The Centrality of Christ Lecture Notes & Resource Materials

March 2, 3013

Session One – Dr. Michael Haykin [audio/video available] Q - What challenges did the early church face in communicating the gospel to their world and culture?

“Alexamenos Worships His God” The early church speaks about Christ in their world and culture. Dr. Michael Haykin

It is not every day that the New York Times best-seller list contains a book that deals with the history of the Christianity in the Roman Empire, the relationship of Jesus Christ and Mary Magdalene, and the conniving of the Roman emperor Constantine (r.306– 337). Dan Brown’s monumental best-seller The Da Vinci Code—which had sold 80 million copies as of four years ago, has been translated into more than 40 languages, and was also made into a movie (though the movie hardly matched the success of the book)—is the book to which I am referring. A high-speed murder mystery, The Da Vinci Code is also a perfect example of postmodern historical revisionism in which an art historian, hero Robert Langdon, discovers that contemporary expressions of Christianity have no sound historical basis.1

For instance, according to Brown’s novel, it was not until the reign of the early fourth- century Roman emperor Constantine that the Bible, in particular the New Testament, was collated. Again, Brown’s novel depicts Constantine as the one who had the New Testament as we know it drawn up in order to suppress alternative perspectives on Jesus.2 The novel also makes the claim that it was not until the early fourth-century Council of Nicæa (325) that Jesus Christ was regarded as anything other than a human prophet. It was at this council, which was astutely manipulated by the power-hungry Constantine for his own ends, that Jesus was “turned…into a deity” and for the first time

1 Gene Edward Veith, “The Da Vinci phenomenon”, World, 21, no.20 (May 20, 2006), 20–21. The edition of the Da Vinci Code used in this talk is The Da Vinci Code (New York: Anchor Books, 2006). 2 Da Vinci Code, 231–232. 1 became an object of worship.3 Moreover, the novel asserts, both of these events took place in order to conceal the fact that Jesus was actually married to Mary Magdalene,4 had a child by her,5 and that he intended that Mary be the founder of the church.6 Key Christian teachings are thus the result of a power move by Constantine and other males in order to squash women. As Brown has one of his characters say, “It was all about power.”7

What Brown’s book reveals is the difficulty modern men and women have in regarding Jesus as anything other than a prophet or good moral teacher. Of course, this is not something new: throughout the history of the last two thousand years, Christ’s divine status has been a challenge to human reason. But without the deity of Christ, as American scholar Douglas McCready has argued, “every distinctive Christian belief would have to be discarded” and the Christian faith itself would become, at best trivial, and at worst, utterly irrelevant.8

So, let us look at some of the evidence in the early Church, stretching up to the time of Constantine, for the conviction that Jesus Christ is indeed fully God. I want to consider both Christian witness and pagan. Some New Testament evidence

Apart from James’ letter, the earliest New Testament documents are the letters of the Apostle Paul. A number of these letters plainly speak of Christ’s divine pre-existence.9 For instance, there is Colossians 1:15–16, which maintains that Christ is “the image of the invisible God.”10 In other words, Christ perfectly represents God. This text goes on to say that Christ created the entire universe: “by him all things were created, in heaven

3 Da Vinci Code, 233–235. 4 Da Vinci Code, 244–247. 5 Da Vinci Code, 255–256. 6 Da Vinci Code, 248–249, 254. 7 Da Vinci Code, 233. A goodly number of book-length responses have been made to these claims. Here are some of the best, in terms of their critique of The Da Vinci Code: Darrell L. Bock, Breaking the Da Vinci Code: answering the questions everybody’s asking (Nashville: Nelson, 2004); Stephen Clark, The Da Vinci Code on Trial: Filtering fact from fiction (Bryntirion, Bridgend: Bryntirion Press, 2005); Bart D. Ehrman, Truth And Fiction in The Da Vinci Code. A Historian Reveals What We Really Know about Jesus, Mary Magdalene, and Constantine (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004); Erwin W. Lutzer, The Da Vinci Deception (Carol Stream, Illinois: Tyndale House, 2006); Garry Williams, The Da Vinci Code: from Dan Brown’s fiction to Mary Magdalene’s faith (Fearn, Ross-shire: Christian Focus, 2006). 8 He Came Down From Heaven: The Preexistence of Christ and the Christian Faith (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press/Leicester, England: Apollos, 2005), 317. 9 He Came Down From Heaven, 70–104. 10 Text from the Scriptures is taken from the ESV unless otherwise indicated. 2 and on earth, visible and invisible,” they were “created through him and for him.” Being thus the creator of all things, Christ cannot be included in the created order.11 Following these claims, there is also the assertion in Colossians 1:19 that in Christ dwelt “all the fullness of God,” an assertion that is repeated in Colossians 2:9 (“In him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily”). As the American scholar Douglas McCready notes of these two latter verses, they declare “about as clearly as can be said that Jesus is God without confusing God the Father and the Son.”12

Paul also affirms Christ’s creatorship in 1 Corinthians 8:5–6—“there is…one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom are all things”13—and his deity in Romans 9:5 where Christ is described as “God over all, blessed forever.”14 With regard to this second Pauline text, the third-century Christian exegete Origen (c.185–254) rightly noted: “It is clear from this passage that Christ is the God who is over all.”15

There is also the much-discussed hymn to Christ in Philippians 2:5–11, which clearly presupposes Christ’s pre-existence.16 While the hymn is focused on the example of Christ’s humility and self-sacrifice, it does make two significant ontological statements about the Lord Jesus. First, he “was in the form of God” (2:6). While there are sharp disagreements among New Testament scholars about the exact meaning of this phrase, the most consistent interpretation of this statement in the context of the hymn is that it is a declaration of Christ’s enjoyment of the status or nature of God himself.17 Then, the hymn goes on to assert that, prior to his descent to the earth during the incarnation, Christ possessed “equality with God” (2:6). It was naturally his and he willingly gave it up when he took on human existence.

Other New Testament texts that strongly assert the divinity of Christ would include Matthew 11:27, Hebrews 1:1–8, and a significant amount of material in the writings of the Apostle John. Consider the latter. At the very opening of the Gospel of John, for instance, John 1:1 and 1:14 speak unequivocally of Christ as a divine being: as the Word he “was with God” and “was God (theos)” but he “became flesh and dwelt” in this world. In verse 1 it needs to be noted that the term for God, theos, does not have the definite article. As McCready points out, this syntactical construction serves to make the point that while the Word is equal with God—what God the Father is in terms of divine attributes the Word is—he is not identical with God. John thus emphasizes Jesus’ deity

11 He Came Down From Heaven, 81–82. 12 He Came Down From Heaven, 82. 13 See McCready’s discussion in He Came Down From Heaven, 86–87. 14 See also McCready, He Came Down From Heaven, 91–92. 15 Cited McCready, He Came Down From Heaven, 92. 16 For extensive discussion, see McCready, He Came Down From Heaven, 73–80. 17 McCready, He Came Down From Heaven, 76–78. 3 without committing the error of what would later be called modalism, which removes the distinctions between the persons of the Godhead.18

In light of these statements about Christ’s deity in the opening chapter of John’s Gospel, the statement by Jesus in John 10:30 that he and “the Father are one” is probably to be read as being more than simply an assertion of his union with the Father in thought and intent. In light of the gospel context it seems to affirm a union of being between the Father and the Son.19 Some of Jesus’ hearers, who radically disagreed with him, certainly understood it this way, for we are told in John 10:31–33 that they accused him of the blasphemy of making himself God.

Yet another Johannine text that is affirmative of the deity of Christ is 1 John 5:20, where Jesus is described as “the true God and eternal life.” To be sure, there are difficulties with the grammatical construction of the sentence in relation to what precedes it. And while the import of the text is soteriological in intent—we can know God, “him who is true,” because of the revelatory work of his Son, who “has given us understanding” of God—yet, as the Scottish New Testament scholar I. Howard Marshall has noted, “it is precisely because Jesus is the true God that the person who is in him is also in the Father.”20 On the basis of texts such as these and others, Douglas McCready rightly states that the evidence of the New Testament points in only one direction: it “consistently presents Jesus Christ as preexistent deity every time the subject arises.”21

When we move outside the New Testament, in the period of the second and third centuries, we find the same consistent emphasis regarding Christ, from both Christians and pagans.

Three pagan witnesses

Let us look first at three pagan witnesses. Around the year 110 ad a new governor was appointed for the Roman provinces of Pontus and Bithynia in what is now northern Turkey. His name was Caius Plinius Caecilius Secundus, better known to history as Pliny the Younger (61/62–c.113). Prior to this appointment he was in charge of the public works for the city of Rome and performed so admirably that the emperor, Trajan (r.98– 117), appointed him to clean up an economic mess in the province of Pontus and Bithynia. Like any good leader, Pliny sought first to find out what was happening at ground level before instituting significant changes in the infrastructure of the province. In the course of his tour of the cities and towns of the province, certain Christians were

18 He Came Down From Heaven, 141–142. 19 He Came Down From Heaven, 150–151. 20 He Came Down From Heaven, 158–159. 21 He Came Down From Heaven, 310. 4 brought to him in one of the towns.22 From the point of view of the Roman imperium, these men and women were members of an illegal religion, part of what Pliny called “a degenerate sort of cult carried to extravagant lengths.”23 Their crime was their steadfast refusal (contumacia) to heed the urging of an official of the Roman state, Pliny, to worship the Roman gods and do reverence to a statue of the emperor.24 To find out more about the doings of these Christians, Pliny tortured two women whom he terms ministrae, that is, “deaconesses.”25 In the process of his torturing these women he learned a number of things about early Christian worship, including the fact, as he later wrote to Trajan, that these Christians would sing “an antiphonal hymn to Christ as to a god.”26 Pliny the pagan might have viewed this worship as “degenerate,” but there is no gainsaying the fact that the Roman governor understood Christians to be people who offered adoration to Christ as a divine being.

