How Adventists Should Approach Islam/Muslims

[Patrick Lawrence]

Looking at the two extremes in the Adventist church I thought it might be good to write something about it. Because I believe both extremes in the Adventist view on Islam are wrong and damaging. Below is some basics on Islam along with the two extremes in the Adventist views on it. (Take it or leave it as you see fit

Adventism And Islam

Some basics on Islam and then some information about reaching Muslims.

> Do Muslims worship a different God? - The truth is mixed. The words Allah and God are not used in the Bible. That is the Bible was not written in English or Arabic. So the more important thing is how Muslims and Christians understand the nature and character of God. And this gets complicated.

Muslims do not believe Jesus died for our sins. They just believe God has mercy and can forgive sins for those that are repentant. So unlike Christians there does not seem to be that seperation of sin and sinner. The Qurans english translation says “"Allah loves not the unjust." “. And what about Jews they do not believe in Jesus as a savior dying for our sins. Do they believe in a different God?

Another example that I believe relates to this issue is hell. If you teach that God punishes people for ever and ever in hell. Do you believe in the same God as some one that believes sinners are only punished in hell until justice is served and then cease to exist?

The truth is Muslims believe in the God of the Bible even if they do not correctly understand his nature, character and the plan of redemption.

>Do Muslims believe in Jesus? - Again the truth is mixed. They do not believe in the trinity. But they believe Jesus was the greatest prophect next to Mohamed. They also do not believe he died on the cross . They believe God made the Jews think some one else was Jesus and Jesus was saved. So lets look at these two ideas.

First not believing in the trinity while wrong is not all that uncommon amoung Christians. All you have to do is look at the history of Arianism. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arianism Not to mention the people leaving the Adventist Church today with the same ideas.

The second difference is Jesus not dying on the cross. Muslims tend to have no concept of the plan of salvation. Or what all of the Jewish sacrifices and services etc ment. This is an important point when trying to talk to Muslims about Jesus.

Interestingly if you read about the Muslim holiday Eid al-Adha you see they practice Animal sacrifices today like in Bible times but without a correct understanding of why. They see it “as a symbol of Abraham's willingness to sacrifice his only son.” http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eid_al-Adha

Now it is also interesting that Jews do not believe Jesus was the son of God. Nor do they believe he died for our sins. Because of this it is also clear they do not understand the animal sacrifices to relate to Jesus.

>Are other religions protected under Islam? - Well again the answer is not simple. In Islam Jews and Christians are tolerated but not pagans. But Jews and Christians are below Muslims in society and government. Jews and Christians have to pay special taxes. They also tended to be kept from higher levels of office and the best trades. They were also restricted from evangalism and limited on building new churches etc. And in some cases they were killed or forced to convert by the sword. This of course Muslims say did not happen but history shows it does. But Muslims will point out correctly that many times in history Islamic lands were a refuge for Jews and Christian sects from the Catholics and other Christians. BUT just because they were a little more tolerant in SOME cases at some points in history does not mean it is a religion of peace and toleration.

Also related to this is Muslim rules on marriage. Christians and Jewish men can not mary Muslim women. But Muslim men can mary Christian and Jewish women. But the children have to be raised muslim. So all of the reasons above is why Islam has taken over the lands it controls over time.

> Was Islam Spread By Agression? - Muslims will tell you Islam never was spready by aggression. That Islam was always attacked and then just responded. This is of course false. But the same is true for the Christian church sadly.

>Was Mohamed a true prophet? - The test for Mohamed is the same test as used for any prophet. And since he contradicts the Bible and does not bring forth good frood he can not be a true prophet. But this does not mean that God never used Islam. But then again God also used pagan kings etc in the Bible.

>Do Muslims believe in the Sabbath? - Again this is not that strait forward. Muslims do believe that Sabbath was the day of worship in the Bible. But they believe it was given to the Jews. But the do not believe the Sabbath was an ever lasting covenant. Also they think the idea of rest is saying that God needs to rest. By and large they really do not understand the Sabbath and why it is important. They worship on the day given them Friday. And they still work. It does not have the same limitations that Jewish and Christian days of rests have.

>Do Muslims follow the same dietery laws of Jews and Adventists? - No Muslims do eat unclean food but just not pork. And they do not drink alcohol. They also have to eat meat like the Jews without blood. As a side not I have wondered why we as Adventist thing it is OK to meat that is not Koshier. As this clearly seams to be a health related law. But then again I am a vegetarian so do not have to worry about it

>Do Muslims worship saints and go to shrines etc? - Again this is complicated. Mohamed tried very hard to keep these practices out of Islam. But in some forms of Islam it has crept in. This is very much like in Christianity.

>Do Muslims go on pilgrimages? Well one is a pillar of Islam and that is the Hajj. But they are not supposed to go on pilgrimages to other shrines etc. But this habbit has snuck in. But mainly in the Shia side of Islam.

>Do Muslims believe in the Bible? - Well yes and no They believe the most of the old testament was given by God to the Jews. But they believe it has been corrupted by the jews and Christians. And the believe the new testament is full of all kinds of errors the apostles introduced. For example they believe Jesus never said he was God. And this is something Muslims have to believe since the Quran and the Bible do not agree. And both can not be correct.

>What do Muslims believe about the Quran? - Muslims believe the Quran is unlike the Bible an exact word for word transcript of a book in Heaven. And they believe the language is perfect and shows it can only have come from God. So an english translation of the Quran is not really the Quran. And that is why they believe all Muslims have to the Arabic. So they can read the Quran in its real language from heaven.

