Aisha, a young woman, entered a packed auditorium in a busy metropolis. She was a devoted Muslim who was always willing to participate in interfaith discussions in order to learn more about and express her beliefs. She was interested in hearing the viewpoint of Cliff Connly, a Christian apologist, who was scheduled to speak today. The room was alive with excitement as she sat down.
Cliff started off by talking about his discussions with Muslims who had questioned his religious beliefs. Cliff told Aisha about his first meeting, and she listened carefully. A Muslim man who loved and respected Jesus and all the prophets had come up to him. The man contended that Muslims worship the same God and adhere to Jesus’ teachings, so why should they face consequences for rejecting the Christian interpretation of Jesus?
“Why would I choose to trust Jesus instead of Muhammad?” asked Cliff in response. He clarified that although he held Muhammad and his teachings in high regard, Muhammad had committed a grave error by rejecting Christ’s divinity. Cliff noted that while the apostles Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John had met Jesus and insisted that He was God, Muhammad was born 570 years after Jesus.
Some of Cliff’s ideas caused Aisha to nod in agreement. She was grateful for his admiration for Muhammad and his advocacy of Quran reading. She didn’t agree with his understanding of Jesus’ divinity, either. To speak, she held out her hand.
“I read the Bible myself, and I was a Christian once,” Aisha started. I disagreed with Christ’s deity. Muhammad was a messenger of God’s messages, not the author of the Quran. The Bible was written by humans, but the Quran asserts that it is the infallible word of God.
“The New Testament was written in Greek because it was the common language of the time,” Cliff said after listening intently. Although Jesus spoke Aramaic, the Greek language allowed his message to be extensively disseminated throughout several geographical areas. Furthermore, the Septuagint, a popular Greek translation of the Hebrew texts, already made use of Greek.
Although Aisha valued Cliff’s considerate reply, she was not persuaded. She changed the focus of her argument to Jesus’ assertions that He was God, citing passages in which Jesus appeared to set Himself apart from God. Cliff retorted with Old and New Testament passages that explicitly referred to Jesus as God.
As Aisha contended that the New Testament was not in Jesus’ spoken language, whereas the Quran was retained in its original Arabic, the argument grew more heated. Citing academics like Dr. Daniel Wallace who had devoted their lives to researching the text’s preservation, Cliff recognized the point but underlined the New Testament’s historical trustworthiness.
Cliff raised three philosophical issues with Islam as the discussion went on. He began by asking why God would make Himself plain in Jesus and then demand that people study Arabic in order to comprehend the Quran. Secondly, he contended that it was nonsensical to believe Muhammad’s revelation five hundred years after Jesus over the apostles’ eyewitness reports. Third, he drew attention to the inconsistency between Muhammad’s and Jesus’ assertions of absolute truth.
Aisha paid close attention, respecting Cliff’s rational arguments while holding fast to her conviction that the Quran was inspired by God. She said that the Quran, which was constant and passed down orally, was the word of God and was not penned by Muhammad.
As the debate came to a head, the tension in the hall was evident. Both Cliff and Aisha vehemently upheld their positions and made strong cases. The audience paid close attention, with many nodding in accord with either side.
Cliff used the Dead Sea Scrolls and Jewish scribal procedures to support his final argument against the Old Testament’s historical veracity as the discussion came to an end. Despite acknowledging the points, Aisha did not waver in her faith in the Quran.
As the argument came to a close, the auditorium erupted in cheers. Cliff and Aisha shook hands, both valuing the other’s fervor and regard for their convictions. Aisha had a fresh sense of faith and a better comprehension of the Christian viewpoint as she exited the theater.
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