Over the past many years, I have been in dialogue with Muslims, Jehovah's Witnesses, Oneness Pentecostals, Seventh-day Aventists, and people of various mainstream Christian denominations (Confessional Lutheranism, Roman Catholicism, denominations with Calvinist and Arminian influences, et al.). As always, our dialogues have been informative and thought- provoking, sometimes surprising (like when the JWs I've been dialoguing with said that they believe in the real presence of Christ's body and blood in the Lord's Supper(!!!)), and yet I often feel disheartened because (at the end of the dialogue) it often seems that I'm the only one looking into things to see if they are true or false.
With the Muslims and some others, they often throw things like textual criticism my way in an attempt to undermine the trustworthiness of the Old and New Testaments. However, since I am familiar with textual criticism, I respond to their challenges with a reality check on the reliability of the Old and New Testaments. Sadly, it appears that they know absolutely nothing about these things and are basically restating what they have been told by their religious bodies (e.g. Watchtower). Furthermore, they seem to have no interest in learning anything about these things so that they can recognise the errors in what they've been taught and either refine their arguments or drop them. The same applies to the doctrine of the Trinity, or worship on the seventh-day, or discussions on Christian baptism, or the Lord's Supper, or other topics of interest like what happens when we die, why do people suffer, et al.
I am reminded of Pontius Pilate, who asked Jesus: "What is truth?" God warns us to test the spirits to see if they are from God, and to test ourselves to make sure we are in fact Christian. What makes a Christian is not so much their "good works" (though good works are a part of the Christian life), or certain miracles or gifts of the Spirit (like speaking in tongues, though some may be given this gift), or their ability to persuade others to their beliefs, or their ability to memorise Scripture; but rather, what makes a Christian is their trusting faith in God and in what God teaches (i.e. His Word and promises), especially with regards to the Gospel. This faith is a gift from God, but what God teaches and promises is foolishness and a stumbling block to many. Although passionate about their beliefs, many are unwilling to put their beliefs to the test in order to see whether or not they are true.
Anyone can argue that polytheism was believed and practiced by Israel in the Old Testament, for this is what Scripture itself teaches. And yet, in spite of these beliefs and practices, God (i.e. YHWH) clearly condemns polytheism and the worship of any deity except Him. Why would YHWH do this? The fact is, contrary to popular beliefs, there is only one God--- all other so-called 'gods' and 'goddesses' are not gods or goddesses at all. They may be humans, or angels, or idols, or animals, or nature, or whatever else; they may be physical or non-physical in form; but in fact, they are not (in essence) God. A dog, in essence, is not human; nor is a human, in essence, a cherib or archangel; likewise, nothing in creation is, in essence, God or like God. Some may argue that since humanity is created in the image of God, God must be like humans. Well, no, that is not true. When God created humanity in the image of God, they were created sinless, perfect, blameless, with authority over God's creation (including the authority to name things); they were created with eternal life (for as long as they did not sin, they would not die), the ability to reason, to use reason to skillfully make and build things, to communicate in various ways, to respectfully love both God and one another. When humanity sinned against God, that image was broken by sin, and henceforth all humanity has been begotten in that broken image. We are all, by nature, sinful, imperfect, and justly guilty of sin; although we claim authority, humanity often struggles to maintain their authority over creation. We do not, by nature, live forever; rather, from conception, every one of us will die physically (as a consequence of sin) unless Christ returns before then. Although we retain the ability to reason and to use it to skillfully make and build things, our reason is both limited and flawed by sin. We can still communicate in various ways (and in more ways than ever before), but our communication is weakened by language barriers, the inability to convey our thoughts in ways that others can perfectly comprehend (or apprehend) them, and our inability to perfectly comprehend (or apprehend) what others are trying to say or convey to us. Finally, for the most part, humanity falls short in respectfully loving both God and one another (be it their family, their neighbours, their colleagues, strangers, or their enemies).
Granted, there is more to our image which no longer reflects the "image of God" into which Adam and Eve were created. I could add God's justice versus humanity's injustice, God's selfless sacrifice versus our selfish ambitions, God's grace versus our lack thereof, God's truth versus our lies and deceptions, God's faithfulness versus our unfaithfulness. People who want to create God in the image of humanity and nature end up with a very worldly religion, like the Egyptian, Mesopotamian, Assyrian, Cananite, Greek, Roman, Hindi, Wiccan, etc. pantheon of deities, gods, goddesses, et al. Even the so-called god of Islam, liberal theology (be it Judaism, Christianity or Islam), Zoroastrianism, and various pseudo- and quasi-Christian religions are re-created in the image of humanity. After all, how often have we heard people say that all religions are the same, or that the gods of all religions are basically the same? Yet even among monotheist religions, there is a significant difference between them. The God of Judeo-Christianity is not the same god that Islam, Judaism, liberal theologians, Zoroastrianism, etc. worships. Can anyone who is familiar with the Qur'an, or the teachings of these liberal theologians, or modern (non-Christian) Jews, or Zoroastrianism, etc. honestly say that their god is the same as the God of Judeo-Christianity, or of any other monotheist religion? The answer to this question is 'no', because these gods are significantly different from one another. Yet our postmodern world and many others falsely claim that 'yes, they are the same'. As long as we uphold these lies instead of recognising them for what they are, we will never get anywhere near the truth. Furthermore, unless we are willing to see the truth for what it is and believe it (especially the truth of God and His Word), no one will have the freedom that they so desperately seek.