Another pagan author in the second century who had a similar impression is the satirist Lucian of Samosata (c.125–c.180). In his book The Passing of Peregrinus, which satirizes the career of the Cynic philosopher Peregrinus and was written after Pergrinus’ self- immolation at the Olympic Games in 165 ad, Lucian notes that at one point Peregrinus joined the Christians. Rising rapidly in their ranks, Peregrinus was soon incarcerated for his faith. Lucian pokes fun at the way fellow Christians treated Peregrinus while he was in prison and notes:

[T]he efficiency the Christians show whenever a matter of community interest like this happen is unbelievable; they literally spare nothing. And so, because Peregrinus was in jail, money poured in from them; he picked up a very nice income this way. The poor wretches have convinced themselves, first and foremost, that they’re all going to be immortal and live forever, which makes them take death lightly and willingly give themselves up to it. Furthermore, their first lawgiver [i.e. Christ] persuaded them that they are all brothers of one another when they deny the Greek gods (thereby breaking our law) and begin to worship him, the crucified sophist himself, and to live their lives according to his rules. They scorn all possessions without distinction and treat them as common property; doctrines like this they accept strictly on faith. Consequently, if a charlatan and trickster who knows how to capitalize on a situation comes among them, he quickly becomes exceedingly rich while laughing at the simpletons.27

22 For our knowledge of these events, see Pliny, Letters 10.96–97. For a translation of these texts, see Henry Bettenson in his selected and ed., Documents of the Christian Church (2nd. ed.; London: Oxford University Press, 1963), 3-4. 23 Letter 10.96.8. 24 Letter 10.96. 25 Letter 10.96.8. 26 Letter 10.96.8. 27 The Passing of Peregrinus 13. 5

This is a fascinating text in many ways, touching on, as it does, a number of aspects of early Christianity. What is important for the subject at hand is that Lucian, who has nothing but scorn for Christians, knows that they refuse to participate in the worship of the Graeco-Roman pantheon of gods. Instead, he says, they offer “worship” to a “crucified sophist,” by which he obviously means Christ. It seems clear that Lucian views the worship of Christ as the Christian alternative to the worship of the gods of his pagan world. As such Lucian is another pagan witness to the fact that the second-century Church worshipped Christ.

A final pagan witness from the third century is an item of graffiti.28 In the quarters of the imperial page boys on the Palatine Hill in Rome, there has been found the drawing of a figure of a man on a cross with the head of a donkey. Beneath it is another figure, the figure of a boy, with his arm upraised, a typical gesture of worship found in early Christian art. Underneath these crude drawings are the words in Latin, “Alexamenos worships his god.”

There is little doubt that this is an attack on one of the page boys, one Alexamenos, who was a Christian. And it is clear that the one who made this attack understood Alexamenos’ religious beliefs to involve worship of the one who was crucified, namely Jesus Christ. It is interesting that another hand—possibly that of Alexamenos himself or one of his fellow page boys who was impressed with Alexamenos’ witness—has scrawled below the above-mentioned statement, “Alexamenos is faithful.”

Ignatius of Antioch

28 For this piece of graffiti, see Michael Green, Evangelism in the Early Church (Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans, 1970), 174–175. 6

Apart from the Apostle Paul, no other figure from the first two centuries of Christianity lays bare his soul as much as Ignatius of Antioch (died c.107–110). In the words of biblical scholar Bruce Metzger, Ignatius’ letters, though somewhat staccato in style and punctuated with rhetorical embellishments, manifest “such strong faith and overwhelming love of Christ as to make them one of the finest literary expressions of Christianity during the second century.”29 Moreover, although we possess only seven authentic letters of Ignatius, they provide one of our richest resources for the understanding of Christianity in the era immediately following that of the Apostles.30

Ignatius, the bishop of the church in Antioch, had been arrested in this city somewhere between 107 and 110 and sent to Rome for execution in the arena.31 There are no details of the persecution in which he was arrested, though Ignatius does mention others who were probably arrested during the same persecution and who had preceded him to Rome.32 So, he was brought across the great Roman roads of southern Asia Minor in the custody of ten Roman soldiers, whom he likens to “savage leopards.”33 He expects the end of his journey in Rome to have one certain outcome: death.

Now, among the concerns that were uppermost in Ignatius’ mind as he wrote these letters was the heresy of Gnosticism, which was troubling a number of the churches to which he was writing and which maintained that the incarnation of Christ, and consequently his death and resurrection, did not really take place.34 In other words, what this heresy called into doubt was the humanity of Christ. The divine status of Christ, on the other hand, was not in debate, and on a number of occasions the letters show marked evidence of a very high Christology.35

In his letter to the church in Ephesus, for example, Ignatius describes Christ as “God incarnate” and later in the letter reminds his readers that in Christ “God was revealing

29 Cited John E. Lawyer, Jr., “Eucharist and Martyrdom in the Letters of Ignatius of Antioch”, Anglican Theological Review, 73 (1991), 281. 30 Rowan Williams, Christian Spirituality (Atlanta: John Knox Press, 1980), 14. On the transmission of the text of these letters, see the brief summary by Maxwell Staniforth in his trans., Early Christian Writings: The Apostolic Fathers (1968 ed.; repr. Harmondsworth, Middlesex: Penguin Books, 1987), 55–56. 31 For the date, see Christine Trevett, A Study of Ignatius of Antioch in Syria and Asia (Lewiston/Queenston/Lampeter: Edwin Mellen Press, 1992), 3-9. 32 Romans 10. 33 Romans 5. 34 Lawyer, “Eucharist and Martyrdom”, 281. 35 For a very brief overview of Ignatius’ view of Christ as preexistent deity, see McCready, He Came Down From Heaven, 210. For a detailed study of Ignatius’ Christology, see Cullen I.K. Story, “The Christology of Ignatius of Antioch”, The Evangelical Quarterly, 56 (1984), 173–182; Charles Thomas Brown, The Gospel and Ignatius of Antioch (New York: Peter Lang, 2000), passim. 7 himself as a man.”36 Or writing to believers in Smyrna, Ignatius says that Christ is none other than “God the Word, the only-begotten Son.”37 And at the very outset of his letter to Roman believers, in which Ignatius sought to convince the church there not to attempt to free him from the Roman authorities but to allow him to fulfill his calling to be a martyr, he says of Jesus Christ that he is “our God.”38 Later in this letter, he says, “leave me to imitate the Passion of my God.”39 The one who died on the cross is none other than God. In referring to Christ as “God,” Ignatius evidently expected the Christians to whom he was writing to be both familiar with such a view of Christ and comfortable with it.

The Letter to Diognetus

The Letter to Diognetus, which is easily overlooked among second-century Christian writings, has been well described by American author Avery Dulles as “the pearl of early Christian apologetics.”40 In nuce, this anonymous work is the joyous expression in Pauline terms of a man who stands utterly amazed at the gracious revelation of God’s love in the death of his Son for sinners and who is seeking to persuade a Graeco-Roman pagan by the name of Diognetus to make a similar commitment to the Christian faith. From the elegant Greek of the treatise it is probably correct to observe that the author had had a classical education and “possessed considerable literary skill and style.”41 Though the historical and geographical context of the work and audience is not known, it should probably be dated in the latter half of the second century.42

The theological centre of the Letter to Diognetus is found in chapters 7–9,43 where, among other things, an answer is given to a question asked of the author by Diognetus,

36 Ephesians 7.2 and 19.3. 37 Smyrnaeans 1.1. 38 Romans, Salutation. 39 Romans 6. 40 A History of Apologetics (New York: Corpus Instrumentorum/Philadelphia: Westminster Press, 1971), 28. 41 L. W. Barnard, “The Enigma of the Epistle to Diognetus” in his Studies in the Apostolic Fathers and Their Background (New York: Shocken Books, 1966), 172. “[G]ood Hellenistic [Greek] with a marked approach to classical standards in vocabulary and diction” is the way H. G. Meecham describes the language of the letter (“The Theology of the Epistle to Diognetus”, The Expository Times, 54 [1942–1943], 97). 42 For this dating, see Robert M. Grant, Greek Apologists of the Second Century (Philadelphia: Westminster Press, 1988), 178–179; Theofried Baumeister, “Zur Datierung der Schrift an Diognet”, Vigiliae Christianae, 42 (1988), 105–111. W. S. Walford, Epistle to Diognetus (London: James Nisbet & Co., 1908), 7–9 and Barnard, “Epistle to Diognetus”, 172–173 would date it no later than 140. 43 Markus Bockmuehl, Revelation and Mystery in Ancient Judaism and Pauline Christianity (Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans, 1997), 219. Reference to the Letter to 8

“Who is the God Christians believe in and worship?” The author formulates his answer to the question in terms of a high Christology.

