The Beliefs and Practices of Islam

Introduction

Indeed, we are getting into nuts and bolts. And after you do the work that we’ve done so far, you appreciate understanding a little bit more specifically about what Muslims teach and practice. I want to say this that we’re aiming for the common denominator. There’s over a billion Muslims in the world today, and you would imagine that there is a lot of variety of opinions about what Islam really is. However, I’m confident the things that we will lay out in this session represent the majority of Muslims, and it’s pretty accurate picture of that. I want you to start with some quotes from the Quran, Surah 1. It starts like this. Praise be to God, Lord of the worlds, the compassionate, the merciful king on the day of reckoning.

Thee only do we worship, and to thee do we cry for help. Guide thou us on the straight path. The path of those to whom thou hast been gracious, with whom thou art not angry, and who go not astray.

1. Monotheism and Muhammad the Seal of the Prophets

In Surah 33, verily God hath cursed the infidels and hath got ready for them the flame. On the day when their faces shall be rolled in the fire, they shall cry, Oh, would that we have obeyed God and obeyed the apostle, which is a reference to Muhammad. O our Lord, give them a double chastisement and curse them with a heavy curse. What is the Quran and what does it represent as far as the beliefs of Muslim people? Well, there are some basic beliefs, some core beliefs that Muslims have that you find in the Quran, and dominant and consistent, as we’ve seen from its history, is monotheism. Believing there is only one God, the true God, the living God, that has all authority and all power, that is the God of creation and the God of the ruler of all the nations.

And this was a revolutionary message in Muhammad’s time and in his culture. That Muhammad is the seal of the prophets, that God has lifted up many prophets through time, including those you read about in the Bible, like Abraham, Noah, prophet, Jeremiah, David, etc. And that all these men had some revelation they shared with human beings from God. But there came a time in human history where there were things that needed to be corrected. And there need to be the final revelation of God, and it was Muhammad who was selected to do that. Muslims believe that he began to receive those revelations there at the age of 40 in 610 AD. And that this was, according to Muslim teaching, the seal of all of God’s prophecy. And so Muhammad is believed to be the seal of the prophets.

2. The Quran: Little Direct Instruction, Absence of Narrative

Muslims do not worship Muhammad. Muslims do not believe that Muhammad was divine. They believe that he was a human being, but that he was the great, the greatest, and the last prophet of God. And that being the seal of the prophets, just like you would seal a container, that once the revelations came to Muhammad, that was the last revelation from God. And there would be none after that. That the Quran is that is that last revelation. And as it was put together, that all of God’s communication to mankind, it was all now complete. Well, what about the Quran specifically? The Quran is organized into surahs. It’s roughly the size of the New Testament. And it’s divided into these sections called surahs that you might recall chapters.

Even some of them are long enough to be called like a book within itself, like you would in the New Testament. The largest surahs are at the beginning of the Quran. And as you work your way, read through the Quran, the surahs become shorter, and the smallest ones, the briefest ones are at the end. Now the first surah is fairly short. But after that, you have the longest and then the shortest and all the way through.

That the first section of surahs occurred later in Muhammad’s life. The last section of surahs occurred earlier. And so you have the Medean section where he was in Medina, which is later in his life, and then you have the Meccan section where he first began to preach in Mecca. And those are different sections, different circumstances, different times, and that’s why you have some variations in those two sections according to Muslim teaching. There are these repeated themes all the way through the Quran, that there is only one God. This is just repeated over and over and over. That there’s one God and one God alone. And this God is to be praised. And so, much like you read in the book of Psalms, where God’s attributes are elevated and praised, he talks about his wisdom and his glory and his goodness and his kindness and his might and his majesty and these kinds of things.

There are all kinds of condemnation of unbelievers, curses upon those who are unbelievers. I think we mentioned this last night, that originally infidel meant people who were polytheists. And originally, Jews and Christians would not be in that category. Over time, though, Muslim scholars and Muslim people have different views about that, and some would even apply the expression infidel for anybody who is not a Muslim. However, even among many Muslims today, they would only apply infidel to somebody who doesn’t believe in God at all. Or to somebody who is a polytheist. And they’re containing found all through the Quran, these reminders of judgment, paradise, and hell. There’s a lot of this in the Quran that’s very focused on getting the reader to think about eternity. And there’s a judgment that’s coming, and everybody’s going to be accountable.

