Another ‘Six’ Against Muslim Arguments-Defending Faith-part2

God is infinite and the truth about him is infinitely complex. However, ‘the father of lies,’ is using different methods to malign God’s truth by reducing it to some ‘simple’ statements. One of those methods is framing fallacious questions to misguide or create doubts in the minds of ordinary people, writes Prasanna. f It is becoming increasingly apparent that the Muslim apologists have been used by the father of lies as powerful instruments in these last days to achieve his sole purpose of deceiving people and steering them away from God’s free gift of forgiveness and eternal life which are available only in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Muslim apologists have been trying to undermine biblical truths tirelessly and often pathetically. In their zeal they are willing to employ any question as long as it serves their purpose of maligning God’s truth, even if it is based on false assumptions. They seem to be willing to go down to any level of dishonesty and irrationality if they figure out that it will help them to ‘prove’ to their gullible followers that the Biblical Christianity is wrong. They are successful in this, particularly among their own kind. Here we can see some of the deceptive methods that the Muslim apologists devised against God’s truth, and how they can be countered logically and scripturally. Muslims in general have two main problems in understanding the concept and nature of God presented in the Bible. Because of their failure to accept these concepts they continue to raise any number of questions which only expose their pathetic spiritual discernment. First, they are completely foreign to the concept of plurality within Godhead i.e. Trinity. Second, they are totally ignorant of the fact that both divinity and humanity were united (incarnation) in one person i.e. Jesus Christ. These two doctrines pose insurmountable difficulties to Muslim mind. It is therefore our responsibility and privilege to help our Muslim neighbors in understanding the truths that pertain to eternal life as presented in God’s word, the Holy Bible. Ordinary Muslims may not go to great lengths to argue against Jesus’ deity, although they assume that he is no more than a prophet. What needs to be emphasized with such individuals is not Jesus’ deity, but his atoning sacrifice. Once a Muslim comes to the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ he/she will certainly be led into all truth by God’s spirit as he studies and grows in God’s word. Here let us examine six more fallacious arguments Muslim apologists love to use against Christians while failing to recognize their own ignorance and foolishness. Fallacious tactic #1 Muslim apologists would come up with the following questions: 1. Can God be seen? (answer is ‘no’) 2. Did people see Jesus? (answer is ‘yes’) Therefore Jesus is not God (according to Islamic reasoning!) Is it sound reasoning? No, certainly not. Here is an example of the above reasoning: 1. Is water a hard substance? (answer is ‘no’) 2. Is ice a hard substance? (answer is ‘yes’) Therefore ice is not water (according to Islamic reasoning!) God, as he is, is invisible. God is neither part of nature nor within the power of nature. That’s why God’s word says He alone possesses immortality and dwells in unapproachable light; whom no man has seen or can see. Likewise, angels are also supernatural beings. They too cannot be seen by natural beings. However, angels can and did make themselves appear to humans particularly to the prophets of God. This is possible because of the powers they possess.  In the case of God, He cannot be seen both by humans and angels. However, by His power He makes Himself appear to both angels and humans (ex. Adam and Eve, Abraham and Sarah, Moses, Isaiah, etc.). God appeared in human form to Adam and Abraham. This shows us that man can see God if God appears in a form that man can perceive and comprehend. In the same way, when God appeared in the flesh as Jesus Christ, people were able to see him. If Muslim asks “Could God be seen?” Christians can respond in two different ways: Response – 1 Christian: First let me know, what do you think about the angels? Can they be seen or not? If Muslim says ‘no’ then they should be educated in their own religion. According to Quran and hadiths humans saw and conversed with angels. If Muslim says ‘yes’ then ask them why can’t we see the angels around us all the time? They might say that we can see only if they make themselves appear to us otherwise it is impossible for us to see them. To this Christians should agree. Christians should explain, in the same way God cannot be seen but if he makes himself appear to us we can see him. In the case of Jesus, he is not God as God has always been, but he is ‘God in human form and nature’. God made himself appear to humans as Jesus Christ who came into this world in flesh and blood.   Response – 2 Christian: Yes and no Muslim: What do you mean by that? Christian: God as only God cannot be seen, however, if God comes in human form and nature he can be seen.  Fallacious tactic #2 Muslims apologists ask another set of questions like these: 1. Was God born and has a beginning?  (answer is ‘no’) 2. Was Jesus born and has a beginning?  (answer is ‘yes’) Therefore Jesus is not God (according to Muslim reasoning!) God was neither borne nor has a beginning. God made himself appear to humans as the human being Jesus Christ. But in the case of Jesus Christ, God was not as what he has always been. God took on human nature and form. That is what Jesus Christ is. The union of divinity and humanity, which was made possible only due to God’s power, is unique and unparallel in the whole of creation. There is no such being anywhere else. Energy and matter are two different states and they have two different natures. They both can co-exist without cancelling each other out (eg. Iron and heat). Jesus as God remains as without birth and without beginning, but Jesus as man was born and had a beginning. Both natures, divine and human, co-exist without nullifying each other in Jesus. If a Muslim asks a Christian the following question: Was God born and has a beginning? The Christian should respond with ‘no.’ However, when the Muslim asks the following question; Was Jesus born and has a beginning? The Christian should respond in the following way: As God ‘no,’ but as man ‘yes.’ Fallacious tactic #3 Muslim apologists can come up with the following set of questions to prove their intelligence: 1. Is God self-sufficient? (answer is ‘yes’) 2. Was Jesus in need of things like food, water, rest etc.? (answer is ‘yes’) Therefore Jesus is not God (according to Muslim reasoning!) God as God is always self-sufficient. But God in the form and nature of man was in need of things like food, water, rest etc. Jesus was not God as ‘only God’, but he was ‘God in human form and nature’. The need was only for the human form and nature.  When a Muslim comes with the following question: Is God self-sufficient or not? Christian should ask the questioning Muslim: You mean God as ‘only God’ or as ‘incarnate-God’? If the Muslim says ‘as God’ then the answer is ‘God is self-sufficient and he does not need anything.’ If the Muslims says ‘as incarnate-God’ then the answer is the opposite. But the Muslim may protest saying that there is no such a being as ‘incarnate-God.’ To which Christian should insist that there is such a being as ‘incarnate-God’ and he is Jesus Christ. If the Muslim has a problem with that the Christian can invite him/her to study the ‘Injeel’ (New Testament) with open mind and heart to see the truth about this himself/herself.  Fallacious tactic #4 Muslim apologists ask the following questions and feel that they have proved their point! 1. Is God immutable or changeless? (answer is ‘yes’) 2. Was Jesus changing in body and intellect? (answer is ‘yes’) Therefore Jesus is not God (according to Muslim reasoning!) Again, the same problem. Muslims who ask this kind of questions are incapable or forgetful of who Jesus was i.e. God in human form and nature. As God Jesus experienced no change but as man he did experience change. For the question number 2 the Christian can answer in the following manner; As man yes, but as God no. Fallacious tactic #5 Muslim apologists sometimes appeal to the scriptures and interpret them according to their ‘reasoning!’ 1. Do you believe that God is your God? (answer is ‘yes’) 2. Did Jesus also say that God is his God? (answer is ‘yes’) Therefore Jesus is not God (according to Muslim reasoning!) Muslims persist in their ignorance of who Jesus was. Jesus was God in Human form and nature. As man, Jesus refers to the Father as my God and my Father. However, he was careful to distinguish his relation to the Father from that of our relation to the Father. Which is why Jesus says ‘your Father and my Father, your God and my God,’ but not ‘our Father and our God.’ Muslim mind from its Islamic brain-washing cannot see God’s truth as it is, therefore it is prudent to avoid calling Jesus as just ‘God,’ rather emphasize his incarnation when making a confession of his deity, like: ‘Jesus is God in human form and nature.’ This way of responding to Muslim questioning will frustrate their evil efforts and at the same time exposes their foolishness.  Fallacious tactic #6 Here we will see one of the favorite arguments devil has devised against Jesus’ deity.  As faithful puppets of the devil both Muslims and Russellites (the so-called Jehovah’s Witnesses) use this argument with the following questions: 1. How many true Gods are there? (Answer is ‘one’)2. Did Jesus say that the Father is the ONLY true God? (Answer is ‘yes’) “Therefore, Jesus is not the true God as he gave that title exclusively to the Father,” (according to Muslim and Russellite reasoning!)   Jesus is addressing the Father with emphasis when he said ‘you are the only true God’ (Jn.17:3).  For him to say otherwise would be promoting polytheism. Assuming that he could have said differently, like ‘you are one of the true Gods.’ This would mean that the Father is one of the true gods, which is a lie. The Bible teaches God exists and He is one. The Bible also explains that that one God is the true God. If someone is addressing the Creator and uses the terms such as ‘God’ or ‘true God’ or ‘only true God’ he/she is referring to the same God, but with various degrees of emphasis. There is a world of difference between the following two statements. First one is in the Bible and the second one is NOT in the Bible. Had Jesus wanted to exclude himself from the ‘only true God’ he would have stated it like the second statement: The Father is the ‘only true God.’ (Jn.17:3) The Father alone is the ‘only true God.’ What we see in the Bible is what the statement 1 says. If the statement 2 were to be found in the Bible then the conclusion drawn by the Muslim apologists or the Russellites would become logically true. However, that is not what we see in the Bible. If Jesus were to exclude himself from the title ‘the only true God,’ as the questioner would expect us to believe, then he could have said ‘Father, you alone are the only true God,’ which is precisely what Jesus avoided in his address. The bottom line is if there is a God, then, He is the ‘one God’ and He is the ‘true God’ and He is the ‘only true God.’ The plurality within Godhead, which we call ‘Trinity,’ is way above Muslims’ mind. The Allah of Islam is ‘one’ in the sense that he is a mathematical unit ‘1’ which is just above ‘0’ but weaker than every other number!  But the God of the Bible who is the God of Abraham is ‘one’ in the sense that He is a composite unit, but not a mathematical unit ‘1.’ The God of the Bible is above every number one can think of. No number can represent Him except perhaps ‘∞’ (infinity).  That is why if at all we use mathematical symbols to represent God the three persons within the ‘Trinity’ can be represented like this ∞+∞+∞=∞ (∞-∞-∞=∞ and ∞*∞*∞=∞ and ∞/∞/∞=∞).  1. Islamic Allah is just 1, and therefore his value is less than any other number i.e. 1<2… 2. The Biblical God is ∞, and therefore His value is more than any number i.e. ∞>1… Thankfully, not all Muslims are foolish enough to ask questions like the above. I have personally met Muslims who are wise, open, willing to and capable of engaging in meaningful dialogue in order to know the truth of God. Some of them have found it! God gave this promise, “Ask, and it shall be given to you; seek, and you shall find; knock, and it shall be opened to you.”