“Islam claims that the Gospels are inspired by Allah. The Gospels teach that Jesus is God. The Koran says he is not. Therefore, the contradiction is that Jesus is and is not God. Is the Muslim really going to accept both these claims about Jesus:
(J1) Jesus is very God of very God.
(J2) Jesus is not very God of very God.Or:
(J1A) Jesus was crucified and died for the sins of man.
(J2A) Jesus was not crucified and did not die for the sins of man.Or, inconsistencies between their own apologetic practices and what their own holy book teaches:
(A1) The Bible is not reliable as a witness to Jesus.
(A2) The Bible is reliable as a witness to Jesus.I do not see how.”
– Paul Manata (http://triablogue.blogspot.com/2008/04/paradox-in-christian-theology.html)
“From the Muslim perspective—
It is true that the Injil (Evangel) was a revelation but the Quran says that its message has been corrupted over time by humans. The Quran corrects the message of the Injil. Therefore, for a Muslim, there is no contradiction.”– Anonymous comment on Choosing Hats
A contradiction is a contradiction regardless of perspective. If there is a contradiction it is a contradiction for both the Christian and the Muslim. The Muslim claims that the Injil is inspired with Surah 2 and 4 speaking of the books which were sent down before. The Muslim’s own holy book the Quran calls upon the Muslim to believe in these books. Here we have a clear command from Muhammad around 620 AD to believe in these books. The Muslim must know and be able to identify these books in order to continue to obey and believe them. There is no consistent basis upon which the Muslim may reject the inspiration of the New Testament given these beliefs.
Further, the alleged corruption of these texts calls into question Allah’s ability to preserve his holy writing in order that the Muslim may know how to believe and obey. The Muslim arbitrarily trusts one revelation over another when either or both might be corrupt according to Muslim beliefs consistently applied.
The Muslim claims that Christians do not have the Injil without being able to explain exactly what it is. Additionally, there is absolutely no evidence for the Muslim claims of corruption. There is also the contradiction pointed out concerning the Muslim apologist using the Bible as a reliable witness to Jesus while claiming that the Bible is not a reliable witness to Jesus.
Finally, it may be objectively shown that the books sent down before are reliable documents and that they teach that Jesus is very God of very God who was crucified and died for the sins of man; the Injil. So while I understand that the Muslim is not willing to immediately accept what has been mentioned in passing there is in fact much inconsistency in the Muslim worldview.
I am not, however, an expert on these matters. I do recommend the work of Dr. James White at http://www.aomin.org on Islam.
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