Covid-19 is an unprecedented world event that is unlike anything anyone now living has ever seen. 

It has interrupted life.  It has caused hardship.   And if the Surgeon General is correct, it's going to get worse.  As followers of Jesus there is much that we can and will do in the coming weeks and perhaps months to be His hands and feet, to demonstrate His love, to share the truth and hope of the Gospel.
 
But the most important thing we can do, is to abide in him.

Last week I sent an email out to a number of pastor friends asking if there were any specific ways I could be praying.  As responses came in it became increasingly apparent that these leaders were stepping into uncharted waters.  Life was getting crazy as they tried to figure out what to do about Sunday morning services, how to shepherd well despite social distancing and how to care for their own families.

And of course it's not just pastors. Everyone is struggling to make heads or tails of our current situation.  Across the globe the Coronavirus is wreaking havoc.  

And so more than ever before, as the people of God we must turn to Jesus for guidance and help, and according to Jesus in John 15, we have only two choices: 

1. Abide in Christ and bear much fruit which brings God glory.  Or . . .
2. Don't abide in Christ and don't bear fruit and don't bring God glory.

And so with today's article we want to share a three resources that we have found helpful to help disciples abide in Christ.

Cornerstone Reading Plan:  Any reading plan will do as long as it gets you reading the word of God.  This particular plan will have you read four chapters a day and allow you to immerse yourself in the whole story of the Bible.

S.O.A.P.S Bible Reading:  As you are reading the Bible, the S.O.A.P.S reading tool will help you to interact with the word, obey it and share with others.

Prayer Wheel:  The prayer wheel will give you a process to pray for one hour, five minutes at a time, prayerfully interacting with God in a number of ways.  This particular resource is a pdf with three bookmarks so be sure and share it with a couple of friends as well.

There are many helpful resources to help us abide in Christ.  But above any particular resource,  we must follow the example of Jesus who often withdrew to lonely places to be with the Father.  

A few weeks after our last conversation, I returned to Ahmed’s store to say hello, grab some more Kenyan tea and see what God had in store for our next interaction.  Sometimes we just chit chat but increasingly, Ahmed was turning our conversations to the major stumbling blocks to faith that most Muslims face.

After our customary greetings and small talk, Ahmed again looked thoughtful.  “You know what, I saw a movie the other day. Some guy was giving them out at the park and I took it home.  I watched most of it. It was called 'The Passion'.”

I wasn’t sure what he would think of the movie so I asked, “What did you think of the movie?”

He smiled, “Oh it was a really interesting movie.  Jesus’ life is very compelling. He lived such a beautiful life.  I really love Jesus.”

He really loved Jesus?  I’d not heard Ahmed talk quite so openly about Jesus before. “Wow.  It’s really great to hear you say that. It sounds like you are beginning to understand why Jesus is so important to me.” I replied.

Ali looked a little surprised. “Well, I’ve always known he is important.  He lived a perfect life. He did miracles. And he will come back on the last day.  Jesus is one of God’s greatest prophets.” He paused then and took a deep breath as if he were about to tell me some really bad news.  “It’s just that the movie got a few things wrong.”

I didn’t know exactly where he was going so I said, “Hmmm.  Like what?” It was the best I could do at the time but it was enough to give Ahmed the floor.  He would tell me what.

“Well, to start with, Jesus did not die on the cross.  God would never allow his prophet to be treated that way.  According to the Quran, God caused someone else, most likely Judas, to look like Jesus and die instead of him.  Jesus was taken up to heaven without dying. Sura 4:157 says, “That they said (in boast), "We killed Christ Jesus the son of Mary, the Messenger of Allah";- but they killed him not, nor crucified him, but so it was made to appear to them, and those who differ therein are full of doubts, with no (certain) knowledge, but only conjecture to follow, for of a surety they killed him not:”  So you see my friend, Jesus did not die on the cross.”

How would you respond to Ahmed?

The Muslim Perspective
The Quran teaches pretty clearly that Jesus did not die on the cross, but that another was crucified in his place and that Jesus was then taken directly up to heaven.  Within Islam there are a number of theories about who was placed on the cross in Christs place. These include Peter, Judas, a Roman soldier, a Jewish bystander and in some minority opinions, the swoon theory is accepted.  Most Muslims believe that the prophets of God in the Koran must win and be victorious. Muhammad defeated the enemies of Islam and destroyed the idols in the Ka’ba. So Jesus could not have been subjected to beating, humiliation and death.

Like the post we shared last week and the week before, I’ll share a few helpful thoughts and then allow some of the experts in this to take over the heavy lifting in the articles, books and talks shared below.

