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Comparing the Qur'an and the Bible: What They Really Say about Jesus, Jihad, and More
Engagement with the Muslim world and Muslim people is inevitable for Christians. After all, Islam is the fastest-growing religion in the United States. But what does the Qur’an really say about things like Jesus, war, and non-Muslims? What does the Bible say on these matters? If Christians are to engage in informed, loving conversation with their Muslim neighbors, they need to be equipped with more than the often-specious talking points they glean from the news or email forwards. Comparing the Qur’an and the Bible offers readers an unprecedented collection of Scriptures and doctrines of both faiths presented side by side for easy study and comparison, covering such key issues Jesus
Abraham
creation
angels/jinn
jihad
the fall of humankind
predestination
ransom for sin/sacrifice
grace
rebirth
God/Allah
women
marriage and divorce
homosexuality
suicide
resurrection
judgment
Paradise
prayer A brief explanation of each passage in the Qur’an and the Bible is given, as well as biblical answers to Islamic teaching. The book also motivates readers to have hearts for Muslims and seek to bring them to Christ, offering “door openers” to sharing the Good News. This indispensible collection will be treasured by anyone seeking to understand and engage their Muslim neighbors.
Abraham
creation
angels/jinn
jihad
the fall of humankind
predestination
ransom for sin/sacrifice
grace
rebirth
God/Allah
women
marriage and divorce
homosexuality
suicide
resurrection
judgment
Paradise
prayer A brief explanation of each passage in the Qur’an and the Bible is given, as well as biblical answers to Islamic teaching. The book also motivates readers to have hearts for Muslims and seek to bring them to Christ, offering “door openers” to sharing the Good News. This indispensible collection will be treasured by anyone seeking to understand and engage their Muslim neighbors.
256 pages, Paperback
First published November 1, 2011
14 people are currently reading
58 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
October 4, 2024
It is an informative book that does a great job of comparing the similarities and differences between the bible/Qur'an on various topics.
Though, the author was a bit overly biased towards the Christian side. It seemed as if he tried to paint God as a loving, soft, and peaceful entity in comparison to Allah.
However, the bible clearly illustrates that yes God is love, but he's also a Holy and Jealous God.
Though, the author was a bit overly biased towards the Christian side. It seemed as if he tried to paint God as a loving, soft, and peaceful entity in comparison to Allah.
However, the bible clearly illustrates that yes God is love, but he's also a Holy and Jealous God.
February 13, 2018
A very good book on the key differences between the teaching of the Quran and the Bible. The book focuses on key issues such as the deity of Christ, salvation, and the life of the believer. I most enjoyed the portion of the book that summarized all of the sections into an easy format to help you witness your Christian faith to a Muslim.
July 31, 2023
What are the similarities and differences between Islam and Christianity? In this book, Richter places the primary sources of each religion—the Qur’an and the Bible—side by side for you to read yourself with brief explanations of the main teaching of each by their respective traditions. Of course, it is written with a Christian bias (the opposite would be true of a Muslim author), yet Richter admirably presents and explains the source materials without being rude toward Muslim beliefs. He simply gives you the primary source materials to show how Christianity and Islam are fundamentally different religions and therefore worship different Gods.
Richter also does an excellent job of showing where beliefs of certain tenets in each religion diverge. For example, regarding predestination, there are disagreements among Muslims ranging from determinism, to free will, to limited free will; for Christians, the Reformed tend to believe in double predestination (strikingly similar to Islam’s determinism), or free will among the Arminians, and Lutherans (my denomination) who agree with the Scriptures (and Augustine) that there is no free will before God, and Scripture speaks of predestination only in terms of salvation, not damnation. If you’re interested in learning more about what Lutherans believe, you can read what we believe in the Book of Concord in the treatise called the Formula of Concord, article II for free will and article XI for predestination. Anyway, Richter does a decent job of showing that there are divergences in both religions and neither are entirely homogenous in certain doctrines. For the most part though, Islam holds to determinism whereas most Christians, I think, sadly hold to double predestination or some similar belief of fatalism, just like the mass of orthodox Muslims. Richter is Lutheran, so he of course takes the correct Lutheran approach. I would’ve liked to see him include what our Confessions say about this subject in the book, but then again it’s meant to be a BASIC survey of the Qur’an and the Bible, not a full on Lutheran critique of Islam.
