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Who has
performed the greatest act of love?
Yahweh or Allah
In Islam, what is the greatest act of love Allah has ever
accomplished? I asked this question of several Muslims and I got
similar answers: he forgave us of our sins; he gave us families and
provisions; he showed us mercy; he gave us the Qur'an. The answers
didn't vary much beyond these responses. I found them lacking.
Most Muslims believe that the Bible is not
trustworthy, that it has been corrupted, that the Injeel (gospel) of Jesus
has been lost, and the Qur'an restores God's truth to mankind.
But, that is another subject to be debated.
In John
15:13 Jesus said, “Greater love has no man than this, that he lay
his life down for his friend.”
I have the Nestle Aland Greek New Testament with the textual
apparatus is included in it. The
textual apparatus is the complete listing (per verse) of any textual
variants that occur in any of the ancient New Testament manuscripts.
Therefore, it is a very easy thing to go to John
15:13 and look at the textual evidence to see if there are any
manuscripts at all, anywhere that have any variation on that verse.
There are none. In
other words, there is not a single manuscript of the more than 25,000
manuscripts of the NT that have any derivation on that verse.
Every single one of them says the exact same thing. I will,
therefore, conclude that it is an authentic and reliable saying of
Jesus.
Again, Jesus said, “Greater love has no man
than this, that he lay his life down for his friend.”
According to Jesus, the greatest act of love is to sacrifice one’s
life for another. This means
that giving one’s life for another is a greater act of love than
providing food for him, giving him a family, being nice to him, or honest,
or helpful, or whatever. Self-sacrifice,
to the point of death, is the very greatest act of love.
Has Allah performed the greatest act of
love? The answer is no. Allah has not sacrificed himself at
all. Allah has not died for another. Allah has not loved us to
the point of death.
In Christianity, Jesus, who is God in flesh (John
1:1, 14), laid His life down
for us. Jesus performed the greatest act of love.
If Islam is true...
If Islam is true
and Allah is the true God, then Jesus, a creation (according to Islam) has
performed a greater act of love than Allah (according to the Bible).
A mere man has outdone Allah in love and sacrifice. But, of course,
Islam denies that Jesus ever died. They then say that Jesus has not
done the greatest act of love. Their denial does not change the fact
that Jesus died on the cross as is amply attested to by the eyewitnesses
who wrote the gospel. Besides, whether or not the Muslim believes
Jesus died on the cross does not change the fact that Jesus told us what
the greatest act of love was -- and Allah has not done it. Yet,
according to Christianity He has. Since Muslims want Christians to
adopt Islam, they are asking us Christian to give up our Lord who has
performed the greatest act of love on our behalf. Why would we want
to do that?
If Christianity is true, then God has performed
the greatest act of love. If Islam is true, then God hasn't.
Which "god," then is more loving, the one who speaks of love, or
the one who acts out love?
I have found no where in the Qur'an where it says
that Allah is love. The Qur'an says that Allah loves people, but it
never says that Allah is love. By contrast, the Bible clearly
tells us that God is love. "And we have known and
believed the love that God hath to us. God is love; and he that
dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him," (1
John 4:16).
Who does God love?
Does
God love all? In Islam, the answer is no. In Christianity, the
answer is yes. Consider the following verses from the Qur'an.
- "Whoever is an enemy to Allah and
His angels and messengers, to Gabriel and Michael,- Lo! Allah is an
enemy to those who reject Faith," (2:98,
Trans. Yusuf Ali)
- "Say: Obey Allah and the
Messenger; but if they turn back, then surely Allah does not love the
unbelievers," 3:32,
Trans. Shakir).
Consider the
following verses from the Bible
- "For God so loved the world,
that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him
should not perish, but have eternal life," (John
3:16).
- "You have heard that it was
said, ‘You shall love your neighbor, and hate your enemy.’ 44
"But I say to you, love your enemies, and pray for those who
persecute you 45 in order that you may be sons of your
Father who is in heaven; for He causes His sun to rise on the evil and
the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. 46
"For if you love those who love you, what reward have you? Do not
even the tax-gatherers do the same? 47 "And if you
greet your brothers only, what do you do more than others? Do not even
the Gentiles do the same? 48 "Therefore you are to be
perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect. (Matt.
5:43-48).
We can easily see
the huge difference between the God of Islam and the God of the
Bible. In Islam, God does not love all people. In the Bible,
God does love all people. In Islam, Allah did not die for the sins
of those who were not his. In the Bible, God did do that. In
Islam, Allah has not performed the greatest act of love. In the
Bible, God did exactly that.
My question to the Muslims is, "What makes you think that I want to
give up my Lord who loves me so much that He would die for me, and did,
for a god who has not and cannot perform the greatest act of love?
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