This post was recently published in Esperence, a Theological Review by African Christians in MALI, May 2015. The rest of the article will be in the next post.
What Manner of Witness to Muslims is Possible?
When telling Bible stories or when doing short witnesses people oft pose hard questions, i.e. Jesus Christ as Son of God, the Bible, good works, the doctrine of the Trinity, Christian marriage, prayer practices, Jesus' death, drink and meat, destiny, demons, etc. How do we respond? How should we respond?
As I chat with my Muslim friends in Mali I
often hear similar objections to the gospel narrative that we represent. Islamic theology is indeed opposed to
Christian theology even though there are similar themes and historical
links. God’s eternal plan that in grace
God chose to love sinful man through the cross of the Savior is quite different
from obedience to Allah and emulation of the prophet of Islam. My friends will ask many questions based on
the differences they observe, usually in a form of wanting to know our answers,
not in the form of livid objection. It
is possible to answer all these questions and objections from the Bible and
also to turn the conversation into a witness showing the grace of our loving
and wise Lord.
The South African Islamics student, John Gilchrist, writing in Facing the Muslim Challenge, testifies that: “After speaking with thousands of Muslims “I can, with genuine conviction, say that I have never heard a Muslim argument that cannot be legitimately and adequately answered.” (Gilchrist, p2)
The South African Islamics student, John Gilchrist, writing in Facing the Muslim Challenge, testifies that: “After speaking with thousands of Muslims “I can, with genuine conviction, say that I have never heard a Muslim argument that cannot be legitimately and adequately answered.” (Gilchrist, p2)
Gilchrist
requires our answers to be biblical:
Often nothing needs to be proved – the Bible only needs
to be quoted properly and it will make its own impact on the objector. … You
cannot reason people into the kingdom of God – they need to respond to a
message of God‛s grace and forgiveness from their hearts and that requires not
just an assent to the truth but a repentance and conviction deep within. And
the Bible is the best tool for achieving this end. Do what you can to get
Muslims to read it! (Gilchrist, p10)
He suggests that we can
turn the objection, debate, and argument into something positive:
What started as a Muslim offensive against the Gospel
ended as a more purposeful witness than I could possibly have given had he
never raised his arguments. Use Muslim arguments to strengthen your witness. Take
the Muslim away from objections and disputes as far as you can and bring the
discussion back to where it should be – evangelistic witness. (Gilchrist, p12)
The balance image read by Muslims and Christians
What is the Islamic view?
The Islamic view of judgment is set
out in the image of the balance weighing the good and bad deeds of a person
during their life. A heavy scale
equals success, but a light scale means they lose their souls. Many of my Muslim friends in Mali will tell
me that even an angel is perched on my right shoulder recording in a notebook
all my good deeds, thoughts, and words.
But also a second angle is perched on my left shoulder recording all my
bad deeds, thoughts, and words. On
judgment day these notebooks will be opened before God in heaven and the deeds
will then be adjudged. This image has
roots in the Mt 24 judgment day parables and Revelation ___ images of
heaven. It was sadly also used in some
medieval artwork in Europe and is part of some wrong Christian theology, too. Islam has seized on the wrong theology and
made it a major tenant of their system of thinking.
A few of
the many ayas of the Qur'an teaching
this follow. Islamic
references are found in Wickwire, 100 Questions about the Bible & Qur’an,
question #73, referring to balances, sin, and judgment.
Araf (Heights) 7:7-9 “We will surely call
those to an account, unto whom a prophet hath been sent; and we will also call
those to account who have been sent unto them.
And we will declare their actions unto them with knowledge; for we are
not absent from them. The weighing
of men's actions on that day shall be just; and they whose balances
laden with their good works shall be heavy, are those who shall be
happy; but they whose balances shall be light, are those who have lost
their souls, because they injured our signs.”
Isra (Night Journey) 17: 35-36 promises that Allah will use a just
balance and solid evidence to make it easy and clear: “And give full measure, when you measure aught; and weigh
with a just balance. This will be
better, and more easy for determining every man's due. And follow not that whereof thou hast no
knowledge; for the hearing, and the sight, and the heart, every of these shall
be examined at the last day.”
Al-Anbiya
(The Prophets) 21:47 “We will appoint just balances for the
day of resurrection; neither shall any soul be injured at all: although the
merit or guilt of an action be of the weight of a grain of mustard-seed
only, we will produce it publicly; and there will be sufficient accountants
with us.”
Al-Mu'minun
(The Believers) 23:102-103 “They whose balances shall be heavy
shall be blest. But they whose balances
shall be light, they shall lose their soul, abiding in hell forever.”
cf 29:6-9, 18:105-106,
101:6-9.
Apologist Josh McDowell says, ”Islam
teaches a salvation by works. Thus if
the scales tip in favor of good works, the Moslem will reach paradise.” (McDowell, p 117). To hear a Muslim writer saying the same thing
I quote from a Qur'an published by Project Gutenberg: pg 7440,
To show the exact justice which will be observed on
this great day of trial, the next thing they describe is the balance, wherein
all things shall be weighted. They say
it will be held by Gabriel, and that it is of so vast a size, that its two scales,
one of which hangs over paradise, and the other over hell, are capacious enough
to contain both heaven and earth. Though
some are willing to understand what is said in the Koran concerning this
balance, allegorically, and only as a figurative representation of GOD'S
equity, yet the more ancient and orthodox opinion is that it is to be taken
literally; and since words and actions, being mere accidents, are not capable
of being themselves weighed, they say that the books wherein they are written
will be thrown into the scales, and according as those wherein the good or the
evil actions are recorded shall preponderate, sentence will be given; those
whose balance laden with their good works shall be heavy, will be saved, but
those whose balances are light will be condemned. Nor will anyone have cause to complain that
God suffers any good action to pass unrewarded, because the wicked for the good
they do have their reward in this life, and therefore can expect no favour in
the next.
