A Common Word?

I pointed this out here and here back in 2009. Wake up church!

Being Honest with Muslims

In this short clip John Piper gives a Biblical response to "A Common Word," for those who are unfamiliar with "A Common Word" it's a letter written to Christians by 138 Muslim scholars last October saying that love for God and love for neighbor is common ground between Christianity and Islam. The response from the Christian leaders, which John Piper finds disappointing, was published in November of last year. As someone who is in a constant spiritual battle with some Muslims who are very close to me I truly appreciate Piper's honesty towards this issue.

"Biblical truth is to be proclaimed with authority, not put on the table for discussion as just one possible alternative to other points of view. The conflict between biblical truth and competing beliefs is not a matter to be settled by dialogue. This is spiritual warfare, not a tea party. It should be seen as combat, not a conversation. We are commanded to pull down the strongholds of unbiblical thinking, "casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge fo God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ" (2 Corinthians 10:5). —John MacArthur

Excerpt taken from Why One Way? by John MacArthur p.54, W Publishing Group 2002

Islamic Assumption

This post should draw some friendly comments. Over at Pulpit Magazine they have published a great article titled "Considering the Qur'an" which address the significant problems with the claim that Muslims make that "it is the Bible that has been corrupted. Hence, it is argued, the Jewish and Christian scriptures have been tainted, not the Qur’an".

"By it’s own admission, the Qur’an must be consistent with previous revelation from God. But it does not take long to see that the Bible and the Qur’an are not compatible. “It should come as no surprise to well-informed Muslims who know that, in the final analysis, the claims of Christianity and Islam are incompatible. This incompatibility is behind the Islamic assumption that, in one way or another, the Bible has been corrupted.” When it is demonstrated that the Bible has not been corrupted, both from textual evidence and from the claims of the Qur’an itself, it is the Qur’an—not the Bible—that is discredited."