Help debating Islam

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Jacomus

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Greetings and salutations!

This is my first post here, and I hope it will be far from my last.

The issue as to why I felt I needed to come by here was out of recommendation from another fellow Christian. This was because I have been invited to debate at a mosque in a nearby city, and need help in having my arguments made appropriately.

The muslims whom I will be facing are very well educated, in terms of their own religion, and are familiar with passages which they can attack in the Bible, usually when taking them out of context.

I would appreciate it if anyone here could think of something I could use to retort their attacks, and perhaps some powerful arguments against the reliability of the Qur’an.

Thank you in advance,
In Christ,
Jacomus
 
Here’s one dialog with a Muslim by Dave Armstrong: socrates58.blogspot.com/2005/03/reply-to-muslim-apologist-concerning.html

Get ready to be hit with “the Trinity is illogical” saw, so study up on the Trinity. Fortunately it is very likely that your opponent is merely going to constantly re-assert it is illogical without actually demonstrating it.

Also, watch out for “textual hopscotch”. That is, insisting that the Bible is corrupt, but really it is only selective corruption–That is, a passage is corrupt if it supports your position, but authentic when he thinks a passage supports his. This is of course “dirty pool” arguing known as special pleading. Don’t let him get away with it. God Bless.
 
If you are going to debate them on their turf. First, define exactly what you are going to debate. that is limit the topics.

answering-islam.org/Gilchrist/index.html

Agree on specific questions to debate like

The Bible is the word of God

The Koran is the word of God

Was Muhammad prophesied about in the Bible?

otherwise, they will simply bring up too many side arguments on too many topics for you to respond to.

Define your debate with them with specific proprositions.

:o
 
Thanks alot!

Yes, I’m currently reading “On the Holy Trinity” by St. Gregory of Nyssa.

What we are going to be discussing primarily on this occasion is “has the Bible been corrupted?”.

This is one of their main claims, and the cornerstone stone as to why they reject Christianity.
 
Ah exactly how did Christians and Jews get together to change the OT?

Your best case is from textual criticism. The book of Isaiah was found in the dead sea scrolls which is a thousand years eariler than any Isaiah manuscrpts to date, and those manuscripts only varried in spelling.

Ask them for proof that the NT greek texts before the time of muhammad were changed because via textual criticism the texts before and after the time of Mo are the same.
 
When is this debate happening?

Will the audience and all others there be Muslims?

If I were you I’d only agree to do it if you get a list of the questions/topics ahead of time so you can do your research and prepare.

Most likely the Muslims involved in the debate are highly educated in Islam as well as Christianity. They probably know the bible better then you do. The only thing is that they interpret it very differently.

Are they going to video tape this?

Have you ever seen the video tapes of such debates orchestrated by Muslims debating Christians? I’ll see if I can get videos of some for you to watch.
 
I would highly suggest that you watch the ‘debates’ between Dr. Zakir Naik and Dr. William Campbell. Dr. Zakir Naik is a real hero amongst Muslims right now. They consider him quite a scholar of comparative religion and so many emulate him in their debate style. He is really not much more than a snake oil salesman for Islam. If you watch the video you will see the ‘debate’ style.

Basically after Dr. Campbell has his say; Naik uses the floor to spew a long diatribe most filled with untruths. Unlike normal debates, Dr. Campbell is not given a chance to rebut what was just said. So in almost all, if not all, cases Naik always gets the last word.

This link to the Naik vs Campbell ‘debate’. Campbell does a wonderful job in these ‘debates’ but Naik basically mocks him constantly and is cheered by roomful of Muslims…. Watch and learn. I highly recommend that you watch these Campbell dates at this link.

irf.net/irf/videogallery/index.htm
General info about Naik
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zakir_Naik

Islamic Research Foundation web site.
irf.net/irf/drzakirnaik/index.htm

Naik’s part of the Islamic Research Foundation web site.
irf.net/irf/drzakirnaik/index.htm
 
Ah yes, I am very familiar with Zakir Naik. The people with whom I will be debating are great fans of his, and indeed, they have often tried to emulate him. Most notably on the topic of the Holy Trinity.

I haven’t watched much of the debate with Campbell, I’ve mainly watched other debates by Naik and also Ahmed Deedat. I have noticed in previous (albeit minor compared with the upcoming one) that they try as best they can to have the last word, and when they attempt to retort my statements, much of it is repeated declarations of the same misconceptions I disproved.

The topic for to-morrow (yes, debate is to-morrow) will chiefly be on “has the Bible been corrupted?”, so for the mostpart I expect to be upholding the reliability of the Bible, and also the message of Christ in the Gospels.

They seem to be under the conviction that the Roman Emperor had a benefit from revising the “Injil” (the Gospels) to suit his own political needs, and that the Jews conspired to mislead the Christians.
 
Tomorrow? Yikes!

I hope you are well versed on the topic.

Are you familiar with the Qur’anic verses that tell Muslims that the scriptures reveiled before Islam are accurate?