The following conclusions can be made about the Qur’an and the Bible: (1) the Qur’an is historically inaccurate because it claims Jesus was not crucified, which of course not only contradicts the Bible but also extra-biblical evidence from the Jewish historian Josephus, 1st century Roman historian Tacitus, another 1st century historian named Thallus, and 3rd century historian Julius Africanus. The Qur’an’s claim is that Jesus only appeared to be crucified—basically a trick played by Allah—but c’mon, that’s just lazy writing and a convenient copout. (2) Muslims claim this is corroborated by the Gospel of Barnabas, but scholars today have deemed it to be a medieval forgery because it contains anachronisms from the Roman Catholic Church’s Latin Vulgate (the Gospel of Barnabas is said to have been written in the 1st century, but the Vulgate was written in the 4th, so it’s literally impossible for it to contain words from the Vulgate, therefore making it a forgery). There are other anachronistic, medieval terms used to describe the New Testament. So once again, history proves the Qur’an a farce.
(3) Islam asserts the Qur’an confirms the Torah, the Psalms, and the Prophets but it is weirdly silent on the prevailing vitality of sacrifice throughout the Old Testament making ransom for sin, likely because the Qur’an finds ransom for sin ludicrous. So there’s an obvious self-contradiction here: it claims to confirm the Old Testament, but not the ransom for sin that God (or Allah) provided through those means. So, which is it? You can’t have both. This is remarkably ignorant concerning the huge significance of the first Passover in Egypt making a ransom for Israel (the Qur’an lists only 9 plagues, not 10), the further selection of Israel’s firstborn sons for redemption or ransom to be substituted with the firstborn of their flocks (Exodus 13:11-16), and of course typifying the ransom Christ would pay with his own blood as the Lamb of God (John 1:29).
For all the Qur’an’s claims about how serious God’s justice is, it doesn’t take God’s justice seriously enough. It says Allah is forgiving, but to say sin can be forgiven does not take Allah’s holiness or justice seriously enough. It cannot just be overlooked through forgiveness; it must be dealt with. And God did deal with it by paying for it with the blood of His Son, just like the Torah says (which again, the Qur’an allegedly confirms), “The life of the creature is in the blood, and I have given it to you to make atonement for yourselves on the altar” (Leviticus 17:11). For us, the Lamb is Jesus, and the altar is Mt. Calvary. God’s justice is so serious that He can’t simply pretend sin isn’t that serious; His justice was so serious that God Himself became human and took on our sins to be the sacrifice in our stead—to suffer the demands of His justice in our place. If that sounds silly to you, I’ll just say this, from 1 Corinthians 1:18, “For the Word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.” Richter covers other contradictions of the Qur’an’s supposed confirmation of the Old Testament in chapter 11. One of the big ones, for example, is the Qur’an’s claim that the Pharaoh of Egypt threatened crucifixion, but the historical record shows us that crucifixion was not practiced until many centuries later to the EAST by the Medes and Persians before it was passed to the Greeks and Romans. The Bible doesn’t speak of crucifixion until the New Testament. It’s almost like Muhammed was writing a fan fiction of the Bible but was lazy in his research.
Critiques: In the chapter on Women and Marriage in the Bible and the Qur’an, there’s a section where veils and modesty are discussed. Richter quotes Ephesians 5 and 1 Corinthians 6 as general modesty for all Christians, but he curiously leaves out 1 Corinthians 11 that talks about head coverings and whether this is still binding for Christian women today. In short, this is according to cultural custom rather than his later discussion that women can’t be pastors, which he says is a command from the Lord. For more on this, I recommend you read “Women Pastors?” edited by Matthew Harrison. It was simply how women conveyed their marital status during these times, such as what women do today with their wedding rings. There were Roman women who didn’t want to remain faithful to their husbands, so to show that they were sexually available, they would not wear head coverings. This is why Paul strongly encouraged the Christian women in Corinth to continue wearing head coverings lest people think they are perceived as signalling to others that they want to commit infidelity. Some Christian women today continue this practice out of the same piety. If they’re single, they do so to signal their purity in Christ. My own wife covers her head in church because of her pious modesty. (I never asked her to do this. She’s always done this before we even met.) Anyway, it just seems dishonest of Richter not to mention this contentious passage in the Bible.
