I Don't Think So! #islam #Jesus #bible #apologetics #presup

Revealed Apologetics

Subscribe

Download

Share

00

00:01

Alright, let's get started. His mother was covered, which is why the nuns are covered.

00:34

Do you mean Jesus fell on his face like a Muslim when he was praying? He didn't do like this, like you guys do. He was from the

00:39

Middle East, he was not a white guy, yeah? And he spoke Aramaic, he didn't speak Hebrew. You know what the word of God is in Aramaic? You're gonna say it's

00:45

Allah. No, no, it is Allah, I'm making it, this is what the language is. Because it's a Semitic language with Arabic and Hebrew.

00:52

So the terms are similar. So, Jesus was saying Allah, falling on his face and praying, with his mother covered with her face, does not eat pork and fast 40 days.

00:59

What religion is that? Alright, okay, so there you go. So Jesus was a

01:04

Muslim. Muslim means to submit to the one true God. Jesus submitted to the one true

01:10

God, therefore Jesus is a Muslim. This is a terribly bad argument. I'm just gonna say this right off the bat. If this is the nature of Muslim apologetics,

01:17

I think Christians are in good shape. Unless you don't know your theology, you don't know the scriptures, and I think using a little bit of logic application, logical application is gonna be helpful.

01:27

The first thing that pops out to me in listening to this line of reasoning is the obvious logical fallacy of equivocation.

01:36

And so there is an equivocation on the terms God and the terms submit.

01:41

You have to understand, and this is why on this channel we focus so much on the importance of worldviews, worldview context.

01:47

Our worldview informs how we are using certain terms in context. So for example, when

01:52

I use the word God, pardon, and a Muslim uses the word

01:58

God, and a Mormon uses the word God, and a Jehovah's Witness uses the word God, we do not mean the same thing, okay?

02:06

Just because the words we are using sound similar, that doesn't mean we mean the same things by it.

02:13

So for example, when I speak of Jesus, and someone else from another religious perspective speaks of Jesus, that doesn't necessarily mean that we're using those terms in the same exact way either.

02:23

For me, Jesus is the second person of the Trinity. He shares the same divine nature with the Father and the

02:28

Holy Spirit. I believe in the Trinity. For the Mormon, for example, Jesus is the spirit brother of Lucifer, okay?

02:34

And Jesus is understood there within the context of polytheism, which I reject. As a Christian, I am not a polytheist.

02:41

I am a Trinitarian monotheist, okay? So we want to be very careful. This is why worldviews are important.

02:46

In this quick interaction that these guys are having on the street, you need to slow down. If you were to be finding yourself in this context here, you want to slow down and be like, well, wait a minute.

02:54

What do you mean by God? Because from a Christian worldview, you want to highlight the difference of the worldviews that you're coming from.

03:01

Within the context of a worldview, God is ontologically different than the

03:06

God of Islam. It doesn't matter if the words in Arabic or Aramaic or whatever are similar.

03:12

The question is the content of those words. And the content of those words and how they're being used are going to be dependent upon the worldview context and religious framework and things like that under which the people who are discussing these things are operating under.

03:26

And so you don't want to let the Muslim get away with that. You're just throwing these terms, and then we can kind of talk about them willy -nilly in kind of like a neutral fashion, okay?

03:33

That's why you want to be committed to the worldview context. Also, submission. What does submission mean?

03:39

It is true that the word Muslim refers to one who submits, okay? But submit to what?

03:44

Obviously, you're submitting to something. What is the object of your submission? Well, the object is God. We are submitting to God.

03:50

Well, what do we mean by God, okay? For the Christian, submitting to God is not the same as when a

03:55

Muslim says we submit to God. So when we talk about Jesus as described in the scriptures, the Christian scriptures, he's submitting to God.

04:02

That's not the same thing as what the Muslim is trying to say. You've got to be careful, historically at least. I know the

04:08

Muslim is going to say, well, obviously, Islam is true. Allah is the true God. He always existed, and he created everything, blah, blah, blah, blah.

04:14

But you have to understand historically, Muslims are the Johnny -come -latelys, right? They come hundreds of years after Christianity, and what's going on here is the

04:22

Muslim is imposing Islamic categories onto our scriptures, and you need to stop them in their tracks.

04:28

And really, the burden of proof is on them to demonstrate the connections that they're trying to make.

04:33

And of course, when they're trying to make those connections, but in the manner in which they're doing that, it is filled and riddled with logical fallacies, such as equivocation.

04:42

You need to be able to point those things out, okay? And be very careful. It is true.

04:48

And I appreciate what the Muslim gentleman said in his video. Jesus was not a white guy. That is correct, okay?

04:54

When you look at ancient depictions of Jesus, obviously, yes, he is not a white guy. He was from the Middle East. He was a first -century

05:00

Jew, okay? But that doesn't mean that because the Jews or Jesus prayed in a particular way that was similar to how

05:09

Muslims pray. That doesn't tell us anything. There are people who pray in all different kinds of ways, and there are similarities between various kinds of religions.

