apologetics: RESPONDING TO SPECIFIC WORLDVIEWS

This includes: 1. Leader Preparation 2. Lesson Guide

1. LEADER PREPARATION LESSON OVERVIEWMuslims and Christians both worship one God, and many would argue that they are the same God. But are they? Do Islam and Christianity simply express their worship of God in different ways? This lesson will examine some of the key differences between Christianity and Islam.

LESSON OBJECTIVES1. WHAT: Significant differences exist between the two most prominent religions of the

world, Christianity and Islam.2. WHY: There is much confusion within the Christian community about Islam—but for

Christians to have intelligent conversations with Muslims, we need to understand where Islam started and what it teaches about Allah.

3. HOW: Your students will examine the differences between Allah and the God of the Bible, and they’ll consider how the ideas discussed today can help them in conversations with Muslim friends and neighbors.

PRIMARY SCRIPTUREEphesians 2:1-10

SECONDARY SCRIPTUREsIsaiah 64:6; 66:1-2; Matthew 6:5-6, 16-18; Luke 18:1; John 4:21-24; 6:47; 8:24; 14:6; 17:3; Acts 4:12; 1 Corinthians 16:2; 2 Corinthians 9:7; Philippians 2:5-12; Colossians 4:2; 1 Thessalonians 5:17; 1 Peter 3:18; 1 John 2:22-23; 5:12-13

TEACHING PREP

The overview below is designed to help you prepare for your lesson. We have included lots of

content to help you prepare for the discussion on apologetics. While you may not want to convey

this information word-for-word with your teenagers, you’ll definitely want to refer to it as you lead—

and some of the content can help with further conversations with students.

Lesson 5:Islam

Read Ephesians 2:1-10.

We encourage you to review earlier lessons in the LIVE Apologetics volume, particularly ones on who Jesus is, the doctrine of the Trinity, and why we can trust the Bible. Each of these lessons relates to Islam in significant ways.

Like Christianity, Islam teaches that God has sent prophets to speak to his people. These prophets were sent to encourage, rebuke, and teach people the words and will of God. According to Islam, this same God sent Adam, Noah, Daniel, and eventually Jesus to communicate that there is only one God, and this same God desires that his followers pursue good and turn away from evil. Islam teaches that Christians and Jews were “People of the Book” (Torah) but that they’ve been corrupted by the twisting and misinterpretation of God’s holy ways.

Muslims believe Islam’s scripture, the Koran, restored God’s original regulations. When you talk to a typical Muslim, they would say that their beliefs and practices are very biblical. They believe there is only one God, and they teach about the prophets, heaven, hell, angels, sin, and a day of judgment. They understand the importance of giving, prayer, and fasting as mentioned in the Bible. Where you begin to see theological differences between Christianity and Islam is when you discuss core issues of who God is. Islam doesn’t believe in the Trinity, or the teaching that Jesus is the redeemer of humanity. Islam doesn’t teach that Jesus was divine, nor does it validate the possibility of anyone dying on a cross to take away the sins of the world. Islam does affirm that Jesus was born of the Virgin Mary, had a sinless nature, performed miracles, and is coming once again.

The Koran accuses Christianity of distorting the earlier revelation of God’s word by twisting truth or falsely interpreting what God intended to communicate. Islam teaches that the Old and New testaments hold false reports of immorality (David and Bathsheba), miss doctrines, and are incompatible with science. Islam rejects the idea that humans had anything to do with the process of divine revelation from God through the writing of the biblical books. Jesus’ original message has been tainted and the Gospel authors wrote long after Jesus and altered the message of his ministry to promote their own viewpoints, according to Islam. Paul’s letters promote a “mystical” Jesus and champion false doctrines such as the Resurrection, Islam contends. Another Muslim argument against biblical reliability is the lack of probability that the original texts passed from one generation to the next without being corrupted.