And there’s going to be a paradise for those who are faithful to Allah, and there is going to be hell for those who are not. Now I’m going to make some comments about the Quran. And understandably, this is coming from somebody who read the Quran in English.

And so I had to read it in English. Quran’s been translated in multiple languages, including English. And coming from somebody who is of a Western mind, who’s used to Western literature and so forth. And I have to say that this is my perspective on this, but I think that as you look at a lot of sources, you’ll see that this is this is indicative of people’s response to it. There is little direct instruction in the Quran. Let me back up and say this about reading it in English. Muslims believe that the full force of the Quran is only understood in the native language of Arabic. You can read it in other languages, and that’s good. But to see the real beauty of the language and to get the real glory of the writing and to have its full impact upon you, you have to read it in the Arabic.

And that’s why people who live in non-Arab speaking countries, like Indonesia or India, or China, or America, will have to work to learn the Arabic if they want to. But then sometimes people don’t.

And so they don’t read the Quran in the Arabic. And some try to learn it and some try, but they don’t get very far. But to understand the full impact, and actually another argument of evidence by Muslims is that if you read the Quran in the Arabic, you just will know by reading it it’s of God. But you’ve got to read it in the Arabic. So I am approaching this with limitations. I mean, I think I’ve tried to be thorough in my research, but I have to admit this limitation, I’ve not read the Quran in the Arabic. I don’t have time to do that. By the time it would take me to learn the Arabic, I think it’d be too late from the standpoint of help trying to help people.

But you know, that’s a problem. That’s a problem. But there’s a little direct instruction. I was sort of surprised when I read the Quran. You know, we open up the Old Testament, we find the proverbs with its counsel. We look at the law of Moses and we see instructions that are unique instructions of the law of Moses, but also some moral instructions. You read Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount or Paul’s letters to Christians, and you see some real specific directions about how you treat your wife and how you raise your kids and how you treat your neighbor and all these kinds of things. There’s little direct instruction in the Quran. It’s mostly statements about God being the only God and how great he is, and how if you don’t obey him, you’ll be cursed, and there’s going to be an afterlife and these kinds of things.

As far as a piece of literature, there is an absence of narrative. Though the Bible has teaching in it and instruction in it, you know, like the sermons of the prophecies of Isaiah and the sermons of Peter and Paul in the book of Acts. There is a there is a narrative to it. You start reading in Genesis and you read through the book of Esther, and there is this running story that this happened and this happened, and this person came along, and this person had this child, and this happened, and this nation rose up, and this nation fell, and there is a there is a linear narrative there. Same thing with the New Testament. You read the Gospels in the book of Acts, you see the life of Jesus, and then you see the record of the first Christians.

And you can take other parts of the Bible, like the poetry of the Old Testament and the letters of the New Testament and plug it into the historical narrative. But there is a narrative. And there are references to places and people and even some references to time. That’s absent in the Quran. If you saw a Quran lying on a table and you picked it up and you began to read it, and you spent days reading it, and you knew nothing else but what was contained on the pages of the Quran, you would be so hard-pressed to understand who this is about, when this was going on, what the situation was when this was written, what the background was, you would just really be lost about that.

Okay. Um it would really be, you know, be difficult. There’s an absence of that. And that in the absence of a linear theme and of a narrative, you just have these themes that are repeated around and around and around. I liken it to a carousel where you stand and there is a carousel, and there’s, you know, like a peak pony and a kid riding on the pony, and right behind it is an elephant, and right behind it, you know, is a giraffe, and a kid’s on the giraffe. And these are going around and around. Here comes the giraffe, and there it goes. Here it comes again. And in the Quran, as you read these things of God’s existence, the only one true God, Muhammad being his prophet, there being a heaven and a hell and a judgment to come, the infidel being cursed, and an unbelievers, you know, having to pay the price of rejection of God and his prophet.

