Witnessing to Muslims

So Sunday night our fellowship went to the local mosque to witness there. We have been there before, though it was my first time. We were received well as they were very friendly and extremely hospitible. We had an interesting dialogue, with many hangups. It seems that not only is Jesus our Lord a stumbling block to Jews, but also to Muslims.

Here's a couple of hangups:
1)How can Jesus be both God and the Son of God? If God died then how could God will Himself back to life? It is difficult to answer this question. Paul himself called it a mystery. We simply said you limit the Almighty. They say God+Jesus=Idolatry, we say Father+Son+Spirit=God.

2)Adams sin was a forgiven mistake that did not transfer to humanity. Though they say that Adam was in paradise, they don't believe that sin nature was from him.

3)All prophets are perfect and sinless. So there was nothing real special about Jesus.

4)Being works-based they say on the scales the good must outway the bad. Using the same illustration, we would say you cannot do enough good to tip the scales away from our "badness." This is because even our most righteous good works are as filthy rags.

It becomes abundantly clear after only moments of conversation that the issue isn't differences in opinion it's the Word of God vs. the words of Mohammad. They choose the doctrines of man. The whole idea of a "new revelation" being written 500 years after the NT, and that being totally contrary to the words written by those who walked with Jesus, should be concerning enough to drive the Muslims to reconcider their position. So, this is the main problem--how to witness to people that have been taught that the book you have faith in is corrupt.

So, after giving it more thought there are at least 3 things that can be done:
1)Since they are works based, they need to see and receive the works of Christ wrought in love though Christians.
2)We must build their faith in God's real Word--there is abundant evidence that the word is accurate and true.
3)An encounter with the living God--an Elijah experience where it's the living God vs. Baal.

The later would be a definite plus plus! Though even the Jews that were shown the many signs and wonders that Jesus performed did not believe.

If anyone has any ideas or ministries that could really help, that would be great!

First may I commend you for your desire and zeal to win Muslims to Christ.

When I talk to Muslims, I normally point out to them that the Koran itself, shows the Deity of Christ.

The account of the birth of Jesus is recorded in Sura 19:19: "He said, "I am the messenger of your Lord, to grant you a pure son."

Now, the Arabic word for pure or righteous is (afeefah), which means in English FAULTLESS, HOLY, SINLESS - and as only God is sinless, one doesn't need to be a scholar to appreciate that Mohamed correctly understood Jesus to be Deity.

http://www.excatholicsforchrist.com/articles.php?PageURL=Islam.htm

For further information about God becoming a man (something they ridducle), may I suggest this following article:

First NOTHING is impossible for God to do and this is found in the Bible: "Is any thing too hard for the LORD?" (Gen. 18:14.) and in the Koran 3:47: "Rather, when God decides something, He need only say to it 'Be!' and it is." It is interesting that Muslims will quote the above verse from 1 Kings 8:27, under the assumption it is correct, but in other places they doubt the authenticity of other sections of the Bible. Is it not fair to say that they are simply doing what all sceptics have long done: pick and choose which parts of the Bible they like, or which parts best suit their own biases and pre-suppositions!

http://www.excatholicsforchrist.com/articles.php?PageURL=THE%20BIBLE%20VS%20THE%20KORAN.htm

Thanks. It never occurred to me that I could even use the Koran as a doctrinal basis for Jesus, since it lies about Him anyway. I actually ran across this as I was researching my question on Anish Shorrosh's webpage.

sscott,

Yes, we actually did get into a discussion on the issue of covered women. They actually asked us if we'd like to know, and curious me, of course. Now we did attack the heart on this issue, though we did agree that modesty is important. I think we would have pressed the issue more, but we had time constraints and they had hangups and issues also with the Holy Spirit. They did not understand the Holy Spirit, though we did explain this. They wanted to debate and not concentrate less on the heart, because they cannot change that without the help of God.

Though they desire to please God and despise sin, I came away feeling they are very 'Catholic' about their sin. You know it happens (as a rule) and you ask forgiveness and that's it. Of course they said repentence, but their version of repentence is not turning away from sin and toward God.

Hey Greg (or anybody else),

Is there something in the Koran that states they have to kill anybody who is not like them??

I think just like most Christians, most Muslims just want to be casual. There "good" people who follow their faith but just want to work, tend to their family, and die happy with Jesus or Allah stamped to thier tombstone.

So are the extreme ones on TV that we alway see on CNN, are they the real muslims who are living the way the Koran says to??

Santana,

Here is a link to Anis Shorrosh's website--his video debate with a muslim scholar is on this site. This link is about the violent verses in the Koran. Judge for yourself.

[url=http://www.islam-in-focus.com/QuranVerses.htm]http://www.islam-in-focus.com/QuranVerses.htm[/url]

NLONG,

Have you read the book "I Dared to Call Him Father" by Bilquis Sheikh? The author was a high-born Muslim lady who became a Believer and how that happened. The book has many useful lessons. Just thought I would share this with you, you may find it helpful. It is available online at Amazon, sometimes on ebay..you will just have to look.

Here is a website you might find fascinating: www.answering-islam.org
EDIT: this link has testimonies that will lift your spirit!
http://www.answering-islam.org/Testimonies/index.html

Blessings,
ginnyrose

Thanks Ginnyrose, I saw a link from Anis Shorrosh's website, but didn't have time to check it out. Thanks for the help.