"…a time is coming when anyone who kills you will think he is offering a service to God."
—Jesus Christ. (John 16:2)
Many Christians want to know how to reach Muslims with the gospel of Christ’s substitutionary sacrifice. Many Muslims want to reach Christians with the message of submission to Allah.
Often Muslims will try to disarm Christians with such statements as: Islam and Christianity are very closely related or Christianity and Islam are basically seeking the same goals: dedication to God and good works. And then there’s that most offensive patronizing line: Islam honors Jesus. How can you honor someone when you deny his very purpose and make null and void the sacrifice of His life, death and resurrection? This is dishonor of the most hideous sort!
These tactics are meant to distract from the real issues, so that Islam can spread unhindered. As Christians we must follow Christ’s example when dealing with the lost and press for clarity and truth. In the gospels we have examples of Jesus dealing with Islamic-type people.
One case would be the woman at the well in John 4. She was a follower of a religion similar to Islam in that it claimed to be the true religion of the God of Abraham and Jacob, only they worshipped in a location other than Jerusalem. In this case Jesus told the woman that she did not know what she was doing; plain and simple. He was very direct and to the point. This is something that Muslims respect as opposed to patronizing sentiments and cowardly concessions.
Jesus was even more blunt with the Muslim-like, self-righteous Pharisees. As is the case with Islamic clergy the Pharisees were busy promoting their own righteousness and boasting of their allegiance and relationship to Abraham, but because they would not accept their need for Jesus’ intercession, he called them children of the devil, the father of lies and a murderer from the beginning. (John 8:44)
It’s interesting to note that the purpose of the Qur’an is to warn against belief in the Son of God as stated in the Qur’an: Al-Kahf 15 (Sher Ali) Praise is due to Allah, Who revealed the Book to His servant and did not make in it any crookedness. Rightly directing, that he might give warning of severe punishment from Him and give good news to the believers who do good that they shall have a goodly reward, Staying in it for ever; Further, that He may warn those (also) who say, "God hath begotten a son": They have no knowledge of it, nor had their fathers; a grievous word it is that comes out of their mouths; they speak nothing but a lie. Also Maryam 86-92 And WE shall drive the guilty to Hell like a herd of thirsty camels. None will have the power of intercession save he who has received a promise from the Gracious God. And they say, `The Gracious God has taken unto Himself a son.' Assuredly, you have indeed uttered a most hideous thing. The heavens might well nigh burst thereat, and the earth cleave asunder, and the mountains fall down in pieces, Because they ascribe a son to the Gracious God. It becomes not the Gracious God that HE should take unto Himself a son.
Whoever originally recited the above passages was very set on preventing people from believing in the Son of God, and at one point there is a reference to a promise from the Gracious God but without any substance behind the promise. Unlike the God of the Bible, the Father of Jesus who sent His Son as the retainer of His promise, Allah offers nothing as collateral to justify forgiving of sins. Therefore, how are we to be assured of forgiveness? Instead of any explanation of how Allah could forgive sin and remain a just judge, there seems to be a focus on forbidding the one thing that can actually save the soul – Christ’s subtitutional atonement.
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