — goddess of love in Canaanite mythogy
* Eros — god of passionate love in Greek mythology
* Freyja — goddess of love, fertility and war in Norse mythology
* Inanna — goddess of love and war in Sumerian mythology
* Ishtar — goddess of love and war in Babylonian mythology
* Kama — god of sensual love in Hindu mythology
* Mihr — spirit of love in Persian mythology
* Rati — goddess of passionate love in Hindu mythology
* Venus — goddess of beauty and passionate love in Roman mythology
* Xochipilli — god in Aztec mythology

This philosophy/religion originated in New Zealand from David John de Cleene, the founder of The Positive Energy Company, a not for profit organisation whose purpose is to unite mankind as one using positive energy and Love.

See also

*Love
*Love of God
*Love (scientific views)
*Love (cultural views)

Notes

External links

* [http://www.chabad.org/article.asp?AID=42538 Love in Judaism]
* [http://www.beautifulislam.net/tellmemore/god_and_love.htm God and Love in Islam]