Did the Early Christians Worship Jesus?

Many of Paul's letters start the same way as this one:

Unto the church of God which is at Corinth, to them that are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints, with all that in every place call upon the name of Jesus Christ our Lord
--1 Cor 1:2

The NASB gives this footnote: [who trust in the Lord Literally, “who call on the name of the Lord,” meaning to show faith in him by worshiping or praying to him for help.]



This is a first century work of graffiti to embarrass a Christian.
 The inscription reads: "Alexamenos worships his god."

Pliny the Younger, Roman governor of Bithynia in Asia Minor around 112 AD, wrote to the Emperor Trajan observing that the Christians sang hymns to Christ "as to a god.

Where is the Muslim's historical evidence that early Christians treated Jesus as only a prophet?

Does God Judge Children? +

This topic can come up when Muslims point to "innocent children" receiving judgement by God as evidence that the God of the Bible is not merciful.

For example, when Sodom and Gomorrah was destroyed, presumably the children were died along with the adults.
Or when the flood destroyed everyone but Noah's family, that will have also included children.

You need to be comfortable with the idea that God's judgement  sometimes happens on this side of life.  This is regrettable. but it is good because it prevents evil from spreading and dominating.

Just be sure you are not the reason for God's judgement.

There is a fine line that separates God allowing to let evil happen on earth without bounds, God allowing sin to go unpunished, and allowing man to act with freewill.

When parents do bad things, the children can and often do reap the consequences.

Both Islam and Christianity have the stories of Sodom and Gomorrah and the flood, so Muslims have no moral high ground here.

From the perspective of Islam, there is nothing more evil than associating partners with God, such as what Christianity does by making Jesus and Mary gods.  And yet Allah allowed Christianity to grow for 600 years without any judgement.

How to talk to Muslims +

When disusing religion, there are two things you can do wrong.  One is to compromise on what you say you believe in out of fear of offending the person you are talking to, and and on the other side is belligerence.

I believe  that you can say or do anything as long as you really believe that you are doing it to edify the other person,  and people will generally respect you for that.

Once I heard a lady discuss how she had the opportunity to answer a wide range of questions about the gospel with a Muslim.  She proudly remarked that she did not tell the Muslim to "turn or burn".

I am so comfortable with my way of speaking to people out of love and edification that I had forgotten that people could avoid this topic out of fear of offense.

Go into all the world, and preach the Good News to the whole creation. He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who disbelieves will be condemned.
--Mark 16:15-16

With Muslims, of all people, it is so easy to bring up the topic of "hellfire" because the Quan talks about it so much.  If they are honest and open with you they will let you know that you, as a Christian, are due for that same fate for rejecting their prophet and for the grave sin of placing Jesus at the same level as God.

Deep inside, many Muslims believe that, even if they are wrong about Jesus, they will still earn some sort of redemption through their piety, with their daily prayers, good deeds, pilgrimages and generally what they feel is "submission".  This is absolutely contrary to the Gospel, and you must try to disabuse the Muslim you are talking to of this belief.  He may not believe you, but he will appreciate your concern.

In order to talk to Muslims, you must be very well-prepared.  However this is easier than you may think as Muslims tend to all follow the same script when defending Islam.  At the same time it is also hard as they have been exposed to a lifetime of anti-Christian polemics.

There are some lines of discussion to avoid as they lead to unproductive discussions. Watch for these and avoid them.

I personally avoid saying bad things about Islam in general and the prophet of Islam in particular.  It is generally not useful because most Muslims have answers prepared because they know these questions will arise.  I suggest you avoid this as well unless you are very knowledgeable.

Here is a little secret:  I have found that many Muslims really don't believe in Islam, but are a sort of monotheistic-leaning agnostics who are bound up into  Islam  for various reasons, such as

Fear of God
Fear of rejection from their Muslim family and friends
Much anti-Christian propaganda.

I take the attitude that Muslims are really just looking to be able to justify following Christ, so I just focus on answering the disinformation they have heard and presenting the Gospel more than disparaging Islam.

