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captainmike
Guest
has anybody else tried this? i have and i get nowhere. has anybody figured out how to do so successfully?
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Reuben_J
Guest
Don’t stop. There are many Muslims who convert to Christianity after hearing about Christ. Like Paul said, we can be the planter of the seeds, others can water it but it is God who makes the plants to grow.
God bless.
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z0wb13
Guest
try putting the shoe on the other foot. when was the last time you sat down and listened to a muslim about the pillars of islam? next time you do, ask them about the shahada.
this is real advice, so i hope it doesn’t sound too snarky. if you really want to share christ with others, you need to make sure that you aren’t just talking at them. sharing christ, you need to have an exchange with the person you are addressing. conversation is a 2way street.
alternately, you could sit and listen to some boring sermon about a religion you don’t believe in, and you could feel the same boredom and discomfort that others feel when you bring up jesus at innappropriate times.
ultimately, you are probably making your life more confusing if you are trying to convert muslims. look for the low-hanging fruit: people that describe themselves as “spiritual, but not religious.”
this is real advice, so i hope it doesn’t sound too snarky. if you really want to share christ with others, you need to make sure that you aren’t just talking at them. sharing christ, you need to have an exchange with the person you are addressing. conversation is a 2way street.
alternately, you could sit and listen to some boring sermon about a religion you don’t believe in, and you could feel the same boredom and discomfort that others feel when you bring up jesus at innappropriate times.
ultimately, you are probably making your life more confusing if you are trying to convert muslims. look for the low-hanging fruit: people that describe themselves as “spiritual, but not religious.”
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Nine_Two
Guest
It depends on the Muslim. If they don’t want to listen, of course they are, just like anyone.
Of course they could be on another forum complaining about Catholics being like bricks.
Of course they could be on another forum complaining about Catholics being like bricks.
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XiWang717
Guest
Well, in fact, quite a few Catholic members on this very forum have been converts from Islam. The original purpose of Islam, after all, was to provide the Arabic peoples with a uniting faith of monotheism after they had rejected the teachings of Moses and Jesus. It worked, of course…but perhaps too well, and at the same time, not at all as well as it should have been. Yet, as long as you persevere, everything is possible.
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acacia12
Guest
I have a friend that is Muslim. She grew up as a Christian all her life. 10 years ago she converted to Islam. So she already knows about Jesus already. When we talk, it gives me the opportunity to hear about her beliefs as a practising Muslim. I don’t want to just get my views on that religion from what I see and read in the media. Try listening and asking in future. 
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Chrish1975
Guest
It is against the Islam to convert to another religion. If your parent was a Muslim then the child is a Muslim. Besides they have grown up in the religion and there is little chance that a person will convert from their religion to a foreign religion. It happens, but very rarely.
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bitznbitez
Guest
You must first listen, sincerely. I worked with a devout muslim man for several years. I knew a fair bit about his religion, his culture etc. Taking his faith, prayer, angels stories, sacred scriptures seriously made him open to listening back.
Anytime you can get a muslim to actually read parts of the Bible to compare to the versions of the stories in the Koran I figure its a start.
Did I convert him ? No. But we understood each other more, and he understood we weren’t all like the kind that knock on his door and try to convince him on the spot etc.
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George_Stegmeir
Guest
If you tried to discuss Christianity with your friend in any Moslem country, chances are that you would not be alive right now!
You can learn a lesson from the Turkish and North African foreign workers in Germany. Many of them have been in Germany since the 1950’s, and most of the rest are their descendants. When they came to Germany, there were no mosques when they came from their home countries. After more than 50 years being exposed to a Christian society, they and their children are staunch Moslems to this day. There have been almost no conversions to Christianity, but there have been a significant numbers of conversions to Islam-largely German girls who married Turks or North Africans.
You can learn a lesson from the Turkish and North African foreign workers in Germany. Many of them have been in Germany since the 1950’s, and most of the rest are their descendants. When they came to Germany, there were no mosques when they came from their home countries. After more than 50 years being exposed to a Christian society, they and their children are staunch Moslems to this day. There have been almost no conversions to Christianity, but there have been a significant numbers of conversions to Islam-largely German girls who married Turks or North Africans.
