On Muslim sites or regular postings to newsgroups we find Gary Miller's article "The Christian Missionary's Thinking Questions for the Muslim" ([1], [2], [3]).

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    The Christian Missionary's "Thinking Questions for the  Muslim"

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   (Article based on  Gary Miller's Speech on Islam & Christianity)


Missionary: 	Does the Koran say that Jesus was sinless?
Muslim:		Yes. Jesus was perfect man. Never sinned.


Missionary:	Does the Koran tell Mohammad to repent?
Muslim:		Yes. Quran tells Mohammad to repent.


Thats all. The missionary doesn't say anything else.  He hopes now
that the Muslim would start thinking:
"Now, wait a minute, Jesus never sinned, but Mohammad was supposed
to repent. Maybe Jesus is better !"

Missionary wants the Muslim to start thinking that a sinless
man is better than a repentant sinner".   Missionary is hoping,
but he dare not say it.    Because if the Missionary 
says that,    he goes exactly against the teachigns of Jesus.  
If the Missionary is foolish enough to say that a 
sinless man is better than a repentant sinner, he's going
against the teachings of Jesus.

The reason why the Missionary is going against the teachings of
Jesus is this:

Story of a lost sheep.  Matthew Chapter 18, verse 12:

	Jesus said, "If a man has a 100 sheep and one of them
	has gone astray, does he not leave the 99 on the hills, 
	and go on the search of the one that went astray.
	And if he finds it,  truely I say to you, he rejoices over
	it more than over the 99 that never went astray. " 

Jesus was trying to hammer that point home to his disciples:
Don't you dare say, for example, because you've been a faithful follower
for many years  that you're better than this one who just became a 
believer just yesterday.  The perfect man has no precedence over
the repentant sinner.

Aahh, these ignorant "missionaries". But how can it be other wise, these kind of missionaries live mainly in the imagination of Muslims. He surely doesn't know much about the Bible. The Bible is absolutely clear that there is nobody who is sinless. We all have sinned. Some sins are greater than others [especially the sin of others is always looking so much worse than my own] and Jesus makes clear that God with his great love for the lost, goes and seeks them and brings them back.

If indeed a repentant sinner can be welcomed back the rejoicing will be great. But nowhere it says that therefore go out and sin so that you can come back and the rejoicing will be increased.

This seems to be what you try to imply. No, the context of this passage is to prevent sinning, but if somebody has sinned, then do NOT condemn him and look down on him, but seek out your brother and seek to restore him and know that this will cause great joy in heaven. But there is no suggestion that the repentent sinner is better than the one who didn't sin. This is most perverse twisting of Scripture. But since everyone is a sinner, the one who has not currently sinned cannot look down on the brother who has. God's love and grace is there for both.

And the whole point is not that one prophet is better than the other. We are not to compare and to judge them. The point is that Muhammad was part of sinful mankind as everybody else, while Jesus was the one and only person who ever lived sinless. That doesn't make him "better" that makes him unique and incomparable.

Maybe the Muslim should start thinking again?

Missionary:	Was Jesus the Messiah ?
Muslim:		Yes.

Missionary:	Was Mohammad the Messiah?
Muslim:		No


Now, the Missionary stops there, and hopes that the Muslim would
start thinking, "now, wait a minute,  Jesus is the Messiah, and 
Mohammad is not the Messiah. Maybe Jesus is better!"

What the Muslim should ask the Missionary is about this word Messiah:
Jesus was the Messiah, but were there any other Messiahs besides
Jesus ?

Now you find out how well he knows his Bible.  Because there were
many Messiahs:  David, Solomon, and even Cyrus [sp?] the Persian 
were called Messiah. Its hard to find  it in the Bible because the 
translators cover it over.     Messiah  means  "annointed".  
Messiah is  somebody who has been picked to do a job.
Every king of ancient Israel was called Messiah.   Now the word
doesn't sound so special anymore. It is a title, but it doesn't 
particularly elevate one to some divine status.

No, it does not. And nobody ever said so. It is the tactics of straw man arguments again.

But the question is not about "a Messiah" but about the identity of "THE Messiah". There are many books. The Qur'an is just one book. So, therefore the Qur'an is nothing special. Right?

Well, a Muslim would say that the Qur'an is not just "A book" but "THE book". And it is not the quality of being a book that makes it special, but its divine origin that makes this book THE book. Being a book doesn't make it divine, but being divine makes it THE book. And it is the same for Messiah.

Apart from the fact that Gary Miller seemingly has no clue about what the Biblical meaning of THE Messiah is. Even in the Old Testament long before Jesus came to this earth. Maybe there will be an article about the meaning of "Messiah" some time in the future. For now, let us go on to the next piece of the "argument".

Note: The future has come and here you may learn about THE Messiah.

Missionary: 	Where's the body of Jesus ?
Muslim:		God took it.


Missionary:	Where's the body of Mohammad?
Muslim:		Its in Medina.  Its burried in ground.


Now the Missionary hopes that the Muslim would go away thinking,
"Now that's interesting!  The body of Jesus is gone; Mohammad is in
the grave.   Maybe Jesus is the true Messenger, Mohammad is false! "

Missionary's hoping  the Muslim would think that,  but he dare
not say it.   

Any true Christian will dare say even much more than that. In contrast to this fake, make-believe, whimpy, Muslim-invented straw-man-missionary created for the sole purpose of ridiculing him. Well, talk to real Christians. They are around, no need to invent any, ... that is: If you dare.

What the Muslim should ask the Missionary is this:
"Do you mean that a dead and burried
Prophet is a false prophet? Is that what you mean ?"

No.

[Well, that would not be what I would mean should I ever say such a thing. But actually:]

Yes.

[since it is the set up straw man thinking and he surely thinks exactly as he is supposed to.] :)

What does Missionary say about Abraham, for example ?   
Abraham is burried.  Jews and Muslims to this day, still go to the  
the place where Abraham is burried, to visit his grave.
Is Abraham a false prophet because he's dead in the ground ?
Also,  Bible says body of Moses was taken up by God. God 
sent an angel to take the body away.   So what does the
Missionary's question prove ?

Being dead and buried is not a proof for or against being a prophet. Being taken up by God is more like it [Elija and Enoch and Jesus], since this is one of the signs that God has given for those who want to believe. And a sign that is pretty hard to fake. :)

Yet, the whole point is not Jesus' ascension but his resurrection. This is God's unique authentication of Jesus and his message. God has set his public stamp of approval on Jesus. He is true prophet and his message is true.

The problem is not that Muhammad has died. The problem is that Muhammad has little evidence to show for his claim to be a messenger. Whether resurrection, ascension, clear miracles or otherwise.

It definitely is time now to start ... Thinking Again!

P.S. Moses was not taken up by God. The Bible says God buried him.

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