3. Additions and Alternative Versions of Bible Stories

Those things are just repeated over and over and over and over. Just that repetition. And as a result, there’s a lack of direction and cohesiveness. Now, in all fairness, Islamic scholars say that’s on purpose, that there is a there is a rhythm to reading the Quran. And as you read it in the Arabic, this rhythm has this impact upon you. But as a Western reader, that’s the response that you get when you look at it. There’s also additions in alternative versions of Bible stories. It is common to read in the Quran, references to Abraham and Moses, and even Jesus. What you find is information regarding some of those characters and stories that you don’t find in the Bible. For instance, the Quran records that the moment of time of creation, God created man and woman, Adam and Eve, and that God commanded the angels to worship his creation, mankind.

And there was one angel who would not worship man and pay reverence to this man. And that angel was cursed and thrown out of heaven. Now you can guess who that might be.

Now, biblically, we don’t know the origin of Satan. There is speculation on some people’s part that he is a fallen angel. And there is something to think about regarding that, regarding a couple passages, but there is no real clear teaching about the origin of Satan. But the Quran says that is the origin of Satan. He refused to give man respect and reverence, even worship. And he’s cursed because of that. And since he’s cursed because of that and thrown out of heaven, he vows to get his vengeance on mankind and be his enemy.

There’s also alterations.

Abraham attempts to do that. God stops him and provides the ram in the thicket, and thus Abraham proves his great allegiance to God, even that over his son. According to the Quran, that’s not how it happened. Aaron people believe, and I think the evidence probably would sustain this, that they are descendants of Abraham’s other son, Ishmael. The son that was born through Hagar, the handmaid, that’s discussed earlier in the book of Genesis, when Abraham and Sarah grew impatient regarding a son coming. And Sarah provided her handmaid Hagar for Abraham to produce an heir. And he does. But God says, this is not the heir. This is not going to be the son of promise. I am going to bless Ishmael. I’m going to make him a nation.

I’m going to make him a great nation. But it’s going to be Isaac that will come through Sarah, according to the Genesis record, who will be the heir, who will be the son of the promise, and through whom I will bring about all these great things I’m going to do. Make you a great nation, give them a land to live in, and then, most importantly, through his seed, through Abraham’s seed, through Isaac, be a blessing to all nations, all families of the earth, which the New Testament says was fulfilled in Jesus the Christ turning us from our sins in Acts chapter 3. The Quran says that it was not Isaac whom Abraham was called to sacrifice. But rather it was Ishmael.

And so that’s their account of that event. And they have their tie to Abraham, they believe, through Ishmael. And from a genealogical standpoint, I don’t think that’s a point to matter. I don’t think that’s germane. There’s probably a lot of evidence that they are descendants from Abraham through Ishmael. But Abraham had a lot of kids. Actually, when you get to looking at it, even beyond Sarah. And so there’s a lot of different people that could claim some kind of lineage to Abraham. And so you’ll see some variations of Bible story. But the Joseph story is different. The Joseph story is different. Potiphar’s wife sort of gets, you know, she has to have egg on her face, so to speak, and she has to come clean about what she did and apologize for it and those kinds of things.

The Joseph story is a little different. And this is a good time to inject this point. Muslims believe that, as I mentioned a while ago, that Moses, David, different characters you read about in the Bible, including in the New Testament, Jesus and Peter and James and Paul, that they’re all prophets of God. Now at the end, I’m going to talk a little bit about what Muslims say about Jesus. But I want to say this at this point. Muslims show a lot of respect for Jesus. They don’t believe he’s the Son of God. But it never, it never fails that when I have a conversation with a Muslim, and he uses the name Jesus, that he says, just as Jesus, blessed be his name, or just as Jesus said, peace be upon him.

They believe that Jesus was a great prophet of God. That he came to teach a message of forgiveness and love that was needed at the time. That’s what they teach about Jesus. They don’t teach he’s the Savior and the Son of God, but they teach he was the great prophet and that he was called the Messiah. But what’s interesting about that is that Muslims, when they talk about Jesus, will show such respect for his name. But there are people who claim to be Christians, and they’ll drop a book on their foot and they’ll say, Oh. And they’ll use the name of Jesus flippantly, vainly, with no reverence. Shame on those who claim to be Christ’s followers and act that way. What little respect you show to Jesus, who, if you claim to be a Christian, you believe to be the Son of God.

