Exploring Islam and Christianity

1. Exploring Islam and Christianity

2. Hijacking a Religion

3. “The terrorists are traitors to their own faith, trying, in effect, to hijack Islam itself. The enemy of America is not our many Muslim friends; it is not our many Arab friends. Our enemy is a radical network of terrorists, and every government that supports them”– President George W. Bush, 2001 (www.whitehouse.gov/infocus/ramadan/islam.html)

4. “Islam is a vibrant faith. Millions of our fellow citizens are Muslim. We respect the faith. We honor its traditions. Our enemy does not. Our enemy doesn’t follow the great traditions of Islam. They’ve hijacked a great religion” – President George W. Bush, 2002 (www.whitehouse.gov/infocus/ramadan/islam.html)

5. “Islam comes from the word peace. Islam is a religion of compassion and mercy and tolerance and justice. For in chapter 5, verse 32, the Koran teaches, 'Whoever kills a soul, it will be written in his book of deeds as though he killed all humanity.' We must not allow others to distort such a noble religious tradition for their own twisted ends."– Senator Tom Harkin, 2001 (http://harkin.senate.gov/specials/20010916-quotes.cfm)

6. “I think Islam, the Muslim world, is indeed going through an evolution, and as with any evolution there are both potential negative outcomes and potential positive outcomes. The negative outcomes would be the continued rise of extremism and those who would hijack the great world religion to a cause that clearly has nothing to do with Islam. Islam is a peaceful religion…” – Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, 2005 (www.turks.us/article.php?story=20050417072001358)

7. Hijack means “1a: to steal by stopping a vehicle on the highway b: to commandeer (a flying airplane)… c: to stop and steal from (a vehicle in transit) d: kidnap” – Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary

8. Can a religion be hijacked? By Departure from or replacement of the Leader/ Founder By Departure from or replacement of the Scriptures/ Holy books

9. Hijacking a Religion

10. I. The Testimony of Sectarianism: Hijacking Has Occurred • False notion: Its OK to pick & choose the parts of a religion we like and put the rest aside • False notion: Most all churches & religions are the same though names are different

11. I. The Testimony of Sectarianism: Hijacking Has Occurred • “Sociologists have noticed the strength of this ecumenism in American religion and have concluded that we are now in a “post-denominational” period when religious identity has lost its place in individuals’ lives. It is relatively easy for an Episcopalian to join a Lutheran church. Even the conversion from Catholic to Protestant or vice versa no longer carries the weight it did fifty years ago. There has been a tendency toward homogenization of religion as churches learn from each other and adopt successful practices. Most Americans have an eclectic faith, one stitched together from many different threads of tradition and contemporary ideas and attitudes.”-Handbook of Denominations in the United States 11th Edition

12. I. The Testimony of Sectarianism: Hijacking Has Occurred • Christianity is an Exclusive Faith • Gal 1:6-9, “I marvel that you are turning away so soon from Him who called you in the grace of Christ, to a different gospel, 7 which is not another; but there are some who trouble you and want to pervert the gospel of Christ. 8 But even if we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel to you than what we have preached to you, let him be accursed. 9 As we have said before, so now I say again, if anyone preaches any other gospel to you than what you have received, let him be accursed.”

13. I. The Testimony of Sectarianism: Hijacking Has Occurred • Christianity is an Exclusive Faith • 2 John 9, “Whoever transgresses and does not abide in the doctrine of Christ does not have God. He who abides in the doctrine of Christ has both the Father and the Son.”

14. I. The Testimony of Sectarianism: Hijacking Has Occurred • Christianity is an Exclusive Faith • Matt 15:7-9, “Hypocrites! Well did Isaiah prophesy about you, saying: "These people draw near to Me with their mouth, And honor Me with their lips, But their heart is far from Me. And in vain they worship Me, Teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.'"

15. I. The Testimony of Sectarianism: Hijacking Has Occurred • Islam is an Exclusive Faith • Surah 61:9, “It is He who sent His Apostle with the guidance and the true way to raise it above all faiths, however the idolaters may dislike it.”

16. I. The Testimony of Sectarianism: Hijacking Has Occurred • The church at Corinth shows that Divisions occur when departures from the founder or the doctrine are perceived and confronted (1 Cor. 1:10; 11:18-19; 15:58).

17. II. What Does True Islam Look Like? • Follow the Example of Muhammad • Surah 33:21, “You have indeed a noble paradigm in the Apostle of God for him who fears God and the Day of Resurrection, and remembers God frequently”

18. II. What Does True Islam Look Like? Muhammad’s Battles • 622 – Raid on Nakhla • 624 – Battle of Badr • 625 – Battle of Uhud • 627 – Battle of the Trench • 630 – Muhammad takes Mecca • 630 – Battle of Hunayan and conquer Ta’if; Muhammad becomes master of Arabia - Robert Spencer’s The Truth about Muhammad

19. II. What Does True Islam Look Like? • Obey the Qur’an & Hadith • Claim: Qur’an is uncorrupted & cannot be changed • Surah 41:41-42, “Those who reject the Reminder when it has come to them (should know) that it is a Book inviolate. Falsehood cannot enter it from any side: It’s a revelation from the all-wise and praiseworthy (God).”

20. II. What Does True Islam Look Like? • Obey the Qur’an & Hadith • Claim: Qur’an is uncorrupted & cannot be changed • Surah 10:64, “There is no changing the words of God.”