Also, in the chapter on Ethical Teachings under the section that deals with murder, suicide, and abortion in the Qur’an and the Bible, Richter doesn’t say anything about suicide in the Bible. It’s probably because the Bible is oddly silent on the subject. Still, he could’ve said SOMETHING about it, like quoting Luther, who said this in one of his Table Talks, “I don’t share the opinion that suicides are certainly to be damned. My reason is that they do not wish to kill themselves but are overcome by the power of the devil. They are like a man who is murdered in the woods by a robber.”
There are a couple other areas where I think Richter could’ve added a bit more. For example, when he covers the 5 Pillars of Islam and compares the Shahada (the Muslim Creed) to the Christian Apostles’ Creed. He does a decent job generalising about the Apostles’ Creed, but I would’ve liked to see him give Luther’s explanations on each article of the Creed from the Small Catechism. At first, I wasn’t going to add this to my list of critiques because of my earlier comment that this is a not a purely Lutheran critique of Islam, but when he gets to the third article about the Holy Spirit he mentions the Word and Sacraments, which is a uniquely Lutheran position. So, it would’ve been worth it to give the explanations of the Creed from the catechism. Another time is in the same chapter when he compares almsgiving between Islam and Christianity. I would’ve liked to see a conversation here on good works and the Christian reason for it, which is for the sake of our neighbour rather than allaying our fear of judgement, which is the Muslim position for almsgiving. He could’ve brought in our Confessions from the Formula of Concord. But maybe I’m just being too pedantic. As I say this, however, I suppose it’s fair to say that this is comparing the Qur’an and the Bible, not the Qur’an and the Book of Concord. However, seeing as the Creed is not in the Bible but IS in our Confessions as a true and faithful exposition of what the Scriptures teach about God, I still think putting a little bit of the Confessions in there would’ve been helpful. Earlier in the book, he gives quotations from Luther, so there’s that, too.
The last critique I’ll mention is when he compares the Qur’an’s description of believers of Allah being submissive slaves whereas the the Bible doesn’t speak this way. While that is true, I can easily hear someone retort, “Well Romans 6:15-23 describe Christians as begin slaves to righteousness and even slaves to God.” It would’ve been worth addressing this likely rebuttal by explaining how yes, while Paul does use the language of slave here, in both its immediate and wider context it can easily be seen that the Christian is nevertheless a free slave. A slave doesn’t have any rights and doesn’t receive any gifts, right? In fact, that’s how the Qur’an portrays submission to Allah. Yet at the end of that discussion in Romans 6, Paul says, “the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord” to His slaves. Then he goes on to speak about the slaves of God being set free from sin and the Law in chapter 7. So, to be a slave of God is to be free from sin, death, and the devil. You can’t get any more free than that! So, Christians do not submit to the Judge out of fear of judgement but submit to their heavenly Father out of love as His dear children.
The last 40 or so pages of the book are pretty good. Richter briefly and adequately tackles “ultimate questions of life” and how they’re generally answered in the Qur’an and the Bible, such as, “How can I have certainty of eternal life? What meaning does my life have with God?” And other important questions. Okay, I lied about the last critique bit. One more, I swear: when he deals with the question, “What meaning does my life have with God,” I do like that he focuses on the Christian being made a member of God’s family through Baptism (although he doesn’t say it’s through Baptism) and our lives receiving new meaning through the blood of Christ, the conversation remains incomplete when you leave out a discussion on vocation. He could’ve drawn from the Table of Duties on this in the Small Catechism. Essentially, what gives you meaning in life is, yes, primarily walking in newness of life in your new baptismal life according to Romans 6:4, but also the CALLINGS in life (from the Latin word “vocatio” where we get vocation from) that God places us in. For example, husband, wife, brother, sister, friend, employee, church member, and so on. All these callings or vocations God has called us into give us meaning in life ESPECIALLY because they are then shaped and formed by who we are in Christ since we have been baptised into Him and, therefore, His family of God.
