“HOW
TO EXPLAIN TO A MUSLIM THERE ARE NOT THREE GODS”
For
purposes of everyday explanation, you can use the following phrases of
‘three
different personalities’ or ‘three different qualities’
or ‘three
different parts’.
The
following three everyday explanations will help … apple,
sun and
water … but Dear Reader, please keep in mind that no examples or
explanations are perfect.
1.
AN APPLE
Just
as an apple has three parts – the core, the skin and the flesh
… but there
is still only one apple.
The
core is the apple, the skin is the apple and the flesh is the apple.
So
God exists in the form of the Godhead (Acts 17:29; Romans 1:20;
Colossians 2:9) consisting of three persons as follows:
“For there are
three that bear record
in heaven, the Father, the Word (Jesus Christ),
and the Holy Ghost:
and these three are one.” (1 John 5:7)
“In the
beginning was the Word, and
the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in
the
beginning with God.” (John 1:1-2)
“And the
Word was made flesh (Jesus Christ),
and
dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only
begotten of
the Father,) full of grace and truth.” (John 1:14)
“And without
controversy great is the
mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh (Jesus Christ),
justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles,
believed
on in the world, received up into glory.” (1 Timothy 3:16)
Yes, God
is a Spirit (John
4:24) and this Spirit, God the Father himself, becomes flesh on earth
in the
form of Jesus Christ.
Yes Dear
Reader, Jesus Christ is the
express image of God the Father as follows:
“Who (Jesus Christ) being
the brightness
of his (God the Father) glory, and the express image of his
person (God
the Father), and upholding all things by the word of his power,
when he
had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the
Majesty on
high;” (Hebrews 1:3)
God the Father
is a person and Jesus
Christ is a person.
2. THE
SUN
There is only
one sun
and it has three parts – warming rays which we can feel, light
rays which we can see and invisible rays (called actinic rays)
we can’t
see.
Three
parts but only one sun.
The
scriptures declare that Jesus Christ is called the Sun as
follows:
“But unto you
that fear my
name shall the Sun of righteousness arise with healing in
his wings (this is Jesus
Christ on
earth healing the Jews – both physically and spiritually) ; and ye
shall go
forth, and grow up as calves of the stall.” (Malachi 4:2)
3.
WATER
There
are three ways water can be – ice, water and steam.
They
are all water but can change from one to another.
They
can exist separately as well.
You
can have ice in the freezer, water in a cup and boiling water that
turns into
steam.
So
we have …
God
in three persons (1 John 5:7)
God
the Father is an invisible Spirit and stays in heaven (John 4:24) …
which we can’t
see.
God
the Son Jesus Christ came down to earth as a man (1 Timothy 3:16) …
which was
seen.
God
the Holy Ghost lives inside men as the Comforter (John 14:26) … which we
can
‘feel’ but can’t see.
Dear
Reader, we can spiritually ‘feel’ the Holy Ghost, which lives inside a
Christian as the Comforter (John 14:26) as he gives us a peace that
passes
understanding … like a car passing another car … it just passes our
understanding … it’s a peace that
can’t be explained as the scripture says
“And the peace
of God,
which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and
minds
through Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 4:7; 1 Corinthians 12:13)
Hopefully
these three examples can
help the Muslim with their understanding.
Harley Hitchcock
This
website’s front page is:
www.
Australian
Bible Ministries,
PO
Box 5058 Mt. Gravatt East 4122 Qld, Australia
www.AustralianBibleMinistries.com