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1AugustSon7
Guest
It depends, like anything.
My advice: just study your religion and keep growing stronger in it. Most people - Muslims included - are rather astonished at the authority of Christianity, especially when we become increasingly competent in it or better understand it. Remember that Muslims don’t actually have an authority: it’s nearly all the force of custom (they don’t have anything comparable to a Magisterium).
[28] And it came to pass when Jesus had fully ended these words, the people were in admiration at his doctrine. [29] For he was teaching them as one having power, and not as the scribes and Pharisees.
This doesn’t mean barking or talking down to people, but it is the confidence of faith and sure/solid doctrine; it’s the ability to speak about God with a certain confidence, even familiarity.
Further, a lot of Islam is borrowed from Christianity, whether art, architecture and doctrine. Islam’s primary and first cultural contact en masse (once it spread from the Arabian peninsula) was post-Chalcedonian Christianity.
The first Muslim conquerors imitated a lot from Christianity and learned a lot from Christianity. It’s not a religion that is the product of some religious spontaneous combustion in the middle of a desert; Mohammad apparently had a very tough time with certain doctrines like the Trinity, and opted for a simplicity. He was also likely the unfortunate case of a man who heard many different and contradictory versions of Christianity; it’s not a coincidence that Islam is the way it is, and developed not long after the extremely heated and divisive aftermath of the (Catholic) Council of Chalcedon, which resulted in bitter internal Christian controversies, and must have sounded like the most ridiculous semantics over the most vague and abstract issues (e.g., Christ’s nature or the Trinity)… but that’s my opinion I suppose.
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Hannouch
Guest
The best way to communicate the message of Christ across to this person, if not, any person, is through love and compassion. Stand strong and be confident as you know you hold the Truth and because of this do not take it for granted and aim to prove that he is wrong and you are right because these types of arguments will lead no where and do not leave space for thorough reflection.
Rather, because you have the Truth, seek to share this joy with your fellow man since Christ gave it to you as a free gift which you too would offer it to anyone else even among your own family and parish. Also, be sure to raise your message with the foundation built on the image of Christ Crucified because that is the true portrayal of love that you want to offer him.
Also remember, “He that answereth before he heareth sheweth himself to be a fool, and worthy of confusion.” (Proverbs 18:13)
God bless you
Rather, because you have the Truth, seek to share this joy with your fellow man since Christ gave it to you as a free gift which you too would offer it to anyone else even among your own family and parish. Also, be sure to raise your message with the foundation built on the image of Christ Crucified because that is the true portrayal of love that you want to offer him.
Also remember, “He that answereth before he heareth sheweth himself to be a fool, and worthy of confusion.” (Proverbs 18:13)
God bless you
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MidnightSun12
Guest
The fundamental error in the muslim faith is their disbelief in the Trinity. I would focus on this key difference when evangelizing muslims. It also doesn’t help that very few Catholics can actually explain the Trinity… Most muslims think our belief in the Trinity is absurd (ie. we believe in 3 gods, etc…) and if you can not only deconstruct this misconception but actually propose a very convincing and logical argument in favor of the trinity, I think you can definitely turn some heads.
First, we’re made in the image and likenss of God, so explaining the Trinity must start by illustrating that we, ourselves, are actually limited and imperfect versions of the Trinity.
For example, we each have a mind that contains both an intellect as well as thoughts. Our thoughts are created by our intellect and, together, they make up who we are. While our thoughts and our intellects are a part of one complete mind, they are separate entities in and of themselves… For example, if our thoughts and our intellects were the same thing then how could our intellect reflect on the thoughts that it creates? (ie. even an eyeball needs to have a mirror to see it’s own reflection) In short, there must exist some separation between our thoughts and our intellect even though the two are a part of one whole mind (you can see where I am going with this).
The next step is to show the connection between our own minds and the Trinity.