Anyway, chapter 15 on how to share the Good News of Jesus Christ with Muslims is especially good. He lists some good platitudes to have in order to do so, such as being loving, respectful, being a friend, and being informed. This book will definitely aid in that last one because having knowledge about what Muslims believe will make it all the more easier for you to share the Good News of Christ with them. Jesus died and rose again even for them. He provides some extra information as well on what you should be informed about when interacting with a Muslim regarding cultural and religious differences, as well as misunderstandings many Muslims have about Christians. The other suggestions throughout are extremely helpful and insightful. Although at one point, while he doesn’t call it “the sinner’s prayer,” he advises you lead a Muslim friend who comes to faith in Jesus to say a prayer that’s essentially functions as the sinner’s prayer. “The sinner’s prayer” is problematic because it originates from the false doctrine of decision theology that you must “accept” Christ as your Lord and Saviour, plus every prayer a Christian makes is a sinner’s prayer (and simultaneously a saint’s prayer). Anyway, Richter offers a prayer you can use, but I would recommend the Apostles’ Creed instead since it’s far simpler, it’s withstood the test of time (since the 1st century AD), and you don’t have to worry about saying the right words for them to confess their faith in Jesus (that's what the Creed does), THEN you can guide them to Baptism as Richter suggests.
At the very end of the book is a testimony of a former Muslim who tells a compelling story of how, despite the bloody tensions between Christians and Muslims in Lebanon where he grew up and being trained to kill Christians who were also killing them, he converted to Christianity simply by reading the words of Jesus in the Bible. It’s an amazing story and a beautiful chapter to close the book on how powerful and liberating the Word of God in Christ Jesus is for all people, no matter your background.
Richter also does an excellent job of showing where beliefs of certain tenets in each religion diverge. For example, regarding predestination, there are disagreements among Muslims ranging from determinism, to free will, to limited free will; for Christians, the Reformed tend to believe in double predestination (strikingly similar to Islam’s determinism), or free will among the Arminians, and Lutherans (my denomination) who agree with the Scriptures (and Augustine) that there is no free will before God, and Scripture speaks of predestination only in terms of salvation, not damnation. If you’re interested in learning more about what Lutherans believe, you can read what we believe in the Book of Concord in the treatise called the Formula of Concord, article II for free will and article XI for predestination. Anyway, Richter does a decent job of showing that there are divergences in both religions and neither are entirely homogenous in certain doctrines. For the most part though, Islam holds to determinism whereas most Christians, I think, sadly hold to double predestination or some similar belief of fatalism, just like the mass of orthodox Muslims. Richter is Lutheran, so he of course takes the correct Lutheran approach. I would’ve liked to see him include what our Confessions say about this subject in the book, but then again it’s meant to be a BASIC survey of the Qur’an and the Bible, not a full on Lutheran critique of Islam.
The following conclusions can be made about the Qur’an and the Bible: (1) the Qur’an is historically inaccurate because it claims Jesus was not crucified, which of course not only contradicts the Bible but also extra-biblical evidence from the Jewish historian Josephus, 1st century Roman historian Tacitus, another 1st century historian named Thallus, and 3rd century historian Julius Africanus. The Qur’an’s claim is that Jesus only appeared to be crucified—basically a trick played by Allah—but c’mon, that’s just lazy writing and a convenient copout. (2) Muslims claim this is corroborated by the Gospel of Barnabas, but scholars today have deemed it to be a medieval forgery because it contains anachronisms from the Roman Catholic Church’s Latin Vulgate (the Gospel of Barnabas is said to have been written in the 1st century, but the Vulgate was written in the 4th, so it’s literally impossible for it to contain words from the Vulgate, therefore making it a forgery). There are other anachronistic, medieval terms used to describe the New Testament. So once again, history proves the Qur’an a farce.
(3) Islam asserts the Qur’an confirms the Torah, the Psalms, and the Prophets but it is weirdly silent on the prevailing vitality of sacrifice throughout the Old Testament making ransom for sin, likely because the Qur’an finds ransom for sin ludicrous. So there’s an obvious self-contradiction here: it claims to confirm the Old Testament, but not the ransom for sin that God (or Allah) provided through those means. So, which is it? You can’t have both. This is remarkably ignorant concerning the huge significance of the first Passover in Egypt making a ransom for Israel (the Qur’an lists only 9 plagues, not 10), the further selection of Israel’s firstborn sons for redemption or ransom to be substituted with the firstborn of their flocks (Exodus 13:11-16), and of course typifying the ransom Christ would pay with his own blood as the Lamb of God (John 1:29).