The same religion has He established for you as that which He enjoined on Noah … and that which We enjoined on Abraham, Moses, and Jesus (42:13 AYA).

The result of this view is that the scriptures given by these Prophets are considered to be genuine scriptures from God: *But say, “We (Muslims) believe in the Revelation which has come down to us and in that which came down to you (Jews & Christians); our Allah and your Allah is One” *(29:46 AYA).

What the Qur’an says about Christian and Jewish Scripture.
answering-islam.de/Main/Green/onbible.htm
 
Too bad you are not in Chicago, our Young Adult Ministry is sponsoring a topic on just this subject.

“Confrontation and Dialogue: A History of Catholic-Muslim Relations,”
by Dr. Scott C. Alexander, will be presented in English at St. Bruno, St. James/IIT, and Old St. Mary’s.

For more information just click on yamchicago.org/yam-TOT07-topics.htm
 
Jacomus said:
They seem to be under the conviction that the Roman Emperor had a benefit from revising the “Injil” (the Gospels) to suit his own political needs, and that the Jews conspired to mislead the Christians.
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I’ve heard that one. Do the Dead Sea scrolls date from before the time of Emperor Constantine? If they do that puts that argument to bed.

Another argument I’ve heard is that Moses and Jesus were given the Qur’an or some comparable book. But after his death people destroyed it and wrote scripture to allow decadent live styles. I’ve asked many Muslims to prove this. To show me the scriptures God gave to either or Moses and Jesus. When they cannot do provide such a document then the next question is why would God such a thing to continue for hundreds of years (NT) or even thousands of years (OT) without Him doing something about it right away?

They will of course argue that there exists only one original copy of the Qur’an. This is supposed to be poof of the correctness of the Qur’an. That is has been preserved is some proof of Allah protecting it. OF course there is the nasty detail of the many (Hundreds I think) versions of ancient Qur’an that have been found in a paper grave in Yemen. These date back to the early days of Islam… they are all different and show an evolving Qur’an.

Are you going to be the only Christian there? Do you get to put questions on the table?

My question about them video taping this ‘debate’ is a very real one. Such debates are video taped, and then edited to use as recruting tools to get Christians to convert to Islam. Remember that with the proper editing, anyone can be made to look like they have no clue.

I would not agree to such a debate unless it was 50/50 Christians/Muslims hosting it and infront of a mixed audience.

Let us know how it goes… maybe tape it.
 
Jacomus said:
Greetings and salutations!

This is my first post here, and I hope it will be far from my last.

The issue as to why I felt I needed to come by here was out of recommendation from another fellow Christian. This was because I have been invited to debate at a mosque in a nearby city, and need help in having my arguments made appropriately.

The muslims whom I will be facing are very well educated, in terms of their own religion, and are familiar with passages which they can attack in the Bible, usually when taking them out of context.

I would appreciate it if anyone here could think of something I could use to retort their attacks, and perhaps some powerful arguments against the reliability of the Qur’an.

Thank you in advance,
In Christ,
Jacomus
Click to expand...
Try books by Ibn Warraq - Why I am Not a Muslim is a good one. He also writes on the Koran, and puts forward numerous arguments about the unreliability of the Koran when compared to historical evidence.
 
Eventually the sweet and bitter book will be preached to the nations and all will understand ‘The Word of the Gospel’ as definitive. I often think about Islam though. Did you know that for a while in the beginning, Mohammad had the Muslim’s turn toward Jerusalem to pray, instead of Mecca? His prophecies sprung from his admiration of the Jews and Christian having found their paths set all the way to earth’s end, while the Arabs tribes remain tribal and also had lost some of the original tribal values. Mohammad wished unification of the Arab people.
 
The Dead Sea Scrolls date back to before the time of Jesus Christ, several hundred years before the Emperor Constantine. Hope that helps!
 
I don’t know if this has been previously mentioned. But to Christians, Christ is an incarnation from heaven, so his testimony was immaculate. But Mohammad was only a man, and when he went to a mountain to pray, the scripture which was revealed to him by Gabriel pained him to utter, because Mohammad was only a man. It is even said that during the course of his life, all of his sermons and ideas, had arisen out of conflict or tribulation of some kind. This is interesting to me.
 
Clovis said:
I don’t know if this has been previously mentioned. But to Christians, Christ is an incarnation from heaven, so his testimony was immaculate. But Mohammad was only a man, and when he went to a mountain to pray, the scripture which was revealed to him by Gabriel pained him to utter, because Mohammad was only a man. It is even said that during the course of his life, all of his sermons and ideas, had arisen out of conflict or tribulation of some kind. This is interesting to me.
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No where does Muhammad claim that Gabriel was the one who reveiled anything to him.
 
I got this information from a Islamic scholar, so it must at least be Islamic mythology, sort like Lucifer to the Christians?
 
Clovis said:
I got this information from a Islamic scholar, so it must at least be Islamic mythology, sort like Lucifer to the Christians?
Click to expand...
Lucifer is mentioned by name in the Bible. Gabrial is not mentioned by name in the Qur’an.
 
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