05:17

That doesn't mean that there's an unnecessary connection there. That, again, is a fallacious line of reasoning.

05:24

And so you want to be very careful when people kind of draw those analogies and make the connections that don't really logically fit. Now, again, what's interesting here is that the

05:32

Muslim in this video, just very briefly, but in general, Muslims, when they often argue along these lines, they will try to appeal to the scriptures, our scriptures, to show the point that they're trying to make.

05:43

So, for example, there are Muslims who try to show in the New Testament that Jesus is a

05:49

Muslim, and, of course, using the fallacious thought categories they use, they will then take parts of the scripture and show, see, even your own scripture says this, therefore, we are right,

05:59

Jesus is a Muslim. And so at that point, you really want to be able to interact with some of the scriptures that's being used in that context.

06:06

So, for example, some Muslims will appeal to Matthew 26, 39, where Jesus prays,

06:12

My father, if it is possible, let this cup pass for me nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will.

06:19

And so they will argue that Jesus here is submitting to God, and that shows that he was a Muslim, since Muslim means one who submits to God.

06:27

Of course, that's completely ridiculous for the reasons that I've just described at the beginning of this video, but I want you to notice something, okay?

06:34

Don't let the Muslim do this, that when they quote a New Testament passage, don't let them just quote a small, brief, little point of the piece of the passage there.

06:43

Read the whole thing, okay? And when you examine the passage closely, notice what Jesus says when he prays.

06:49

Jesus prays, My father, okay? My father. This isn't just a term of endearment that Jesus is using, it's a unique relationship that Jesus has to the father, and this was recognized by the

07:00

Jews at that time, and that's why Jesus kind of ran into lots of trouble with them, okay? But from the

07:06

Muslim perspective, in Islam, Allah has no children. He has no family relationship with anyone in that way.

07:11

The Quran makes this very clear in Surah 112, verse 3, which says Allah neither begets nor is born.

07:18

And again, Surah 1988 through 92, it states that they say, The most merciful has taken a son. You have done an atrocious thing.

07:24

It is not appropriate for the most merciful that he should take a son. And so the way Jesus is referring to God is very inconsistent with the way

07:32

Islam teaches that one ought to refer to God, okay? And so in Christianity, Jesus calls

07:39

God his father, a relationship that Islam flatly denies. And again, once more,

07:46

Matthew 26 isn't just about submission, okay? They use that verse to show that Jesus submitted to God, but the verse there is not about submission per se.

07:56

It's about Jesus' submission specifically within a particular context, the context of his mission to bring salvation to the world.

08:03

Jesus, in that context, is preparing to be betrayed crucified, buried, and then raised from the dead.

08:09

And this isn't merely submission as Islam defines it. It's the unique act of obedience to the father that accomplishes salvation, which is the heart of Christian belief.

08:21

And so ironically, by pointing that to that specific verse, our Muslim friend here is highlighting something that Islam denies, that Jesus is the son who dies and rises again.

08:32

And of course, how does he die? He dies in the precise way in the text that they're using, in the exact way that Islam denies.

08:38

That, of course, you know, the Bible is true if it agrees with the Quran, but when the Bible, the very same

08:44

Bible they appeal to disagrees with the Quran, those are the parts that were changed, and so on and so forth. Obviously, you see the problem with that.

08:50

Another passage that is often used is Mark 3, verse 35, where Jesus says, whoever does the will of God is my brother, my sister, and my mother.

08:59

And of course, they argue that since Islam means submission to God's will, this makes Jesus a Muslim. Again, this is a very bad use of scripture, and it's very interesting that when you actually look closely at the passage that often

09:12

Muslims refer to here, Jesus is saying that those who do God's will are like family to him.

09:19

Yet notice what Jesus doesn't say. He says, those that do the will of God, they are like my brother, my sister, and my mother.

09:31

Well, who's missing? Notice that Jesus doesn't say they are his father, and I wonder why that's the case.

09:39

I think it's obvious, because only God is his father, and this isn't a minor point. It shows that Jesus' relationship with God is distinct and unique.

09:48

Believers can be his family, but no one can be the father except God the Father. And so again, this is another concept that I think

09:56

Islam obviously denies, and so it's very inconsistent when a Muslim appeals to passages like this, but again, those very passages don't teach the thing that they're trying to suggest.

10:05

And again, within the context of doing God's will, sure, whoever does the will of God, what does it mean to do the will of God in the

10:13

Gospel of Mark? Much less the passage we just referred to. I mean, look at the context of the Gospel of Mark. We find the answer to that question, what does it mean to do the will of God?

10:22

The Gospel of Mark answers that question. Mark 9, verse 7, at the transfiguration, you know the story where Jesus' appearance changed before the disciples, and they hear a voice from the cloud that says, this is my beloved son.

