Apologetic for works-based religions

[amishrockstar]

When you share the gospel with non-believers,
especially people from works-based religions like
Islam, how do you explain the truth that our "works"
cannot make us right with God?

I have some Muslim friends who I've shared the gospel
with on numerous occasions, but the whole "I gotta
do such-and-such" seems to be a huge stumbling block
for them and it seems that no matter what I say they
just don't get it --it's not our "works" that make us
right with God.

What apologetic (parable/story, logical argument, etc.)
do you use when sharing with people like that?

Thank you,
Matthew

 

[Notthemama1984]

Something that got me thinking in high school was the fact that God requires a 4.0 average. Once I make a single B, no matter how many more A's I make I will never have that 4.0 again. God requires perfection, once I make one mistake no matter how many "good deeds" I perform, i can never achieve perfection.

Not sure if it helps, but it helped me towards the road of grace based salvation.

 

[Covenant Joel]

One important thing to keep in mind is that most Muslims (particularly those who are ethnically and culturally Arab) may find the shame/honor paradigm more compelling and understandable than the guilty/innocent paradigm. In other words, even though it may sound like it, they don't necessarily see good works as canceling out their sins...
كل شيء بارادة الله (everything is by the will of God), i.e., even if they do everything right, God still has the ultimate, arbitrary decision at the end.

So...all that to say simply that perhaps rather than continuing to push the idea of standard/guilt, perhaps consider asking them what would happen if something happened in their family that was extremely shameful (e.g., immorality in a sister). How can honor be regained?

It's hard to say exactly where that conversation might lead you...but it's possible that it may actually lead to the idea that the shame has to be eradicated for honor to be restored...which can provide a natural lead-in to the gospel. We have committed great shame, dishonoring the name of the Creator. How can this shame be eradicated? How can honor be restored? Only by the death of Christ, where Christ takes our shame for us, shows that God's honor is intact, and in so doing, also saves us from punishment and by the Spirit restores us to a God-honoring life.

I have found the shame/honor paradigm interesting, though being from a Western culture, sometimes I do find it hard to identify with. But I do believe it is an important aspect of the biblical material, one which identifies with Muslims to varying degrees.

 

[amishrockstar]

Thanks Boliver & Joel.
Those were great points about God requiring perfection and
"how can honor be restored?"
There are a few things in the works at my church where I may
be able to give an introduction to Muslim evangelism. Would you
please pray for that. There have been two short-term missions
teams sent from my church (over the last two summers) to pass
out Bibles, CDs (testimonies), and kids coloring books to Muslims
going from Spain to North Africa, and it seems like we may be able
to do some more concentrated work in that area. There are a lot of
Muslim students coming to this area, and there was a new mosque
built here about a year ago.

Thanks again for your helpful comments.

Matthew

 

[Notthemama1984]