1.
Islam – Theological Problems
Dr. Robert Patton

2.
Many basic misunderstandings
 The Muslim believes the following:
 Christians have changed the Bible; therefore it is not the same as the
Qur’an
 The death and substitutionary sacrifice of Christ never occurred
 The trinity means three Gods
 The deity of Christ – Christians think that God had sexual intercourse
with Mary

3.
Basic understanding
 The absolute holiness of God, and His abhorrence of sin
 The need of redemption via a substitute
 Man cannot change his nature by himself. He is born a
sinner –
 This is denied by the Muslim, who believes that man is
good, but weak and forgetful

4.
Initial contacts of Muslims with
Christians in the 7th century
 With Jews, who also killed Jesus because He claimed
to be God (shirk)
 The Jews also found Christ crucified a stumbling block
 They also contacted aberrant Christians who did not
teach good doctrine

5.
Our lives must speak
 We must win their hearts with our lives of love
to open them to hearing the gospel
 Mere facts are not enough – they have been
programmed to reject them

6.
Theological differences
 Truth = Qur’an for the Muslim
 Truth = total Biblical witness, culminating in
Jesus for the Christian

7.
Theological differences
 God’s mercy = revelation of perfect law for the Muslim
 God’s mercy – the suffering, redemptive love in Jesus
Christ

8.
What is missing in the Qur’an?
 For the Christian:
 God’s holiness
 Man’s sin nature which he cannot overcome
 God must intervene and save mankind
 For the Muslim, these are nonsense, and you
end up with a works religion

9.
What is ultimate truth
 Qur’an is uncreated and eternal book preserved
in heaven – Muslim
 Bible is God’s authentic authoritative Word
revealed supremely in Christ.

10.
Do not insult
 Muhammad – recognize the good he did, such
as reforming from idolatry and protecting
certain groups. But he is not our prophet
 Talk then about Jesus
 Miraculous birth
 Miraculous life
 Miraculous ascension to heaven

11.
The Qur’an
 We appreciate the wonderful things that it says
about Jesus
 His virgin birth
 His miracles
 His ascension
 His sinless life

12.
Prophecies of Muhammad vs. Jesus
 Some could be thought to refer to Muhammad –
Gen 12:1-3; Deut. 18:19, John re comforter
 But more than 300 talk about this special
prophet, the messiah, who is Jesus

13.
Deity of Christ – one approach
 Starting with common ground
 Christ had a supernatural birth with no father. (Adam
did too, but his was supernatural too)
 Christ did many supernatural acts – healing, raising
the dead – so his life was supernatural. Others did
some miracles as well
 The next step is interesting!

14.
Christ’s supernatural resurrection
 Jesus died on the cross for our sins, and also
arose from the dead and conquered death.
They may object – but keep going
 Then the prophet Jesus went to heaven and
there is no grave and no bones to worship
 So His death was supernatural

15.
So His birth, life and end of life
 Were all supernatural
 What other prophet can say that?
 He was the most supernatural person who ever lived
 The muslim agrees with the virgin birth, the
miracles, and the ascension of Christ

16.
Christ as the Son of God
 Show that we TOTALLY reject the idea that God had
sex with Mary = blasphemy
 Son of the road – 5 times in the Qur’an. Does this
mean that the road married and made little roads?
 Similar fashion – the Bible uses it metaphorically

17.
Jesus reveals God
 Jesus reveals God like a son can reveal the
father because he resembles him.
 We cannot tell God what to do or how He may
choose to reveal Himself. It is like the veil
being opened or removed.

18.
The trinity
 Muslims hold
 The sovereign will of God
 The eternal uncreated words of God – Qur’an
 The argument: Then you have 2 uncreated things,
thus 2 gods. When they object, point out that we have
3 uncreated things, the persons of the trinity
 Personally I don’t think this is a strong argument…

19.
The problem of holiness
 The Muslim needs to see that even a little bit of sin is
an affront to a holy God
 One way is to offer a contaminated drink (showing
them the contamination) to illustrate that a little
poison makes the whole thing unacceptable.
 Adam sinned once, but was punished by God

20.
Works do not provide holiness
 Only Christ can remove sin
 Heaven is holy and we cannot enter with sin in our
lives.
 Animism cannot give power over sin, but Christ can do
so

21.
Four areas of vacuum in the Qur‘an
 A loving God
 A personal God
 The assurance of forgiveness of sins
 The assurance of eternal life

22.
Impersonal God
 Muslims do not pray to God for personal things
 They feel that he is transcendent, and may pray
to saints, etc for personal things
 We can pray for them
 Main things: LOVE AND PRAYER

23.
Is the Bible corrupted?
 The problem –
 Christians: The Bible is God-breathed and inspired
by God and cannot be changed: 2 Tim. 3:16-17; 2
Peter 1:19-21; Rev. 22:18-19
 Muslims: The Qur’an is the mother of books on the
throne of God
 But in many places there are differences!

24.
The answer from the Muslim
 The Qur’an is the FINAL revelation which is to all
people
 The Muslim accepts the law of abrogation, where a
more recent writing negates earlier ones
 Thus they would state that the Bible has been
changed by Christians or Jews

25.
The Qur’an and the Bible
 The Qur’an gives encouragement that the Bible
is the Word of God: 5:68; 21:7
 The Qur’an states that God’s Word cannot be
changed: 6:115; 10:64

26.
The big question
 Then when was the Bible changed – before or after
Muhammad?
 If before – then Muhammad was a false prophet
 If afterwards – we have many manuscripts that show
no change

27.
Then ask…
 Who changed the Bible?
 When was in changed?
 How can they change God’s Word?
 Jews would not dare to do so
 Christians have severe warnings not to do so
 Jesus said that his words would never pass away

28.
What about translations?
 The translations are somewhat different, but
also there are a number of translations of the
Qur’an. They do not invalidate the Qur’an
 I have looked at three different English
translations, and there are minor differences
between the three

29.
God the Father
 To the Muslim, God is far away, and our
relationship with him is primarily obedience. He
conceives of sonship as biologic
 For the Christian, God is close to the individual.
The issue is obedience, but also that God has
chosen to reveal himself. The son is also eternal,
so it is not about procreation but relationship

30.
Helpful hints
 Do not ridicule or condemn Muhammad, but
raise up Jesus as Lord
 Avoid calling Islam a religion of words or the
mechanics of Muslim prayers
 Remember that Muslims do believe in God’s
laws and have a fear of God

31.
Helpful hints
 Muslims are aware of sin and ask for mercy,
though they have no assurance of forgiveness
 Appeal to their conscience and need of a Savior
 Tell the about our beliefs in Jesus Christ
 Our behavior must back up our belief

32.
Helpful hints
 Our message will be evaluated on the basis of
the character of the messenger. Show true love
in the face of bitterness
 Start with truths that the Muslim knows – that
Jesus was born of the virgin Mary, that He is
known as the Word of God (Kalimat Allah)
 Rely on the Holy Spirit

33.
Helpful hints
 Discuss with the same sex only.
 Men – not into a home where no man is present.
 Women, dress modestly & avoid all men groups
 Don’t argue; praise the Lord Jesus
 Do not insult Muhammad, Islam or the Qur’an