For those of you who would think of coming to North Africa on an internship or long term, you will need to be prepared with a list of questions that a sincere and not-so-sincere seeking Muslims will ask you as a Christian.
Why do you Christians say that Aisa (Jesus) was the Son of God?
This usually comes in the form of an accusation: “You Christians say that Jesus is the Son of God!” That is an end-all accusation against your faith and the validity of the Bible in the mind of the Muslim. What they are thinking is: “You think God had a sexual relationship with Mary and produced some sort of half God half man offspring.”
The greatest unforgivable sin in the Koran is the sin of “Sharak” which means “sharing”. It means to share the deity of God with someone else, like Jesus. So you can be gay and Muslim or a dunkard, pig eating Muslim but not a Christian Muslim.In the mind of the uneducated Muslim (which the great majority are uneducated concerning the teachings of Christianity) Christians believe in three Gods: God the Father, God the Son, and Mary.
So here’s a quick idea for how to respond to their question:
1. Assure him that you don’t believe that God had a sexual relationship with a woman or that God has produced new gods. We believe that there is one God, not three.
2. Explain to him that you believe that the Spirit of God placed Aisa (Jesus) in the womb of Mary and thus Jesus was born of a virgin. (This is the same idea that the Koran teaches.)
3. Illustrate the language of “Son of God” this way: “My friend, where are you from? Marrakesh? So you are a “son of Marrakesh”. (This is a common phrase to explain to someone where you are originally from in Arabic) This doesn’t mean that Marrakesh got together with Casablanca and produced you, right? In the same way Jesus is FROM God in his origins and in his nature. Since he was born of the Holy Spirit, we call him the Son of God to explain where he came from and what he is like.
It’s hard for a Muslim to argue with that logic and it will help you move on to the Gospel. It is important to deal with this question but also important to move past it.