He begins by indicating that the Christian concept of God is not the product of human thought or philosophy.44

[I]t is not an earthly discovery that has been passed on to them [i.e. Christians]. That which they think it worthwhile to guard so carefully is not a result of mortal thinking, nor is what has been entrusted to them a stewardship of merely human mysteries. On the contrary, the Almighty God himself, the Creator of the universe and the invisible God, has from heaven planted the Truth, even the holy and incomprehensible Word, among men and fixed it firmly in their hearts.45

Here the author unequivocally affirms that Christian truth is ultimately not a matter of human reason or religious speculation. Rather, it is rooted in God’s revelation of himself. Before he revealed himself to the world of paganism, God was unknown.

This revelation, the author of this treatise now maintains, was made through the incarnation of his Son. God has not, he writes, sent to humanity some servant, angel or ruler… Rather, [he has sent] the very Designer and Maker of the universe, by whom he made the heavens and confined the seas within their bounds; …from whom the sun is assigned the limits of its daily course and whom the moon obeys when he bids her to shine by night, and whom the stars obey as they follow the course of the moon. He is the One by whom all things have been set in order, determined, and placed in subjection—both the heavens and things in the heavens, the earth and things on the earth, the sea and the things in the sea, fire, air, abyss, the things in the heights and those in the depths and the realm between. Such was the One God sent to them. …In gentleness and meekness he sent him, as a King sending his son who is a king. He sent him as God, he sent him as [man]46 to men, he sent him as Saviour.47

Christianity, then, is ultimately not a human attempt to find God, be it by philosophical speculation or religious ritual. Rather, it is founded on God’s revelation of himself, and that in a person, his Son. Although the personal name of the incarnate Son, Jesus, is not

Diognetus is according to chapter and verse. I am following the chapter and verse divisions of H.G. Meecham, The Epistle to Diognetus (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1949) and J.J. Thierry, ed., The Epistle to Diognetus (Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1964). 44 For an earlier allusion in the letter to this fact, see Diognetus 5.3. The same point will be made yet a third time in Diognetus 8.1–5. 45 Diognetus 7.1–2. 46 Following Meecham, Epistle to Diognetus, 83 and Joseph T. Lienhard, “The Christology of the Epistle to Diognetus”, Vigiliae Christianae, 24 (1970), 288. 47 Diognetus 7.2, 4. 9 mentioned in this passage or even in the treatise as a whole,48 there is no doubt that this is the person of whom the author here writes so eloquently.

Now, when many of the pagans in the Graeco-Roman world stood outside of their homes on a cloudless night and looked up to the heavens they believed that the stars they could see were none other than divine beings. The long description of the Son’s sovereignty over the entirety of creation clearly indicates that Christian theism does not believe in such a multiplicity of divine beings. Yet, it does believe in the deity of the Son. For the Son is depicted in terms that one can only regard as fully divine. He clearly does not belong to the order of creation. Who then is this One whom God has sent to reveal himself? Well, he is “a son.” He is sent by God “as God.” As L.B. Radford has commented: “He is God so truly that His coming can be described as the coming of God.”49

A concluding word

More textual evidence from the second and the third centuries than what is adduced here could have been cited.50 It would uniformly bear out what the texts we have looked at consistently assert: Jesus Christ was viewed as a divine being in both the New Testament era as well as in the two centuries that followed. What the creedal statement issued at this council declared, namely that Jesus is “true God of true God” and of “one being with the Father,” had been the central conviction of the Church in the years since the Apostolic era. And this was the conviction of the Church for it ultimately derived from the Church’s foundational text, the New Testament itself.

48 On this fact, see Henri Irénée Marrou, A Diognète (Paris: Éditions du Cerf, 1951), 185–187. 49 The Epistle to Diognetus (London: Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, 1908), 39. See also Lienhard, “Christology of the Epistle to Diognetus”, 288 50 For other second-century authors, see McCready, He Came Down From Heaven, 211–218. 10

Session Two – Dr. Tony Costa [audio/video available] Q - How can we effectively bring the message of Christ to our world and culture?

Session Three – Dr. Michael Haykin [audio/video available] Q - Jesus in Islam. Examining the views of Jesus and as they are presented in the Qur’an.

Early Islam & Jesus Christianity in Saudi Arabia before Islam

Muhammad and His Message/The Journey of Muhammad Three key beliefs:  There is one true god, Allãh  Muhammad is the final messenger from Allãh  Acceptance of the claim of Muhammad to be this final messenger and the Qur’an to be the definitive divine message is Islam, that is, “submission” or “surrender.”

Do Christians and Muslims worship the same God? The Qur’an itself argues that Christians and Muslims have the same God: Qur’an 29:46: “[Believers], argue only in the best way with the People of the Book, except with those who act unjustly. Say, ‘We believe in what was revealed to us and in what was revealed to you; our God and your God are one [and the same]’.” Is this so? Comparisons Jesus and God

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Christians and Muslims alike affirm the virgin birth of Jesus (though there are some differences here—Mary gives birth, for example, according to Qur’an 19.23–27 under a palm tree), and the miracle-working of Jesus (though some of the miracles listed in the Qur’an are apocryphal and not listed in the NT), and that he is both a prophet and Messiah. But Islam denies the crucifixion of Jesus. According to Qur’an 4.157–158 Christ was not crucified, but “God raised him up to himself.”

The other key issue that Islam has with Christianity when it comes to Jesus is its affirmation of his deity and it’s Trinitarianism. For Islam’s refusal to declare Jesus as God and its adamant rejection of the Trinity: See  Qur’an 6.100–101: “Glory be to him [Allah]! He is…the Creator of the heavens and the earth! How could he have children when he has no spouse…?”  Qur’an 2:116–117  Qur’an 5:72–76  Qur’an 3:64  Qur’an 9:28–31  Qur’an 4.171  Qur’an 112.

Session Four – Dr. Tony Costa [audio/video available] Q - Sharing the message of Christ with our Muslim neighbours.

Handout notes, as following: [1] Islam & Christianity: Are they Compatible? [2] Muslim & Christian Doctrine Compared [3] Are the Literary Sources of the Qur’an Reliable? 12

[4] Popular Islamic Terms [5] Women in Islam [6] Who Corrupted the Gospel?

[1] Islam & Christianity: Are they Compatible? Dr. Tony Costa

Islam is a religion that has made an incredible impact in North America. Everywhere you look, you will notice that the Muslim presence is making itself quite evident. Mosques are rising in major cities across Canada, some of them having even replaced church buildings. This writer has even witnessed church buildings being purchased and remodeled into mosques. One out of every five people in this world is a Muslim. When we take the above into consideration, it becomes clear that Islam is certainly a force to be reckoned with, especially and primarily with Christians.

Islam is now said to be the fastest growing religion in the world. The Christian Church must confront it because Islam has made its' target very clear. It is neither concerned with Hindus or the Buddhists, nor even with the Jewish people insofar as their religion is concerned. Muslim apologists are concerned with attacking and battling Christianity because they recognize that it is the dominating belief system in the West. Muslim apologists have challenged Christians to debates attempting to convert Christians to Islam with the same zeal as the cults. In many cases, Muslims have even tried using the Bible on Christians to show alleged contradictions, discrepancies and thus argue for the superiority of the holy book of Islam, the Koran. It is incumbent upon Christians to be ready to give a reason (1 Peter 3:15) why Islam and Christianity are incompatible. Although this is by no means an exhaustive treatise on Islam, I would recommend the book by Dr. Norman Geisler entitled, Answering Islam (Baker Book House, 1993) for further study.

'"Islam" is an Arabic word which comes from the root word which means "submission". The word "Muslim" is also Arabic, and means "one who submits". Thus a Muslim is one who has submitted to God. It must be mentioned from the outset that some Muslims usually refuse to address the Deity as "God", because they feel the appropriate name should be "Allah", the name used in the Koran for the Deity. "Allah" is actually a contracted word from the Arabic "al-illah" which literally means "the God" (ie. The True God.) When speaking of the Deity in Islam I will use the name "Allah".

Five Articles of Faith

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There are 5, non-negotiable Articles of Faith (known as the Shahada) which every Muslim must accept.

The first article is the belief that there is only one God. In Islam this is known as "tawhid". Every devout Muslim daily recites, "Za illaha illah Allah Muhammad Rasulullah", (i.e. "There is no god but Allah and Muhammad is the messenger of Allah"). It is the first words they teach a child and the last words they utter before death. Thus, Islam adheres to a strict monotheism, the belief in one God.

The second article is the belief in the Prophets. Muslims believe that Allah has revealed himself to mankind through the agency of prophets. Islamic tradition believes that there have been a total of 24,000 prophets who have come throughout history to deliver the revelation of Allah. The message has always been the same, recognize Allah as God and submit to him. In addition the message entails that one avoid idolatry and submit to Allah, in other words become Muslims. Muslims respect a number of biblical prophets who are mentioned in the Koran as well. People like Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Ishmael, Moses, David, Solomon, Jonah, Jesus and others are revered as prophets; even Adam is considered a prophet. However, Islam, at least the Sunni which is the largest denomination, affirms that Muhammad is the greatest and final prophet, the "Seal of the Prophets", which means that since Muhammad's death in AD 632, the voice and revelation of Allah has ceased. Muslims make no distinction among the prophets except in their belief that Muhammad was the last of them all and that while the past prophets had restrictive missions to their respective people Muhammad's mission was a universal one, to all people.

