The Islam Debate

by Josh McDowell, John Gilchrist

Book by McDowell, Josh, Gilchrist, John

Genres: Nonfiction, Islam, Ebooks

199 pages, Paperback

First published April 1, 1983

About the author

Josh McDowell is a bestselling Christian apologist, evangelist, and author of over 150 books, including Evidence That Demands a Verdict and More Than a Carpenter. Once an agnostic, he converted to Christianity while investigating its historical claims. He went on to earn degrees from Wheaton College and Talbot Theological Seminary. For decades, McDowell has been a prominent speaker with Campus Crusade for Christ, addressing issues of faith, character, and youth culture worldwide. His work emphasizes historical and legal evidence for Christianity and tackles challenges posed by skepticism and non-Christian beliefs. He lives in California with his wife, Dottie, and is the father of four children, including fellow apologist Sean McDowell.

Reviews

[Steven H · Rating 5 out of 5]

THE FAMOUS DEBATE BETWEEN JOSH MCDOWELL AND A MUSLIM SCHOLAR

Joslin "Josh" McDowell (born 1939) is a Christian author best known for his many works of apologetic; he has been affiliated with Campus Crusade for Christ (now "Cru") since 1964. His many books include 'Evidence that Demands a Verdict: Historical Evidence for the Christian Faith,' 'More Evidence That Demands a Verdict,' 'Daniel in the Critics' Den,' 'More Than a Carpenter,' 'The Resurrection Factor,' 'Jesus: A Biblical Defense of His Deity,' 'He Walked Among Us,' etc.

Sheikh Ahmed Hoosen Deedat (1918-2005) was a South African writer and speaker of Indian descent, who wrote 'Was Jesus Crucified?,' 'What the Bible Says About Muhammad,' 'The Choice: Islam and Christianity, Vol. 1,' etc. This 1981 debate was the first Deedat held with a major Christian speaker; he later went on to participate in debates with Palestinian-American Christian missionary Anis Shorrosh, televangelist Jimmy Swaggart, Pastor Stanley Sjöberg of Sweden, and Pastor Eric Bock of Denmark.

The Introduction to this 1983 book [by coauthor John Gilchrist] states, "Islam is committed to challenging the claims of Christianity... What is needed is ... for discussion to be greatly increased in a spirit of amicability, love and mutual understanding. Such a debate took place between Josh McDowell and Ahmed Deedat... in Durban, South Africa, during August 1981... It was conducted in a spirit of warmth and tolerance without either speaker being expected to dilute his message or refrain from debating the issues head-on... The text of the debate is recorded at the end of this book and the open, frank, but charitable manner in which the speakers gave account of themselves is clear for all to see.


"The debate was initiated from the Muslim side. Ahmed Deedat... had read Josh McDowell's book, 'Evidence That Demands a Verdict,' and during 1980 wrote to him, challenging him to come to South Africa to debate the issues regarding ... the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus Christ. The Muslim leader had held similar debates in South Africa with other Christians..." (Pg. 9-10)

He adds, "Most Christians are unaware of arguments usually used by Muslim apologists against Christianity, and, when confronted by them, are often caught off guard... How many Christians could refute the bold claims made by Muslims regarding certain biblical texts which allegedly foretold the coming of Muhammad... The purpose of publishing that material is... To encourage a bolder Christian witness and expression of love to Muslims." (Pg. 11-12) The first 70% of the book is introductory material, and the final 30% is the debate transcript.

They admit, "Occasionally it is alleged that certain parallel passages in the Bible... reflect on its integrity as the Word of God. Although this final point is not explicitly brought out by Deedat, it nevertheless is implicit and is one which Muslims often raise... We freely concede that Mark's Gospel could have been written before Matthew's Gospel and that Matthew could have used the Gospel of Mark as a foundation for his own and repeated many of the narratives..." (Pg. 46-47)

They observe, "the Qur'an teaches that Jesus was never put on the cross... whereas Christ was not crucified, God made it appear to the Jews that they had in fact crucified Him. This is interpreted by most orthodox Muslims to mean that God made someone else look like Jesus and that this person was crucified instead... we can detect some uncertainty on the part of the commentator who says that someone else was 'somehow or other' taken for Jesus... These authors speak vaguely about what really took place that day... the expression 'so it was made to appear to them' is ambiguous and none of the commentators is therefore able to make dogmatic statements about its interpretation." (Pg. 105-106)

One of the key points in the debate was when Shiekh Deedat said, "Jesus Christ never uttered that word that 'I have come back from the dead,' in the 27 books of the New Testament, not once," and McDowell replied triumphantly in his closing statement, "I'm not sure that I heard, but did you say, 'Nowhere in the 27 books of the New Testament did Jesus ever say He was 'dead and now alive'? May I read to you from the Book of Revelation, chapter 1, verse 18? He said, 'I am the living one. I was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore." (Pg. 174) [Presumably, Deedat should have said, "in the GOSPELS," not "the New Testament."]

This is an excellent Christian/Muslim resource, and will be of keen interest to all students of such interreligious dialogue.

[Stephy Jemmisparks · Rating 4 out of 5]

Josh's appeal in the ending touched me. He was not out to merely prove others wrong, he used the last few minutes sharing God's Love. He works in love and not in opposition, and is level- minded, and composed throughout. I am very encouraged by that testimony.