Well, there’s somebody over here, a Muslim, who doesn’t believe he’s a son of God, but whenever they speak his name, they show great respect. Something to learn from that. But what about the Bible as a whole? The very fact about those stories I was talking about reflect this. Muslims teach that the texts of the Old and New Testament have been corrupted. That there were writings that Moses delivered and that Jeremiah delivered and that David wrote and things that Paul wrote and Peter wrote, and that these were the revelations of God. But through time, people altered those writings. And they’re not accurate. There is some truth to them. Some of the things are true in those writings. But there are some mistakes in them and inaccuracies because they’ve been altered.

4. Other Sources of Authority: The Hadith and Sharia Law

And so that’s how Muslims look at the old and new testaments. Also, Muslims have other sources of authority. After Mohammed died, the Islamic community, as it was organizing itself, realized they needed more teaching. As I said before, there’s little direct instruction about everyday life in the Quran. And so they knew they needed more instructions about morality and relationships and how to worship and things like that. And so Muslim scholars believe that everything that Muhammad spoke and everything that he performed during his lifetime after he began to receive the revelations. That all these things were authoritative or uh ordained by God. And so they began to collection the collect the traditional sayings and the traditional actions of Muhammad from the followers. Well, one day I was with Muhammad and he said this, or one day Muhammad, I saw him treat his neighbor this way.

And they collected these, and they’re called the traditions or the hadith. A hadith is a tradition. And they collected these sayings and these actions of Muhammad to use as a guide. They were very strict about what they accepted. Most hadiths that were brought to them, they rejected. They did not think that there was enough evidence to accept them as legitimate. But the ones they did accept, they compiled in written forms. Muslim scholars. In the hadith, they were completed about 200 years after Muhammad died. Remember that. Also, as the Arab Islamic civilization grew and as it spread in other areas and it had to rule over a great many people, they needed to get more specific regarding their civil law. And so Muslim scholars, in light of the teaching of the Quran, in light of the Hadith, they organized Sharia law, which was a legal and moral code.

When you have a business dealing with somebody, when you trade property or trade animals, when you enter into a marriage, when you have a legal suit, when you go to sell property, when you make a covenant with somebody. All these kinds of civil things that, you know, you have to have laws for. The Sharia law covered that regarding organizing society, and it was all done in light of the Quran. In some places in the world today, Sharia law is the basis of the civil law, like Saudi Arabia. There are other Muslim countries like Egypt and Turkey, where Sharia law is not the law of the land.

And so there’s a lot of variety there. But in the early era of Islamic civilization, Sharia law was the civil code that was hammered out in light of the teachings and practices of Muhammad. You probably know that Muslims gather on Friday for corporate worship. They gather in a mosque. Some of these mosques are quite impressive. The architecture is quite advanced. It’s like this one here in Brunei in Eastern Asia, very impressive. Others are more common looking. This is one from the Central Republics in Asia. These Friday meetings involve prayers, readings from the Quran, occasionally from the Hadith, as well as a preaching. An Imam will get up and deliver a message from the Quran, from the life of Muhammad, some kind of moral instruction, and so forth.

5. The Five Pillars of Islam

Men and women usually are segregated in the assembly. They sit with each other, women on one place, and men in the other. Probably have heard about the five pillars of Islam. These are the five things that every faithful Muslim will practice and show their devotion to God and their faithfulness, the teaching of Mohammed. It involves, first of all, the confession. The confession that there is no God but one God, Allah, and Muhammad is his prophet. This is to be repeated daily in their prayers. This is the motto by which they live. Matter of fact, this is actually the the uh on the on the flag of Saudi Arabia, the statement. Uh this is required to be repeated all through your lifetime. And this is interesting, it brings up this point.

Uh if somebody embraces Islam, they are to make this confession. But it’s interesting how Muslims view uh conversion. Muslims believe that every human being is born a Muslim. What does Muslim mean? Submission. They believe that every human being is born faithful to Allah. See, Muslims don’t believe in original sin. You want a point of common ground with talking with a Muslim? Talk about original sin if you’re a New Testament Christian. They find you quite interesting that you don’t believe in original sin if you’re a New Testament Christian. But they believe that everybody’s born a Muslim. And so here’s a child who’s raised in a Muslim home, and he sees mom and dad doing the prayers, he sees mom and dad doing the things that Muslims do, and they just mimic them and begin to do those things.

