V.

Challenges to Us

The biggest challenge to us in the 21st Century is to decide for ourselves which view is right.  Both Islam and Christianity present that our view of the Messiah will determine our eternity.  The Qur’an teaches that if you view Jesus as God in any way you are bound for hell.  The Bible teaches that if a person does not trust in the atoning death of the Messiah for their sins, they will perish in hell.  These views cannot be combined into some kind of satisfying synthesis.  They are making absolute truth claims.

Muslims, in evaluating these things, need to realize that their view significantly disagrees with the prior Scriptures.  The Qur’an claims to correct the Bible’s view, yet it does not come with historical evidence to back up its claim.  Also, no reason is given for why its view of the Messiah differs so much from the view of the Bible.  The Bible’s view of the Messiah is the one that was current at the time of Jesus, and it was the basic view of both groups in the intervening centuries until the time of Muhammad.  Jews or Christians did not change their views of the Messiah so that it needed correction.  The Islamic view of the Messiah  does not come with any evidence for why it should overthrow the established view of the Messiah, one that had been established for 600 years before Muhammad was born.  Because this is the situation, Muslims need to seriously consider the Bible’s view of the Messiah.

Christians, in evaluating these things, need to evaluate the Muslim view for themselves.  Does it come with adequate authority to correct the Bible?  Does it have adequate historical evidence to back up its claims?  Using all available means of evaluation, is the Qur’an’s view of the Messiah more true than the Bible’s.  Christians should evaluate the claims of Islam for themselves and not just take my word for it.

Any other people here tonight who are not committed to either Islam or Christianity need to realize that this is not just an academic question.  The Bible’s Messiah is claiming to be the only one who can provide eternal salvation; forgiveness before a holy God who has the right to judge you.  The Qur’an’s Messiah is saying that you must embrace Islam in order to have a hope of being saved.  These are the claims you should not ignore because death is real and these faiths present that it is in this life that the choices that count for the next are made.  If you value your soul you need to look into these things.