Howdy, Stranger!
It looks like you're new here. If you want to get involved, click one of these buttons!
Categories
- All Categories 13.8K
- General Category 10.9K
- General Announcements 184
- Faith Issues 3.4K
- Coptic Orthodox Church 2.5K
- Personal Issues 1.4K
- Prayer Requests 423
- Random Issues 1.8K
- Introductions 294
- Non-Orthodox Inquiries 232
- Youth Corner 606
- Hymns 2.5K
- Hymns Discussion 2.5K
- Technicial Difficulties 368
- Technical Topics 368
Debates
Since I go to a public school I am often faced with SEVERAL ppl (from various religions : Atheists, muslims, hindus, etc)...that r up for a debate or rather a mission to prove Christianity wrong. Being one of the few Christians there -that actually practices their faith, Im always bombarded with accusations such as: "The bible has been changed a million times over the years!!"....i get that SO MUCH, especially from muslims.
I know it hasnt!...but how do i prove that to them?
any suggestions....
I know it hasnt!...but how do i prove that to them?
any suggestions....
Comments
it has been changed but the messege is the same, the only difference for exampe is the change from king james to new king james, the language is just a bit easier to under stand, but the words are the same, the verses, the chapters, the gospels, etc...
are all the same.
when someone gets deffensive it's usually because they r afraid, so possibly (i could be wrong) they r afraid that our religion is true
God Bless
p.s.(i know how u feel, just ignore them)
They are SOO active in our school...they have a million "muslim student associations"....they give out pamphlets on islam, they wear shirts and bags with "islamic statements". I wannna be able to "shut them upp!" :-[. . . is that bad?!
it might be hard be like jesus, he did not do wat the pharisees wanted him to do, he could have easily killed them stoped the soldiers from toruring him but he didn't, and he was a better man for. i think u should resist the devils temptation to argue with them be peaceful. do stuff they wouldn't. i.e. if there is a peice of trach on the ground pick it up. that will show them that christianity is not bad, but instead produces good natured, PEACEFUL people
God Bless
p.s. (hope it helps)
Heres the link to the article I quoted above.It has quite a bit of helpful information....if you can sift through it...lol...
There are probably many other websites that have info. about the integrity and reliability of the Holy Scriptures.Just do a search with your search engine and I'm sure you can find helpful and pertinent information.
May God bless you and give you Divine strength as you seek to defend the Christian faith and the integrity of Gods Holy Word.May the Holy Spirit guide you,direct all your steps,thoughts and words.His grace is sufficient! :)
http://answering-islam.org/Hahn/integrity.html
Let’s get one thing straight; Muslims are the most insecure about their faith, of all religions…believe me, they feel the need to prove themselves in any given context or situation; they truly put a new and negative twist to the word “apologetic”. They are not really a faith, but rather an army-like cult desparately looking for numbers to join the team. They will lie, deceive, and do just about anything to achieve this goal, to try and dominate.
However, our Lord made a promise to us – that though many would be deceived, that the gates of hell will never prevail over the Church, and He does not need you or any other human agent to be a hero for him or to prove His truth, just for the sake of “proving yourself” and not looking ignorant. Apologetics (i.e. defending the faith) has a time, it has a place, and it has a purpose – it is about God and the truth, and not about yourself and your image, or how you “appear”.
If you’re simply out there to “prove them wrong” and to shut them up (in your own words) in order to make yourself feel better, then this is evidence that you really aren’t adopting the right attitude towards this. First of all, you need to realize that nothing you can do or say, no matter how right you are, will ever shut them up, unless it is the Lords will. No logic, reason or fact inherent in anything you have to say is of any effect unless accompanied by God’s will, for the Bible makes it clear that no one confesses that Christ is Lord EXCEPT by the Holy Spirit, and that no one acknowledges The Son of God UNLESS the Father draws him.
I therefore strongly urge you for now, considering the reasons you have given us for wanting to answer them, as well as your apparent lack of sufficient Christian education, to Just ignore them as best you can, to prove Christianity to them through your actions, and to be as proud a Christian you can be, regardless of all their deceptive and baseless attacks – ignore them with honour and dignity - for whilst they’re desperately going out of their way to gain numbers, you are humble and content inside with the declaration that Christ is Lord, The Son of God who was crucified for our sins. If they say anything that troubles you or that you would like answered nonetheless, come online and share it with us. I’m sure there’s many members here who although not with you as you are being confronted, are nonetheless here online for you and certainly able to answer all their objections for you.
