Monday, August 18, 2014

Trinity: Typical Muslim Attacks on Jesus as a man and God +

As soon as the conversation turns to "Jesus is God", you can expect a flood of questions that can catch unprepared Christians off-guard.

1)
Muslims believe that it is undignified for God to become a man.   This set of questions may be  asked graphically or euphemistically to various degrees:

Q: Is it is befitting that God should take on human characteristics
Q: Does your god use bathroom?
Q: Was your god born from the private parts of a woman?

A: Yes, absolutely, all the above and more!

The extreme measures God took to save humanity from sin shows God's love for us, and shows how big or problem with sin is.
Jesus fully took part in the human condition.
Jesus paid a big price to redeem us for sin.
God did not just ignore our sin and pretend it did not happen.
Our salvation was expensive!  There is a penalty for sin that must be paid.

[We] were bought with a price.
--1 Cor 6:20

The Word became flesh
and took up residence among us.
We observed His glory,
the glory as the One and Only Son from the Father,
full of grace and truth.
--John 1:14

[Jesus] was tempted in all points tempted like we are, yet without sin.
--Hebrews 4:15

2)
Q:Can God die? Did your god die?
Q: Jesus died, therefore he cannot be God.

A:Jesus died, but that does not mean he stopped existing.    "Death" means he was separated from his body. Jesus still kept on ministering after his resurrection.

3)
Q: Could you become God?
A: No, I am a human being.
Q: Was Jesus a human being?
A: Yes.
Q: Then how could Jesus be God?

With God all things are possible.
--Matt 19:26
Our God is able take on human form and live with us as a man.


4)
Q: Do you believe Jesus was God or that he was sent by God?
A: Both.
Q: Why is God is all-knowing, by definition, but Jesus was not?  For example:
Concerning that day or hour no one knows—neither the angels in heaven nor the Son—except the Father.
 --Mark 13:32
A: Jesus is not all-knowing because:
he emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men.
--Phil 2:7

5)
Q: God does what he wants, Jesus did not.  For example:
I can do nothing on My own. I judge only as I hear, and My judgment is righteous, because I do not seek My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me.
--John 5:30

A: Jesus did God's will:
being found in human form, he humbled himself, becoming obedient to death, yes, the death of the cross.
--Phil 2:8

6)
Q: Jesus prayed to God. why should God pray?
A: Jesus prayed because he became human like us.

All these show the Muslims' initial definition of God needs to be revised.
When God reveals himself for how he is, Muslims complain that God does not meet their preconceptions of what God should be like.



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