The third article is the belief in all the Books of Allah, the revealed word of Allah. Muslims believe that all prophets were given a book (i.e. Scripture to provide guidance for people.) Muslims believe that Moses was given the Tawrat (the Torah), David was given the Zabur (the Psalms) and Jesus was given the Injil (the Gospel). Finally, with Muhammad, the last book was given, the Koran (from Arabic, which means the 'recitation'). Muslims however, while believing in all books, argue that these books are now non-existent or only fragments of them have been retained in the Bible. The Koran is believed to have superseded all other Scripture and to be the final Scripture. It is important to note, that Muslims DO NOT believe the Gospels of Matthew to John to be the Gospel that Jesus brought and taught. The Torah, from Genesis to Deuteronomy is NOT the book of Moses, and the biblical Psalms are NOT the Zabur of David. They may contain some truth (when it agrees with the Koran!), but not all truth, that is a privilege given alone to the Koran.

Muslims argue that the Bible is a corrupted book and cannot be fully trusted. The Bible holds a second class status and must defer to the Koran. The Koran has 114 chapters considered to be the word of Allah, word for word, almost the same size as the New Testament and is written in Arabic, which Muslims consider to be a sacred language. Therefore Muslims around the world conduct their prayers in Arabic despite their ethnic

14 background. It has no chronological order like the Bible, but the chapters are arranged from the longest to the smallest. Muslims have made many claims to the effect that the Koran is a preserved text with no additions or alterations. It has, so they claim, remained intact since Muhammad's time. Moreover, they argue that there are no textual variants like the Bible, and that there is no error in the Arabic text. It is for all intents and purposes a perfect text. Despite these religious claims, there is contrary evidence available from the world of scholarship in the area of the Koran and Islamic history that demonstrates that the Koran shares the same type of textual difficulties as the Bible does. The Koran is by no means a preserved text, it abounds with variants, and there are scores of grammatical errors in the Arabic. The Koran that we have today is a text that has undergone revision, and the very sources of Islam and Koranic manuscripts provide that evidence. The religious claims of Muslim apologists regarding the Koran cannot stand with the textual evidence.

The fourth article is the belief in Angels. Muslims believe that Allah has communicated with humanity through the angels via prophets. Thus Islam teaches that the Angel Gibreel (Arabic for Gabriel) brought the revelation of the Koran to Muhammad in AD 610.

The fifth and last article is that of the Last Day. Muslims believe that the Last Day will hasten the judgment of the world by Allah. It is the fearful day of judgment when Allah will allow into Paradise the just whose good works have outweighed their bad ones, and when evil doers will be cast into hellfire.

In respect to these 5 major articles of faith, let's review 5 main areas of disagreement between Christianity and Islam.

GOD

As mentioned earlier, Islam embraces monotheism and thus agrees with Judaism and Christianity in affirming the oneness of God. However, it must be pointed out that in Islam, God is by no means triune or a Trinity. Muslims explicitly reject the Trinity and occasionally charge Christians with tri-theism, the belief in 3 gods. Islam is in its theology a Unitarian religion. Unitarian being used in its classical sense, emphasizing that God is only one Person as opposed to Three Persons in One. Furthermore, you cannot know God in Islam, he is too transcendent. In the Bible however, we can know God through Jesus (John 17:3). Christians can call God "Father" or even "Abba", the Aramaic word Jesus used, but Muslims consider it blasphemous to address God as "Father". In Islam, the relation of humanity to God is that of slave ("abd") to master ("rab"). Christians therefore share a more intimate relationship with God than Muslims do because God is our Father through Christ (John 1:12-13; Galatians 3:27).

In Islam, Allah can do whatever he wants. He can mislead, deceive, in short he is capricious. In the Bible however, God is immutable (Malachi 3:6). There are certain things God cannot do. He cannot lie (Titus 1:2), He cannot sin, and He cannot deny 15

Himself. The God of the Bible is limited only by His perfect nature. God does not create for example square circles or married bachelors.

JESUS CHRIST

Muslims revere Jesus as one of Allah's greatest prophets. The Koran seems to speak of him more than any other prophet and Jesus is the only character that the Koran gives a full biography of. However, it must be emphasized that as in the cults, there is another Jesus (2 Corinthians 11:3-4). Islam is no exception. The Jesus of Islam is only a prophet who was virgin born, performed miracles, and was sent exclusively to the children of Israel (Koran 3:46-47; 5:78,113: 19:16-21, 29-31). Contrary to Christian belief, Islam maintains Jesus was NOT crucified nor did He die on the cross (Koran 4:157). Jesus was rescued by Allah and is presently in Heaven (Koran 4:158). He will return one day, destroy the Antichrist, destroy the crosses and the pigs (??) and scold Christians for their erroneous views regarding him. He will be killed fighting for Islam and will be buried next to the grave of Muhammad ("The End of The Journey" by Muhammad Abdullah Khouj, The Islamic Centre, Wash. D.C., 1988, pgs. 42-43, 54-55). It becomes abundantly clear that this Jesus is far removed from the Jesus of the Bible. In addition, Jesus was NOT the Son of God. In Islam it is blasphemous to even say God has a son (Koran 10:68; 19:35). Muslims take this literally and charge Christians with teaching that God had sexual relations with the Virgin Mary to conceive Jesus, a charge that is biblically unsound and not accepted by Christianity at any time in its history.

The most serious attack here is the negation not only of the Deity of Jesus, but the rejection of the cross. Not only is the death of Jesus confirmed by extra biblical material but it is the scarlet thread that runs throughout the Bible. The Bible repeatedly warns that damnation follows those who reject the crucified and risen Christ (1 Corinthians 1:18). It is absolutely essential for salvation to 1) confess Jesus as Lord 2) believe God has raised Jesus from the dead. (Romans 10:9); Islam negates both (1) and (2).

HOLY SPIRIT

As stated earlier, the Trinity is denied in Islam. Muslims believe in the Spirit of Allah, but the term "holy spirit" is actually used strangely enough as a synonym for the angel Gabriel (Koran 2:87)! As with the warning by Paul about "another Jesus", he also warns us of those who bring or teach "another spirit" as well (2 Corinthians 11:4). In the Bible however, the Holy Spirit is God Himself, (Acts 5:3-4), the Third Person of the Trinity. (Matthew 28:19; 2 Corinthians 3:14, see "The Forgotten Trinity" by James R. White, Bethany House Publishers, 1998).

SIN

Muslims believe that sin is an act of disobedience against Allah. However, they reject the concept of "original sin" or Adamic sin and teach that all are born innately good and sinless. Islam does not regard the Fall as a spiritual calamity, but a minor aberration on 16 the part of Adam and Eve. In the Bible however, sin is lawlessness (1 John 3:4), it separates us from God and we are born with it from Adam (Romans 5). All have sinned and come short of God's glory (Romans 3:23). As mentioned above, even Adam is viewed as a prophet in Islam, however the New Testament states that through Adam, sin and its consequent death, entered the world and that this sin affected all his progeny as well. (Romans 5:12-21)

SALVATION

As in the cults, and other religions, salvation is only attainable by works. Islam rejects the notion of atonement, and the Koran actually says that one cannot carry another's burden for him, in other words one cannot atone for another. This is a clear rejection of the atoning sacrifice of Christ. Muslims hope that their good works will outweigh their bad works. The Bible on the other hand is quite clear that salvation is a gift from God and that humanity cannot save itself, not even by good works (Ephesians 2:8-9). Salvation is made possible through Jesus Christ. He alone is the way the truth and the life (John 14:6; Acts 4:12). Furthermore, Muslims have no certainty or assurance of their salvation. No Muslim can say with assurance that they will enter Paradise. They simply do not know. In Christ however, we can know and rest in His promises (1 John 5:13; Romans 8:1; John 5:24).

The Paradise of Islam is very different than the Heaven of the Bible. Paradise is described as a place where men recline on couches, and are served by beautiful women and young boys wearing necklaces and bracelets (Koran 37:48; 44:54; 52:24,50,72; 56:17,22; 74:19). The Heaven of the Bible is a place of purity and holiness and not a place where men's carnal appetites are appeased. This is the type of place that appeals to the unregenerate nature of man. Anyone who studies some of the early traditions of Islam will recoil at the carnal nature that it advocates as the rewards of the saved.

In this article I have tried to present the reader with a brief but compact introduction to Islam. It is clear from the above that Islam is far removed from any agreement with Christianity. It rejects the Christian notion of God, Jesus Christ and most importantly the reality of His death and resurrection, the Holy Spirit, Sin and Salvation. It is not good enough to say that, "Muslims believe in the same God as Christians do, they just approach Him differently". Remember what James warned, "You believe that there is one God [Muslims say they believe this] Good! Even the demons believe that and shudder." (James 2:19 NIV). What is James telling us? It is NOT enough to say "I believe in one God!", or embrace monotheism, or else that would warrant that the demons are saved because they believe that as well!

