Today I had a really great conversation with a Muslim. He was about my age, and we had a lot in common. We both agreed to disagree on many topics, but to tell you the truth I learned from that boy, and he admitted, whether he wanted to or not, to have learned from me too.
He, on his own accord, without me doing any mental work at all, consistently brought up points that I was prepared for and was knowledgeable about. Some of them I had literally studied just hours before. The confidence this brought was key.
I believe because of some things God showed the muslim boy today through me that it will be easier, more sensible even for him to join the good guys. One of the points brought up in this conversation is this: What happened at the crucifixion seemingly causes us Christians to feel as if we are not responsible for our actions.
It is easy to fall into a Muslim’s trap when they bring up anything. They have studied themselves approved in a much greater way than the average Christian. They tend to spin a yarn that makes us look like irresponsible children and our doctrine like an unrealistic fairy tale. Once this point is made by a Muslim (and they will make that point, trust me) it is important to recognize that any Christian who has given their life to a church, a denomination or to any representation of Christ will be obliterated by the Muslim in that argument and rightly so. Why? Because those Christians have not yet experienced how God actually handles sin. To those Christians, the gospel more or less is a fairy tale. Forgive me for putting it that plainly. I have been on both sides of this and I understand how you feel.
The Bible very subtly warns us of the difference between copy catting others who have given their lives to Christ and actually giving up one’s life for Him. In Genesis we learn of Abraham walking with God. When he is in the maelstrom that was Egypt during a famine, he withholds information from his enemies in order to both save himself, his wife, and his obedience to God. He tells everybody that Sarah is his sister and moves forward trusting God will do the rest. God does, and in magnificent fashion. Abraham does it again when in the land of king Abimelech and the outcome is exactly the same.
Fast forwarding a few chapters we find Abraham’s son, Isaac in the same situation, with the same king even. Isaac’s wife is on the line because she also is beautiful like his mother, Sarah. Isaac probably thought quickly this worked for my dad and he tells the king “She is my sister.”
Uh oh. Isaac’s copy catting does not quite work, spiritually, as Abraham’s did. Withholding information and speaking something that is untrue are not the same thing. A copy catter might do well verse for verse defending their beliefs against another’s beliefs. Here is the problem with that though: If we have not truly given our lives to Yeshua, we will leave that conversation worried about some of the points the Muslim had. That will show through, subtly in our body language, the Muslim will pick up on it, and the Muslim will walk away with more faith in their religion because they noticed that they got to another Christian.
Please forgive me if that point was sort of rough. Rectifying it is between you and God. If you have had a lengthy and good relationship with Him (not your church, but Him) you understand what it feels like to no longer deal with guilt or shame. If you are not yet on that boat you can easily search your heart to avoid the worse of two outcomes for an unavoidable event: meeting Him. Is church your God, or is Jesus your God?
That was point A. Point B is more of a sword for your arsenal than an abrasive questioning of where you stand with God. Please forgive me. Muslims have taken our patriarch Abraham and twisted it to seem like He is their Father instead of ours. The father of their faith even. They are fighting for what Ishmael never had so many years ago. There are a lot of similarities in the Muslim and Christian faiths. There is a reason for this. Abraham is the father of many children. Isaac is the child that God instructed Abraham (even against Abraham’s will at points: Genesis 21:8-14) to favor. Ishmael is Abraham’s firstborn son. Ishmael is the root of the nation of Islam (Genesis 21:13 & Genesis 25:12-18). The Torah tells us that the sons and daughters of the slave women were not treated the same as Isaac. The servant women’s children were given gifts but were driven out of their home with Abraham while Abraham was alive. On the other hand, Isaac was given the inheritance (what Islam is fighting for). (all of this information can be found in Genesis Chapters 12- 26)
Christianity comes from this line: Abraham to Isaac to Jacob (called Israel). Keep in mind that most of the sons and daughters of this tribe are disobedient children of God, but children from Abraham’s inheritance none-the-less. On the other hand, Islam comes from Ishmael. Why not Abraham to Ishmael? Because there is a division between Abraham and Ishmael. The difference in the parting Ishmael took from Abraham and the parting Isaac took from Abraham is this: Ishmael was:
- Driven away
- Given gifts
- No inheritance.
There is a nation that comes from Ishmael (Genesis 21:13): Islam. The nation of Israel and the sons and daughters of God comes from Abraham: Genesis 12:7 combined with Genesis 15:1-6 and is contextually accurate.
****Correction (2/28/017)***** Today I read Genesis 35, where God speaks to Israel describing to him that a nation will come from him as well. The only difference then, between the sons of Ishmael and the sons of Israel are that God intended to bless Israel with the inheritance, whereas God intended to make a nation out of both of them giving only gifts but no inheritance to Ishmael. *********
Muslims are still fighting to take over the inheritance that is not theirs. They have the option to come to faith in Yeshua, bringing them (in a roundabout way) into the inheritance that they are fighting for.
I do not think you will adequately defend the faith after reading this article. Adequately defending the faith would be more well done through prayer and reading the scripture from this angle, knowing that Muslims like to say “Islam comes from the faith of Abraham” or is “The Abrahamic faith.” They berate Christians by telling them a bunch of stuff (mostly true stuff) the Christians haven’t heard before, intending on converting them. By the time that a converted Christian finds out that the basis of their conversion was sprinkled with a lie or two, they are deeply entwined socially with Muslims and have seen how much less hypocrisy is in that church than their own and sometimes end up staying on a path that leads to destruction. Do not let them fool you!
