At least there is something we can find agreement on.
We agree in general but not in specifics.
His arguments would seem convincing to those who have little to no knowledge of Islam, but not to real Muslims. Based on what I see on his youtube channel and his social media pages, his target audience seems to be westerners rather than Muslims. I also noticed he has very few followers on his accounts (Less than 12,000) and few supporting him financially on his Petreon page (Around 400). This tells me that his teaching belongs in the fringe category. To me his videos seem to be staged and they are nothing more than infomercials for selling his books.
Seem? meaning you are not sure.
Point is you have not listened to more of his videos [at least 50 to make a fair judgment].
In some of the video, the debaters claimed to be experts in Islam.
Note the Youtube Channel is "Christian Prince Debates" not Christian Prince main channels.
My point supporting Christian Prince debates are the references he used i.e. ALWAYS based on the direct sources of Islam in Arabic. My focus is on this and I ignored his silly and rude comments which are not critical to the core of debate.
Show me where CP had made a significant number* errors in his reference to the Islamic core texts?
Being a fallible human he is not perfect but overall he is very
objective in his argument. Btw, do you understand the significance of being '
objective'.
I'm always skeptical of evangelists, especially those online, who make claims of converting large numbers of people to Christianity. Even more so when the testimonies of those being converted can't be verified. With a little creative writing it's easy for someone to make an impressive appearance on the internet.
I agree with the above, where they just talk and quote. In this case, they would use charisma, rhetoric and various psychological elements to convince the audience.
But CP is totally different, he just don't quote but bring forth the quotes and texts [in Arabic and translations] on screen and prove that they are supported by Muslims sites, e.g. Sunnah.Com and others.
Each tribe here speaks a different language and few people in the regions I work in are fluent in Tagalog, even then, I wouldn't translate or share his videos with Muslims here because his understanding of Islam differs from that of Muslims in general.
As I had stated, this arguments are objective.
The beliefs of the majority of Muslims are based on faith for emotional reasons.
The clerics who influence the majority do not present an open book to their listeners like CP.
Aside from the testimonies you find on Christian Prince's Youtube channel or other similar channels, how many testimonies from former Muslims have you heard where they mention arguing or debating is what led them to Christ?
Most of the ex-Muslims [99%] who became Christians or non-Christians left Islam because they came to understand Islam is inherently evil and violent.
Note this ex-Muslim who is a reasonable expert on Islam and spent 16 years preaching Islam - I suggest you listen to him, its only 9 mins;
Preferably, you could listen to his other videos.
Note I have listen to many videos [>50] of ex-Muslims who converted out of Islam after being convinced the ideology of Islam is inherently evil and violent.
Fortunately there have been many studies on this subject, and they always come to the same conclusion. Muslims come to Christ because of Christ Himself and seeing Christ in others. Below is a sample of some of these studies.
A case study of 170 conversion narratives; mostly from Sudan; a case study of Palestinians and Bangladeshis; a paper examining the written testimonies of 173 Muslims worldwide who came to faith in Jesus Christ, and a study of 750 former Muslims, a study in Kenya of 17 urban ex-Muslims, These all confirm what all other studies have shown: the Living Christ and living Christians are the main keys to conversion.
Jean-Marie Gaudeul’s Study (1999)
Gaudeul published his findings of 170 publicly available conversion stories in a book named Called from Islam to Christ. He lists five main factors in conversion:
- “Jesus is so attractive”
- Jesus alone satisfies their “Thirst for Truth”
- Christianity satisfies their longing for community as they felt like they were “without a family”
- Christianity satifies an existential need for actual forgiveness
- “a thirst for God” by which he means a thirst to encounter God in a personal way
Anthony (Ant) Greenham’s Study (2004)
Ant Greenham conducted research on Palestinian Muslim converts and then compared that data with conversions in Bangladesh. His research shows that among both men and women, the overwhelming factor that they cited in their coming to faith in Christ was the person of Jesus. He states, that “the person of Jesus is always central.”
- The person of Jesus,
- the truth of Jesus’ message,
- God’s honor,
- the lives of believers,
- reading the Bible,
- God’s miraculous action.
Bruce L. Bronoske's Study (2005):
In 2005 Bronoske studied conversion narratives of 173 people throughout the world and compiled the data in his study entitled “A Comparative Study Of The Self-Revelation Of Jesus Found In The Canonical New Testament And The Jesus of The Qur'an, And The Effect A Muslim Seeker's Understanding Of Jesus Has Upon Their Decision To Convert To Christianity." [Northwest Graduate School Of The Ministry, D.Min]
92% of converts from Islam cited the Biblical Jesus as the focal point of their conversion.
...these Muslims gave their devotion was as Bronoske stated, “was the New Testament understanding of Jesus Christ. That is, Jesus Christ as He was revealed within the text of the canonical New Testament”. This Jesus had been introduced to them primarily through a "familiar voice" namely through a “friend, a family member, or a trusted acquaintance”
Bronoske summarized his work by citing a quote from Francis Schaeffer, namely that if he had only one hour to share the gospel with a person, he would spend the first forty-five minutes finding out what the person believed about God and the last fifteen minutes presenting Christ from that basis.
J. Dudley Woodberry, Russell G. Shubin, and G. Marks study (2007):
In 2007 an article which summarized 750 interviews with former Muslims was featured in Christianity Today under the title: “Why Muslims Follow Jesus?: The results of a recent survey of converts from Islam.” The study, done between 1991 and 2007, surveyed people from 30 countries and 50 ethnic groups. The researchers ranked the order of influences stated by their correspondents on their conversions:
- the lifestyle of Christians
- the power of God in answered prayers and healing
- dissatisfaction with the type of Islam they had experienced
- spiritual truth in the Bible
- love expressed through the life and teachings of Jesus.