And so there is no conversion experience. There is no, quote, age of accountability where you choose, you just are absorbed into that way of life because you’re born that way. And so if there’s somebody who does not practice Islam, and then at a latter age, when they’re 20 or 30 or 40 and they embrace Islam, this is something they have to confess. And this, I’m just going to go ahead and say this, and this question may come up in the question answer, and that’s fine. But I just want to say it, if you want to be more specific, we can talk about it. But let me say this, and you probably know what I’m talking about. There is no one who is a faithful Muslim, a true, genuine Muslim, who will not admit to this.

So if somebody will not admit to believing that there is one God but Allah and Muhammad is his prophet, if somebody will not admit that, they’re not a Muslim. Do you understand that? Do you believe in a Christian who won’t admit they believe that Jesus is the Son of God? That’s not a Christian, is it? By very nature, you cannot be a Christian if you do not confess that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God. Just like a Muslim is not a Muslim unless he admits, he confesses that Muhammad is the prophet of God, the seal of the prophets. You understand that? The confession is one of the five pillars, prayer. The prayers are five times a day, dawn, noon, late afternoon, sunset, and after sunset.

Five times a day. It begins with standing and then bowing at the waist, getting on your knees, prostrating, uh forehead touching the ground. If you’re a Sunni Muslim, I believe, and you also pray toward Mecca. There is a ceremonial washing. And if Muslims are in a situation where they’re not near, you know, plumbing, they’ll just have a bottle of water and they’ll wash their hands ceremoniously, and then they will do their prayers at that time when it’s to take place. Muslims also are commanded to give 2% of their worth annually. This is called the alms. Sometimes it’s it’s called, you know, uh the giving, the offering. It’s just different names for it. But it’s interesting, there is some variation on this when you talk to Muslims.

But generally, Muslims believe that you are to give 2% of your worth annually. Now look at that. That’s not profit. That’s not gain. It’s your worth. And so you have so much money in the bank, and you give 2% of that, and the next year you give two more percent off that. If you are a wealthy Muslim, Muslim scholars and teachers will say you have a greater obligation, you need to give more. In some Muslim countries, like Saudi Arabia, this is collected by the government as a tax. And then there is the fasting. You’ve probably heard that Muslims fast during the month of Ramadan. This is toward the end of their calendar. It was just a few months ago. And you may have wondered, they fast the whole month?

Only in the daylight hours. Ramadan is the month in which Muhammad began to receive his revelations according to their tradition. So to commemorate the beginning of the revelation, the revelations, Muslims fast during the daylight hours. They forego food during the daylight hours. But at night they eat. And in some Muslim cultures, it’s a feast time. It’s sort of like Thanksgiving at night. In uh in the traditions of Muslims, and this is different today because of modern technology, but traditionally, the way you knew that it was time to fast is that you held a white thread and a black thread at arm’s length in daylight. And when you could not, when you could see the difference in the morning between the light, the white and the black thread, you knew it was daytime and you quit eating.

In the evening time, in natural light, when you could not distinguish because of darkness, the white and black thread, it was evening, you could eat. And so that’s how that was practiced. And then there is the pilgrimage, which is quite fascinating for Muslims and non-Muslims, called the Hajj. We noted how that the ancient Bedouin people, when they were polytheistic, had an annual pilgrimage to Mecca. Many of the things that the Bedouin people did, Mohammed said had been corrupted. They were true Muslim practices, but they had been corrupted. And so he corrected these things. And so it was, he said, proper to have a pilgrimage to Mecca. And Muslims teach that it is to take place once in your lifetime, if possible. They would say there are exceptions, that people just cannot make it.