For all the Qur’an’s claims about how serious God’s justice is, it doesn’t take God’s justice seriously enough. It says Allah is forgiving, but to say sin can be forgiven does not take Allah’s holiness or justice seriously enough. It cannot just be overlooked through forgiveness; it must be dealt with. And God did deal with it by paying for it with the blood of His Son, just like the Torah says (which again, the Qur’an allegedly confirms), “The life of the creature is in the blood, and I have given it to you to make atonement for yourselves on the altar” (Leviticus 17:11). For us, the Lamb is Jesus, and the altar is Mt. Calvary. God’s justice is so serious that He can’t simply pretend sin isn’t that serious; His justice was so serious that God Himself became human and took on our sins to be the sacrifice in our stead—to suffer the demands of His justice in our place. If that sounds silly to you, I’ll just say this, from 1 Corinthians 1:18, “For the Word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.” Richter covers other contradictions of the Qur’an’s supposed confirmation of the Old Testament in chapter 11. One of the big ones, for example, is the Qur’an’s claim that the Pharaoh of Egypt threatened crucifixion, but the historical record shows us that crucifixion was not practiced until many centuries later to the EAST by the Medes and Persians before it was passed to the Greeks and Romans. The Bible doesn’t speak of crucifixion until the New Testament. It’s almost like Muhammed was writing a fan fiction of the Bible but was lazy in his research.
Critiques: In the chapter on Women and Marriage in the Bible and the Qur’an, there’s a section where veils and modesty are discussed. Richter quotes Ephesians 5 and 1 Corinthians 6 as general modesty for all Christians, but he curiously leaves out 1 Corinthians 11 that talks about head coverings and whether this is still binding for Christian women today. In short, this is according to cultural custom rather than his later discussion that women can’t be pastors, which he says is a command from the Lord. For more on this, I recommend you read “Women Pastors?” edited by Matthew Harrison. It was simply how women conveyed their marital status during these times, such as what women do today with their wedding rings. There were Roman women who didn’t want to remain faithful to their husbands, so to show that they were sexually available, they would not wear head coverings. This is why Paul strongly encouraged the Christian women in Corinth to continue wearing head coverings lest people think they are perceived as signalling to others that they want to commit infidelity. Some Christian women today continue this practice out of the same piety. If they’re single, they do so to signal their purity in Christ. My own wife covers her head in church because of her pious modesty. (I never asked her to do this. She’s always done this before we even met.) Anyway, it just seems dishonest of Richter not to mention this contentious passage in the Bible.
Also, in the chapter on Ethical Teachings under the section that deals with murder, suicide, and abortion in the Qur’an and the Bible, Richter doesn’t say anything about suicide in the Bible. It’s probably because the Bible is oddly silent on the subject. Still, he could’ve said SOMETHING about it, like quoting Luther, who said this in one of his Table Talks, “I don’t share the opinion that suicides are certainly to be damned. My reason is that they do not wish to kill themselves but are overcome by the power of the devil. They are like a man who is murdered in the woods by a robber.”
There are a couple other areas where I think Richter could’ve added a bit more. For example, when he covers the 5 Pillars of Islam and compares the Shahada (the Muslim Creed) to the Christian Apostles’ Creed. He does a decent job generalising about the Apostles’ Creed, but I would’ve liked to see him give Luther’s explanations on each article of the Creed from the Small Catechism. At first, I wasn’t going to add this to my list of critiques because of my earlier comment that this is a not a purely Lutheran critique of Islam, but when he gets to the third article about the Holy Spirit he mentions the Word and Sacraments, which is a uniquely Lutheran position. So, it would’ve been worth it to give the explanations of the Creed from the catechism. Another time is in the same chapter when he compares almsgiving between Islam and Christianity. I would’ve liked to see a conversation here on good works and the Christian reason for it, which is for the sake of our neighbour rather than allaying our fear of judgement, which is the Muslim position for almsgiving. He could’ve brought in our Confessions from the Formula of Concord. But maybe I’m just being too pedantic. As I say this, however, I suppose it’s fair to say that this is comparing the Qur’an and the Bible, not the Qur’an and the Book of Concord. However, seeing as the Creed is not in the Bible but IS in our Confessions as a true and faithful exposition of what the Scriptures teach about God, I still think putting a little bit of the Confessions in there would’ve been helpful. Earlier in the book, he gives quotations from Luther, so there’s that, too.
