A Muslim Friend

[okteach5]

A close friend of mine from high school, who grew up Roman Catholic, converted to Islam this past spring. I am struggling with this and how to react to her. I've spent a lot of time praying for her. I just recently started talking to her about some of her decisions. While I have answered some of her questions, I cannot help but feel that she is deeper into Islam then I guess I truly realized. I really worry for her and can only hope that the Holy Spirit can work through my words to change her heart. Below are some things from our talking back on forth through the Internet (we haven't talked in person, since she lives a ways away.)

I asked her: I'm wondering why you have both Jesus and Islam listed as interests under your "info"? Also how can you go from believing in Jesus as Savior, to not believing that? I'm praying for you!

Her response was: I am interested in Jesus as a prophet. I could type a whole long comment about Jesus is a savior verses Jesus is a prophet. All I can say for now is I worship the one who created jesus.
I pray for you too...through certain situations I slowly started to question about Jesus and God and why I am even alive... after some other situations I lost my connection with Jesus as a savior. When I tried to come back to my home faith... it was gone.... it was dead to me.

She then left me this question: how do you know something is the truth if you do not have knowledge of what you believe is a lie?

She also sent me the following message:
why does God have to have someone die on the cross to save me?
Is jesus God? if jesus is God? who created God? and who created jesus?
God is merciful and all powerful.... why does God need a man to die on a cross to save us. Either way the human has to confess sins and strive to live a life for God.... and God will forgive and have mercy.

I worship THE ONE WHO CREATED your Savior.

My response:
Jesus died on the cross to save us, because we are all sinners (for all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God). We cannot earn out salvation. Jesus earned it for us. Humans do have to confess their sins. The Holy Spirit calls us to repent of our sins. God will forgive our sins, because Jesus won that salvation for us on the cross. God was not created. He simply has always been, is, and always will be. Jesus is God. We can strive to live a life for God, but ultimately we will not be perfect. We are sinners. We cannot do it on our own. That is what Jesus is for.

I worship the TRIUNE GOD....Praise to our creating God, praise to our redeeming God, Praise to our renewing God.

Her response: Allah is creator and redeeming and renewing....
I agree god was not created. But i do not agree that jesus is god. Who created jesus?
Is christianity monotheism or polytheism?
more questions to come...




I have yet to respond to this most recent message. I'm just looking for any further ideas of what to say to her and how to deal with this situation. Also I ask for all your prayers!!

 

[DaRev]

It is best not to debate her directly. Such tactics rarely if ever work with Muslims.

I suggest you pick up the book "How to Respond to The Muslims" by Ernest Hahn from CPH.

 

[94Preacher]

..

 

[Forscher]

God is merciful and all powerful.... why does God need a man to die on a cross to save us. Either way the human has to confess sins and strive to live a life for God.... and God will forgive and have mercy.


My response:
Jesus died on the cross to save us, because we are all sinners (for all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God). We cannot earn out salvation. Jesus earned it for us. Humans do have to confess their sins. The Holy Spirit calls us to repent of our sins. God will forgive our sins, because Jesus won that salvation for us on the cross. God was not created. He simply has always been, is, and always will be. Jesus is God. We can strive to live a life for God, but ultimately we will not be perfect. We are sinners. We cannot do it on our own. That is what Jesus is for.

I worship the TRIUNE GOD....Praise to our creating God, praise to our redeeming God, Praise to our renewing God.

Her response: Allah is creator and redeeming and renewing....
I agree god was not created. But i do not agree that jesus is god. Who created jesus?
Is christianity monotheism or polytheism?
more questions to come...




I have yet to respond to this most recent message. I'm just looking for any further ideas of what to say to her and how to deal with this situation. Also I ask for all your prayers!!

Coming from a country where moslem is a majority (and we Indonesian Christians even use Allah as our translation for God), I am used to these kind on questions. Even though I never actually had a moslem friend convert into Christianity out of these discussions, but at least it helps me to dig more that Christianity is really unique in comparison to Islam and any other work-based religion.

'God is merciful and powerful' is always the card being pushed by the Moslems. But they forget that God is Holy and Just. Holy means that there is no way that us sinners can be together with the Holy one. Just means that according to His justice, we must all be damned.

This is the tension: God is Holy , human are sinners; He is merciful (he indeed wants to save us) but He is also Just (sinners have to be damned). This is where Jesus (which is God and human) comes to solve it. Try to ask her, whether Islam can solve this tension.

Since Moslems do not believe in original sins, I would suggest you try to convince your friend about our sins, the fact that nobody is sinless, that we sin because we are first sinners. It will be hard, but maybe some residues from her RC upbringing (and she was baptized I assume) will do something.

Praying for you and your friend!

 

[BigNorsk]

Her questions aren't questions, she's taking what she is being taught an throwing it at you in order to get you to convert as well.

You now have a wolf for a friend.

Marv

 

[Studeclunker]

First of all, Okteach, my deepest sympathies. Your friend is likely beyond your reach. Not, certainly, beyond your prayers and the work of the Holy Spirit, but you must eventually let her go. As Marv has said, she is now a wolf. You must be very careful that this person doesn't damage your faith. When dialog is no longer helpful, prayer may continue to be.

As to your friend's conversion to Islam from Roman Catholic, that's really not surprising. She simply stepped from one works-based religion to another. This is the danger that the R.C. faces with their works-based error. In fact, I find that kind of thing happening a lot with people who grew up R.C. or Pietist protestant. It's an easy transition. In persuading this woman, you are going to have to work through her R.C. training as well as her Islamic.

It really baffles me as to why any woman would choose Islam. The whole system treats them very shabbily.

Again, my condolences about your friend's spiritual death. There is still hope though. Christ and the Apostles brought many people back from the dead, so there is still hope for your friend. After all, she is still conversing with you. All the same, be wary. She will try to kill your faith also. You will know when the time for prayer battles has come when she either ceases to answer you or just blows you off completely. May our gracious Lord strengthen you in this fight for your friend's soul, and salvation.

 

[Studeclunker]

duplicate post

 

[Studeclunker]

duplicate post, silly machine!

 

[wildboar]

A friend of mine is a convert from Islam to Christianity. His family tried to kill him and he has an interesting story. He wrote an autobiography that addresses some of the real problems he found in the Qur'an. It's written in what I would call Kenyan English and so sometimes it's not the easiest read but it has some really useful information. I would encourage you to read the Qur'an. It's available at a bunch of different places on the internet. I think it was Martin Luther who encouraged the printing of the Qur'an as the best antidote against the spread of Islam and I think he was right. It's just chock full of ambiguities and contradictions. It's really a pragmatic religion where rules are changed based on the situation you are in and what is most convenient.

 

[peacebwithu2]

the best thing you can do is pray for your friend love her and show you are willing to listen ask her questions