The three biggest doctrinal differences that divide Islam and Christianity are their respective views on God, his character, and salvation. All of this boils down to the fact that Islam does not teach a triune God. Muslims accuse Christians of worshipping three different gods (polytheism), which is a great blasphemy in Islam. However, a correct understanding of the Trinity reveals that the doctrine does not support the idea of believing in three gods. Islam approaches the Christian doctrine of the Trinity in a very distorted and inadequate way, teaching that Christians worship Mary as part of the Trinity. This misunderstanding is even found in the Koran itself:

And when Allah will say: O Isa [Jesus] son of Marium [Mary]! did you say to men, Take me and my mother for two gods besides Allah he will say: Glory be to Thee, it did not befit me that I should say what I had no right to (say); if I had said it, Thou wouldst indeed have known it; Thou knowest what is in my mind, and I do not know what is in Thy mind, surely Thou art the great Knower of the unseen things (5:119).

(Please note that all quotations from the Koran in this lesson come from http://quod.lib.umich.edu/k/koran/browse.html.)

If the Trinity is misunderstood on this kind of scale—as the Father, the son Jesus, and Jesus’ mother—it is no wonder that Christianity as a whole has been misunderstood by Muslims for thousands of years.

God’s character must also be altered greatly if God is not a triune Godhead. Being triune allows God to understand relationship and love because as a triune God, he has experienced relationship and love from the beginning. For Allah, he could only understand love and relationship when he created man. Consequently, for a God to have to rely on man to experience anything limits the power and prominence of that God.

Lastly, Islam relies heavily on works being a means to salvation. One must not work out their salvation as Christians believe, but one must work to gain their salvation—and at the end of their lives they must hope that their good works outweigh their bad. Only then will they be able to enter Paradise, according to Islam’s teachings.

THE BEFORE & AFTER [optional]

Text Message Questions

We’ve provided a couple of different text message questions to send out to your students prior

to your meeting. Feel free to use one or both of the questions below. As with the rest of the

curriculum, edit these questions to fit the needs of your ministry.

• How similar are Islam and Christianity? Come to small group tonight and get some solid answers to your questions.

• Could you do enough good deeds to earn God’s approval? Join us this week to find out why that approach isn’t what God calls us to pursue.

Parent Email

We’ve provided you with an email below that you can send to parents following the lesson.

Our hope is to encourage parents to continue the conversation at home. Feel free to edit and

customize the email to fit your ministry needs.

Dear parents,

Our students continue to work their way through our extended series about different religions and worldviews. These lessons are designed to give our teenagers a chance to thoughtfully examine their faith and prepare for conversations with people of different beliefs.

It’s not enough for our students to believe Christianity—we want them to examine and discover the evidence for why Christianity is the only logical answer to knowing who God is, how he deals with sin, and how we can have a future with him in eternity.

This week our conversation examined what Islam teaches about God. We learned that the god of Islam, Allah, is not a triune God, and because of this he would be incapable of understanding love and relationship. It is this characteristic of Allah that helps to turn Islam into a works-based religion.

Here are some questions that might be worth asking this week:• Why do you think Muslims and Christians have had so much conflict

throughout history?• We can find no written manuscripts that contain the original words

Muhammad spoke to those recording his words—is that a reason for concern, or is it not a big deal? Explain your answer.

• How can you pursue a lifestyle filled with good deeds, without falling into the trap of thinking you can earn salvation or make God love you more than he already does?

Please contact me if you have any follow-up questions about this week’s conversation, or if you would like any additional resources. Have a blessed week!

apologetics: RESPONDING TO SPECIFIC WORLDVIEWS

2. Lesson guide GETTING THINGS STARTED [optional]

Welcome your students and invite them into your meeting area. Open in prayer, and then ASK:

:

• Have you ever experienced the tension between Muslims and Christians in a personal way? If so, what was that like?

• Why do you think Muslims and Christians have had so much conflict throughout history?

• What do you see as the underlying problem between the two faiths?

