3/16/19 Hazeez (see video HERE)
Halfway through the conversation, it felt like I was over my
head. I had asked a young man at a
McDonalds if he would be willing to have a conversation about his beliefs. He turned out to be Hazeez, from Nigeria, and
very passionate and articulate about Islam.
The odds were stacked against having a productive conversation, mainly
due to the lack of time - at the start he told me his time was limited, I knew
I had an upcoming doctor’s appointment, and then we were politely interrupted by
two 80-something women from Indiana who had ended up hopelessly lost in
downtown Chicago. And here we were, a
Christian and a Muslim, trying to sort out our differences.
And what are our differences? Hazeez has had many such conversations with
Christians as I have had with Muslims, so both of us knew that the heart of our
differences revolves around the person of Jesus Christ – human prophet or Son
of God; creation or Creator? Hazeez began
to walk me through many verses – both from the Quran and the Bible – that he
feels support his position. I have a
horrible memory for details so I didn’t stand a chance for a scripture-based
rebuttal. Besides, I told him, many sincere
scholars on both sides of the Christian-Muslim debate have tried for centuries
to convince each other of their positions without success, so who are we to
think we can do so in a short conversation?
But then I asked if he would like to know why we Christians
are so adamant that Jesus is God in the flesh?
Why is it that we can never give in or compromise on this core tenant of
our beliefs?
The answer, I told him, is based on something that both
Christians and Muslims would agree on – God’s goodness, His holiness, His
perfection, and His infinite glory. If
God is perfectly good, then all aspects of His being would be perfectly good,
including His love and His justice. But
what happens when these attributes conflict with each other? How then to deal with us humans, who have
sinned against God by breaking His commands?
How can God treat guilty sinners with perfect love and perfect justice
at the same time? His perfect love would
have to result in infinite forgiveness and mercy, and His perfect justice would
have to result in nothing less than infinite punishment for our sins against an
infinitely holy God.
According to Islam and other works-based religions, God
would have to compromise both His love and His justice by allowing us some
mercy if we can somehow pay for it with some good works or religious
deeds. His love wouldn’t be infinitely
perfect, for it comes with a price tag.
And His justice wouldn’t be perfectly complete, for it can be bought
with a bribe of good works.
But in Jesus, God perfectly demonstrates both His attributes
of love and justice. He Himself makes
the perfect sacrifice of love at the cross, satisfying His perfect justice at
the same time. Paul describes this in
Romans 3 – “he did it to demonstrate his righteousness at the present time, so
as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus.”
Hazeez showed me several passages from both the Quran and
the Bible which state that God deserves all worship and glory and will not
share it with another, and of course I agree because He is God and we are
not. God is the author and finisher of
salvation, and in so doing He receives all the glory which He alone deserves,
and no man or created being can claim a part of no matter how many good works
we might do. If salvation depends on
human effort, God’s glory is compromised as we boast in our own efforts and our
own righteousness.
Where in Islam, I ask, do we find such perfect love and
perfect justice? Where do we find the an
infinitely perfect and holy God, deserving of all glory, as we read in
Revelation 5 – “To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb (Jesus) be praise
and honor and glory and power, for ever and ever!”
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