I also suggest that you get a good education in Orthodox Christianity, before you even start thinking about thinking about thinking about being polemical/apologetic – even when the right situation and context is in place. To be apologetic; such a person not only has to have the right approach, mindset and spirit, but obviously the education for it also. Since you are still in school, I suggest you maybe try to start off by reading some Orthodox books or online web-articles pertaining to the faith. I recommend the “Orthodox New Testament” Volumes 1 and 2, which you can buy off amazon.com, for a good commentary on the Bible; explaining all the seemingly difficult passages from a patristic perspective. I also recommend the books of His Holiness Pope Shenounda III, and other great theologians of our church such as Fr. Tadros Malaty. His Holiness in fact has one very good book on the Divinity of our Lord, which both proves it and defends it against typical objections - especially those employed by Muslims.
Someone suggested the website answering-islam.org, however albeit a great and resourceful website concerning the fallacy and errors of Islam, there are problems with it; namely, that it is mainly a polemical/apologetic website coming from a Protestant perspective – you should be well-grounded in the fundamentals and basics of Orthodox Christianity – well-read in the Bible and Church tradition, before approaching and delving into such a website – not only so you can utilize it more beneficially (since you will be quick to pick up on the concepts mentioned etc.) but so you understand where exactly we stand when it comes to the particulars of Christian doctrine in which that website leans towards unorthodoxy.
For now, regarding the issue of the Holy Bible, there is a nice, short and sweet article on the following Coptic website:
http://coptichymns.net/index.php?module=pagesetter&func=viewpub&tid=1&pid=293
Peace.
that was awsome-
mazza
When someone confronts us with the arguments regarding the integrity and reliability of the Holy Bible, We all should and must ask God about this very important issue. Let us examine what the Lord said about His Holy Word, In the Book of Jeremiah, chapter1: 11-12 the Lord said “the word of the LORD came unto me, saying, Jeremiah, what seest thou? And I said, I see a rod of an almond tree.
Then said the LORD unto me, Thou hast well seen: for I will hasten my word to perform it.” So the Lord is the one who watch and keep His Word. In this passage we can not ignore the fact that the rod of the almond tree refers to the incarnation of the Word of God from the Virgin Mary, because it reminds us with the Rod of Aaron which blossomed .So the LOGOS THE INCARNATE WORD OF GOD will take care of HIS WORD.
Hos Erof,
It is not just the jews would write their scrolls with such detailed, but they have to bath and put on clean linen cloth before start writing any manuscript. Every time they have to write the name of God or Lord, they bath and change to new cloth. To write th name of God or Lord they use another ink with different colour or glow.
After they write one scroll it has to be edited by another Rabi and if found one or tow mistakes it can be corrected, but more than three the whole scroll is condemned.
The Jews know the number of every Hebrew letter in every book of the Old Testaments. So by counting the letters of the scroll, if it is more or less than the predetermined numbers, they would realize that there must have a mistake. They will go through the written scroll, if it is one or two, they would correct it , if more than two they would destroyed it.
Every line of the scroll must start and end with certain word. The Rabi can not add or delete word if he has or has not space in the line.
The Rabi is not allowed to write from memory. All Rabi memorize the Book of Psalms, but when they write a scroll they have to copy every word exactly from the original text.
one time she said "the bible has been change like alot!"
i was speechless.
i jUst kinda walked away. I don't know if that will help but i tried
While what Iqbal said about being prepaired is important before you start being asked questions and don't know how answer them. As you know, today was the Feast of Assention. I had the blessing of reading the Catholic Epistle. Here was the first verse:
"But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts, and always be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you, with meekness and fear"(1 Peter 3:15)
The verse talks about being prepaired as Iqbal said and be ready to answer and not to shy away. However, our answer must be with meekness and fear. Not asking for our own glory but to give God His.
Don't be afraid of what they will say about you and always ask God to put words in your mouth. One of my favorite saints is St. Abanoub. He was martyered when he was only 12 or 13. I recently visited his church in Egypt and right over his relics they have some facts about him. One of the facts was that 19 thousand people converted to Christianity because of this young man. I some times wonder, how many 12 or 13 year olds can talk about God as much as he did? When I was his age, I couldn't talk about God as much.
Just thought I would share with you what I read today that was relevent to the topic.