1-8777-WhyIslam
Just recently, I was informed of a phone hotline called 1-877-WhyIslam. Basically, the hotline is for people to call in order to get information on, and to hopefully be converted to, Islam.
After hearing about the number, I decided to call it one night in order to talk and witness with whoever God placed on the other end of the line. Before getting into what happened during the conversation, let's look at some information on Islam in America:
- There may be more than 6 million Muslims in America today, researchers calculate, based on 2 million people who are formally affiliated with mosques, up from 500,000.
- Average mosque attendance at Friday prayers has nearly doubled, up 94% from 150 to 292.
- The number of mosques has increased 25%, from 962 in 1994 to 1,209 in 2000.
Clearly, Islam is growing quickly in America. There is a fight on for these people's souls. The question is, what are we, as followers of Christ, doing about it?
The conversation started out (as expected) with the young man on the other line telling me the basics of Islam. He gave me some basic information on the Qur'an, and talked about what it takes to be saved in the Islamic faith. He told me that any sin can be forgiven, unless you give God an equal or counterpart, which they view as an unforgivable sin. I then asked if he viewed believing that Jesus was God in human form would be giving God a 'counterpart', he said it would be. We continued to talk about some general beliefs in Islam, and why he felt it was set apart from other religions.
After about 15 minutes of him explaining the Islamic faith, I asked him what his definition of sin was. He told me that the 10 commandments were in the Qur'an, and that they were a good standard to live by. Here was the perfect opening to begin to witness to the young man.
I then walked him through the 10 commandments (to read how to do this, please click here). He admitted to being a lying, thieving, murderer at heart. But, he then said that he would still go to heaven because God can forgive anybody, as long as they are sincerely sorry.
But is being sorry really enough? If you raped and murdered a young woman and told a judge, I am sincerely sorry, would he let you go free? Jesus said in Mark 1:15, "The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel." As sinners, the only way we can possibly be forgiven is if we believe in Jesus, turn from our sins (repent) and put our trust in the Savior.
Unfortunately, the man was not willing to admit that he deserves to be punished for his sin. He insisted that being 'sincerely sorry' would be enough. After talking to him for an hour and a half, he had to hang up and return to his prayers. He told me that he would send me an e-mail with some information on Islam and some mistakes in the Bible, unfortunately, he did not follow up with that claim. Please pray that this young man will realize the seriousness of his sin, and put his trust in Christ before he walks off into eternity.
Tips on witnessing to Muslims
What Muslims Believe
Going into my conversation referenced above, I knew next to nothing about the Islamic faith. However, by the end, I knew at least the fundamental and basic beliefs that Muslims share. Below are a couple things that I learned, I hope the information below will help you in your witnessing:
- Muslims believes that Jesus was a prophet (not God), that He did not die on the cross, and that he was in fact taken up by God to heaven and spared death. They feel that all the historical accounts (including the Bible) which refer to Christ dying, are false and corrupt.
- Muslims believe in one God, which has no parts. They feel that the idea of the trinity (Father, Son, Holy Spirit) is blasphemous.
- Muslims believe that the key to being saved is being truly sorry for your sin. But, at the same time, they feel no one is guaranteed to go to hell because God can decide to forgive whoever He sees fit.
- Muslims believe that there have been many prophets, including: Noah, Abraham, Moses, Jesus, and Muhammad.
- Muslims believe that the Qur'an is the full and final Word of God. However, they also feel there is truth in the Bible, such as prophecies of Muhammad.
Witnessing to Muslims
Below are a couple simple tips for witnessing to Muslims:
- Be loving and courteous of their beliefs
- Ask them many questions about their beliefs and let them explain their worldview
- Ask them to explain certain claims they make such as prophecies of Muhammad in the Bible, mistakes in the Bible, etc
- Stick to the core beliefs of Christianity and share the Gospel.