A Few Thoughts
We don’t need to argue with our Muslim friends, but we can start by asking what I’ll call “Pebble Questions".  A pebble question is a question that forces someone to consider something that will stick with them, like a pebble in their shoe.  These create opportunities through which the Holy Spirit can begin to work.

You’ll find this pattern familiar, but a good place to start is with three responses.  The three ways to respond are once again:

1. a theological response
2. a logical response
3. an historic response

Here are three simple questions that will hopefully create a pebble in their thinking about the cross.

Theological Response: What glorifies God more?  To help Jesus escape death or for Jesus to conquer death?

Logical Response: Would you be willing to die for something that you absolutely knew was a lie?  

Historical Response: Have you ever read what historians in the first century wrote about the Crucifixion?

Unpacking The Questions
The theological response challenges our Muslim friends' belief that God is great.  Saving Jesus through trickery doesn’t give glory to God or show his power nearly as much as stepping into the teeth of death and defeating it.
  
The logical response forces our Muslim friends to see the Biblical story in light of human nature.  Human nature is bent toward self-preservation. It is one thing to die for something you absolutely believe in.  ISIS and Al Qaeda suicide bombers do that. But if the Quranic story is true, then the disciples and hundreds of others who claimed that Jesus was raised from the dead would have all known with absolute certainty that the resurrection was a lie.  Human nature is bent toward self-preservation and yet they all willingly died violent deaths to perpetuate that lie. Maybe one person would do this. There is no logical way that the story of the resurrection would have been sustained in the heat of such intense persecution and murder if the early followers of Jesus all knew it to be a lie.

The historical response allows us the opportunity to invite our Muslim friends to simple explore what the historical record says.  Non-Christian sources like Tacitus and Josephus speak of the crucifixion. The historical record of the Crucifixion is so strong that even Reza Aslan, an Iranian Muslim and author of the book Zealot, agrees that one thing we can know for sure about Jesus is that he was killed by the Romans.

We'll end this article with the same few paragraphs that we ended with last week.  The first and last thing we should do as we discuss the Crucifixion and resurrection with our Muslim friends is to pray and fast.  Intellectual assent is rarely enough for a journey to faith. "No one comes to Jesus but that the Father who sent him draws them (John 6:44)."  Salvation is always a work of the Holy Spirit. 

Remember, "The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel that displays the glory of Christ, who is the image of God (2 Corinthians 4:4)." 

We must pray that the blinders be removed!

As a final word, "honor Christ the Lord in your hearts as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you;  yet do it with gentleness and respect (1 Peter 3:15). Walk in wisdom toward outsiders, making the best use of the time. Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you ought to answer each person (Colossians 4:5-6).
 
Each person. 

Our Muslim friends are people. They are not arguments to be defeated.  They are people to be loved and the Father is drawing them to himself.

The following articles, videos and books are resources I've found helpful as I prepare to give  a reason for believing in the Crucifixion, and the resurrection of Christ.

Articles

• Who Died on the Cross? at Crescent Project
• How Does a Radical Muslim Come to Christ at Crescent Project

Books

• Who Died on the Cross? by Fouad Masri
• Evidence that Demands a Verdict by Josh McDowell
• The Case for Christ by Lee Strobel

Videos

My good friend Ali and I had  been connecting regularly to drink tea together and talk about life. Every topic was up for grabs and the very topics I’d been taught to avoid - politics and religion at the top of the list - were often the starting point of conversation for Ali and his friends.  We had recently been having more in-depth conversations about the nature of Christianity and Islam and I was looking forward to meeting again.

As I opened the door to Starbucks and stepped inside, Ali was there to greet me. We ordered our drinks - he always got a chai latte and I ordered my usual cup of black coffee - and we headed to a table in the corner. 

As we sat down Ali grinned and asked, “Shall we continue our discussion of Christianity and Islam?”

I was in many ways still trying to figure Ali out. In one sense he had a real curiosity to learn about other religions, especially Christianity as he conversed with me.  But it also seemed that he just liked to talk about stuff.  He - and his friends when they joined us - reminded me of the Athenians in Acts 17 who “spent their time doing nothing but talking about and listening to the latest ideas.”  I wasn’t sure if he was really interested in my faith or just interested in talking about it. But I plugged away trusting that the Holy Spirit was working.

Grinning back at him and unzipping my backpack I said, “Oh that would be great.  In fact, I brought my Bible with me and wanted to share a few verses that are very important to me.  They sort of explain why I believe what I believe. I’d love to hear what you think of them.”

“That would be interesting,” he said as he sipped at his tea.  “I guess I could tell you what I think.”

“Good.  The first verse is from the book of John in the New Testament.  It says . . .”