SAY SOMETHING LIKE: In today’s culture, many people believe Christians and Muslims should coexist without trying to convert each other because “Christians and Muslims worship the same God.” However, if both religions worship the same God, why should people worry about one another’s spiritual state? This lesson will help you explore some of the differences between Christianity and Islam—and the differences are significant. Knowing these differences will give you insight and confidence as you interact with Muslims.

TEACHING POINTS

The goal of the Teaching Points is to help students capture the essence of each lesson with

more discussion and less lecture-style teaching. The main points we have chosen are (1) Who is

Allah?, (2) What is the Koran?, and (3) What does Islam teach about salvation?

Remember: All throughout these lessons, it’s up to you to choose (1) how many questions you

use, and (2) the wording of the main points—keep ours, or change the wording to make it

clearer for your audience.

Read Ephesians 2:1-10 together as a group. Consider dividing verses among your students so

everyone has a chance to read.

Lesson 5:Islam

SAY SOMETHING LIKE: Let’s explore this passage and other pieces of Scripture to see if Muslims and Christians really do worship the same God.

1. Who is Allah?

SAY SOMETHING LIKE: In Islam, God is known as Allah. When comparing Islam and Christianity, it’s important to ask what Allah is like. Islam teaches that there is no other God in existence and that God is the creator of the universe and sovereign over all—as Christianity teaches. So does this mean that Christians and Muslims worship the same God? Essentially, the Arabic word for God is “Allah”—but while there are similarities, the answer is an emphatic no: Christians and Muslims do not worship the same God. There is one fundamental difference between Allah and the God of the Bible that cannot be ignored: Islam rejects the teaching that God is a God of Trinity.

Like Christianity, Islam teaches a monotheistic doctrine—one God—and like Christianity, Islam rejects any belief in multiple gods. This is where problems arise, because Islam approaches the Christian doctrine of the Trinity in a distorted and inadequate way, declaring that Christians worship Mary as part of the Trinity. In other words, according to Islamic teaching, Christians believe the Trinity consists of God the Father, Jesus, and Mary. In Islam, the Trinity simply doesn’t make sense and would suggest that Allah is a God of disorder.

[NOTE: If your group has gone through the LIVE Apologetics lesson on the Trinity, you may want to refer back to some of the main ideas from that discussion.]

ASK:• Look at Ephesians 2:1-5. What does the Apostle Paul mean that God loved

us out of his “rich mercy”?• How have you experienced God’s love and mercy?• How does the Muslim concept of Allah reject the Father heart of God?• What are some of the ramifications of worshipping a God that is not all-

loving?

SAY SOMETHING LIKE: The Muslim view of Allah is diametrically opposed to the God of the Bible. The God of the Bible is all-loving and understands love and relationship to his core. Having a God that does not have the capacity to be all-loving leads to worshipping a God that requires people to earn salvation through works and deeds, rather than receive salvation through amazing grace.

2. What is the Koran?

SAY SOMETHING LIKE: The Koran is the holy book of Muslims. Muslim tradition teaches that the Koran—which means recitation—was given during an angelic visit to the Prophet Muhammad. In the year A.D. 610, while in a cave on Mount Hirah, Muhammad claimed, the angel Gabriel appeared to him and commanded him to recite the words the angel spoke. Muhammad said the words were straight from Allah, but because Muhammad could not read or write, his companions wrote down all he said. These manuscripts were copied onto papyrus, flat stones, palm leaves, shoulder blades, and bones belonging to animals.

Islam teaches that the Koran is the authentic word of God and not the words of Muhammad or Muhammad’s interpretation of God’s word. These words were Allah’s message of wisdom, truth, and commandments to his creation. The Koran was revealed in the Arabic language of Muhammad’s tribe, and this language became the formal Arabic of the region due to the widespread distribution of the Koran in the region. According to Islam, the Koran is only to be read in the original Arabic language. While the Koran has been translated in different languages, most Muslim leaders teach that it is best understood in Arabic.

[NOTE: If your group has gone through the LIVE Apologetics lesson on the reliability and trustworthiness of the Bible, you may want to refer back to some of the main ideas from that discussion.]