Reinhold Strahler's Study (2009):
In Nairobi, Kenya, Reinhold Strahler conducted extensive interviews with 17 urban former Muslims who had come to faith. Like Bronoske he found strong evidences for the “familiar voice” as being decisive in the conversion stories. Similarly the life of Christians and the Bible figures strongly in the findings.
Significant factors in all conversion processes, sorted by frequency
- personal witness by Christians
- attractive lifestyle of Christians
- love / friendship shown by Christians
- reading Bible
- dissatisfaction with practice of Islam
- evangelistic meetings
- answered prayer
In a nutshell these Muslim converts encountered the living Jesus, the living Word of God, and living Christians.
Source:
Why Do Muslims Come to Christ? Five Case Studies
You are being dishonest here.
In two of the authors, it is mentioned,
"dissatisfaction with practice of Islam "
I believe 99% of those above surveyed would be
"dissatisfaction with practice of Islam "
because it is so obvious.
If they were asked the question,
Does Islam condone evil and violent acts?
They [99%] will likely answer 'yes' because it is so evident and objective.
Note:
THOUSANDS OF MUSLIMS IN NORTHERN IRAQ CONVERTING TO CHRISTIANITY AFTER WITNESSING ISIS HORROR, MINISTRY REVEALS: 'THEY'RE JUST SICK OF ISLAM'
A ministry leader in the Kurdish Region of Iraq told the Christian Aid Mission that his organization can barely keep up with the desire of refugees to learn about Christ and the Bible, which has grown increasingly strong since ISIS overtook many parts of the region.
"They're just sick of Islam," he said. "People are very hungry to know about Christ, especially when they hear about miracles, healing, mercy and love."
He added, "As terrifying and horrifying as ISIS is, they did us a great favor because they came and have shown them all the killing, saying that it's all in the Koran verses. So now we don't have to say much, we just say the truth."
Thousands of Muslims In Northern Iraq Converting to Christianity After Witnessing ISIS Horror, Ministry Reveals: 'They're Just Sick of Islam'
While online arguments and debates may seem like an effective way of witnessing to Muslims, in the real world, that's not the reality. These type of debates are a good way for authors to promote their books and get people to donate money to them though.
There are all kinds of Christians, but from what I have known of CP, he is a sincere Christian.
Btw, CP is risking his life to tell the truths in exposing the inherent evil and violent within the ideology of Islam in a very objective manner which is a hallmark of excellence in being a good human universally.
The videos seem staged to me, so while it may seem like he's highly intelligent on the subject matter, that could be because his debates and videos are well scripted. I'm not saying for certain that's the case, but it's just how they come across to me.
It is possible [only 10%] to be staged but I don't believe that based on the evidence available.
It's the same Jesus, they just have a different understanding of who He is. Muslims unfortunately miss the most important aspect of Jesus, that He is the Way, the Truth, and the Life; and the importance of Him being crucified and resurrected as a sacrifice for our sins.
I have given you the quote from the Quran that insisted Isa [Jesus] was never crucified and did not die on the cross. Allah stated he placed another man there. Obviously to you as a Christian you should have noted Allah lied in this case.
Allah condemned Jesus of the current NT as a fake, i.e. a God cannot have a son!
Allah stated the NT and OT you have on hand are the corrupted version. [supporting verse available].
You are truly blinded as a crazy sort of Christian!
Islam is a progressive religion and in the view of Muslims simply a continuation of Judaism and Christianity. Islam recognizes the same prophets as Christians and the same stories are told, just from a different point of view. It's impossible not to notice the similarities and how Muhammad borrowed the concept of Islam from Judaism and Christianity.
Islam the ideology is not progressive.
Christianity is progressive, i.e. it abrogated my of the OT verses which were suited to the related past.
Islam reverted to the elements of the OT and introduce more terrible evil and violent elements into the Quran. This is evidence and objective.
Islam do not have a overriding pacifist maxim to cap and override whatever negative elements that could be misinterpreted.
My understanding of Islam is in line with that of the Muslims I witness to, so there really isn't much to debate about on the issue of Islam. I'm pretty much in agreement with what they believe about their religion. Since that's the case, I direct my focus on the gospel which is: "Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures; He was buried; and He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures.... and righteousness of God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by His grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. God presented Him as a sacrifice of atonement through faith in His blood... For while we were still helpless, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly… But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us… For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled we shall be saved by His life... In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace.” (1 Corinthians 15:3,4)(Romans 3:22-25)(Romans 5:6, 8, 10)(Ephesians 1:7)
What you witness of the majority of Muslims is they are being more human than being more Muslim. They are practicing the human values of being more friendly, sincere, honest.
As I had defined, a Muslim is one who had entered into a covenant with Allah to comply with the covenanted terms, the core being the 6236 verses in the Quran.
We can have a objective measure of the degree of Islamism of a Muslims.
It is so easy, i.e.
List all the 6236 verses in a column and get all Muslims to tick their compliance [yes or no] to the terms within each verses.
The number of 'yes' will determine the degree of Islam_ness of each Muslim.
I am very confident based on my observation in reality, the majority of Muslims will have less than 40% of yes while those [300 million] who are more antagonistic to non-Muslims will have an average of 60% of compliance to the 6236 verses.
Btw, are you aware there are three main ratings of believers of Islam, i.e.
1. Muslims - obey 5 pillars of Islam - equivalent to kindergarten and grade school
2. Mushins - obey 1 plus 6 pillars of Iman - equivalent to high school and college freshman.
3. Taqwa - obey the 1 + 2 above plus elements of Taqwa, eguivalent to college seniors, masters and PhDs.
I don't think you know of the above even you claimed to be a reasonable expert and long time student of Islam.