It is important to be able to provide reasonable answers to the Muslim polemics.
Even if you do not see an immediate conversion, you should be able to generate enough doubt so that he will not be come a radical defender of Islam, and not able to share Islam with his former zeal and conviction.

Here is a model presentation of the Gospel, especially for a Muslim audience.

The Gospel for Islam, by James White:
http://youtu.be/Pi0uyXZ0rmw

Also watch this:
Dr. James White on Why Muslims Reject the Gospel
https://youtu.be/6XvzeXOW9K0

Salvation: Where Did Jesus Say He Would Die for our Sins? +

Sometimes Muslims want to see a verse where Jesus says he would die for our sin: 

As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life.
--John 3:14-15

Jesus  is making a reference to:

The people came to Moses, and said, “We have sinned, because we have spoken against Yahweh, and against you. Pray to Yahweh, that he take away the serpents from us.” Moses prayed for the people.

Yahweh said to Moses, “Make a fiery serpent, and set it on a pole. It shall happen, that everyone who is bitten, when he sees it, shall live.” Moses made a serpent of brass, and set it on the pole. If a serpent had bitten any man, when he looked at the serpent of brass, he lived.
--Numbers 21:7-9

The serpent represents the object of God's judgement, or sin.  As Paul writes:

For he has made him, who knew no sin, to be sin for us; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.
--2 Cor 5:21

Also,

 For this is my blood of the New Testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins.
--Matthew 26:28

Historically, communion has always been practiced by the church.

Question for Muslims:  How did the ritual of communion get started?  Could you persuade your friends from mosque to gather together and ceremonially eat the body, and drink the blood of Jesus?

Was Jesus Impolite when He Called His Mother "Woman"?

Jesus saith unto her, Woman, what have I to do with thee? mine hour is not yet come.
--John 2:4

Was this insulting, as some claim?  Did people ever have to wonder with Jesus if they were being insulted? Consider these verses:

Jesus saith unto her, Woman, why weepest thou?
--John 20:15

O woman, great is thy faith!
--Matt 15:28

Woman, behold thy son!
--John 19:26

Finally, an unbiased reading of the Quran shows that Muhammad thought that Christians worshiped three gods: the Father, the Mother (Mary), and the Son (Jesus), (Sura 5:73-75,116).

If Jesus really was being insulting to his mother, how can Christians justify the idea that Mary is a God from the Bible?

Bible Verses that show Jesus Is The Lamb of God

God speaks and creates.

In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.
--Genesis 1:1

Just one command

But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.
--Genesis 2:17

Now the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?
--Genesis 3:1

Man tries to deal with sin by hiding and covering

And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons.

And they heard the voice of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day: and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God amongst the trees of the garden.

And the Lord God called unto Adam, and said unto him, Where art thou?
--Gen 3:7-9

The Protoevangelium

And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.
--Gen 3:15

An innocent animal dies to cover Adam and Eve.  First death in the Bible.

Unto Adam also and to his wife did the Lord God make coats of skins, and clothed them.
--Gen 3:21

God requires animal sacrifice, not vegetables

the Lord had respect unto Abel and to his offering:
But unto Cain and to his offering he had not respect.
--Gen 4:4-5

Abraham's sacrifice

And he said, Take now thy son, thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get thee into the land of Moriah; and offer him there for a burnt offering upon one of the mountains which I will tell thee of.
--Gen 22:2

Isaac carries the wood for his own sacrifice like Jesus did

And Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering, and laid it upon Isaac his son; and he took the fire in his hand, and a knife; and they went both of them together.
--Gen 22:6

And Abraham said, My son, God will provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering: so they went both of them together.
--Gen 22:8

And Abraham lifted up his eyes, and looked, and behold behind him a ram caught in a thicket by his horns: and Abraham went and took the ram, and offered him up for a burnt offering in the stead of his son.
--Gen 22:13

Covenant with Abraham

[The Lord to Abraham]
3 And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.
--Gen 12:3

[The Lord to Isaac]
Sojourn in this land, and I will be with thee, and will bless thee; for unto thee, and unto thy seed, I will give all these countries, and I will perform the oath which I sware unto Abraham thy father;