The last critique I’ll mention is when he compares the Qur’an’s description of believers of Allah being submissive slaves whereas the the Bible doesn’t speak this way. While that is true, I can easily hear someone retort, “Well Romans 6:15-23 describe Christians as begin slaves to righteousness and even slaves to God.” It would’ve been worth addressing this likely rebuttal by explaining how yes, while Paul does use the language of slave here, in both its immediate and wider context it can easily be seen that the Christian is nevertheless a free slave. A slave doesn’t have any rights and doesn’t receive any gifts, right? In fact, that’s how the Qur’an portrays submission to Allah. Yet at the end of that discussion in Romans 6, Paul says, “the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord” to His slaves. Then he goes on to speak about the slaves of God being set free from sin and the Law in chapter 7. So, to be a slave of God is to be free from sin, death, and the devil. You can’t get any more free than that! So, Christians do not submit to the Judge out of fear of judgement but submit to their heavenly Father out of love as His dear children.
The last 40 or so pages of the book are pretty good. Richter briefly and adequately tackles “ultimate questions of life” and how they’re generally answered in the Qur’an and the Bible, such as, “How can I have certainty of eternal life? What meaning does my life have with God?” And other important questions. Okay, I lied about the last critique bit. One more, I swear: when he deals with the question, “What meaning does my life have with God,” I do like that he focuses on the Christian being made a member of God’s family through Baptism (although he doesn’t say it’s through Baptism) and our lives receiving new meaning through the blood of Christ, the conversation remains incomplete when you leave out a discussion on vocation. He could’ve drawn from the Table of Duties on this in the Small Catechism. Essentially, what gives you meaning in life is, yes, primarily walking in newness of life in your new baptismal life according to Romans 6:4, but also the CALLINGS in life (from the Latin word “vocatio” where we get vocation from) that God places us in. For example, husband, wife, brother, sister, friend, employee, church member, and so on. All these callings or vocations God has called us into give us meaning in life ESPECIALLY because they are then shaped and formed by who we are in Christ since we have been baptised into Him and, therefore, His family of God.
Anyway, chapter 15 on how to share the Good News of Jesus Christ with Muslims is especially good. He lists some good platitudes to have in order to do so, such as being loving, respectful, being a friend, and being informed. This book will definitely aid in that last one because having knowledge about what Muslims believe will make it all the more easier for you to share the Good News of Christ with them. Jesus died and rose again even for them. He provides some extra information as well on what you should be informed about when interacting with a Muslim regarding cultural and religious differences, as well as misunderstandings many Muslims have about Christians. The other suggestions throughout are extremely helpful and insightful. Although at one point, while he doesn’t call it “the sinner’s prayer,” he advises you lead a Muslim friend who comes to faith in Jesus to say a prayer that’s essentially functions as the sinner’s prayer. “The sinner’s prayer” is problematic because it originates from the false doctrine of decision theology that you must “accept” Christ as your Lord and Saviour, plus every prayer a Christian makes is a sinner’s prayer (and simultaneously a saint’s prayer). Anyway, Richter offers a prayer you can use, but I would recommend the Apostles’ Creed instead since it’s far simpler, it’s withstood the test of time (since the 1st century AD), and you don’t have to worry about saying the right words for them to confess their faith in Jesus (that's what the Creed does), THEN you can guide them to Baptism as Richter suggests.
At the very end of the book is a testimony of a former Muslim who tells a compelling story of how, despite the bloody tensions between Christians and Muslims in Lebanon where he grew up and being trained to kill Christians who were also killing them, he converted to Christianity simply by reading the words of Jesus in the Bible. It’s an amazing story and a beautiful chapter to close the book on how powerful and liberating the Word of God in Christ Jesus is for all people, no matter your background.
October 7, 2015
Imagine if Elijah and the Prophets of Baal got together and compared their Theological sources? How boring would that be (actually that would be kinda fun!) when instead: WE could have an ALL OUT fire from heaven showdown.
...and i'm much more in the Elijah camp of comparative religions.
But thankfully we have wonderful people like Rick Richter to lovingly show the difference between two assumed Holy Books: the Islamic Qur'an and the Christian Holy Bible. Both books are wordy and require a great deal of patience to properly absorb. Rick helps us dig into some key themes somewhat quickly.