Augustine once commented that there is a crucial difference between believing there is a God, and believing in God. Anyone can acknowledge God is, but to believe in God implies a relationship, thus Jesus' words in John 17:3, "Now this is eternal life: That they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent." (emphasis mine) Notice the essence of eternal life involves knowing (which implies a relationship) 17 the one true God, not just affirming He is one, but notice the addition, we must also know Jesus Christ!

Islam is spiritually bankrupt. It motivates its followers with fear and power and offers them no assurance of salvation. May we motivate our Muslim friends and neighbours with love and not fear (1 John 4:18-19), and be prepared (1 Peter 3:15) to offer them the assurance of salvation that is available through our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ (Acts 4:12).

[2] Muslim Doctrine Compared with Christian Doctrine Dr. Tony Costa

DOCTRINE – GOD

Christian Position - One God eternally existent in 3 persons; transcendent, immutable (unchanging), immaterial (Spirit), nonsexual, holy.

Muslim Position - There is only one God (Allah), who is omnipotent, omnipresent and omniscient. There is no Trinity. God has communicated to humanity through angels and prophets.

DOCTRINE - CHRIST

Christian Position - Eternal Son of God, Creator of all, incarnate in Jesus; sinless and holy even as a man.

Muslim Position - One of the greatest prophets of God. Only a man, yet he was born of the virgin Mary and performed many miracles by God’s help. He was also faultless. Jesus was NOT crucified (Q4:157), but ascended into heaven. He will return again to destroy the anti-Christ, take up the sword, fight for Islam and destroy the anti-Christ, take up the sword, fight for Islam and destroy all the churches, crosses and pigs [!?]. He will rebuke Christians for false beliefs they held about him. He will marry; have children and the die for Islam. He will be buried next to the grave of Muhammad in Medina. Christ is NOT God, nor Son of God. His earthly mission was only to the ‘Children of Israel’

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DOCTRINE - HOLY SPIRIT

Christian Position - The eternal 3rd person of the Trinity everywhere present in the universe He created.

Muslim Position - Although Islam recognizes the ‘spirit of God’, the term ‘Holy Spirit’ is usually used in the Qur’an as a title for the angel ‘Jibril’ (Gabriel). Thus in Islam the Holy Spirit is NOT God.

DOCTRINE - MAN

Christian Position - Body/soul/spirit, made in the image of God (not to be God).

Muslim Position - Created by God out of the ground, but has immortal soul. Man’s purpose is to acknowledge the one God and submit to Him. Man is forgetful, thus God needs to send prophets periodically to remind him of the truth of true submission (Islam) to God.

DOCTRINE - SIN

Christian Position - All are lost in sin, which is nothing less than rebellion against our Creator; every aspect of our humanity are affected by the fall – our intellects and wills as well as our spiritual and moral ability.

Muslim Position - No one is born with ‘original sin’. Everyone is faultless until the age of reason. Forgiveness of sin available if one truly repents & asks God’s pardon. The worst sin one can commit is the sin of shirk, i.e. associating other persons with God.

DOCTRINE - SALVATION

Christian Position - By grace alone, through faith alone; all the saved inherit eternal life in this life, and will reign with Christ.

Muslim Position - Only by good works, reciting the shahada (“There is no God but God (Allah) and Muhammad is the Messenger of God”, keeping the

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5 articles of faith and 5 pillars of Islam. No atonement necessary. Good works must outweigh bad works.

DOCTRINE - CHURCH

Christian Position- All believers in Christ, identified by relationship to Him – not to religious bodies or denominations.

Muslim Position - Muslims worship in mosques. All Muslims are part of the umma (religious community) but come from various cultures, peoples and nations. Muslims are united in the confession that God is one and Muhammad is his last messenger.

DOCTRINE - HOPE

Christian Position - All Christians will be with God and Christ forever, in immortal, glorified bodies.

Muslim Position - To be resurrected and enter paradise, which is conceived of hedonistically – vast amounts of food, wine and women to fill men’s sexual appetites perpetually. Young boys are also depicted, decked out with necklaces and bracelets, serving the inhabitants of paradise.

DOCTRINE - UNBELIEVERS

Christian Position - Those who reject the free offer of pardon in Christ, standing on their own merit or choosing to live independent of God, will receive the only fate left for eternal spirit beings, eternal separation from God and Christ in hell.

Muslim Position - All non-Muslims who reject Muhammad as God’s last messenger. Early Islam accepted Jews and Christians on equal footing. But later Islam denounced them. The Qur’an warns Muslims not to make friends of Jews and Christians. All unbelievers will finally be sent to the lake of fire.

DOCTRINE - AUTHORITY

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Christian Position - The Bible. As interpreted for the church by the Holy Spirit; Christ has given gifts to the church in teachers, but they do not claim apostolic or prophetic office.

Muslim Position - The Qur’an is the literal word of God, which is eternal and later became a book. Every word in the Qur’an is from God and is infallible, authoritative and inerrant. The Hadith (there are 100s) hold a secondary place. It contains the words and deeds of Muhammad and is often referred to as the Tradition. Muslims hold it to be sacred also.

HOW TO SHARE THE GOSPEL WITH MUSLIMS

DEFINITELY DO…

 Do always remain patient with Muslims. Muslims can be very militant about their faith.  Do be understanding of your Muslim neighbour. He/she is also made in the image of God and God has and continues to call His elect ones from out of Islam. Muslims make wonderful Christians.  Do acknowledge that Muslims have deep respect for Jesus, and such biblical figures as Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, David, John the Baptist. Our difference is we disagree concerning the identity and work of Jesus.  Do understand Muslims are works oriented. They believe good works will guarantee their salvation, that such works are necessary for salvation.  Do understand Muslims believe the Bible to be corrupted and the Qur’an to be superior  Do understand that Muslim have serious misunderstandings concerning Christian doctrines such as the Trinity, the Deity of Christ etc.

DEFINITELY DON’T…

 Don’t maliciously mock Muhammad. Muslims are easily offended at this.

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 Don’t argue over insignificant issues. Dietary laws or who started more holy wars, the Muslims or the Christians? This is irrelevant to the real issue – how can a person be right before God!  Don’t assert anything that you don’t positively know about Islam. To do this would be to argue from ignorance.

For more information please visit: www.tonycosta.webs.com

[3]

51 Are the Literary Sources of Islam Reliable? Dr. Tony Costa

Some Muslims usually argue that the Christian Scriptures (New Testament) are unreliable. They occasionally cite some liberal scholars who are of the view that the New Testament documents are late compositions, and therefore are questionable in the events they seek to report. While it is true that some liberal scholars hold this opinion, it is also true that this subject of the dating of the New Testament documents is a divided one.

There is more documentary evidence for the reliability of the New Testament than any other book from the ancient world. (There are over 5 336 Greek manuscripts of the New Testament! There is in total about 24 000 manuscripts). There are many New Testament scholars such as F.F. Bruce, A.T. Robertson, Philip Schaff, Bruce Metzger, Frederic Kenyon and many others who strongly hold to and demonstrate the relatively recent compositions of the New Testament documents. Even the well known liberal scholar, John A.T. Robinson places the compositions of the gospels between 40AD- 60AD, which is within the lifetime of the eyewitnesses!52 We also have extra biblical sources that speak of Jesus, like Josephus, Tacitus, Pliny the Younger and even the

51 The following information was gathered from a Muslim-Christian Dialogue in Winstanly Hall, Trinity College, Cambridge University; UK. Between Dr. Jamal Baidawi and Mr. Joseph Smith on August 9, 1995. The reader is also encouraged to consult the book Hagarism. (Cambridge University Press: London. 1977.), Patricia Crone and Michael Cook.

52 John A.T.Robinson, Honest to God (Philadelphia: Westminster, 1963), pp. 352-353. An interesting work on the subject is by the once Bultmannian scholar, Eta Linnemann in Historical Criticism of the Bible: Methodology or Ideology? (Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1990) to which the reader is referred.

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Talmud to name a few. The Bible has withstood the test of textual criticism. This is something Christians have accepted. Have Muslims accepted the same textual criticism applied on the Qur'an or other Islamic documents?

Textual analysis of Islamic documents has shown that there exist no Muslim documents prior to 750AD. There is absolutely nothing which tells us anything about the formative years of Islam except for external or secular documents (i.e. non-Muslim sources) Why is this? Why such literary silence during this period? It is interesting nonetheless; that these non-Muslim sources contradict what the Qur'an and Hadith claim took place. Why?

Furthermore, we find that the alleged primary sources of Islam come 150 to 300 years after the events themselves. This is quite a time gap. Some of these so called primary sources depend on other sources which cannot be corroborated. In essence, we really do not have any primary sources, but secondary because they are reliant on oral tradition. In addition, the compilers of the traditions who wrote the Hadith and the Tafsir wrote between 750AD-900AD. That is about 120 to 270 years after Muhammad! The most trustworthy Hadith writer al-Bukhari for example died in 870AD and al-Tabari one of the respected commentators died in 923AD. Where did these compilers get their information? Why are they extremely late? There exists no documentation to confirm their statements. The Muslim will argue that they got their information through 'Isnad' (i.e. the chain of authorities through whom a tradition has been handed down.) This is based though, on oral tradition. However, from a scientific textual position this is insufficient, because there exists no documentation to prove this. Al-Bukhari was not an eyewitness to the events he reports, neither was Sahih Muslim or al-Tabari. How do we know that such a person told such a person something? Where is the evidence?

