False religion from hell: islam

Squire and Mari,
I meant weaker/new brothers and sisters, who may not have sufficient grounding, and could be swayed by reading this stuff.I still don`t think that we need to even look at the Muslim book or any of its teachings - we have the Word, and that is the Truth-and sufficient for all our needs. Would a Muslim want to look at the Bible ? unless they were wanting to be converted of course.

 

....... exactly what Squire has just said..... does everyone who reads this board/thread have such a great and perfect knowledge,that he/she wouldn`t be affected by reading the wrong stuff....it is risky to even look at it, unless you have got complete knowledge of everything in the Bible. IMO - Don`t go there . Satan is crafty, he would do anything to put us off course.There are some very knowledgable Christian folk here, but some of us are a bit new on this narrow road we don`t need any unnecessary stumbling blocks.

 

I understand what all of you are saying. But just hope you never have to witness to a muslim one day.

Just to think about: When Paul went to Athens in Acts 17, he witnessed to the pagans there. How did he do it? He didn't use the Bible only, he also discussed specifics of *their* religion (v23) and quoted specific passages of *their* scripture (v28).

Squire, your counterfeit money analogy is good, but only when focused on how *we* recognize the genuine. But how do we deal with those who don't? How about another analogy: your military, to win a war against an opponent, *studies the opponent* and learns as much about them as they can.

Just food for thought.

 

BrianT, that was very eye opening. Thanks.

 

In that setting, there wasn't really a difference. Philosophy was their religion, and was intricately woven into their mythology. Both quotes in the passage (both in v28) were written by Greek philosophers in reference to Zeus.

But the point is that he made an argument from *their* religion, from what *they* knew. He didn't avoid all reference to their religion, but rather was familiar with and used it to help his own argument.

I have some JW friends (and even a couple relatives). When I discuss Christ with them, I can show them right from their NWT how Christ is God. If I try to use my NIV, they just block it out, because they don't accept my NIV in the first place.

The main point is: the better you understand a false religion, the better you can argue against it. Any missionary in a non-Christian country, or people in ministries dealing with cults, will tell you this.

 

To "win" Muslims to Christ you had better know the doctrine of the Trinity inside and out. Likewise, you had better live out your Christianity before their eyes. Also, you must know their critique of the Bible and the various textual differences and translations.

Furthermore, you had better know the mythology behind Islam and fully understand their concept of a radically extreme monotheistic Allah who is a non-disclosing god. One of the problems of Islam is that in the Quran you have this radical extreme non-disclosing monotheistic god, who discloses information about himself. It is not consistent. It breaks the law of non-contridiction. Again, I cannot stress how important it is for those of you who are interested to read "Neighboring Faiths" by Winifred Corduan and "Unveiling Islam" by the Caner brothers. Likewise, it will not hurt you to know what the Quran says about Abraham, Moses, and Jesus. These are common points that you can use to begin to make inroads with a Muslim friend so that you can share the Gospel with him. To refuse to learn anything about Islam or Muslims is a big mistake. However, the place to have this discussion is in the "Other Religions" section of the board.

[ November 23, 2002, 12:50 AM: Message edited by: BibleboyII ]

 

Haven't read the thread,
Can be ignored if bored,
Deleted if repeated.


Any, any, ANY, ANY religion other than Christianity is a "false religion from hell."

2 Jn 1:7

[ November 23, 2002, 07:29 AM: Message edited by: Aaron ]

 

QUOTE]Originally posted by BrianT:

"Just to think about: When Paul went to Athens in Acts 17, he witnessed to the pagans there. How did he do it? He didn't use the Bible only, he also discussed specifics of *their* religion (v23) and quoted specific passages of *their* scripture (v28)."
In verse 23 the Bible states only that Paul used the fact that these people had an altar to The Unknown God, and says that they were actually worshiping the same God as him , without realising it. Paul, knowing these people to be superstitious used this to try to `set the seed`in the people that the only and Real God was the one they didn`t know the identity of.Most did not believe him but , see verse 34, Dionysios, an Areopagite,or judge of the Athenian and a woman called Damaris were convinced and believed. A seed planted.... for God to make to grow.Praise be to God for His use of Paul in that place.
There is no mention , in verse 23 of Paul using other religions booksor scripture - he knew that they were superstitious (v22)and he had probably read some of the poets of the day (he wasn`t always a believer )as we all know . In verse 28 Paul makes mention of one of the Greek poets, Aratus, to whom the quote he uses "For we are also his offspring " is attributed. Not from a religious scource/scripture - from a poet.