Sermon Tone Analysis

The superiority of Christianity over Islam

 

Admittedly, the title affirms a conclusion, which may not seem very sensitive in our politically correct world.

However, every question, whether controversial or not, begins with some presuppositions.

Therefore, there is no shame in beginning this subject with the premise that Christianity /is /superior to Islam.

However, the object of this paper is not limited to the presentation of one more argument to verbally dismantle the religion of Islam.

Rather, a brief comparison of these two of the "great religions" of the world, will present Christianity's unique superiority as the answer to all of man's spiritual needs.

The fact that the term, "great religions" is used, illustrates the fallacy that is so often expressed, that Christianity is just one of the world's religions; it is not any better nor does it offer anything more than the others.

By making a brief analysis of Islam and Christianity, it will be apparent that Christianity's message is one of hope where Islam offers none, that Christianity's Savior reaches out and touches man, while Islam's God is far away.

Finally, the myth of "equally valid" religions will be debunked.

Indeed, while it is not possible to defeat the institution of Islam here, the grounds for religious pluralism will be destroyed as Islam will be demonstrated to be a weak pretender as an alternative path to God.

!! The Messages of the Qur’an and of the Bible

            Islam's only scriptures are a collection of the words attributed to its only prophet, Mohammad whose ministry spanned a period of 20 - 22 years.

His words were passed down orally for nearly 150 years before being compiled into what is known as the Qur’an.

Such a large space of time leaves room for considerable error for several reasons:

·       There is no record of Muhammad's words being substantiated by witnesses, coworkers, or sources outside the Qur’an such as contemporary Jewish writers or historians.

No one witnessed the angel Gabriel speaking to Mohammad.

·       There is no claim that the oral tradition used some measure to protect the integrity and accuracy of Mohammad’s sayings.

·       Human memories tend to glamorize the better points of the past and to forget the negative and there is no reason to believe Muhammad's followers would be any different.

!! ‘Mohammadian Make-believe’

What Muslims believe today about Mohammad and the Qur’an does not lineup with the historical facts regarding the Arab world, the language used at the time, and the inconsistencies within the Qur’an itself.

…Muhammad's world and the worlds of the historians who subsequently wrote about him were dramatically different.

During Islam's first century alone, a provincial band of pagan desert tribesmen became the guardians of a vast international empire of institutional monotheism that teemed with unprecedented literary and scientific activity.

Many contemporary historians argue that one cannot expect Islam's stories about its own origins -- particularly given the oral tradition of the early centuries -- to have survived this tremendous social transformation intact.

[1]

!! Monumental Differences

In contrast to the brief period in which the Qur’an could have been written down, the Bible was written over a period of about 1500 years involving more than 40 different authors.

Statements within the scriptures themselves declare it to be the Word of God more than 2400 times.[2]

The Biblical scriptures represent the contributions from writers from all walks of life, from fishermen to rabbi (Peter and Paul), from poets (David) to political leaders (Moses, David and Daniel)[3].

The Bible also explains how God used these various human instruments so that He could present His written revelation to man.

For example, in 2 Peter we read “…that no prophecy of Scripture is a matter of one’s own interpretation, for no prophecy was ever made by an act of human will, but men moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God." (2 Peter 1:20-21, NASB95)[4]

!! Structural Differences

It is important to know how the overall structure of the Bible and the Qur’an differ greatly.

The Bible is arranged in a chronological~/historical sequence, using a logical, plain format, which, declares the work of God's hand and His expanding self-revelation alongside man's own historical development throughout.

Additionally, specific subjects or teachings are presented logically and completely without the interruption of unrelated verses, as is often the case in the Qur’an.

The Qur’an is a single book with 114 chapters (or 116 depending on the version[5] -- as there are more than 20 versions[6]).

The Qur’an has an artificial descending arrangement from the largest to smallest.

The opening chapter or ‘sura’ has only six verses, then beginning with its second chapter of 286 verses, entitled “The Cow”, the arrangement descends in suranic size for no particular reason, reaching the 114th and smallest chapter.

The Qur’an also has very limited style variation and its total length is slightly less than the New Testament.

Each chapter may loosely refer to the chapter title’s topic and uses a very random proverb or declarative style, making it very difficult to be read or appreciated by an average reader.

Several online English translations can be readily found and its poor readability is confirmed in nearly every chapter.

The University of Michigan is one of the better sites to find the Qur’an online: http:~/~/www.hti.umich.edu~/k~/Qur’an~/browse.html

!! Style Differences

To illustrate this point regarding structure and readability, let us consider what the Qur’an itself says about one of its key figures – Abraham.

In chapter (sura) 14, Abraham is mentioned in verse [14.35] and the names Abraham, Ishmael and Isaac have been capitalized only to aid their being found in the text, which follows on page 7.  Normally it is not necessary to quote such a large section from any reference, but in order to give a more correct view, and to avoid the appearance of taking something out of context, a large section was included:

 

[*14.24*]

Have you not considered how Allah sets forth a parable of a good word (being) like a good tree, whose root is firm and whose branches are in heaven, \\ [*14.25*]

Yielding its fruit in every season by the permission of its Lord?

And Allah sets forth parables for men that they may be mindful.

\\ [*14.26*]

And the parable of an evil word is as an evil tree pulled up from the earth's surface; it has no stability.

\\ [*14.27*]

Allah confirms those who believe with the sure word in this world's life and in the hereafter, and Allah causes the unjust to go astray, and Allah does what He pleases.