There are two key differences that exist between our minds and the Holy Trinity. First, the Trinity is infinite, and secondly, the Trinity is perfect. Our thoughts have limits, both in terms of how much content they can contain as well as the “correctness” of the content contained within the thought. We are constantly learning new things as well as forgetting (or losing access to) past experiences. As a result, our intellect needs to reflect on thousands and thousands of different thoughts over the course of a day.
This is not the case with God. In fact, God’s intellect is so perfect that the thoughts that It creates are infinite both in their content and their correctness. In fact, these thoughts are so perfect that you would only actually ever need to have one of these thoughts (you would never need a second thought from such an Intellect, since that would presuppose that there was something lacking or something incorrect about the first Thought). This singular thought would contain every moral truth, every physical and mathematical truth, the parameters for the creation of the universe, our own DNA, everything that ever has been, is now, or ever will be would be contained in this thought. We call this infinitely truthful thought the Son and the intellect that created this thought, the Father.
This is what Jesus meant when He said that He was the word made flesh (He was this infinitely truthful thought, made into the form of a man). This is also what Jesus meant when He said that the Father does nothing except through the Son. If you want to raise your left arm, what does your intellect do? Well, it first creates a thought that contains the necessary instructions for movement. It’s the same for God, any action that the Father decides to bring about on the earth comes through the context of His infinitely truthful thought (that is, the Son).
So if God only ever had one thought, then what does He spend the rest of His time doing?
Well, put simply, the Father is in a constant state of reflection on this singular perfect thought (the Son). Think about how you feel after you solve a really difficult math problem… you see beauty in the truth that you have written down on paper. You would defend this truth if somebody tried to question it. In every sense of the word, you love this Truth (that is, you give yourself fully to it). In the case of God, however, the Truth that the Father has created in the form of the Son is so vastly superior to any truth that we could come up with that He Loves this thought infinitely more then we could possibly imagine. In short, the Father spends the rest of eternity infinitely loving the Son and pondering the beauty of the truth contained within the Son. This love that exists between the Father and the Son is what we call the Holy Spirit.
After explaining the Trinity, a good question for a muslim would be: If you deny that God exists as a Trinity, then exactly which part of the Trinity are you denying?
If you deny the Son, then you are saying that God exists purely as an intellect which is incapable of infinite and perfect thought. If God is incapable of perfect and infinite thought, then that means that God is capable of chaning His mind about things… this begs the question: if God can change His mind about things, then how do you know what God is thinking right now? How do you know that the Koran is correct at all, and that God hasn’t changed His mind completely since it was written??? Furthermore, in order for an intellect to change it’s mind about anything, it must either learn something new or forget something… how could God possibly do either of these things?
Similarly, if you deny the Father, then you are suggesting that God exists only as a thought. This is a problem, in and of itself, because if God is just a thought then something else must have created that thought (a thought is, by definition, created by an intellect).
I would try sharing these explanations and questions with your Muslim friends. At the very least, it might clear up any misconceptions they might have about Catholicism and get them seriously questioning some key issues between our two faiths.
First, we’re made in the image and likenss of God, so explaining the Trinity must start by illustrating that we, ourselves, are actually limited and imperfect versions of the Trinity.
For example, we each have a mind that contains both an intellect as well as thoughts. Our thoughts are created by our intellect and, together, they make up who we are. While our thoughts and our intellects are a part of one complete mind, they are separate entities in and of themselves… For example, if our thoughts and our intellects were the same thing then how could our intellect reflect on the thoughts that it creates? (ie. even an eyeball needs to have a mirror to see it’s own reflection) In short, there must exist some separation between our thoughts and our intellect even though the two are a part of one whole mind (you can see where I am going with this).
The next step is to show the connection between our own minds and the Trinity.
There are two key differences that exist between our minds and the Holy Trinity. First, the Trinity is infinite, and secondly, the Trinity is perfect. Our thoughts have limits, both in terms of how much content they can contain as well as the “correctness” of the content contained within the thought. We are constantly learning new things as well as forgetting (or losing access to) past experiences. As a result, our intellect needs to reflect on thousands and thousands of different thoughts over the course of a day.
