Islam and Christianity - Estranged siblings or polarized worldviews?
Key verse(s)/quote(s):
“Dear friends, although I was very eager to write to you about the salvation we share, I felt I had to write and urge you to contend for the faith that was once for all entrusted to the saints.” - Jude 1:3
“I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him: ‘I’m ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don’t accept His claim to be God.’ That is the one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic - on the level with the man who says he is a poached egg - or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God: or else a madman or something worse. You can shut Him up for a fool, you can spit at Him and kill Him as a demon; or you can fall at His feet and call Him Lord and God. But let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about His being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to.” - C.S. Lewis
Key takeaway(s):
- Although some similarities exist (as some Muslims would like us to focus upon) between these two monotheistic faiths - Christianity and Islam are indeed polarized worldviews.
- Jesus is regarded as highly esteemed as He often is in many religious contexts but He is not fully given His due position and recognized as God incarnate and the Son of God.
- Islam’s clear objections to Christianity and claim to exclusivity are reminders that a decision must be made.
Overview:
Growing up in a Muslim family I was taught very early to understand even in a nominal Muslim family the wrongs of Christianity. I was taught that the Bible was corrupted and had many versions. I was taught that Jesus couldn’t be God because God wouldn’t let His Son die. I was taught that the Qur’an was without flaw and perfect. I was taught that Islam was “the way” – I was born Muslim and would stay Muslim.
Islam has become the number one religious belief in the world (if separating Protestant Christianity from Roman Catholicism). It represents a worldview held by approximately 1.4 billion people worldwide with over half a million Muslims in Canada and 5% of Toronto’s population. Even if only by the numbers Islam is a force. It is something that needs to be understood.
Beyond the numbers, the media and special interest groups (or terrorist groups) have popularized various views of Islam and politicized its tenants. One can argue the rationale for this and its backdrop of history but I have always believed that one can never evaluate a faith based on its believers alone but on what the faith presents.
The presentation below provides an educational overview of Islam and uses their own sources and texts to present their views. This is only introductory in nature but one can begin to see what the text states and assess on their own what the beliefs are, if they are indeed similar to Christianity, and if they present violence as a promoted means of expressing one’s faith.
Exclusivity is shared between Islam and Christianity as both religions claim to present absolute truths. Oddly enough, as I sometimes venture to downtown Toronto near the Eaton Centre, I often observe Muslims readily handing out booklets entitled “Similarities between Islam and Christianity” and it becomes evident that Muslim evangelists are using a strategy focused on blurring the lines. Once you begin to study the reality of what each faith states, it also becomes clear that as quickly as these similarities begin they cease – resulting in a decision that must be made, a decision that one is true and the other false. One can say that both are wrong but they cannot state they both can be right when they present such contradictory worldviews.
Interestingly, Muslims have been trained to understand the Bible as false and yet quote from it readily when it agrees with their views. It seems curious that a text that follows another, as is the case with the Qur’an coming after the Bible, is used to invalidate the previous text. A simple illustration of this; if I write a note down on a piece of paper and pass it to a second person and they have been told to replicate the message and they write something that differs from what I wrote and then pass it to a third person - how does this third person validate what the original message was? They would go back to the original/ first note, right? How could someone say the first message I wrote is corrupt and false conveniently where it differs from the second message? How can one just assume the later is correct? I recognize this argument doesn’t prove the validity of the Bible (see my other post on this topic), but it certainly doesn’t allow a blanket statement to be made against it or a convenient assumption to be used.
There are most interesting facts presented in the below materials such as the Trinity being misunderstood by Muslims (even in the Qur’an, a supposed flawless text), the prophetline as expressed in the Qur’an itself excluding Muhammad as a potential prophet (even a Muslim translator, Yusuf Ali, notices this Qur’anic error and tries to correct it), and a clear comparison of Muhammad and Jesus and why Jesus should be given favour.
Suggested Reading(s): B = Basic, M = Moderate, A = Academic
Answering Islam, Geisler & Saleeb (B)
Qur’an - Bible Comparison; A topical study of the two most influential and respected books in Western and Middle Eastern Civilizations, Ami Ben-Chanan (A)
TiS Media:
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You know so many interesting information. You might be very wise. I like such people. Don’t stop writing.