21. Islamic doctrine of Abrogation • “When we cancel a message (sent to an earlier prophet) or to throw it into oblivion, We replace it with one better or one similar. Do you not know that God has power over all things?” (Surah 2:106)

22. Peace and Tolerance? Surah 2:256 There is no compulsion in matter of faith. Distinct is the way of guidance now from error.

23. Peace and Tolerance? Surah 29:46 Do not argue with the people of the Book unless in a fair way, apart from those who act wrongly, and say to them: “We believe what has been sent down to us, and we believe what has been sent down to you. Our God and your God is one, and to Him we submit.”

24. Warfare? Surah 2:216 Enjoined on you is fighting, and this you abhor. You may dislike a thing yet it may be good for you; or a thing may haply please you but may be bad for you. Only God has knowledge, and you do not know.

25. Warfare? Surah 47:4 So, when you clash with the unbelievers, smite their necks until you overpower them, then hold them in bondage. Then either free them graciously or after taking a ransom, until war shall have come to an end.

26. Warfare? Surah 47:4 (cont.) If God had pleased He could have punished them (Himself), but He wills to test some of you through some others. He will not allow the deeds of those who are killed in the cause of God to go waste.

27. What If... A Popular Book Declared “Muslims are the worst of creatures” “Show compassion to one another but be severe to Muslims” “Muslims are perverse” “Fight the Muslims around you” “The punishment for Muslims is to kill or hang them, or have a hand on one side and a foot on the other cut off”

28. What If... A Popular Book Declared “Muslims are the worst of creatures” COMPARE Surah 8:55,“Verily the worst of creatures in the sight of God are those who deny (the truth), and will not believe”

29. What If... A Popular Book Declared “Show compassion to one another but be severe to Muslims” COMPARE Surah 48:29,“Muhammad is the Prophet of God; and those who are with him are severe with infidels but compassionate among themselves.”

30. What If... A Popular Book Declared “Muslims are perverse” COMPARE Surah 9:30,“…The Christians say: “Christ is the son of God.” That is what they say with their tongues following assertions made by unbelievers before them. May they be damned by God: How perverse are they!”

31. What If... A Popular Book Declared “Fight the Muslims around you” COMPARE Surah 9:123,“O believers, fight the unbelievers around you, and let them realize that you are firm…”

32. What If... A Popular Book Declared “The punishment for Muslims is to kill or hang them, or have a hand on one side and a foot on the other cut off” COMPARE Surah 5:33,“The punishment for those who wage war against God and His Prophet, and perpetrate disorders in the land, is to kill or hang them, or have a hand on one side and a foot on the other cut off, or banish them from the land.”

33. II. What Does True Islam Look Like? Submit to the rule of Shariah Law “The death of Muhammad may be considered to have ended constitutional legislation in orthodox Islam.” - Caesar Farah, Islam 6th Edition

34. II. What Does True Islam Look Like? Submit to the rule of Shariah Law “The Shariah encompasses legislation derived from the Qur’an and the Hadith. Tradition and the juridical consolidation of life molded under the stimuli of the Qur’an and the Hadith, with no distinction between spiritual and temporal law, served to rally the believers throughout the Muslim world. […] The Shariah is Islam’s constitution.” - Caesar Farah, Islam 6th Edition

35. Shariah Law Surah 5:33 “The punishment for those who wage war against God and His Prophet, and perpetrate disorders in the land, is to kill or hang them, or have a hand on one side and a foot on the other cut off, or banish them from the land. Such is their disgrace in the world, and in the Hereafter their doom shall be dreadful”

36. Shariah Law Surah 9:29 “Fight those people of the book who do not believe in God and the Last Day, who do not prohibit what God and His Apostle have forbidden, nor accept divine law, until all of them pay protective tax in submission”

37. II. What Does True Islam Look Like? • Follow the example of Muhammad • Obey the Qur’an and Hadith • Submit to the rule of Shariah Law

38. III. What Does True Christianity Look Like? • Follow the example of Jesus • 1 Peter 2:21-23, “For to this you were called, because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that you should follow His steps: "Who committed no sin, Nor was deceit found in His mouth"; who, when He was reviled, did not revile in return; when He suffered, He did not threaten, but committed Himself to Him who judges righteously”

39. III. What Does True Christianity Look Like? • Obey the New Testament • James 1:22, “But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.” • 1 Peter 4:14-16, “If you are reproached for the name of Christ, blessed are you, for the Spirit of glory and of God rests upon you. On their part He is blasphemed, but on your part He is glorified. But let none of you suffer as a murderer, a thief, an evildoer, or as a busybody in other people's matters. Yet if anyone suffers as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify God in this matter.”

40. What Is Being Hijacked? Authority has been hijacked! Ephesians 1:22-23 And He put all things under His feet, and gave Him to be head over all things to the church, which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all.

41. What Is Being Hijacked? Worship has been hijacked! John 4:23-24 But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for the Father is seeking such to worship Him. God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth."

42. What Is Being Hijacked? • It is IMMERSION, not sprinkling • It is for adults, not BABIES • It is to get into Christ, not because you are already in Christ, etc. Baptism has been hijacked!

43. IV. The Answer to Hijacked Minds: The Truth • The Answer is the TRUTH (John 17:17) • Elders charged to CONVICT “hijackers” (Titus 1:9) • Preachers charged to CONFRONT “hijackers” (1 Tim. 1:3) • Christians responsible to CONTEND with “hijackers” (Jude 3) • Don’t let any teacher or scheme steal you away from JESUS and His WORD!

44. Hijacking a Religion