How to answer Muslims

[Michael_McKenna]

What quote from New Testament can I use to back me up when I tell a Muslim we believe Jesus is God. hey believe in His divine birth etc.
I know that at Jesus’ baptism a voice spoke and said this is my beloved chosen One and that at Transfiguration a voice spoke and said to Listen to Jesus. But where else does it state Jesus is God. Jesus Himself only seems to have asked others who do you say I am?

 

[swisscakerolls]

The beginning of John would be good, I’d think. It’s my understanding, though, that Muslims believe the Bible became corrupted or something over the years (hence the need for the Qu’ran) so I’m not sure how convincing a Bible verse would be.

Good Luck!

 

[thistle]

When the Koran was put together Muslims assumed the OT and NT would verify everything written. However when it didn’t Muslims were in a dilemma and simply got round that by saying anything in the Bible that was contrary to the Koran must be corrupt. That way they got their followers to believe in the false religion (Islam).
The Koran denies the divinity of Jesus so anything in the Bible showing Jesus is God will be rejected by Muslims as corrupt.

However, there are verses in the Bible where Jesus makes it clear he is God.

In John 8:56-58 Jesus said "Abraham your father rejoiced to see my day; he saw it and was glad.
So the Jews said to him, “You are not yet fifty years old and you have seen Abraham?”
Jesus said to them, “Amen, amen, I say to you, before Abraham came to be, I AM.”

John 10:30 “The Father and I are one.”

John 14: 6-11 Jesus said to him, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.
If you know me, then you will also know my Father. From now on you do know him and have seen him.”
Philip said to him, “Master, show us the Father, and that will be enough for us.”
Jesus said to him, "Have I been with you for so long a time and you still do not know me, Philip? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’?
Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I speak to you I do not speak on my own. The Father who dwells in me is doing his works.
Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me, or else, believe because of the works themselves.

 

[CentralFLJames]

The problem is that Mohammad copied bits and pieces of the NT but did so from heretical sources. At 25 years of age Mohammad married his first of 13 wives - the wealthy 40 year old twice widowed Khadijah. This woman was a Coptic Christian.

Mohammad was the extreme example of what happens to heretical teachings - he used them to start a new religion and this is why it will never agree with what we have in the Catholic bible.

James

 

[DebChris]

I don’t directly quote Scripture when speaking to somebody who is not of my Faith. While I may have a specific verse in mind, I have often found a different way to say the same thing. In the New Testament, Jesus used parables to speak to people using metaphors and daily life with which they were familiar. At times, it is words related to the daily life which we live that come to me, as opposed to “Bible thumping” which turns some people away.
As the late Fulton Sheen said, in one of his talks, to the Muslim it is the Koran that they consider holy. Begin with what they believe and allow the Holy Spirit to lead you from there.

I read about a Muslim who converted to Christianity, not based on Biblical Scripture, but on what the Koran teaches. Remember that the Bible is banned in many Muslim countries.
According to the Koran, the devil touches each person at the time of birth, claiming him/her as his own. This is similar to our conception of original sin. What the young Muslim questioned is why the devil was unable to touch Jesus, according to Islamic teaching. It was during one of the five times each day that devout Muslims pray to God that he saw a vision of Christ. It is this vision that led to his conversion.

The Cursillo method of evangelization is “make a friend, be a friend, bring a friend to Christ.” Instead of looking for Biblical arguments, allow the Holy Spirit to guide you so that your Muslim, or other friend, sees the life you live and asks you why you live as you do. At that time you will know which Biblical verse will be most meaningful in your conversation.

 

[jfoges]

Muslims point out that Jesus never explicitly claimed to be divine in the gospels. There is some truth to this. The doctrine of Christ’s divinity as it was later formulated by the Councils is not explicitly found in the Bible. The bible never gets into the complicated Hellenistic Christology that was later devloped by the Church. Muslims believe Jesus was a prophet but not divine.

And the beginning of the Gospel of John is not Hellenstic Christology. That can be interpreted any number of ways, including that Jesus was the perfect expression of God to mankind, the Word, which always existed with God and is a part of God.