The Doctrine of Love

The Doctrine of Love

By Sami Zaatari

As any Muslim knows, Christians are always preaching that God loves everybody, that he hates no one, and that God only hates the sin and not the sinner. This is perhaps one of the most common statements you will hear from Christians.

They get this doctrine of love due to their understanding of John 3:16 which reads:

¹⁶For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

So the overwhelming majority of Christians believe this verse means that God loves everybody, the good, and the bad. And because of this you will also see a lot of Christians always saying they love you, and they love everybody, that they just hate the sin.

Now this concept may sound all nice colorful but there is a big problem with it. Because in Christianity there is the concept of heaven and hell, the evil people will go to hell and burn in the flaming acid lake, while the believers will go to heaven with God. And here lies the problem and contradiction, because how can an all-loving God condemn a person to suffer and be tortured in the burning lake for all times?! It makes no sense whatsoever and it is a clear crystal contradiction!

Does it make sense that God loves you yet he will send you to receive a very painful torment for the rest of your doomed life? Off course it doesn't, therefore this concept of an all-loving God with the concept of a human being thrown into the hell shows that Christian theology is inconsistent and contradictory, because an all-loving God would NOT condemn a person to a painful punishment for his whole life.

Now since Christians know that this is a problem they will counter by using the parenting example. They will say "well parents love their kid's right? Yet parents still discipline their children when they are bad don't they? Does this mean the parent doesn't love his or her child?"

This analogy and example used by the Christians is very weak, and deceptive, because number one when a parent disciplines his or her child does the parent discipline the child for eternity?! Does the parent lock their children up for eternity?! Off course not. Secondly when the parents discipline their child, do the parents physically and mentally hurt their child for eternity?! Off course not!

So therefore the analogy fails badly, because when God punishes you with hell it is forever, when parents punish their children it is only for a day or two, or a week, or a month at most, it is NOT for eternity! Parents eventually forgive their child, yet God will not forgive you in the hereafter if your not a believer and will keep you to suffer in hell forever, hence the analogy fails very badly! And last but not least no loving parents in their right mind would cause so much physical and mental pain to their children as the hell-fire would!

So Christians really do have a big problem with this belief, they have 2 choices to do something about it, either they admit the doctrine of love is contradictory and inconsistent and wrong, which therefore means that Christianity is wrong. Or they admit that their interpretation of John 3:16 is wrong and that God actually does not love everybody, which will then mean Christians have been FALSE PREACHING to the masses for all this time with this false doctrine, and it will mean that their entire perception of God has changed, and that they no longer can have any valid argument against Islam which does not preach that God loves all. Either way the Christian is at a loss.

And Allah Knows Best!