ASK:• Why is it important to point out that the Koran was recorded from a single

person, Muhammad, claiming the angel Gabriel was talking to him?• How does the way Muhammad came up with the Koran compare to the

writers of the four Gospels—Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John?• Think about the reasons we can be confident that the Bible is complete

and accurate. Compare the way the Bible was compiled with the way the Koran was written. Do you believe we can have greater trust in the Bible rather than the Koran, based on how each book was written? Why or why not?

• Islam teaches that the Bible has been corrupted over the years. What evidence can help you remain confident that the Bible is fully reliable?

SAY SOMETHING LIKE: When the recitations of Muhammad were copied onto the different materials, they were read to local people groups, and the sayings were memorized by Mohammad’s followers. The Koran was generally dispersed through word of mouth and by neighboring tribes sharing the words of Allah with other tribes. There was no apparent attempt to collect the sayings given by Muhammad during his lifetime. After his death, there was a small effort to collect and compile the fragments of the Koran to create a complete collection. It wasn’t until under the fourth leader of Islam that the whole Koran was finally compiled, approved, and dispersed across the region.

ASK:• We can find no written manuscripts that contain the original words

Muhammad spoke to those recording his words—is that a reason for concern, or is it not a big deal? Explain your answer.

• What kind of original manuscripts do we have of the Bible, and how can we verify their validity?

SAY SOMETHING LIKE: One main argument Islam has against the Bible is that the Bible was written by human personalities and that this has the potential to compromise God’s message. Yet Muhammad claimed that he received revelations from Gabriel for the next 23 years, until the day of his death. In these meetings with the angel, Muhammad would see the angel, or he would only hear a voice, or he would only hear the sound of a bell through which he could hear the words of the angel.

3. What does Islam teach about salvation?

ASK:• Look at Ephesians 2:4-7. If you’re a follower of Jesus, how have you been

“united with Christ”?

SAY SOMETHING LIKE: As we study what Islam teaches about salvation, you will see that human works and deeds plays a crucial role in Islam. The most prominent works of Islam are summarized by the Five Pillars of Islam:

• Creed – Claim that there is no god but Allah and that Muhammad is the messenger of Allah. Believing this is the first duty of every Muslim.

• Prayer – Submit to a daily regimen of praying five times a day. There are prescribed prayers prayed together. All Muslims face toward Mecca to perform this daily prayer ritual. All adult male Muslims are to gather each Friday at noon for community prayer and to hear a weekly sermon.

• Almsgiving – Muhammad himself was an orphan, and his teachings shine a great light on the need to give to the poor. Muslims are required to give 2.5 percent of their income to charitable purposes and also give in free-will offerings that are above and beyond the legal almsgiving.

• Fasting – During the month of Ramadan all healthy adult Muslims (except travelers, pregnant women, or nursing mothers) are required to abstain from food, liquids, and sexual intercourse during daylight hours. This month of fasting lands on the ninth lunar month of the Islamic year, and Islamic tradition states that Muhammad received the first revelations from God during this month.

• Pilgrimage – Every Muslim is expected to take the pilgrimage to Mecca at least once. The pilgrimage is designed to solidify Islamic faith, display one’s commitment to Islam, and promote the idea of worldwide unity among Muslims.

ASK:• What is your reaction to those five practices? Are they worthy things to do?

Explain.• Look up these Bible verses and discuss how these Scriptures offer a

Jesus-centered perspective on those five practices: Creed—John 17:3; Prayer—Matthew 6:5-6, Luke 18:1; Colossians 4:2, 1 Thessalonians 5:17; Almsgiving—1 Corinthians 16:2, 2 Corinthians 9:7; Fasting—Matthew 6:16-18; and Pilgrimage—Isaiah 66:1-2, John 4:21-24.