Truth is rooted in history, but history in itself is limited. For instance, my existence is rooted in history, but my family tree is limited in proving my existence. At some point down the line, history fails to provide information about my ancestors--- but this does not mean that they never existed, or that they did not hold jobs, or that they were never married, etc. History is limited, but truth remains rooted in history nonetheless. The Qur'an is rooted in history. It was written many years after the death of Mohammad (who was said to be illiterate), and it is believed to be the words of Allah given to Mohammad through the archangel Gabriel. Many argue that the copy that we have today is perfectly unaltered from the original; however, history suggests that this is untrue, and that there were once numerous editions of the Qur'an until a certain leader of influence had all editions destroyed except one. Unfortuneately for Islam, there are still quotes and remnants of these other editions found here and there (including, from what I've heard, inscriptions on the Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem), yet there is not enough for Islam to possibly reconstruct the original Qur'an. In contrast, the New Testament has thousands of early manuscripts to help expose errors (intentional and unintentional) and to reconstruct the New Testament. Furthermore, since the Qur'an was written at a point in history where its claims can be verified by other (earlier) events and writings, we can test the spirits of this writing to see if it is indeed from God or not. For instance, the Qur'an teaches that the trinity of God (as believed by mainstream Christianity) is the belief that there are three gods. However, it is clear from history that the trinity of God was never a belief in three gods, but only one God; furthermore, this universal confession was affirmed centuries earlier, both in Scripture and in various church councils (e.g. Council of Nicea in 325 C.E., and in Constantinople in 381 C.E.). Thus, if the Qur'an in fact originated from God, wouldn't God have known that the trinity of God (as taught by Christians) is the belief that there is only one God, rather than three (as taught by the Qur'an)? The Muslims I talk with cannot understand why I am not Muslim, and when I bring this up they get angry with me. Why? From what I gather, they do not like the truth and what it implies: That is, that this passage regarding the trinity must be erroneous--- which contradicts their belief that it cannot be. Furthermore, I admit that this is not the only place where there seems to be errors. Consider, for example, the Old and New Testament stories which differ significantly from the Qur'an. Who was offered up as a sacrifice? Was is Ishmael or Isaac? According to the Old Testament, it was Isaac; all manuscript evidence of this account are consistent and do not suggest that it was corrupted (as claimed by Islam). Thus, in my view, it it just another error introduced by the author of the Qur'an. In the end, my evaluation is that either 1) this "archangel Gabriel" was not a messenger of God, but taught Mohammed lies which he then faithfully memorised and recited to everyone; or 2) Mohammad failed to accurately memorise and recite what this archangel Gabriel told him; or 3) those who recorded the Qur'an failed to accurately remember and recite what Mohammad taught; or 4) Mohammad (being a smart man) made it up as a means to gain power and control others; or 5) the guy who destroyed all editions of the Qur'an except one ended up keeping the edition that had countless errors. No matter which way it goes, the Qur'an (in my opinion) is untrustworthy, and I therefore cannot agree with it or its teachings where it differs from Scripture (i.e. the Old and New Testaments), and I cannot worship Allah because it appears to be a false god (i.e. contrary to the God of the Old and New Testaments). I could say similar things can be said about the so-called gods of other religions, and pseudo- / quasi-Christian religions (e.g. Mormonism), and even of other monotheist religions (e.g. Zoroastrianism).
Some Muslims may think that I am trying to convert them to Christianity, but God knows that people will believe what they believe regardless of the evidence. Thus, I cannot convert anyone; God can bring them to faith and convert them, but humanity always has the terrible freedom to reject God and His gifts of grace. In the case of Islam and those Muslims who I dialogue with, they are threatened with death if they become Christian (and in some cases, even being friends with a Christian can lead to imprisonment, torture and possible death). In the case of Jehovah's Witnesses and Mormons and other pseudo- / quasi-Christian religions (cults), they can be shunned--- which can be quite devestating (especially psychologically), since they can be cut off from family, friends and loved ones. The question that we (and they) need to ask themselves is this: Is believing and embracing the one true God, His teachings and promises (including the gift of eternal life with Him) really worth losing everything we hold dear, even our life? In a postmodern world where everything of value is presented as being here and now (in this life), the idea of giving up everything for God seems problematic. Some may even put it on par with suicide bombers--- except there is a difference. With suicide bombers, you go into it with the intent to cause as much harm and death as possible to others; but with being a Christian, we are brought into this relationship with God through His love, Word and truth which we then share with others--- who, in turn, generally mock, condemn, shun, imprison, torture and kill us. Is it in vain? No, for we have the promise and gift of eternal life in a heavenly paradise with God. Is it worth it? In my opinion: Definitely!
Alas, time for bed.
- Roger