>Do Muslims believe in seperation of Church and State? - No this idea is not in the Quran. They believe ALL Muslims should be part of one big country rules by a Caliph who is directly guided by God. Basicly like the old testament where God guides a man that guides his people. And unlike Christianity there is no new testament with ideas that can justify seperation of church and state. This is one reason why Muslims that that try and get back to pure Islam we tend to see as radicals.

I could go on but these are the basics. Also if you have question related to Islam I will do my best to answer them.

So now to the question of how to reach Muslims and how the Adventist have and are doing it. In the past we have basicly just went with Islam is an evil religion and you should convert. But if you look at the numbers you see this did not really work well. The other extreme is what some Adventists are doing now. Saying the the Arabs/Islamic sons of Ishmael were ment for a special mission. They were to keep the truth and protect it from dying out. And that Mohamed was sent by God for this special purpose etc. And then trying to get Muslims to accept some parts of the Adventist message while keeping parts of Islam and becoming “Adventists”. The reason they do this is it makes evangalism MUCH easier. But there are problems I will discuss below.

First of all they ignore history and the Quran to overstate how God used Islam. This works well because it makes it easy to talk to Muslims when you talk about how good Islam is. But it is based on a mixture of truth and error and that can not be good. Second the idea that we can get Muslims to accept some Adventist beliefs while still believing in Mohamed and the Quran and call the Adventist is false. This is not how it was done in the Bible. And it is how pagan errors worked their way into the church. But you there is a logical reason why they feel the need to do this. In Islam people leaving Islam should be killed. At least according to the Hadith (Collected saying of Mohamed http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hadith ). And also history. Not only that in Islamic society honor is different than in our society and is much more important. And if say a woman leaves the Islamic faith she would bring great dishonar on her family. Or for that matter a man. So when Muslims convert to Christianity they normally are shunned by their family. And they can also face violence and even death. So you can see if you can have some one convert to “Adventism” but still keep the Muslims forms it is easier for them. Another example of this is Mohamed. In most Muslim countries it is against the law to say things like Mohamed was a false prophet. And people can get killed by mobs for doing this or putin jail and executed etc. So if these news “Adventist” Muslims can say Mohamed was a true prophet you have one hardship removed. And if the Adventist evangalist can say Mohamed was a prophet then it also helps in the same way. But is this true and is it how God wants us to work?

On these subjects I have to use the Bible for my only guide. And in the Bible over and over again the can false prophets false. And false religions false. And they do this even when it means hardship and death. And I know it is easy to say sitting here save in my house. But I have to go by the Bible and not just the easy route.

So in conclusion I see to extremes in the Adventist church that are both wrong. I see ideas like Islam was created by the Catholics and Muslims worship pagan Gods and that is wrong. And it hurts our evangalism to Muslims. And I also see the other extreme where to try and make Islam better than it is. And this is not based on truth and is not the Biblical way. The truth is some where in the middle.

Now just a quick note on how we might better reach Muslims. here are a few of the keys to reaching Muslims as I see them. First we have to remember that God is the one to convert people not us. But we do have to present the truth to them. Next the most important way to reach Muslims is by showing God in hour lives. When Muslims see we love even those that do bad things to us. And see that we love God enough to keep his commandments out of love. Such as not drinking, dressing modestly, not eating pork, not watching bad shows on TV etc etc. And also see the other fruits of the spirit they will see the change God can make in our lives that you can not get other places. Next we must befriend Muslims as this is the best starting place. And there are large numbers of Muslims now living in the west. So we must make the most use of the freedom we have here to reach them. Then Muslims converts will be the best at reaching other Muslims. Now we need to look at more specefic things. First one big stumbling block is the Muslim belief that the Bible is corrupt. So it is not at all like trying to convert a Christian. Pointing to the Bible really does nothing. So we must understand that a major key is building up faith in the Bible. We can do this with Bible quotes showing how it is protected. And also showing how prophecy came true. The Quran is not full of prophecy like the Bible. And most Muslims have no ideas about Bible prophecy like we do. Next we have to have answers to their charges against Christianity.

See Muslims know about what I just said about how the Quran and Bible. So they know the key to converting Christians to Islam is to start by casting dought on the Bible. They will give you very large numbers of contradictions and errors in the Bible. You should have already studied these and understand the answers and have them ready. If not it can shake your faith if you are not ready. Plus it makes you less effective when talking to Muslims. You should also understand the misconceptions they have about the Christian faith. And just as importantly you need to understand Islam. You also need to be careful that you are using words in the same way with the same meaning. If you not prepared in these ways you will tend to just go around in circles. And even with the best background it is very very very hard to reach Muslims. But we have the God of the universe helping us

[Patrick Lawrence]

Sure glad to help

[John317]

Excellent and accurate information, Patrick Lawrence. Agrees with my study of Islam, too.

[Patrick Lawrence]

Thank John317. I am not sure why as Adventist we find it so hard to have a balanced view of Islam

[Woody]

I have a good book on this topic. How many of you have read the book: "It's really all about God" by Samir Selmanovic

[Patrick Lawrence]

I would think I would probably not find it so good. This based on Samir Selmanovic emerging church related ideas. And that other emering church people like Brian McLaren praise it.

[Tom Wetmore]

I think before dismissing it by putting that label on it, you should give it a fair chance by at least looking at it. Samir is perhaps uniquely qualified to speak to this very issue since he grew up Muslim and converted to Christianity. A personal testimonial of his journey from Islam to Christianity - that is the goal here, isn't it? We might just stand to gain some valuable insight from someone who has experienced the journey firsthand.

[Patrick Lawrence]

I just made a statement based on facts about him and the people endorsing the book. Didnt say I would not read it

By the way I did this because of the errors of the emerging church. Something our general conference president has warned about.