SAY SOMETHING LIKE: In Islam, forgiveness of sin is based upon a combination of Allah’s grace and a person’s good works. On judgment day, if a Muslim’s good works outweigh the bad ones, and if Allah wants, the person may be forgiven of his or her sins and allowed to enter into Paradise. Islam is a religion of salvation by works because it combines a person’s works with Allah’s grace. Listen to these verses from the Koran regarding salvation:

• “To those who believe and do deeds of righteousness hath Allah promised forgiveness and a great reward” (5:9)

• “And He answers those who believe and do good deeds, and gives them more out of His grace; and (as for) the unbelievers, they shall have a severe punishment” (42:26)

• “O you who believe! If you are careful of (your duty to) Allah, He will grant you a distinction and do away with your evils and forgive you; and Allah is the Lord of mighty grace” (8:29)

• “The dwellers of the desert say: We believe. Say: You do not believe but say, We submit; and faith has not yet entered into your hearts; and if you obey Allah and His Apostle, He will not diminish aught of your deeds; surely Allah is Forgiving, Merciful.” (49:14)

ASK:• What specific problems do you see with salvation being based upon a

person’s deeds and actions?• If our salvation is based on our words and deeds, and if no clear standard

is set, is it possible to know how good we must be? Explain your thoughts.• What do you think it would be like to go through life without knowing for

sure if you will be accepted on the day of judgment?• How do these verses from the Koran differ from what you have learned

about the Bible’s teaching on salvation?

Have students form groups of two or three for these questions.

ASK:• Read these Scriptures regarding salvation through Jesus: John 6:47, John

8:24, John 14:6, Acts 4:12, Philippians 2:5-12, 1 Peter 3:18, 1 John 2:22-23, and 1 John 5:12-13. How do these verses offer assurance of salvation through Jesus Christ?

• Read Isaiah 64:6. Why would Isaiah compare our righteous works with filthy rags?

• As followers of Jesus, should we strive to do good deeds? Why or why not?

Bring everyone back together, and ask students to share some of their answers to the previous questions, as time permits.

SAY SOMETHING LIKE: The Koran teaches forgiveness being based upon Allah’s grace and a person’s deeds and works. No one who follows Muslim teaching can be assured of salvation before God because there is no way of knowing whether or not their good deeds outweigh their bad ones. In Christianity, we have assurance of salvation because forgiveness comes through grace alone. The Bible teaches us that salvation is an unearned, free gift from God and can only happen through Jesus Christ. Islam teaches that the best hope anyone has is that they have performed enough good works to outweigh the bad ones, and that Allah will offer forgiveness.

ADDITIONAL DISCUSSION [optional]SAY SOMETHING LIKE: Islam teaches that forgiveness is obtained by Allah’s grace without the possibility for a mediator. To be saved, a person must believe Allah exists, believe in the fundamental doctrines of Islam, believe that Muhammad is his final prophet, and follow the five pillars—and after all of that, they still need to hope that their good works outweigh the bad. A person’s eternal destiny hangs in the balance of a divine scale weighing their actions.

ASK:• Why do most religions teach that people must try to earn their salvation

rather than trust that an all-loving God has given them an invitation to eternal life and they simply must accept it?

• Look again at our original Scripture for today, Ephesians 2:1-10. Why would God not want us to be able to earn our salvation through our deeds or actions?

• Why is it important that our salvation comes to us when we are dead in our sins? How is this different from what Islam teaches?

APPLICATIONASK:

• How can you pursue a lifestyle filled with good deeds, without falling into the trap of thinking you can earn salvation or make God love you more than he already does?

• How can today’s conversation help you build a bridge to your Muslim neighbors and friends?

• What other questions do you have about Islam and its beliefs? How can we search together to find answers to those questions?

SUMMARY

End your lesson here. Provide your teenagers with a quick summary or take-home challenge

based on (1) the content of this lesson, (2) the dialogue that took place during the lesson, (3)

your understanding of the issues and struggles your teenagers are facing, and (4) the big picture

of your youth ministry and what your leadership team wants accomplished with the teaching and

discussion time.

FOR KEEPS [MEMORY VERSE]

Encourage and/or challenge your teenagers to memorize the verse below.

God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God. Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it (Ephesians 2:8-9).