Topic: Does telling the truth equal spreading hatred?
Received: 4 December 2004
Subject: Hate
Dear answering Islam Team your web site only seems to promote hate towards muslims. Why not write about what Islam and christianity have in common, like the onness of god etc. If you want a peacefull world then join hands in brotherly love and stop spreading the flames of hatered.
Our answer:
Greetings ...,
Thanks for taking time to express your concern. As a contributor to Answering Islam, I can tell you that I know personally several of those who contribute to the site and, from all I can tell, they have a genuine love and care for Muslim people. As for myself, my wife and I have spent most of the past 23 years living in a town that is 98% Muslim. We have hundreds of Muslim friends. But that does not mean we sit around, "join hands", and talk in warm and fuzzy terms about what we have "in common". No, we love our friends enough to share with them the truth of God's word—even when it goes against so much of what they have been taught from their youth. The Scripture says: "Open rebuke is better than love carefully concealed." (Proverbs 27:5) and, "Do not correct a scoffer, lest he hate you; Rebuke a wise man, and he will love you." (Proverbs 9:8)
It is important that each of us learn to distinguish between "spreading the flames of hatred" and "speaking the truth in love" (Ephesians 4:15). If you see a blind man who is walking towards the edge of a cliff, would it be hateful or loving to warn him?
The prophet Solomon said, "There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death." (Proverbs 14:12). Would you say that such words are hateful or kind?
Jesus the Messiah said, "...I am the First and the Last. I am He who lives, and was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore. Amen. And I have the keys of Hades and of Death. ...As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten. Therefore be zealous and repent." (Revelation 1:17-18; 3:19) Do you think that Jesus was being hateful by speaking so dogmatically?
I’m sure you will agree: if you genuinely care about someone you will tell them the truth—even if it hurts. Now then, consider this…
While Muslims have chosen to accept the word of ONE man only, Muhammad, those who contribute to A.I. have chosen to trust the faithfully preserved Scriptures of the Bible, which provide a consistent record and message from FORTY prophets and apostles who authenticate each other. Six centuries after Jesus the Messiah had fulfilled everything that the prophets had predicted, Muhammad came along with a completely different message. If we are100% sure that God's truth is found in the Scriptures of the Bible and not in the Qur'an—what kind of a people would we be, if we did not at least make a reasonable effort to share that truth with others (and, in the process, expose falsehood)?
Unfortunately, the message of Islam has very little "in common" with the message of the Bible. Both claim to speak for God. Yet both thoroughly contradict each other. Life is too short and eternity too long for us to work for a phony, superficial peace. What matters is whether or not we are at peace with God Almighty, before Whom we will one day stand.
Having shared these few thoughts, allow me to state clearly that if www.answering-islam.org has posted anything that is untrue, or mean-spirited, please let us know. Our website makes this promise:
If you find any factual mistakes [whether misprints or a false representation of doctrines] on these pages, or things that are worded in an offensive way, contact us, we would like to correct that. See our site policies.
We are absolutely serious about this promise. If you really feel like you read something on our site that is inaccurate or "hateful", please tell us. But be specific. Tell us WHAT is hateful, and WHY it is hateful... but if you are unable to do this, then we would respectfully request that you refrain from accusing us of "spreading the flames of hatred."
Meanwhile, I leave you with a God-given definition of love (which is, of course, the opposite of hate):
"Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I have become sounding brass or a clanging cymbal. And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, but have not love, it profits me nothing. Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails..." (1 Corinthians 13)
Our desire is that our website might be consistent with God’s definition of love.
Respectfully,
Answering Islam Email Dialogs
Answering Islam Home Page