10:38

Listen to him. Doing God's will according to the Bible means listening to and following Jesus, the son whom

10:47

God loves. If Muslims want to argue that doing God's will is Islam, then they would also have to acknowledge that God commands submission to Jesus in a particular unique way that I think is contradictory to the

11:00

Quran. Okay? Again, so these are just a couple of passages, a couple more passages that are often referred to, not specifically in the video we just looked at here, but just to give you the idea of the kind of line of reasoning that's often used.

11:12

James 4, for example, verses 7 through 8, which says, submit to God, resist the devil, and he will flee from you.

11:20

And again, since Islam means submission, they argue that James is advocating for an

11:26

Islamic view of submission. Again, context is key. That's not the context James is using it, and of course the idea of submission more broadly speaking has a particular context that is very different than the

11:38

Islamic conception. Okay? But again, what's going on here when they use this passage? Okay, they're reading, the

11:44

Muslim is reading their own context into the text. They're engaging in kind of eisegesis, interpreting the text in light of their presuppositions instead of allowing the text to speak for itself, especially when you point out what the rest of the text says.

11:56

I mean, look at in James 1, verse 1, the author introduces himself as a servant of God and of the

12:04

Lord Jesus Christ. Notice that James identifies Jesus as Lord, meaning submission to God in James, okay, in his mind, includes submission to Jesus.

12:17

Islam, however, explicitly states that only Allah is Lord. The Quran, in chapter 3,

12:23

I think 64, it says, But right there at the beginning of the book of James, okay, he says,

12:41

Okay, notice how they're mentioned together there. Alright? Now, if you look at James 2, verse 1, he calls

12:49

Jesus, this is interesting, the Lord of Glory. Now, notice that this title, Glory, refers to the divine presence and is reserved for God alone within the

12:58

Jewish context, the Jewish tradition. For James to call Jesus the Lord of Glory is a bold declaration of his divinity, and this goes against the

13:07

Islamic view that Jesus was simply a prophet, an important prophet, but just a prophet. And so for Christians, obviously

13:13

Jesus is more than a prophet. He's the divine son of God, embodying the very glory of God himself, okay?

13:20

And so these are important things to point out when Muslims use our scriptures to try to use it against us, but then you need to point out when they cherry -pick those passages or they quote specific parts of, you know, parts of a text to the exclusion of other parts of the text.

13:38

You know, one more point here. In James 2, verses 21 through 23, if a

13:43

Muslim were to appeal to James here to make their point, notice that James 2, verses 21 to 23 kind of is problematic for a

13:51

Muslim who tries to use the book of James specifically to make their point here, okay? James writes,

13:57

Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered Isaac, his son, on the altar? And notice there that James explicitly names

14:04

Isaac as the son Abraham offered up, which again is in direct contradiction to the

14:10

Islamic claim that it was Ishmael. And so the Quran in Surah 37, 102 through 107, it suggests that it was

14:16

Ishmael, not Isaac, whom Abraham was commanded to sacrifice. So again, if Muslims want to use

14:23

James as an authority, they'll need to reconcile the fact that James supports the biblical account of Isaac, not the

14:30

Islamic tradition of Ishmael. Well, no, well there is some truth in the book of James, you'll be told, right?

14:35

And the truth that is in the book of James is the truth that already agrees with the Quran, but then when you read the rest of the passages in James or any other

14:42

New Testament passage that the Muslim uses, if it contradicts what the Quran teaches, then of course those are the parts that we can't trust, they've been changed, so on and so forth, yada, yada, yada, yada, okay?

14:52

So you see the problem here, okay? There are multiple fallacies being committed, there is equivocation, there is exegesis, there is inconsistent use of New Testament scriptures, okay?

15:05

You need to be able to point these things out, you don't let someone simply just make these hand -waving assertions, right?

15:11

Well, you know, Jesus bowed his face before God, and so look, Muslims, that's how we pray, therefore

15:16

Jesus doesn't lodge, it's a non -sequitur, okay? That doesn't follow at all, and we need to be able to make sure that we are defining our words.

15:24

And this is why I place so much emphasis of worldview on this channel. You need to think in worldview categories so that the individual things that you believe have their meaning and context within the broader context of the worldview.

15:35

And so if we're coming from a Christian worldview, we don't let the Muslim define the categories of our worldview.

15:44

If they want to define categories in accordance with their worldview, but they're claiming to use the

15:50

Bible to do so, or portions of the Bible to do so, then they need to demonstrate that, okay?

15:56

And you do not demonstrate, by any stretch of the imagination, that Jesus is

16:01

Muslim because he submitted to God and that's just what the word

16:07

Muslim means. I mean, that is a super bad argument. And of course, we need to be ready to point those out when they are brought up.

16:16

All right, well, that's it for this brief video. I hope that this is useful. If you want me to do more videos like this, let me know in the comments below.