This is not the case with God. In fact, God’s intellect is so perfect that the thoughts that It creates are infinite both in their content and their correctness. In fact, these thoughts are so perfect that you would only actually ever need to have one of these thoughts (you would never need a second thought from such an Intellect, since that would presuppose that there was something lacking or something incorrect about the first Thought). This singular thought would contain every moral truth, every physical and mathematical truth, the parameters for the creation of the universe, our own DNA, everything that ever has been, is now, or ever will be would be contained in this thought. We call this infinitely truthful thought the Son and the intellect that created this thought, the Father.
This is what Jesus meant when He said that He was the word made flesh (He was this infinitely truthful thought, made into the form of a man). This is also what Jesus meant when He said that the Father does nothing except through the Son. If you want to raise your left arm, what does your intellect do? Well, it first creates a thought that contains the necessary instructions for movement. It’s the same for God, any action that the Father decides to bring about on the earth comes through the context of His infinitely truthful thought (that is, the Son).
So if God only ever had one thought, then what does He spend the rest of His time doing?
Well, put simply, the Father is in a constant state of reflection on this singular perfect thought (the Son). Think about how you feel after you solve a really difficult math problem… you see beauty in the truth that you have written down on paper. You would defend this truth if somebody tried to question it. In every sense of the word, you love this Truth (that is, you give yourself fully to it). In the case of God, however, the Truth that the Father has created in the form of the Son is so vastly superior to any truth that we could come up with that He Loves this thought infinitely more then we could possibly imagine. In short, the Father spends the rest of eternity infinitely loving the Son and pondering the beauty of the truth contained within the Son. This love that exists between the Father and the Son is what we call the Holy Spirit.
After explaining the Trinity, a good question for a muslim would be: If you deny that God exists as a Trinity, then exactly which part of the Trinity are you denying?
If you deny the Son, then you are saying that God exists purely as an intellect which is incapable of infinite and perfect thought. If God is incapable of perfect and infinite thought, then that means that God is capable of chaning His mind about things… this begs the question: if God can change His mind about things, then how do you know what God is thinking right now? How do you know that the Koran is correct at all, and that God hasn’t changed His mind completely since it was written??? Furthermore, in order for an intellect to change it’s mind about anything, it must either learn something new or forget something… how could God possibly do either of these things?
Similarly, if you deny the Father, then you are suggesting that God exists only as a thought. This is a problem, in and of itself, because if God is just a thought then something else must have created that thought (a thought is, by definition, created by an intellect).
I would try sharing these explanations and questions with your Muslim friends. At the very least, it might clear up any misconceptions they might have about Catholicism and get them seriously questioning some key issues between our two faiths.
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akka
Guest
Actually, around here the people (muslim) said that a lot of Christianity (including the bible) borrowed & copied from Islam.
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MartinJordan
Guest
Maybe it’s that bumiputra instinct kicking in.Actually, around here the people (muslim) said that a lot of Christianity (including the bible) borrowed & copied from Islam.
MJ
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Sam_777
Guest
http://forums.catholic-questions.org/images/icons/icon13.gif, why Muslims always eager to let others say the shahada!!!, forcing the converters to say it in Arabic where most of them don’t know the language is completely ridiculous.
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Sam_777
Guest
JESUS documentaries through TV satellite channels, that is the best way to let Muslims learn about Christianity in the Islamic world…
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dzheremi
Guest
My Coptic friends often discuss Christianity and evangelize Muslims using Paltalk and similar programs. I’ve never thought to do that (my Arabic isn’t good enough), but from what I’ve seen it can work very well. I listened to the testimony of a nice Tunisian ex-Muslim lady on there once, with my Coptic friend translating for me.
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Kouyate42
Guest
I can’t see how this is ridiculous given that most times I’ve seen the shahadah recited, it’s said firstly in the person’s own tongue and then in Arabic to ensure they understand what it means. And any non-Arabic Islamic books, websites or any other resource has a translation of the shahadah alongside the Arabic text anyway, so it’s not like someone couldn’t simply look it up.
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