A textual problem our Muslim friends must face is the fact that the oldest copy in Arabic of the Qur'an dates to no later than 790AD! This is about 160 years after Muhammad! Our Muslim friends tell us that the Qur'an was completed shortly following Muhammad's death, yet the available textual evidence refutes this notion. Where are the original four copies of the Qur'an that the Caliph, 'Uthman revised and distributed throughout the Empire? Our Muslim friends usually refer us to the Samarqand Kufic Codex in Tashkent, Russia and another Kufic script in Instanbul, Turkey. These texts have been erroneously attributed to 'Uthman because they are very late. Scholars have dated these texts between 790AD to 820AD, so they could not have come from the time of 'Uthman who ruled from 644AD to 656AD. The Kufic script is a sophisticated style script and came much later. The earlier scripts of the Qur'an are far more crude. Writing style is one of the factors scholars use in determining the date of a given text.

While Muslims contend that the Qur'an was compiled during a 23 year period, scholars argue that the available evidence reveals rather that it was compiled during a 150 year

23 period. 53 It is also worth noting that the Quranic inscriptions that appear on the Dome of the Rock (built in 690AD) in Jerusalem (the third holiest site in Islam after Mecca and Medina) differ considerably in variant verbal forms and omissions from the Qur'an we currently possess.

Our Muslim friends will often argue that the Qur'an which they possess is identical with all other copies of the Qur'an around the world. This is certainly true. However, the only texts of the Qur’an that we possess come from 790AD and after. When 'Uthman had standardized the text of the Qur'an (why would one have to standardize a text which was always preserved?) and destroyed all other existing copies because of serious textual variants54, the Muslims were then left with a complete text that was the same throughout the whole empire. It is this 'Uthmanic version of the Qur'an that Muslims today have in their hands and has remained intact. It is not the same as the pre- 'Uthmanic Qur'an.

What are Muslims to do about these facts? Should they ignore them? It is not good enough to simply say it does not matter because the Qur'an is the Word of God, because then you engage in the logical fallacy of circular reasoning. Muslims must provide answers to the findings of textual criticism and archaeological research. Ignoring the facts will not make them disappear. If we neglect to examine the evidence seriously, then is it possible that all we end up doing is engaging in nothing but religious propaganda?? It is a logical fallacy to assume that by proving the other side wrong you automatically win. Just because you prove one belief system is wrong does not logically follow that your belief system is right. You can both be wrong. Until we as Christians and Muslims begin to critically examine ourselves, we do not reserve the right to critically examine each other.

[4] Popular Islamic Terms Allah: The Islamic term for god. Allah is the creator of the universe. He is considered to be merciful, beneficent, protective, mighty, a provider, the exalted one, lord, all knowing, all hearing, all seeing, magnificent, wise, and eternal. The Qur'an states 99 characteristic names for Allah.

53 It should be noted that the Qur'an is also replete with textual variants. Surah (Chapter) 2 alone contains over 140 variant readings! For an excellent and thorough treatment of this subject, the reader is referred to Dr. Arthur Jeffrey's, Materials for the History of the Text of the Qur'an. New York: AMS Press, Inc., 1975.

54 Jeffrey, Materials,p.9 24

Allahu Akbar: Arabic for "Allah is most great," or "God is great." It is used as a call to prayer. Assalaamu Álaikum: A general greeting in Islamic culture, which means, "Peace be upon you." Ayatollah: A spiritual leader among the Shi'ites. Barakah: Means blessing or divine grace. Bismillahir rahmanir rahim: A phrase recited before doing any daily activity. It means,"In the name of Allah, the most beneficent, the most merciful." Caliph: Successor of Muhammad as leader of the Muslim community. Daa'i: A missionary in Islam. Dar-al-harb: A term used for the non-Muslim world and means "House of War." Dar-al-Islam: A term that refers to the Islamic world and means "House of Islam." Da'wah: Its literal meaning is to invite others to Islam and is the Islamic equivalent to the Christian word, "mission." Dhimmis: These are conquered peoples living under Muslim rule, generally the Jews and Christians who are called "people of the Book." They are protected and can have certain rights such as privately worshipping according to their religion. However, they must pay protection money and are never considered citizens. Eid: Means a festivity, a celebration, a feast. Fatwa: This is an Islamic legal ruling or edict.

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Hadith: A collection of Muhammad's sayings and deeds, known as the Traditions, which is commonly taught as a part of Islamic theology. Hadiths are explanations and interpretations of Muhammad's living example. Hajj: * Pilgrimage to Mecca during the twelfth month of the Muslim lunar calendar. Muslims are required to perform hajj at least once in their lifetime, if means and health allow. Hijra: The flight of Muhammad from Mecca to Medina in A.D. 622 because of increasing opposition. It is also called hegira or hejira. Imam: A religious leader or head of a local community, or a spiritually qualified leader. He also leads in community political affairs. Iman: This is a belief or faith in god (Allah). Injil: It is the Gospel of Jesus and one of Islam's Holy Books. Islam: The root words of Islam are silm and salam which mean submission. Jihad: This is a struggle or effort in god's cause. The great jihad is the inward struggle against the passions. The lesser jihad is a defensive or legal war, to protect the interest of Islam. It is mistakenly called holy war. Jihad is the Muslim obligation to strive to teach, explain, spread, and protect the message of Islam. Jinn: These are unseen or spiritual beings who are required to follow the orders of Allah and are accountable for their deeds. Like humans, they are given the power to choose between right and wrong. Ka'ba: A cubic stone structure where the black stone is housed. Located in the center of the Great Mosque at Mecca, Muslims believe that it was the first house of worship built by Adam, which was later reconstructed by Abraham and Isma'il. It is also spelled ka'aba orka'bah.

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Kafir: This is a person who refuses to submit to Allah. This term is generally used by Muslims to refer to those who do not believe in Muhammad and the Qur'an, and who do not believe in god. Koran: The anglicized form of Qur'an-holy book or sacred scripture. Muslims believe that it was revealed to Muhammad through angel Gabriel, or Jibril. The Koran was not fully composed at one time. Rather, it was revealed piecemeal over a period of 23 years. It is composed of 114 surahs. Madinah: Originally this city was called Yathrib, and was located about 200 km north of Mecca. This was the first city-state that was established under the banner of Islam. Mahdi: This term means the guided one. Masjid: Arabic word translated as mosque. Mosque: A place or house of prayer-literally, a place of prostration. Muhammad: This is the prophet of the Islamic faith. He was born A.D. 570. and died in A.D. 632. Also spelled Mohammad. Muharram: Muharram is the first month of the Islamic calendar and a festival commemorating the martyrdom of the third Imam. Mullah: A learned leader, especially in Iran. Murtad: This term means an apostate or an Islamic person who is converted to another religion. Muslim: A person who submits to Allah and practices the religion of Islam. Qibla: Direction toward Mecca that is designated in a place of prayer. Qur'an: The Arabic word for recitation. See Koran.

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Ramadan: Month of fasting which is observed in the ninth month of the Islamic calendar. Muslims believe that it was during this month that the Quranic revelations began. Salaam: A salutation, greeting, or blessing which means peace. Salat: * Worship in the form of ritual prayer that is repeated five times daily. Sawm: * Fasting, especially during Ramadan. Sawm means total abstinence from food, liquids, and sexual relationships from dawn to sunset, for one lunar month. Also called slyam. Shahada: * Confessing or bearing witness to god's unity and Muhammad's role as messenger. "I testify that there is no god but Allah, and Muhammad is his Prophet. A person must recite the shahadah to convert to Islam. Shari'ah: Shari'ah is Islamic law-the way or divine path of obedience to god. It comprises the writings of the Qur'an and hadith and serves as the guide for worship and ethical living. Shi'ite: Partisan or follower who believes that leadership should come from descendants of Muhammad's family.The plural is Shi'a. Shirk: The act (sin) of regarding anything as equal with god. This includes idolatry, polytheism, or attributing divinity to a person. Sufi: A Muslim mystic who emphasizes strong denial of self for the purpose of communion with god. Sunni: Ninety percent of Muslims are Sunni. This name is derived from sunna (tradition) for one who follows the tradition of Muhammad (who did not designate a successor). It is the belief that leadership should come from among the Quraish Arabs (Muhammad's tribe).The plural is Sunnites.

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Sura: Chapter of the Qur'an, of which there are 114.The plural of surah is suwar, which means chapters. Also spelledsurah. Umma: The whole community of Islam or the ideal society god creates from those who practice and submit to Islam. Zakat: * The alms or contributions to charity required as a duty to god. Zakat constitutes about 2.5 percent of one's annual wealth. *Indicates one of the Five Pillars of Islam.

