I had the privilege to hear Dr James White speak in Inverness last night at Inverness Reformed Baptist Church. I was shocked that there was only 20 or so of us.
Dr White opened with a reading from John chapter 8, concentrating on v24. Unless you believe that I AM (he) you will die in your sins. Dr White pointed out that translations with 'I am he' have added the he and missed the point. John's Gospel is full of references to Jesus as the I AM. Dr White went on to point out that the I AM statements are linked to the Old Testament not just to Exodus but especially to Isaiah. Isaiah 43:10 in the Greek Translation says;
You are my witnesses,” declares the Lord,
“and my servant whom I have chosen,
that you may know and believe me
and understand that I am he.
Before me no god was formed,
nor shall there be any after me. ESV
Dr White pointed out that the wording is the same, and is thus Jesus is claiming that unless we believe that He is the I AM we will die in our sins.
He pointed out that there is a certain irony that the favourite verse of the Watchtower and Tract society is a verse that is clear on the deity of Christ.
Dr White says that this has big implications for our relationship with our Muslim neighbours. Muslims of all different stripes are only too willing to talk to people about faith, they as a whole are people who like to dialogue.
He said he is often told by westernised Muslims ‘we are the second largest religion in the world that loves Jesus’ but and it’s a big but, which Jesus. The problem for Islam is that they get Jesus wrong, as he often says, the Qu’ran was written 700 years after the events in the New Testament take place and almost 600 miles away. The author of the Qu’ran doesn’t interact with the New Testament and the stories it tells of Jesus are stories that are found in the Gnostic Gospels and from oral tradition. The author of the Qu’ran seemed to be completely ignorant of the Jesus presented in the prologue of John, Colossians 1, Hebrews chapter 1 and the I AM sayings. Muslims believe Christians are committing shirk, that they had added to revelation and are now worshipping a creature as creator. Dr White pointed out that actually it is the Muslims who have withdrawn from revelation through ignorance rather than Christians changing revelation. According to Muslims all the scriptures are from God, they recognise the Old Testament and the Gospels but they believe they have been corrupted. Dr White said from reading the Qu’ran it’s clear that it’s author didn’t hold to this, but it’s also clear that the author had never read the Bible, there is too much confusion.
We Need to Evangelise our Muslim Neighbour.
There are a couple of stumbling blocks 1) Fear of violence and 2) Don’t want to cause offence due to our ignorance.
Dr White said as Reformed Baptists we are in a good place because of our desire to be Biblical and theological and because of our uncompromising upholding Sola Scriptura.
We are well placed to provide thoughtful answers to our Muslim neighbours.
Dr White said Muslims know the difference between Liberal/Nominal Christians and Conservative Evangelical Christians. Following a couple of debates he was told by his Muslim friend and opponent, we need to debate more conservatives, the liberals are willing but have nothing to say.
Dr White said this is a big problem, we have the great commission, we have the tools but in the States any interaction between a Conservative Evangelical and Muslims tends to unkind and based on false assumptions. The majority of western Muslims would love the dialogue in a friendly but robust way. We believed we would fear Muslim neighbours more than we would Mormon neighbours but we should take the challenge either way.
Dr White encouraged us take the time to study up on Islam, this will open the door in the dialogue. I asked him if we could engage with them if all we knew was the Bible and he said of course, but if you can study.
It was humbling to have Doctor White speak to so few of us, made me feel better about when I speak to a small group of people in rural churches.
God Bless
Stephen <><