My biggest problem:
This comparison was far too nice (God Bless you Rick!). It presents the issues and data in far too equal an assessment. Comparing the amazing detail and indepth history/geography/philosophy of the Bible with some ambiguously repetitive, Arabic apocalyptic poetry (that is the Qur'an) is an insult - and i'm not speaking religiously. For instance: The Qur'an mentions ONE, yes count that 1; woman by name - YES, Mary the mother of Jesus. How many women does the God of the Bible tell us about in HIS STORY? I'll let you know in a month when i'm done counting.
Just for fun:
Read John MacArthur's book - Twelve Extraordinary Women (how God shaped women of the Bible...)
Could the Qur'an inspire this? Maybe pump out a 3 page pamphlet about the scant information mentioned in the Islamic book.
And if Houris in paradise count as women (YES> that sounds like whores in paradise does it not?) then it appears they do not need names either. Islamic men aren't interested - If they were, then I would not be the only one questioning these issues.
This book shares some great info for the questioning beginner into Islam. I read the Qur'an at the same time that I read this book. I found I had a LOT more questions than Rick dealt with. (But like I said - Rick is probably a nicer guy!)
For instance: If animal sacrifices (and other sacrifices) are mentioned in great detail in the Bible -- Then allah of the Qur'an should have no problem easily discussing the use of continued/discontinued altars and sacrifices for his Islamic followers, and yet... NOTHING~
Why aren't Muslims STILL killing animals on the altars for their sins? What, and WHEN, did this very essential bit of history stop? NO Muslims I have chatted with have the slightest idea.
Maybe Mr. Richter should make a volume 2.
I do enjoy discussing the two details of HELL we get from the Qur'an and the Bible. At a first lazy glance many would assume they are similar, but we quickly learn:
Qur'an mentions that allah tortures and boils human failures specifically.
Surrah 22:19-22 But as for those who disbelieve, garments of fire will be cut out for them; boiling fluid will be poured down on their heads, Whereby that which is in their bellies, and their skins too, will be melted; And for them are hooked rods of iron. Whenever, in their anguish, they would go forth from thence they are driven back therein and (it is said unto them): Taste the doom of burning.
The Bible shows us a much different account: People are left alone in a hot dry climate to think about their choices. Luke 16:22
The rich man also died and was buried, 23and in Hades, being in torment, he lifted up his eyes and saw Abraham far off and Lazarus at his side. 24And he called out, ‘Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus to dip the end of his finger in water and cool my tongue, for I am in anguish in this flame.’
Now this is the kind of stuff I was hoping Rick Richter would get into comparing. But he didn't choose to (like I said; he's a really nice guy!) Him and Elijah might not sit together at the Banquet in Heaven... Very different approaches to evangelism and apologetics.
So read this book. It's very informative and a great start into Islam and Christianity. (bad place to finish though).
And just for fun (and to be a jerk!) Here's my parting accounting of Elijah dealing with false religions in the Bible: It's a little strange that we don't apply this technique at the moment --- But it's a different world after Jesus said "It Is FINISHED!" Baal worship has been replaced with Islamic worship.
1 Kings 18:
Elijah said, "Answer me, O LORD, answer me, that this people may know that you, O LORD, are God, and that you have turned their hearts back.” 38Then the fire of the LORD fell and consumed the burnt offering and the wood and the stones and the dust, and licked up the water that was in the trench. 39And when all the people saw it, they fell on their faces and said, “The LORD, he is God; the LORD, he is God.” 40And Elijah said to them, “Seize the prophets of Baal; let not one of them escape.” And they seized them. And Elijah brought them down to the brook Kishon and slaughtered them there.
...and i'm much more in the Elijah camp of comparative religions.
But thankfully we have wonderful people like Rick Richter to lovingly show the difference between two assumed Holy Books: the Islamic Qur'an and the Christian Holy Bible. Both books are wordy and require a great deal of patience to properly absorb. Rick helps us dig into some key themes somewhat quickly.
My biggest problem:
This comparison was far too nice (God Bless you Rick!). It presents the issues and data in far too equal an assessment. Comparing the amazing detail and indepth history/geography/philosophy of the Bible with some ambiguously repetitive, Arabic apocalyptic poetry (that is the Qur'an) is an insult - and i'm not speaking religiously. For instance: The Qur'an mentions ONE, yes count that 1; woman by name - YES, Mary the mother of Jesus. How many women does the God of the Bible tell us about in HIS STORY? I'll let you know in a month when i'm done counting.