[5]

Allah’s Word for the Muslimah

Surah an-Nisa is one of the longest chapters of the Qur’an, and provides instructions on men and women should relate to each other in the Muslim ummah. On particularly important ayah to make note of is ayah 34, which states the following:

Qur’an 4:34—Men are the protectors and maintainers of women, because Allah has given the one more than the other, and because they support them from their means. Therefore the righteous women are devoutly obedient, and guard in the husband's absence what Allah would have them guard. As to those women on whose part you fear disloyalty and ill-conduct, admonish them first, next, refuse to share their beds, and last beat them; but if they return to obedience, seek not against them means.

According to this verse, a woman’s husband is to admonish her if she refuses to listen to her as a first resort. If this fails, the second resort is to make her sleep separately from him. And if this also fails, he is to punish her physically via beating. 29

Because of the harshness of this command, many English translators water down the language. For example, some translations insert the word “lightly,” since it is said that this beating is supposed to be only a light tap that leaves no mark. There are 3 problems with this explanation, however: 1) The word “lightly” is not in the original Arabic, but is an unfounded interpretive gloss, 2) it does not fit in with the pattern of progressively harder punishments, and 3) it contradicts what we know from the Sunnah. Consider for example the following sahih hadith:

Sahih al-Bukhari 7:715—Aisha said that the lady came wearing a green veil and complained to her and showed her a green spot on her skin caused by beating. It was the habit of ladies to support each other, so when Allah’s messenger came, Aisha said, “I have not seen any woman suffering as much as the believing women. Look! Her skin is greener than her clothes!”

This is clearly not a light beating described in this narration. In fact, Muslim women are here described as suffering more than non-Muslim women. This is elaborated further in the following hadiths, which give more historical background on how these beatings came to be promulgated:

Sunan Abu Dawud 2141—Narrated Abdullah ibn Abu Dhubab: Iyas ibn Abdullah ibn Abu Dhubab reported the Apostle of Allah as saying: Do not beat Allah's handmaidens, but when Umar came to the Apostle of Allah and said: Women have become emboldened towards their husbands, the Prophet gave permission to beat them. Then many women came round the family of the Apostle of Allah complaining against their husbands. So the Apostle of Allah said: Many women have gone round Muhammad's family complaining against their husbands. They are not the best among you.

Sunan Abu Dawud 2142—Narrated Umar ibn al-Khattab: The Prophet said: A man will not be asked as to why he beat his wife.

Clearly, this is not a sign of gender equality. Wife-beating should never be condoned, and yet we have here Muhammad sanctioning this brutal act.

The Intellectual & Spiritual State of Women

In another chapter of the Qur’an, surah al-Baqarah, we find the following verse written as a command to believers on how the testimony of women should be regarded:

Qur’an 2:282—Get two witnesses, out of your own men, and if there are not two men, then a man and two women, such as ye choose, for witnesses, so that if one of them errs, the other can remind her. 30

It is seen here that the testimony of women is only half as valuable as a man’s. Now, it would be bad enough if this was just chalked off to female incompetence, but it goes much deeper than that. According to Muhammad, this is the evidence that women are spiritually and intellectually female inferior. In another sahih hadith, he is recorded as saying the following words to a group of women:

Sahih al-Bukhari 1:301—Narrated Abu Said Al-Khudri: Once Allah's Apostle went out to the Musalla to offer the prayer of 'Id-al-Adha or Al-Fitr prayer. Then he passed by the women and said, “O women! Give alms, as I have seen that the majority of the dwellers of Hell-fire were you (women).” They asked, “Why is it so, O Allah's Apostle?” He replied, “You curse frequently and are ungrateful to your husbands. I have not seen anyone more deficient in intelligence and religion than you. A cautious sensible man could be led astray by some of you.” The women asked, “O Allah's Apostle! What is deficient in our intelligence and religion?” He said, "Is not the evidence of two women equal to the witness of one man?" They replied in the affirmative. He said, “This is the deficiency in her intelligence. Isn't it true that a woman can neither pray nor fast during her menses?” The women replied in the affirmative. He said, “This is the deficiency in her religion.”

What is most striking about this quote is hell is said to be filled with women. This is one of the worst forms of gender inequality that one could find in the hadiths. It is not only here that this is proclaimed, but in many other place as well. For example:

Sahih Muslim 6600—Imran b. Husain reported that Allah's Messenger said: Amongst the inmates of Paradise the women would form a minority.

Is this empowering or degrading to women? The words recorded in the Qur’an and the Sunnah speak for themselves.

Women as Tilth

Yet another Qur’anic ayah worth looking is the following verse, also from Surah al- Baqarah, which states the following:

Qur’an 2:223—Your wives are as a tilth unto you; so approach your tilth when or how you will.

Concerning this verse, it is written in the tafsir (commentary) by Al-Jalalayn: “Your women are a tillage for you, that is, the place where you sow [the seeds of] your children; so come to your tillage, that is, the specified place, the front part, as, in whichever way, you wish, whether standing up, sitting down, lying down, from the front

31 or the back.” The idea of the wife being obligated to provide pleasure for her husband is reinforced by a hadith wherein Muhammad is reported as saying the following:

Sahih al-Bukhari 7:121—Narrated Abu Huraira: The Prophet said, “If a man invites his wife to sleep with him and she refuses to come to him, then the angels send their curses on her till morning.”

What is most glaring about this teaching is the fact that the woman’s enjoyment and pleasure is not at all taken into consideration.

A Contrasting View

It can be seen at this point that the Qur’an and Sunnah’s teaching on the status of women leave much to be desired. If you are wondering whether there is any other way. The answer is yes, and that way is through the Gospel of Jesus Christ. This Gospel does offer true and lasting equality between male and female because it transcends and breaks through the inequalities of our fallen world. Just as it is written:

Galatians 3:28—There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.

Under this paradigm, both men and women are equally created in the image of God (Genesis 1:26-27), and this fact puts both sexes at an equal playing field spiritually. Also, whereas Islam devalues the ability of women to bear witness, the Gospel emphasizes it via the fact that the first people to witness Jesus’ resurrection from the tomb were His women followers, who then go on to inform the men about His resurrection.

In addition, marital relationships are also equalized, because the enjoyment of marital pleasure must be mutual and not one-sided (1 Corinthains 7:3-5). Also, while wives are still expected to submit to their husbands, the gusbands are not permitted to beat their wives, but are rather commanded to love them even to the point of giving their lives for their wives if necessary (Ephesians 5:33).

Most importantly, because men and women are at an equal playing field spiritually, there is no gender disparity on matters of heaven and hell. Both men and women are culpable before the Almighty because of their sin, but at the same time, both are offered the promise of eternal life upon the condition of believing in Jesus (that is, who He says He is and what He came down on earth to do). By believing in the person and work of Christ, both men and women are granted salvation and freedom from sin. Listen to what Jesus has to say on the matter:

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John 8:32, 36—And you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free... [for] if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.

Mark 10:45—For the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.

The Christian Gospel offers a better way, not only for women but also for anyone else who wants true spiritual life, joy and freedom. Put your trust in Jesus Christ, and you will not be disappointed.

Romans 10:9—If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.

For more information, also see the following debate between Mary Jo Sharp and Tabasum Hussain: “Women in the Bible and the Qur'an:” http://www.answeringmuslims.com/2010/02/mary-jo-sharp-vs-tabasum-hussain- women.html

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Who Corrupted the Gospel?

One day, Muhammad began doubting his status as a prophet. In response to his confusion, the Qur’an commanded Muhammad to go to the Jews and Christians, so that they could confirm or disconfirm his revelations, based on the Scriptures already in their possession.

Qur’an 10:94-95—But if you (O Muhammad) are in doubt as to what We have revealed to you, ask those who read the Book before you; certainly the truth has come to you from your Lord, therefore you should not be of the disputers. And you should not be of those who reject the communications of Allah, (for) then you should be one of the losers.

But if Jews and Christians during Muhammad’s time could compare his revelations with the Scriptures they already had, how can Muslims today tell us that the Jewish and Christian Scriptures have been corrupted?

Muslims often claim that the Gospel has been corrupted. The Qur’an, however, tells us that the Gospel is the Word of Allah, and that no one can corrupt Allah’s Word:

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Qur’an 3:3—He has revealed to you the Book with truth, verifying that which is before it, and He revealed the Torah and the Gospel aforetime, a guidance for the people, and He sent the Qur’an.

Qur’an 6:115—The word of thy Lord doth find its fulfillment in truth and in justice: None can change His words: for He is the one who heareth and knoweth all.

Qur’an 18:27—And recite what has been revealed to you of the Book of your Lord, there is none who can alter His words; and you shall not find any refuge besides Him.

These verses lead to an obvious question. If the Gospel is the Word of God, and no one can corrupt God’s Word, who corrupted the Gospel? The answer may surprise you.

For nearly two thousand years, Christians have proclaimed Jesus’ death and resurrection. Islam rejects both of these doctrines and offers a different account of what happened at the cross and afterwards. However, the Muslim explanation comes at a terrible price: God is portrayed as a horrible deceiver, and Jesus as the most stupendous failure in the history of the prophets.

According to the Qur’an, Allah not only corrupted Jesus’ message, but also helped Christians spread false teachings. To understand why Islam demands such a view, let us consider seven facts.

FACT #1: The Qur’an states that Jesus was a messenger of Allah and a prophet of Islam. Indeed, Qur’an 19:23-33 tells us that Jesus began preaching Islamic theology shortly after he was born! Jesus continued to preach Islam throughout his life, until he was taken to heaven. According to Qur’an 42:13, Jesus’ message was no different from the message of the prophets before him.