And really, most Muslims only go once. They make it like the highlight of their earthly experience, and they wait to a certain time in their life and then they go. And so this is very important to them. When they approach Mecca, the centerpiece of their pilgrimage is the grand mosque. As they approach the grand mosque, Muslims shout out, I am here, O Lord, I am here. This is quite an emotional experience. Because all their lifetime they’ve waited for this. And they come to this, it is a grand mosque, and men wear typically all white. Women sometimes wear all white or certain colors. Men shave their heads and shave their beards and they go through ceremonial washing before they approach. The crowds are tremendous. Saudi Arabia has spent an incredible amount of money on their bus system, their airports, their lodging systems to accommodate the pilgrims that come on their Hajj.

And at the centerpiece of the Grand Mosque is the Kaaba. Remember the stone black cube building that the Bedouin people use as center of their polytheistic worship and they put their idols in it. When Muhammad captured Mecca, he claimed the Kaaba as an Islamic shrine. He cleansed it of its idols and he dedicated it to the practice of Islam. Muslims teach that the Kaaba was actually built by Abraham. That Abraham and his son Ishmael came into the Arabian desert and built the Kaaba. And then the Bedouin people had taken it and corrupted it. So this is a stone black cube building that is draped actually with a black curtain. And what Muslims do as they approach it is that they come in as at the heart of their pilgrimage, is they are to circle the Kaaba seven times counterclockwise.

And you can even see the movement there in that photograph, can’t you? So they walk around the Kaaba seven times counterclockwise. Some, of course, try to get as close as they can to the Kaaba, but because of the crowds, other people walk around the perimeter. And if you can get close enough, you can touch the black stone, which is encased in silver.

And Muslims believe that it was a sign from God of God’s blessings on Abraham, and Abraham took it and set it in the Kaaba. And so it’s to them a physical way, the link to Abraham. They don’t treat it like some kind of worship thing. They do touch it and they do kiss it. But to them it’s it’s representative of something. That’s really what it’s about. And so most Muslims have a hard time getting to it because it’s, you know, it’s the crowds are just so great. And speaking of the crowds, there’s about two million people in a month’s time that come in and out of Mecca. And Muslims only are allowed into the grand mosque and into this territory, this vicinity at the time. It’s interesting how there are many deaths that take place.

Of course, you get two million people together. Statistically, there are some people who are going to, you know, have physical problems and even die. But there are tramplings that occur because of the large multitudes. Also, there are some people who put off their haj until they’re very aged. And so they’re already in frail health. And then also there are people who get sick and they’re afraid they’re going to die, and so before they die, they make their hodge. And they’re so sick that while they’re there, they pass away. And also the experience has this emotional high and let down to it. And so it’s much like you’ve heard the stories of somebody who’s who’s dying and their son is out of town, and so about the time the son gets to the bedside, about an hour later the guy passes.

You’ve heard of those kinds of stories, and so there is this hanging on until you do the thing you want to do. And so it’s it’s quite a dramatic experience for people. Really is an intense experience. One of the interesting things they do, it’s called the the stoning of Satan. And according to Muslim teaching, that when Abraham was called to offer up Ishmael and a sacrifice, that Satan tempted him to disobey God. Abraham resisted Satan. He offered up Ishmael or attempted to as God commanded, and so he showed his great faithfulness to God. And so a ceremony that they uh participate in is they pick up a stone and they throw it at this pillar, this obelisk here that represents Satan as a gesture of rejection of Satan.

They also uh offer a sacrifice, which is reminiscent of what Abraham does in offering up the ram, but that occasion. And they usually go up to Medina and visit the tomb of the prophet Mohammed.

6. Central Doctrines of Christianity in Light of What Muslims Teach

I don’t know what kind of impression you had when you saw the title, A Guide to Understanding Islam. People have different reactions to that. But it is important we understand. But you hear people out, you read things, you listen. But we have done enough work to begin to make some judgments and assessments. And one thing I want to do at the close of this session, right here, is to look at some very central doctrines of Christianity in light of what Muslims teach. And this is very significant. In the book of Matthew, the 16th chapter, Jesus asked his disciples, Who do men say that I am? And then he asks them, Who do you say that I am? Simon Peter answered and said, You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.