Just for fun:
Read John MacArthur's book - Twelve Extraordinary Women (how God shaped women of the Bible...)
Could the Qur'an inspire this? Maybe pump out a 3 page pamphlet about the scant information mentioned in the Islamic book.
And if Houris in paradise count as women (YES> that sounds like whores in paradise does it not?) then it appears they do not need names either. Islamic men aren't interested - If they were, then I would not be the only one questioning these issues.
This book shares some great info for the questioning beginner into Islam. I read the Qur'an at the same time that I read this book. I found I had a LOT more questions than Rick dealt with. (But like I said - Rick is probably a nicer guy!)
For instance: If animal sacrifices (and other sacrifices) are mentioned in great detail in the Bible -- Then allah of the Qur'an should have no problem easily discussing the use of continued/discontinued altars and sacrifices for his Islamic followers, and yet... NOTHING~
Why aren't Muslims STILL killing animals on the altars for their sins? What, and WHEN, did this very essential bit of history stop? NO Muslims I have chatted with have the slightest idea.
Maybe Mr. Richter should make a volume 2.
I do enjoy discussing the two details of HELL we get from the Qur'an and the Bible. At a first lazy glance many would assume they are similar, but we quickly learn:
Qur'an mentions that allah tortures and boils human failures specifically.
Surrah 22:19-22 But as for those who disbelieve, garments of fire will be cut out for them; boiling fluid will be poured down on their heads, Whereby that which is in their bellies, and their skins too, will be melted; And for them are hooked rods of iron. Whenever, in their anguish, they would go forth from thence they are driven back therein and (it is said unto them): Taste the doom of burning.
The Bible shows us a much different account: People are left alone in a hot dry climate to think about their choices. Luke 16:22
The rich man also died and was buried, 23and in Hades, being in torment, he lifted up his eyes and saw Abraham far off and Lazarus at his side. 24And he called out, ‘Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus to dip the end of his finger in water and cool my tongue, for I am in anguish in this flame.’
Now this is the kind of stuff I was hoping Rick Richter would get into comparing. But he didn't choose to (like I said; he's a really nice guy!) Him and Elijah might not sit together at the Banquet in Heaven... Very different approaches to evangelism and apologetics.
So read this book. It's very informative and a great start into Islam and Christianity. (bad place to finish though).
And just for fun (and to be a jerk!) Here's my parting accounting of Elijah dealing with false religions in the Bible: It's a little strange that we don't apply this technique at the moment --- But it's a different world after Jesus said "It Is FINISHED!" Baal worship has been replaced with Islamic worship.
1 Kings 18:
Elijah said, "Answer me, O LORD, answer me, that this people may know that you, O LORD, are God, and that you have turned their hearts back.” 38Then the fire of the LORD fell and consumed the burnt offering and the wood and the stones and the dust, and licked up the water that was in the trench. 39And when all the people saw it, they fell on their faces and said, “The LORD, he is God; the LORD, he is God.” 40And Elijah said to them, “Seize the prophets of Baal; let not one of them escape.” And they seized them. And Elijah brought them down to the brook Kishon and slaughtered them there.
July 2, 2025
The Quran was written 600 years after the Bible.
The New Testament was written 20 to 60 years after the resurrection of Christ.
Eye witness accounts have more credibility.
The Quran denies that Jesus is the son of God, Christ's sacrifice and atonement for sins.
If Jesus is only a prophet and not the son of God than he is a liar.
There are many similarities but the major difference is the divinity of Christ.
The New Testament was written 20 to 60 years after the resurrection of Christ.
Eye witness accounts have more credibility.
The Quran denies that Jesus is the son of God, Christ's sacrifice and atonement for sins.
If Jesus is only a prophet and not the son of God than he is a liar.
There are many similarities but the major difference is the divinity of Christ.
September 19, 2014
This is quite a good introductory reference book written for the intelligent Christian comparing Islam and Christianity on the major doctrines. It is written from a Christian perspective and so naturally it implies and states why Christianity is superior without being disrespectful or too simplistic. It's a bit of a tedious read to attack from cover to cover (as I did), but would certainly be helpful for any mission-minded person to have on their shelves.
April 15, 2014
Islam is not a religion of peace it sound like Mohammed was just a thief and a murderer who used the Qur'an to get away with his crimes and the Muslims believe his writings are true
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