(Qur'an, translator: George Sale, p99-100)
(Qur'an, translator: George Sale, p99-100)
What is the Christian view of the balance image?
What
in fact is being judged? The balance
referred to in the Bible is similar to those found in the markets of Mali where
one plate has the standard weights and the other plate has the object to be
sold or bought. There were no balances
with springs in biblical days. What is
placed on each plate according to the Bible?
Many verses use terms of measuring and weighing, balances and measures,
testing and proving, and this study looks at several:
*Job 6:2-3 "If only my
grief could be weighed; or my calamity piled together on a balance
scale! It would weigh
more than the sand on the seashore!” Job’s
troubles weigh on him.
*Job 31:6 “Let me be weighed
in a just balance, and let God know my integrity!” (ESV) This possibly could be construed as a
weighing of good vs. bad, but that is not clear and doesn’t gee with rest of
Bible doctrine.
*Ps 17:3 “When you probe
my heart, and examine me at night; when you refine me, you will
find nothing wrong, for I have determined that I will not transgress with my
mouth.” When & if God probes, tests,
and weighs us, he’ll know that I’m innocent.
*Ps 38:4 Sins are too much for us; “My sins are over me, like a heavy burden,
they’re too heavy for me.” Cf Isa 24:20.
*Ps 62:9 Vanity & no weight: “Those of low estate are but a breath; those of high estate are a
delusion; in the balances they go up; they are together lighter
than a breath.” Men are of no value compared to God. We are weighed in comparison w/ God; there is
no comparison of good or bad works in the Bible.
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| tools for leveling foundation of the new Kayes school |
*Pro 16:2 “The one weighing the spirits & hearts is God,” cf Pro 15:11, 17:3, 21:2, Lc 16.15; men don’t know the hearts of others. No angels are involved, either.
Pro 16:11 Equity is very
important to God: ESV: “A just balance
and scales are the LORD's; all the weights in the bag are his work.” Cf Pro 11:1, 20:23,
& Mic 6:11
*Pro 24.12 “Man might not see sins, but doesn’t the one weighing
hearts (God) not see? (ESV) Won’t He judge correctly?
*Is 40:12-15 Starting
in v12 five (5) questions are posed using weighing and measuring terms to bring
out the comparison of God and the nations. The nations are nothing to God: “the nations are like
a drop from a bucket, and are accounted as the dust on the scales.” (ISV) Even
if a nation is compared to God, it is nothing. Man is nothing; family and riches are nothing;
nations are nothing.
*Is 64:6 Our
sins cause us to be light weight, wilted, dried up, and nothing when
compared to God’s weighty righteousness; “we all do fade
as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, take us away.” (ASV)
*Dan 5:27 “mene, mene, tekel, upharsin” – tekel =
weighed - “you have been weighed in the balances
and found wanting,” (ESV) and thus judged. The king and the kingdom were
evaluated by a just God and then judged.
the NT has few verses usung this image:
the NT has few verses usung this image:
Rev 6:5 (ISV) “When the lamb opened the third seal, I heard the third living creature
say, "Go!" I looked, and there was a black horse! Its rider held a scale
in his hand.” Here a balance is the symbol of scarcity of
provisions, the bread being doled out by weight.
Summarizing, there are several ways of using and understanding the balance in the Bible:
Other than the
simple demand for just scales and marketing i.e. Pro 16:11, Hos 12:8, there’s
also:
a/ Man’s sinfulness against God’s righteousness. This way God’s side is much heavier. Ps 38:4, Ps 62.9, Pro 16.2, Isa 24:20, Isa 64:6, Dan 5:27, Heb 12:1 - “lay aside the weight of sin,” etc.
b/ Man’s guilt against his innocence, Ps 17:3; David was willing that God test him, and he knew he would prove innocent, cf Job 31:6, maybe Dan 5:27, etc.
c/ The nations & world are compared to God: they are nothing but dust; God is almighty! Isa 40:15, cf Job 28.24-25, etc.
d/ Calamities against peace, cf Job 6:2-3, his troubles weigh him down, cf Ps 58.2 (violence by man), Rev 6:5.
a/ Man’s sinfulness against God’s righteousness. This way God’s side is much heavier. Ps 38:4, Ps 62.9, Pro 16.2, Isa 24:20, Isa 64:6, Dan 5:27, Heb 12:1 - “lay aside the weight of sin,” etc.
b/ Man’s guilt against his innocence, Ps 17:3; David was willing that God test him, and he knew he would prove innocent, cf Job 31:6, maybe Dan 5:27, etc.
c/ The nations & world are compared to God: they are nothing but dust; God is almighty! Isa 40:15, cf Job 28.24-25, etc.
d/ Calamities against peace, cf Job 6:2-3, his troubles weigh him down, cf Ps 58.2 (violence by man), Rev 6:5.
We can be sure the Muslim thot is not Christian idea concerning scales and weighing. Help our friends see this graciously.
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