 And I will make thy seed to multiply as the stars of heaven, and will give unto thy seed all these countries; and in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed;
--Gen 26:2-4

[The Lord to Jacob]
14 And thy seed shall be as the dust of the earth, and thou shalt spread abroad to the west, and to the east, and to the north, and to the south: and in thee and in thy seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed.
--Gen 28:14

The Passover

Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male of the first year: ye shall take it out from the sheep, or from the goats:
--Exodus 12:5

And they shall take of the blood, and strike it on the two side posts and on the upper door post of the houses, wherein they shall eat it.
--Exodus 12:7

The suffering servant

Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.

But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.

All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.

He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth: he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth.
--Isaiah 53:4-7

Jesus is the Lamb of God

 The next day John seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.
--John 1:29

Purge out therefore the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, as ye are unleavened. For even Christ our passover is sacrificed for us:
Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness; but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.
--1 Cor 5 7-8

And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him [the dragon], whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.
--Rev 13:8


These verses come courtesy David Wood in this debate:

http://youtu.be/TdEZbHYG5eY

Why Is The Bible Relevant To Muslims?

Islam has a love-hate relationship with the Bible.

1) Love:

The Bible gives Islam the sense that it is an ancient religion.  Islam would not have credibility if "Allah", the creator of the universe, just arrived in the seventh century with just one prophet.
Muslims also love that they can try to convert Christians by showing that their simple monotheism appears to be more logical.  Islam does not have a lot of evidence in favor of it, so Muslims tend to have a culture of discrediting others' religions instead of supplying positive evidence.

2) Hate:

Contrary to what you would think from reading the Quran, the message of the  Bible is a lot different from the Quran.  If the Quran is a continuation or correction of the Bible, then why is one so different from the other?  Islam claims that the prophets of the Bible were actually Muslim, so they are in the embarrassing situation of having to explain how the Bible got off-track from its "original" Muslim state.
So if you can demonstrate that the Bible has not changed then you can go a long way towards showing  that Islam is false.  The Bible is very different from the Quran, so Muslims need to show a lot of change.

The Severity of The Romans

Here are some examples that show that the Romans were very severe, even with their own.  The Roman soldiers can be assumed to have been doing their jobs properly.

In Acts 12,
when Peter escaped from the jail, because of the angel, Herod  executed guards:

19 And when Herod had sought for him, and found him not, he examined the keepers, and commanded that they should be put to death.
--Acts 12:19

In Acts 16 guard was about to execute himself when the prison doors were opened:

And the keeper of the prison awaking out of his sleep, and seeing the prison doors open, he drew out his sword, and would have killed himself, supposing that the prisoners had been fled.
But Paul cried with a loud voice, saying, Do thyself no harm: for we are all here.
--Acts 16:27-28

False Statement By Ahmed Deedat

Ahmed Deedat said:

"Throughout the length and bredth of the 27 books of the New Testament there is not a single statement made by Jesus Christ that I was dead, and I have come back from the dead..."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cgUnalaJoTs&feature=youtu.be&t=97m11s

Compare this to what Jesus dictated to the apstle John:

To the angel of the assembly in Smyrna write:
The first and the last, who was dead, and has come to life says these things: ...
--Revelation 2:8-9

So what Ahmed Deedat says Jesus never said, Jesus actually took as a title for himself.

In fact Josh McDowell points out another verse:

“Don’t be afraid. I am the first and the last,  and the Living one. I was dead, and behold, I am alive forever more. Amen. I have the keys of Death and of Hades.
--Revelations 1:17



2)
Here is a video that shows that Ahmed Deedat was making false claims about the meaning of John 1:1 using his knowledge of Greek:

http://youtu.be/smm9zD0ufs8


Almost every Muslim argument sounds good at first, especially to someone who does not know the Bible.
Islam is all about earthly human logic, but on closer inspection Muslim arguments are often weak.

Is The Resurrection Physical or Spiritual?

