A Christian Student Debates A Muslim Scholar With Commentary From A Pastor

I recently saw a video of an exchange between a Muslim scholar giving a presentation and an allegedly Christian student from his audience in Kuala Lumpur. The student cited a previous quote from the man whom she said had stated that Muslims are more Christian than the Christians and said it was not true because being a Christian means being either baptised in a church or accepting Jesus as your saviour. He corrected her by saying that directly before that statement he had qualified it and the full quote was, "If Christian means a person who follows the teachings of Jesus Christ peace be upon him then we Muslims are more Christian than the Christians themselves." He followed this by citing some passages from the Old Testament and the letters of Paul regarding circumcision, drinking alcohol, eating pork, and women covering their heads. He seems to have made up some of the Old Testament citations, because when I checked the one he claimed was commanding women to cover their heads, or do hijab as he called it, it was not talking about that, and he selectively quoted from the Old Testament as well, ignoring verses like Psalm 104:15 where the prophet King David praises God for giving "wine which makes man's heart glad." The Muslim scholar also ignores Jesus' first miracle in which he turned water into wine.

The student responded by saying that being a Christian does not mean following the teaching of Jesus, because Jesus was Jewish and following the teachings of Jesus would make you a Jew. As she said that I started to wonder why this was posted online, so I looked and it was posted by a man going by the title of "Pastor", who at that moment interjected to reaffirm the student's statement by saying that keeping what he calls "the Jewish laws" doesn't make somebody a Christian, it makes them Jewish. Who is this pastor who ignores so many things that Jesus taught, such as, "Whoever then annuls one of the least of these commandments, and teaches others to do the same, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever keeps and teaches them, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven," or when asked, "Teacher, what good thing shall I do that I may obtain eternal life?", said, "if you wish to enter into life, keep the commandments."? If the title "Pastor" is a synonym for a shepherd, and a shepherd is someone who tends, herds, feeds, or guards sheep, then beware of following this pastor or anybody like him, because if he is not following the Good Shepherd he is not entering the kingdom of God, and he will not lead you there either. Who you follow determines where you go, so follow Jesus.

Returning briefly to the Muslim man's claims, he is both correct and incorrect. He is correct in that he says being a Christian and following the teaching of Jesus are two different things, but incorrect in citing Paul and Leviticus as the teaching of Jesus. He is correct in saying that the church is not necessarily representative of the teaching of Jesus, and that his teaching is found in the Bible, but incorrect in saying that the Muslims are following the teaching of Jesus. The pastor inserted himself again to emphasize the importance of the church, and the Muslim scholar proceeded to say that in John where Jesus said, "when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all truth", what Jesus was really talking about was "the last and final messenger" Muhammad, not the Spirit of God, the Holy Spirit. I'm not buying it. The pastor does something good by correcting the obvious misinterpretation of Jesus' words in John, but goes on to present his definition of being a Christian, which he says in many beautiful-sounding words is believing in Jesus' finished work, but not actually following Jesus.

Every Muslim needs to listen to Jesus when he said, "For this is the will of My Father, that everyone who beholds the Son and believes in Him will have eternal life, and I Myself will raise him up on the last day." And every Christian should listen to Jesus when he said, "If you love Me, you will keep My commandments." And all of us should pay attention to one of Jesus' actual disciples, John, who wrote, "No one who is born of God practices sin, because His seed abides in him; and he cannot sin, because he is born of God," and also, "Whoever denies the Son does not have the Father; the one who confesses the Son has the Father also." Neither Christianity nor Islam is following Jesus, but you and I must.