\\ [*14.28*]

Have you not seen those who have changed Allah's favor for ungratefulness and made their people to alight into the abode of perdition \\ [*14.29*]

(Into j hell?

They shall enter into it and an evil place it is to settle in.

\\ [*14.30*]

And they set up equals with Allah that they may lead (people) astray from His path.

Say: Enjoy yourselves, for surely your return is to the fire.

\\ [*14.31*]

Say to My servants who believe that they should keep up prayer and spend out of what We have given them secretly and openly before the coming of the day in which there shall be no bartering nor mutual befriending.

\\ [*14.32*]

Allah is He Who created the heavens and the earth and sent down water from the clouds, then brought forth with it fruits as a sustenance for you, and He has made the ships subservient to you, that they might run their course in the sea by His command, and He has made the rivers subservient to you.

\\ [*14.33*]

And He has made subservient to you the sun and the moon pursuing their courses, and He has made subservient to you the night and the day.

\\ [*14.34*]

And He gives you of all that you ask Him; and if you count Allah's favors, you will not be able to number them; most surely man is very unjust, very ungrateful.

\\ [*14.35*]

And when Ibrahim (ABRAHAM) said: My Lord! make this city secure, and save me and my sons from worshipping idols: \\ [*14.36*]

My Lord! surely they have led many men astray; then whoever follows me, he is surely of me, and whoever disobeys me, Thou surely arc Forgiving, Merciful: \\ [*14.37*]

O our Lord!

surely I have settled a part of my offspring in a valley unproductive of fruit near Thy Sacred House, our Lord!

that they may keep up prayer; therefore make the hearts of some people yearn towards them and provide them with fruits; haply they may be grateful: \\ [*14.38*]

O our Lord!

Surely Thou knowest what we hide and what we make public, and nothing in the earth nor any thing in heaven is hidden from Allah: \\ [*14.39*]

Praise be to Allah, Who has given me in old age Ismail and Ishaq (ISHMAEL and ISAAC); most surely my Lord is the Hearer of prayer: \\ [*14.40*]

My Lord! make me keep up prayer and from my offspring (too), O our Lord, and accept my prayer: \\ [*14.41*]

O our Lord!

grant me protection and my parents and the believers on the day when the reckoning shall come to pass! \\ [*14.42*]

And do not think Allah to be heedless of what the unjust do; He only respites them to a day on which the eyes shall be fixedly open, \\ [*14.43*]

Hastening forward, their heads upraised, their eyes not reverting to them and their hearts vacant.

\\ [*14.44*]

And warn people of the day when the chastisement shall come to them, then those who were unjust will say: O our Lord!

respite us to a near term, (so) we shall respond to Thy call and follow the apostles.

What! did you not swear before (that) there will be no passing away for you![7]

!! Substance and Message Differences

This passage is typical throughout the entire Qur’an.

There are no paragraph breaks in the English translation because nice, tidy paragraphs are difficult to isolate.

Solid bodies of thought are rarely linked to the next in order to create a larger picture or message.

This passage was taken from the fourteenth chapter entitled "Abraham", yet Abraham's name appears only once in the chapter that bears his name [*14.35*].

Actually, in the Qur’an there is very little clear biographical information about Abraham, their most important patriarch beyond that he settled in a place that would be called Ka'ba [*22.27*].

In fact, for Muslims most of the stories about Abraham come from other sources other than the Qur’an.[8]

The passage cited above mentions many things, yet very poorly describes any particular person, place or event.

People are mentioned – even some of the most prominent figures of the Qur’an and the Bible, but very little can be understood about these personalities from this text’s content or style.

For example, in the first verse [*14.24*] a reference to "a parable of a good word" is made and it is quite possibly inspired from Psalm 1:2-3, where we learn that the person who delights in the law the Lord “shall be like a tree planted by rivers of water”.

If this were the case, the context of verses [*14.24-25*] would follow more logically with something about David rather than Abraham, or an elaboration on the theme of the benefits of God's Law.

In any case, these verses do not have the ring of David's poetry nor of the parables of Jesus (perhaps referring to Luke’s parable of the fig tree, Luke 13:6-9); the text clearly bears the mark of human origin and not that of Divine thought.

!! Supremacy of Divine Inspiration

More important, is the question regarding the overarching view of these two primary sources of doctrine for Islam and Christianity.

The Qur’an does not appear to have a central theme involving restoration of man's broken relationship with God woven throughout as the Bible does.

The Bible's message is intertwined throughout the Old and New Testaments over its 3500-year history.

This is an extremely strong proof of the Bible's unique superiority over the Qur’an and all other writings that claim divine origin.

No other book has such a complexity of historical backdrops, with the diversity of human writers, over such a broad span of time, with a consistent overarching theme.

The Bible's contributors generally did not know one another and most were acquainted only with a very limited portion of the Bible's other writings.

Added to this, the Bible records hundreds of prophecies concerning events, judgments, and most importantly, the promised Redeemer.

In total, there are more than 1800 prophecies in the Old and New Testaments.[9]

How many prophecies does the Qur’an have?

This is one of the greatest ironies of Islam is that Mohammad is called a prophet and yet there is no specific prophetic record – that is, the foretelling of any future event, followed by its fulfillment sometime later in history.

There are none of the weighty passages speaking of God’s judgment, His righteous anger against Israel’s stubbornness prefaced by the words “Thus says, the Lord.”

Such a phrase as: "Thus says, Allah" does not exist in the Qur’an.

Apparently, Mohammad was unable to exercise this aspect of his prophetic ministry.

The Bible records more than 300 prophecies alone that are related to the Messiah, the Savior of Israel and the nations.