Jesus answered and said to him, Blessed are you, Simon Barjonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven. The New Testament affirms and proves that Jesus is the Christ. He’s a fulfillment of the predictions of the Messiah, the Savior who is to come. But even more so, he is actually in person, the very Son of God. He is God the Son. He came from the bosom of the Father. He is of the same nature of the Father. He is of the Father like no one else. But at the same time, they are one. This is one of the problems that Muslim people have with Christianity, the belief in the Father, the Son, the Holy Spirit, being divine.

But the Bible teaches that they are not three gods. They are one. Adamantly. There is one God. God the Father, God the Son, God the Spirit. They are so much alike. They are so in unison. They are so connected. They are a unit. They are one. But there is God the Son, God the Father, and God the Spirit. That’s challenging, but that’s what the Bible teaches. But let us understand that it is just fundamental that the Bible teaches that Jesus is the Son of God. And as the Son of God, this is what he does. Paul writes in Romans 5, but God demonstrates his own love toward us, and that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Much more than having now been justified by his blood, we should be saved from wrath through him.

The New Testament teaches a most unique doctrine. Not only did Jesus come and he was the Son of God, that he died as a human being. He had flesh and blood, and he spilled that blood, but he did it not because he was guilty of anything, but he did it in shedding his blood as a payment for our sins. He died for us. He died, and he died for us. And there is no way to be right with God, justified with God, unless one accepts that Jesus died on the cross for you. And talking to Cornelius, a Gentile. Peter says, and we are witnesses of all things which we he did, both in the land of the Jews and in Jerusalem, whom they killed by hanging on a tree.

Him God raised up on the third day and showed him openly. The New Testament teaches that Jesus is the Son of God, that Jesus died, that Jesus died for our sins, and on the third day, God raised him from the dead to prove that he was his son, he was the Savior, and he, in doing that, triumphed over sin and death. These are the central doctrines of Christianity. They cannot be negotiated, they cannot be altered, they cannot be watered down, they cannot be dealt away. You deal away the heart and soul of Christianity if you do that. So understand those points. What’s the Quran say about these issues?

The Messiah, Jesus, Son of Mary, is only an apostle of God. In his word, which he conveyed into Mary, and a spirit proceeding from himself. God is only one God. Far be it from his glory that he should have the Son. There is no room in Muslim teaching for the idea that Jesus is the Son of God. He came from God, they say. He was a messenger of God. He is actually the Messiah, which was the predicted Savior. But he’s not the Son. It is very plain on that. Furthermore, the Quran says in Surah 4, and for their saying we have slain the Messiah, Jesus, the Son of Mary, an apostle of God, yet they slew him not. And they crucified him not. For they had only his likeness.

But God took him up to himself. Muslims also teach that Jesus never died on a cross. That Jesus never died, period. That the Romans accidentally seized an imposter. Muslims teach that actually they accidentally got Judas the apostle. That they mistook Jesus, or rather Judas for Jesus. And that when they crucified the man they thought was Jesus, it was actually Judas. And what happened to Jesus? God took him. Like Enoch. Like Elijah. He didn’t die. God just took him back to heaven. And so think about it. If Jesus never died, he never died for our sins. And if he never died, he never resurrected.

Conclusion

As important as it is to be fair and understanding and thorough. A person cannot overlook the truth. Since 9 11, there have been all kinds of extreme responses regarding Islam and our culture. One extreme is that anything close to being Islamic is our enemy and must be destroyed, I suppose. Some people think that way. The other extreme is to say, well, you know, we’re really all just alike. There’s really no major difference. While there is no place for a Christian to advocate and practice violence against anybody in the name of Christ. There’s no place for that. And regardless of the differences, there is no place for violence or for mistreatment or disrespect shown to the people who would disagree with a Christian. At the same time, what the New Testament teaches, what Christianity is all about, is irreconcilable to the teachings of Islam.

That should not mean we should be at each other’s throats. But it does mean that there is a gap. There is a chasm that is as wide as a Grand Canyon regarding the faith. The difference is major. Because you cannot deal these things away. You cannot water them down. That’s what Christianity is about. Because this is the thing on which our salvation rests.

Well, that wraps up that. I guess we’re going to have our break. You want to say something, or do you want me to just dismiss? Okay, Bob’s going to say a couple of things and give you a chance to to break. Go ahead.