This page
... examines how "God is Love" undermines the value of love between people, how it is an inhumane and hurtful statement.
God Is Love
These are frequent assertions of monotheistic religions. Attributing mankind's most potent and pleasing emotion to a benevolent deity is a traditional and natural maternal instinct for those who believe in a white light god, as all their feelings of humility, power, grace and love are personified in their god.
God is Love: Hurtful
When two people love each other truly and deeply, the "God is Love" statements are hurtful. Instead of feeling pure love comes from the person, themselves, they feel it is "from God". It is hurtful to think that if they did not believe in love from God, they would love you less. That they attribute some of their love to someone else, that takes away some of the purity and honesty of love.
To say "God is the source of love" is to deny human love, love between people. It makes love cheaper, more arbitrary and less personal and caring. Humans beings themselves are the source of love, and love between people is due to their own feelings, to take away their responsibility for this feeling and say that it depends on God is inhuman. To love someone purely with your heart and emotions is good, but to have to explain it away or want to take less responsibility for feeling and wanting that love is hurtful.
God is the source of love: Makes you feel unloved
Feeling strong love for a person and feeling loved in return makes our very cells and limbs feel good. To think that our bodies generate such love for another person, and that they do to is true love. But to say that God himself is responsible for this reduces the worth of those feelings and makes the individual's love less strong.
If you love a person, you love them for who they are, and not because God inspired it! Love comes from your own choice and will. To say that God Is Love is to deny love the good power it has. You want the person you care for to love you, and that love to be from them and not due to religion, theology, social pressure or false sources, you want it to come from their will, not from God's.
Without God, there is no love: Dishonesty and Risk
To think that the other's love for you depends on their continued acceptance of God undermines that love. Love, as the greatest emotion, should be independent of God, his control or power, it comes from within. To say otherwise is dishonest and undermines the value of love and relationships.
Love
To think that love comes from our chemistry, our bodies and emotions rather than someone or somewhere else is in itself loving and caring. It makes our bodies and chemistry special. To deny that or say we are not capable of it on our own (without God) makes our bodies, emotions worthless and love worth less.
"God is Love" is an inhumane and hurtful feeling and statement and undermines the value of love
By Vexen Crabtree 2002 Jan 12