Facing the Muslim Challenge

A Handbook of Christian-Muslim Apologetics

by

John Gilchrist

2002
first print 1999

[ Life Challenge Africa, PO Box 23273, Claremont/Cape Town 7735, Rep of South Africa ]

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Contents

Introduction
	The Christian-Muslim Cutting-Edge	5
	The Christian Response: Right Methods and Approaches	8
1.	The Integrity of the Bible
	The Textual Authenticity of the Qur’an and the Bible
	1.1     The Ancient Biblical Manuscripts	17
	1.2     The Early Different Qur’an Codices	20
	1.3     The Passages in Mark 16 and John 8	23
	1.4     Missing Passages from the Qur’an	26
	1.5     Variant Readings in the New Testament	29
	1.6     Evidences of Qur’anic Variant Readings	32
	Biblical Contents and Teaching
	1.7     Apparent Errors in Biblical Numerics	35
	1.8     The Authorship of Matthew’s Gospel	38
	1.9     The Variety of English Translations	41
	1.10    The Genealogy of Jesus in the Gospels	43
	1.11    Biblical "Pornography" and Obscenities	46
	The Qur’an in Relation to the Bible
	1.12    The Jewish and Christian Scriptures	49
	1.13    Tahrif - The Allegations of Corruption	52
	1.14    The Tawraat, Injil and Qur’an	55
	1.15    The Old and New Testaments in the Bible	58
2.	The Doctrine of the Trinity
	The Christian Doctrine of God
	2.1     Biblical Origins of the Trinitarian Doctrine	63
	2.2     The Incomprehensible Nature of God	66
	2.3     The Unity of God: The Basis of the Trinity	69
	2.4     Does the Doctrine have Pagan Origins?	72
	2.5     The Father, Son and Holy Spirit	74
	2.6     The Qur’an and the Christian Doctrine	78
3.	Jesus the Son of the Living God
	The Deity of Jesus Christ in the Bible
	3.1     The Qur’anic Rejection of Jesus’ Deity	81
	3.2     The Son of God in a Metaphorical Sense?	84
	3.3     Biblical Limitations on the Son of God	87
	3.4     The Unique Sinlessness of Jesus	89
	3.5     Old Testament Prophecies of his Deity	92
	3.6     "Flesh and Blood have not Revealed This"	95
4.	The Crucifixion and the Atonement
	The Historical and Spiritual Issues
	4.1     The Consequences of Man’s Fallen Nature	99
	4.2     Do Christians Enjoy a License to Sin?	102
	4.3     The Young Ruler and the Commandments	105
	4.4     The Substitution Theory in the Qur’an	108
	4.5     The Swooning Theory of Muslim Apologists	111
	4.6     What Really was the Sign of Jonah?	114
5.	Muhammad in the Bible?
	Muslim Arguments from Biblical Texts
	5.1     The Prophet Like Moses in Deuteronomy 18	117
	5.2     Jesus - The Prophet Foretold by Moses	120
	5.3     The Prophet From Among their Brethren	123
	5.4     Jesus’ Promise of the Coming Comforter	125
	5.5     "His Name Shall be Ahmad" in the Qur’an	128
	5.6     The Holy Spirit: The Promised Comforter	131
6.	The Gospel of Barnabas
	The Spurious Gospel in Islamic Apologetics
	6.1     Muslim Interest in the Gospel of Barnabas	135
	6.2     Medieval Origins Proving it is a Forgery	137
	6.3     Other Evidences Against its Authenticity	140
	6.4     The Original Authorship of the Gospel	142
	6.5     Paul and Barnabas in the Book of Acts	145
Bibliography

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The complete book can also be downloaded as a zip file.

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Citation template for bibliographies:— Gilchrist, John. Facing the Muslim Challenge, 2nd Edition, Life Challenge Africa, Cape Town, 2002 (www.answering-islam.org/Gilchrist/Challenge/).

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Hardcopies of this book can be ordered from the publisher.

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Books by John Gilchrist
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In service of my risen Lord and precious Saviour, Jesus Christ. Maranatha!