FACT #2: The Qur’an states that Jesus won a number of followers, who were Muslims. Since Jesus spent his entire life proclaiming Islam, his preaching must have centered on the basic tenets of Islamic theology. The Qur’an tells us that Jesus was successful, and that some of his listeners converted to Islam (Qur’an 3:52, 5:111).

FACT #3: In the Qur’an, Allah promises Jesus that his followers would be superior to unbelievers until the Day of Resurrection. Notice that Allah doesn’t say, “Sorry Jesus, but your disciples will be overpowered by the Apostle Paul.” Instead, Allah promises victory for the Christians:

Qur’an 3:55—Behold! Allah said: “O Jesus! I will take thee and raise thee to Myself and clear thee (of the falsehoods) of those who blaspheme; I will make those who follow thee superior to those who reject faith, to the Day of Resurrection.”

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Since the Day of Resurrection hasn’t arrived yet, Christians must still be “superior to those who reject faith”!

FACT #4: If there were any first-century Jews who converted to Islam at the preaching of Jesus, they didn’t last very long. The claim that Jesus’ followers were Muslims leads us to ask: Why have we never heard of any Muslims existing in the first century? We have a great deal of historical information about Jesus’ disciples, but we have no evidence at all that any of them believed in Islam. Indeed, the evidence we have tells us that Jesus’ followers believed in his death and resurrection. Defenders of Islam will most likely respond that later Christians wiped out all records of Jesus’ “Muslim” followers (just as I could claim, based on sheer speculation, that Muhammad’s followers were all Christians, but that later Muslims wiped out all records of their Christian beliefs). However, even if we grant such an outlandish assumption, this still presents Muslims with an enormous problem: What happened to these first-century Muslims? Why was their Islamic faith replaced by belief in Jesus’ sacrificial death and resurrection from the dead? Who altered the message Jesus delivered to his followers?

FACT #5: According to Islam, Allah corrupted the Gospel through illusion, deceiving people into believing that Jesus died on the cross. History shows that Jesus’ early followers became convinced of his death and resurrection. Hence, the obvious reason that there were no Muslims after Jesus ascended into heaven is that Jesus’ followers came to believe that he died on the cross and rose from the dead. Where, according to Islam, did they get this idea? The Qur’an tells us that belief in Jesus’ death was caused by Allah!

Qur’an 4:157-158—That they said (in boast), “We killed Christ Jesus the son of Mary, the Messenger of Allah”—But they killed him not, nor crucified him, but so it was made to appear to them, and those who differ therein are full of doubts, with no (certain) knowledge, but only conjecture to follow, for of a surety they killed him not—Nay, Allah raised him up unto Himself; and Allah is Exalted in Power, Wise.

Based on this passage (and on narrations going back to Muhammad’s companions), Muslims believe that Allah took Jesus to heaven, and then disguised someone else (Judas, according to the most popular interpretation) to make him look like Jesus. This other person was later crucified, but Allah made everyone think that it was Jesus.

Thus, even though Muslims often maintain that the Apostle Paul altered the Gospel, the Qur’an tells us that Jesus’ message was corrupted, at least in part, by Allah himself, who either intentionally or unintentionally originated belief in Jesus’ crucifixion. But Allah didn’t stop there. Instead of correcting the errors he invented, he took Christianity to the next level. 35

FACT #6: The Qur’an states that Allah helped spread Christianity. Once Allah had deceived countless people (thereby corrupting Jesus’ message), he worked diligently to aid the Christians in spreading their “false” Gospel:

Qur’an 61:14—O you who believe! be helpers (in the cause) of Allah, as [Jesus] son of Marium said to (his) disciples: Who are my helpers in the cause of Allah? The disciples said: We are helpers (in the cause) of Allah. So a party of the children of Israel believed and another party disbelieved; then We aided those who believed against their enemy, and they became uppermost.

This verse tells us that Allah helped the followers of Jesus against the Jews who rejected Jesus, and that these followers eventually, with the help of Allah, “became uppermost.” So who were these followers of Jesus who became stronger than the Jews? Muslims can’t claim here that Allah helped the “Muslim” followers of Jesus, because even if we assume that such a group existed, they obviously never gained an upper hand over anyone. Indeed, since we have no record of their existence, they must have gone astray immediately. The only Christians who ever “became uppermost” over the Jews were the Christians of the Roman Empire. But these Christians believed in Jesus’ death, resurrection, and divinity, all of which are false doctrines, according to Islam. Hence, if we believe the Qur’an, we can only conclude that Allah helped spread a corrupt version of Christianity! Why, we may ask, is Christianity currently the largest religion on the planet? The Qur’an tells us that Christianity has been so successful because of Allah!

FACT #7: The Qur’an affirms the Christian Scriptures. When Muslims say that the Bible has been corrupted, they contradict the Qur’an. As we have seen, the Qur’an declares that no one can corrupt God’s Word. Muslims will likely reply that this only refers to the Qur’an (as if Allah somehow acquired the ability to protect his Word after the earlier texts had been altered), but this doesn’t account for numerous clear Qur’anic passages affirming that the Christian Scriptures were available during the time of Muhammad:

Qur’an 5:47—Let the people of the Gospel judge by what Allah hath revealed therein. If any do fail to judge by (the light of) what Allah hath revealed, they are (no better than) those who rebel.

Qur’an 5:68—Say: “O People of the Book! Ye have no ground to stand upon unless ye stand fast by the Law, the Gospel, and all the revelation that has come to you from your Lord.”

Qur’an 7:157—Those who follow the Messenger, the unlettered Prophet, whom they find mentioned in their own (Scriptures)—in the Law and the Gospel— . . . it is they who will prosper. 36

Amazingly, Muslims tell us not to trust the very Scriptures the Qur’an commands Christians to obey!

QUESTIONS

The seven facts we have examined leave a number of questions unanswered.

 Why would Allah lead Jesus’ followers astray and destroy everything Jesus had worked so hard to accomplish?  Why did Allah tell Jesus that his followers would be superior to unbelievers until the Day of Resurrection? Didn’t Allah know that he was about to corrupt Christianity?  If the Gospel was given to man as “guidance,” why didn’t Allah preserve his message (rather than start a heresy)?  If the Gospel was corrupted in the early centuries of Christianity, why did Allah say that Christians still possessed it during Muhammad’s time? Was Allah ignorant of the corruption?  Why would Allah command Christians to judge by a corrupt book? Didn’t Allah know that, if we judge by the Gospel, we must reject Islam?  If Allah is powerless to stop people from corrupting his message, can we even trust the Qur’an?  Once the Christian heresy had started, why did Allah help the Christian heretics rise to power, rather than Jesus’ true followers? Didn’t Allah promise that the true followers would be victorious?  If Allah deceives people who follow his prophets, how do Muslims know that he isn’t deceiving them?  Since Allah deceived people about Jesus, and since he couldn’t protect the rest of Jesus’ message, what did Jesus ultimately accomplish?

ASSESSMENT

Muslims boast about their reverence for God and their respect for his prophets. Yet, upon closer examination, we see that Islam accuses God of one of the most heinous religious deceptions ever. Allah leads people astray for no reason, starts false religions, overthrows the work of his prophets, and is powerless to preserve his message.

The Muslim position also suggests that Jesus was the greatest failure in the history of the prophets. Jesus spent his entire life preaching, yet he couldn’t win a single lasting convert, and his “Muslim” followers fell apart so rapidly that they vanished from history.

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The true Jesus warned his followers that false prophets would come. He also commanded us not to believe them (Matthew 7:15-20). One of the ways we can spot false prophets is by carefully discerning when their teachings lead to unacceptable beliefs about God. God is Truth, and he is Love. Islam, when carefully examined, would have us believe otherwise.

If we compare Muhammad’s teachings with those of the New Testament, we see a stark contrast. According to the Bible, Jesus voluntarily entered our world to be the perfect sacrifice for sins (Isaiah 53, Mark 10:45, John 10:17-18). The Father was victorious from beginning to end. Jesus was entirely successful in his work. The disciples he chose preached his message fearlessly even in the face of torture and death. Hence, while Islam insults and degrades God and Jesus, Christianity glorifies the Father and the Son.

Who corrupted the Gospel? The facts we have examined leave us with only two options. Either (1) Allah corrupted the Gospel, by producing a false belief in Jesus’ crucifixion, or (2) Muhammad corrupted the Gospel, by changing the message from one of victory and sacrificial love to an absurd tale of a deceptive God and an incompetent Messiah. Since it is impious and immoral to accuse God of pointless deception, we must conclude that Muhammad was a false prophet.

FOR FURTHER STUDY

Many readers will have questions or objections to the arguments contained in this pamphlet. We have therefore provided a comment section at the following link: http://www.answeringmuslims.com/2011/05/who-corrupted-gospel.html

Source: http://www.4truth.net/fourtruthpbworld.aspx?pageid=8589953035

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Recommended Reads

Rediscovering the Church Fathers – Michael A.G. Haykin Answering Islam – Norman L. Geilser, Abdul Saleeb

**some copies available for purchase at Southwood Church, email: [email protected]

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