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Christ's salvation in the light of saving method in Islam
Books cited are listed at end of document
From
KB 4/01 Muslims
believe that God guides through words, not people (First Facts of False
Teaching).Therefore no personal God will help them in the task of getting
to heaven. Allah is merciful, but his mercy consists of sending prophets
to tell people how he wishes them to live their lives. People can
cultivate their divine spark “taqua” or suppress it. Thus they are
even responsible for being deserving or undeserving of God’s guidance
.To explain the idea of a savior, I think I would begin with a story about
a young boy who was washed away in a flash flood. He is being carried down
the river and is drowning. I would ask which person would be of the most
assistance to the boy, a loving person who
gave the boy information or a person who jumped in the water and
pulled him out? I would ask if the person had ever felt overwhelmed trying
to do what Allah required. Then
I would ask if he wanted to know about someone who would be willing, like
the person in the story, to care for him and help him, save him, so that
he could be sure that he had done all that was required of him. Muslims
have several different approaches to salvation. One of them is the idea
that men are saved by means of both faith and works. It is stated in the
Koran, ”Then, as for those who believed and did good works, their Lord
will bring them in unto His mercy. That is the evident triumph.”(Koran
46:30) Each individual is responsible for his own salvation. In addition,
“Some Muslims will say that human salvation is hidden in the mystery of
God’s will. It is controlled by his eternal decree.” Others will place
the question of human salvation in the arena of God’s mercy and grace.
(Muslim Friends, Their Faith and Feeling” page 201). Nevertheless, the
idea that anyone else could take the person’s responsibility for his
life and actions and receive the punishment for his sins does not seem to
have entered Muslim thought. A Muslim might find it acceptable in human
life, however, it would be contrary to the justice of God in the case of
Jesus. In the “Handbook of Today’s Religions on page 396 we read:
“The death of Christ at the hands of the Jews is rejected by Muslims on
a priori grounds, …It is impossible that God should so desert a prophet
in the fulfillment of his mission. It would be contrary to his justice to
permit the suffering of an innocent on behalf of others. In
addition, the Muslim believes that God has given him the moral ability to
know what is right and wrong and submit to God’s way. Furthermore, man
is fundamentally good, so the death of Jesus as a substitution for us is
not even necessary. One
of the biggest problems with presenting the idea of Christ as a
substitution for us, dying on the cross, bearing our sins and our
punishment, is that Muslims do not believe that Jesus died on the cross.
They believe someone who looked like him, possibly Judas, died on the
cross. (Compact Guide to World Religions) In the “Handbook of Today’s
Religions on page 396 we read: “The death of Christ at the hands of the
Jews is rejected by Muslims on a priori grounds, …It is impossible that
God should so desert a prophet in the fulfillment of his mission. It would
be contrary to his justice to permit the suffering of an innocent on
behalf of others. Because
Muslims do not believe that Jesus died on the cross and that God would
have let him die, I do not think I would directly talk about the concept
of Christ’s death as a substitution for us for the forgiveness of our
sin. This would be a cutoff. Because Muslims do revere the Bible, and like
stories, I think I would approach the problem from the idea of the Old
Testament practice of sacrifice of the ram on the day of atonement and the
idea that the ram was sacrificed after the sins of the people were laid
upon it. At least I would be
able to introduce the idea of a substitution without cutting off the
conversation. Then I would tell the story of Abraham and Isaac, when God asked Abraham to sacrifice his son. I would talk about Genesis 228 where Abraham says, "God himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering, my son." From there I would move to Isaiah 536-7. There Isaiah speaks about God laying all our sin on his servant, and "he was led like a lamb to the slaughter". I would ask that person if he knew to whom this referred. Then I would point to the Scripture in John 129, where it says, "The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, "Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world." I would tell the person that this is why I believe that Jesus was sacrificed for my sin and the sin of the world. In
“Reaching Muslims for Christ” (p.34-35) we find the following: ”The
last day is the time when God will judge all men, spirits, and animals
according to what they have done. Known variously as the hour, the day of
resurrection, and the day of judgment, its reality is denied by
unbelievers. At death, the soul enters a state of unconsciousness until
resurrection.” Thus Muslims clearly have a concept of resurrection for
humankind. Since they also believe that Jesus did many miracles, and they
have reverence for the Bible, they would also most likely agree with the
Bible’s description of Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead. Muslims do not believe that Jesus died on the cross, but that He was taken up by Allah to himself .(Reaching Muslims for Christ, p 120). Therefore He would not have been resurrected. Since this is true it would be a premature cutoff to talk immediately about Christ’s resurrection. I think I would start to work with the idea of resurrection as a common belief. Both the Muslim and the Christian believe in a resurrection. We would be able to agree that humans will be resurrected at the judgment day, and that we will all be judged. Then I would speak to the person about the fact that he could go to heaven or hell. I could then share that I am sure that I will go to heaven. I would then tell the person that I know that because there was another very special resurrection from the dead. I would ask if they would permit me to share that story. I would then share Acts 1 22-28. From AL 3/03: . It is important that the one you are speaking with does not misunderstand the incarnation of Christ as God having had sexual relations with Mary rather, that God has clothed himself in humanity. As Christians, Muslims also perceive God to be all-powerful and thus it would be inappropriate to say that God cannot do something, including manifesting himself in human form. “Another
approach is to ask your Muslim friend, ‘Are you not limiting God by
saying that He is unable to express himself through human form? Are you not saying that something is then impossible with
God? Remember that the angel declared to Mary that ‘nothing is
impossible with God’ (Luke 1:37).’” (Kateregga and Shenk, 114). References: Kateregga,
Badru and Shenk, David, A Muslim and a Christian in Dialogue, Herald
Press, Scottdale, PA, 1997 Martinson,
Paul, Families of Faith, Augsburg Fortress, Mpls., MN, 1999 McDowell,
Josh,and Stewart, Don, Handbook of Today’s Religions, Thomas Nelson
Publishers, 1983 Miller,
Roland, Muslim Friends, Their Faith and Feeling, Concordia,1995 Saal, William J., Reaching Muslims for Christ, Moody Press, Chicago, 1991 Valleskey, David J., We Believe, Therefore We Speak, Northwestern, Milwaukee WI 1997 Return to Saving Methods chart
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