Ali interrupted me before I could even begin. “Wait a minute.  What is the book of John? Jesus’ book is the Injeel.”
 
I realized I’d need to explain some things. “Oh, yes. John is the fourth biography of Jesus and is part of the Injeel. We Christians call the Injeel the New Testament.”
  
A look of concern came over Ali’s face.  He began to speak cautiously. “Hmmm. I don’t want to offend you Aaron, but this only confirms what I’ve always been taught.  We Muslims believe that Allah gave Isa - you call him Jesus - the Injeel. He gave him the Injeel because he had given the Tawrat to Moses but the Jews corrupted it.  So then he gave the Zebur, I think you call it the Psalms, to David but it too was changed and corrupted. Then God gave the Injeel to Jesus and, I’m sorry to say this Aaron, but Christians corrupted it as well.  What you have there, your Bible, is not really God’s book but is a corrupted form of the Injeel. Thankfully, God in his mercy saw fit to send the Holy Quran to the Prophet Mohammed - may peace be upon him - and it is incorruptible.”

How would you answer Ali?

Most Muslims believe that the Bible has been changed.  It is one of the most common assumptions in the Muslim world and is an idea that has been passed on from father to son and through the teachings of local religious leaders.  I’ve met few Muslims who can tell me any more than the fact that they believe it has been changed and corrupted. They believe that Jews and Christians changed the words of the Bible over time to change it’s true meaning.

Like last week, I’ll offer some simple ways to respond but will encourage you to soak in the teaching of the articles, books and talks below to really gain a deeper understanding of how you can respond and help your Muslim friends begin to look at the Bible in a new light.  

A Few Thoughts
This is an important concept that you will need to talk about with your Muslim friends.  All other major objections will find their way back to the Bible and it’s reliability at some point in time.  If the Bible has been reliably preserved and has not been changed, then the other objections that Muslims have to the Christian faith don’t have ground to stand on.  The divine nature of Christ, the Crucifixion and the teaching of the atonement are all grounded firmly in the scriptures.  

Here are three ways we can respond to the idea that the Bible has been corrupted.  They are taken from “Is the Injeel Corrupted" by Fouad Masri and I’ll give the bullet points here. They are explained in much more detail in the articles, books and talks below. 

The three ways to respond are:
a) a theological response
b) a logical response
c) an historic response

Theological Response
Who is stronger?  God or man? If God is stronger, then God is strong enough to protect his books.

A Good Question:  If God cannot protect his books, how is God all powerful?  If God is strong enough to protect his books but chooses not to protect them, then how can we call God good?

Logical Response
If the Bible was changed, then our Muslims friends should be able to answer these questions:

1. Who changed the Bible?
2. Why did they change the Bible?
3. Where was it changed?
4. What parts were changed?
5. When was it changed?

Encourage your Muslims friends to find the answers to these questions.  Ask them to read the Bible to find the places where it has been changed.

Historical Response
Please read the articles and books below to learn about all the historical evidence for the integrity of the Bible.  There is so much historical evidence and nearly all historians agree that the Bible we have today is the same as the Bible that we had in the first century.

These are three simple ways to help your Muslim friends wrestle with the the claim that the Bible has been changed.  These responses will hopefully put a small pebble of doubt in the shoe of their minds and allow the Holy Spirit to begin the process of deconstructing the false teachings of Islam and open their hearts to Jesus.

We'll end this article the same way ended last week.  The first and last thing you should do as you discuss the reliability of the Bible with your Muslim friends is to pray and fast.  Intellectual assent is rarely enough for a journey to faith.  "No one comes to Jesus but that the Father who sent him draws them (John 6:44)."  Salvation is always a work of the Holy Spirit. 

Remember, "The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel that displays the glory of Christ, who is the image of God (2 Corinthians 4:4)." 

We must pray that the blinders be removed!

As a final word, "honor Christ the Lord in your hearts as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you;  yet do it with gentleness and respect (1 Peter 3:15).  Walk in wisdom toward outsiders, making the best use of the time.  Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you ought to answer each person (Colossians 4:5-6).
 
Each person. 

Our Muslim friends are people. They are not arguments to be defeated.  They are people to be loved and the Father is drawing them to himself.

The following articles, videos and books are resources I've found helpful as I prepare to give  a reason for trustworthiness of the Bible.  


Helpful Articles:

• Is the Injeel Corrupted at Crescent Project

Helpful Books:

• Is the Injeel Corrupted by Fouad Masri 
• Grand Central Question by Abdu Murray
• Understanding Islam and Christianity by Josh McDowell and Jim Walker
• No God But One by Nabeel Qureshi

Helpful Videos and Interviews:​

• Josh McDowell List of Videos​

​