Sometimes Muslims claim that resurrected bodies are "spiritualized" or "angelized".
This can be seen in this video

Ahmhed Deedat, Josh McDowell:
http://youtu.be/cgUnalaJoTs?t=11m52s

Ahmed Deedat emphasizes the part about "they are equal to the angels" in Luke Chapter 20 (below), and says that in the resurrection people are  "spiritualized" or "angelized".  He does this to show that Jesus did not die on the cross, or else he would have been a spirit.  However the question that Jesus was asked was about marriage, not about resurrection bodies.

Here is the passage Deedat quotes:

And Jesus answering said unto them, The children of this world marry, and are given in marriage: But they which shall be accounted worthy to obtain that world, and the resurrection from the dead, neither marry, nor are given in marriage: Neither can they die any more: for they are equal unto the angels; and are the children of God, being the children of the resurrection.
--Luke 20:34-6

In fact it was clearly Luke's intent to show that Jesus was not a spirit when he was resurrected, as can be seen here:

And as they thus spake, Jesus himself stood in the midst of them, and saith unto them, Peace be unto you. But they were terrified and affrighted, and supposed that they had seen a spirit. And he said unto them, Why are ye troubled? and why do thoughts arise in your hearts? Behold my hands and my feet, that it is I myself: handle me, and see; for a spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye see me have. And when he had thus spoken, he shewed them his hands and his feet.
--Luke 24:36-40

How To Answer Bible Difficulties +

One of the favorite things for Muslims is to talk about passages in the Bible that are hard to reconcile.  I have found that most of these problems have reasonably satisfactory answers, such as those found here:

http://www.debate.org.uk/debate-topics/apologetic/contrads/

We must keep in mind that what is important is the message of the Bible, which is the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus.  The New Testament only came years after Jesus' ministry, so they had Christianity without the New Testament.  Therefore the New Testament is always secondary to Jesus and his resurrection.

What is more significant than minor discrepancies that Muslims focus on is the large areas of agreement in the New Testament.  All 27 books affirm the crucifixion of Jesus.
The fact that there are these difficulties goes to show that the Bible did not come from a centralized source.  Also the fact that early Christians and the later copyists did not try to smooth out these issues contradicts the major defense of Muslims against the Bible, namely that the Christians changed the Bible.

What this says is that Muslims can have Bible difficulties, or Christians making up the Bible, but they cannot have both.

Is Allah the Name of God? -

Muslims sometimes claim that "Allah" is the correct name for God.

However, one of the names of God in the Bible is "El".
This site lists 108 names that end with or contain "El", where it means "of God":

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theophory_in_the_Bible

Two of these names are well-known to Muslims, and they are:

Ishmael – Heard by God, Named by God, or God Hearkens

Gabriel – Man of God, God has shown Himself Mighty, Hero of God or Strong one of God

Also less well-known are these names:

Ilias (Elias)
Alyasa (Elisha)

Muslims usually know the country called "Israel".  This name means "Who prevails with God".

The Old Testament shows The Trinity *

One of the more common objections Muslims pose to Christians is that they want to see where the Trinity is taught in the Old Testament.  This is difficult as  Christians are not as familiar with the Old Testament, and this topic does not receive a lot of attention in sermons.  Also some of the verses require some understanding of Hebrew to be fully appreciated.


Muslims often quote the verse below to show there is no Trinity in the Old Testament:

 Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God is one Lord:
--Deut 6:4 (KJV)

There are three responses to this:

1)  We must remember that the first believers were Jews.  The New Testament is full of Old Testament quotations. Therefore, if the Jews in Jesus' day had believed in strict monotheism as the Muslims say they did, then why do we not see a lot of disputation about this in the New Testament?  Was the life of Jesus and his resurrection so compelling so these questions were not raised?

2)  The Old Testament does not show the oneness of God as much as you would think.
The word translated as "God" (KJV) in Genesis 1 is actually "elohim".  This word is masculine plural.  It occurs around 2570 times in the Old Testament.

3) Also, we see "us" applied for God frequently:

God said, "Let us make man in our image, after our likeness"
--Gen 1:26

I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, "Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?"
--Isaiah 6:8 (KJV)