Presence of God: Fear or Love?

One of the lecturers in my spiritual direction training at West Virginia Institute for Spirituality was a wise theologian, a diminutive and strong woman from the Philippines, who made a point that has always stayed with me: The presence of God in the Old Testament, she said, is fear-based, and the awareness of God in the New Testament is love-based.

Dr. Alex, a psychologist and therapist, gives us a scientific basis for how the way we think affects us:

Fear-based and love-based refer to different types of memories and decision-making. Fear-based memories