HOW THE APOSTLE PAUL CAUSES SLEEPLESS NIGHTS FOR MUSLIMS
By Dr. Maxwell Shimba
Shimba Theological Institute
Among the people who heavily disturb our Muslim brothers and sisters is the hero of the Lord Jesus, the Apostle Paul. This did not start with Muslims alone, but rather began with the keepers of the law during his time—namely the Pharisees, chief priests, scribes, and ordinary Jews who followed Judaism.
Muslims are simply continuing that same spirit of opposition against the saving Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ.
The following are some of the reasons Muslims give for rejecting the Apostle Paul, as extracted from a Facebook post by a Muslim brother.
THE CLAIMS AND RESPONSES
ONE: They claim he commanded people not to be circumcised, which is why many Christians today are uncircumcised.
ANSWER:
Circumcision is a standard health matter and has no bearing on going to heaven. That is, if you choose to get circumcised, it benefits your physical body only, not your spirit. What goes to heaven is the spirit, not the flesh. Whether a body is circumcised or uncircumcised, once dead, it simply rots in the ground. Therefore, God used circumcision as a symbol of spiritual reality rather than physical reality:
(Deut 10:16) Circumcise therefore the foreskin of your heart, and be no more stiff-necked.
(Deut 30:6) And the LORD thy God will circumcise thine heart, and the heart of thy seed, to love the LORD thy God wit
(Jer 4:4) Circumcise yourselves to the LORD, and take away the foreskins of your heart, ye men of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem: lest my fury come forth like fire, and burn that none can quench it, because of the evil of your doings.
TWO: They claim he was a terrorist who killed Jesus' disciples and then claimed to be their apostle to continue killing them ideologically.
ANSWER:
This is a laughable argument. Since when did you care about Jesus' disciples? What do you say about the extremist groups today that kill Christians globally, destroy churches, and force people to follow their deities? Do you condemn them as well?
Paul was a murderer BEFORE knowing Christ, just as ALL OF US were sinners before knowing Christ. And Jesus says:
(Luke 5:31-32) And Jesus answering said unto them, They that are whole need not a physician; but they that are sick. I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.
Jesus calls sinners so that He can give them new hearts filled with love, compassion, and helpfulness toward others. He did not come to look for a sinless Paul, because no such Paul or human exists. If Paul was a murderer, the one who had the right to complain was Jesus Christ Himself, not you who harbour hatred against Paul.
THREE: They claim he introduced homosexuality to the world.
ANSWER:
This is a lie straight from the pit of hell. Paul states:
(1 Cor 6:9) Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind [homosexuals/sodomites]... shall inherit the kingdom of God.
Examine yourself to see if your claims make any sense. You are only deceiving yourself.
FOUR: They claim he said alcohol is a medicine for diseases.
ANSWER:
This is another lie from the pit of hell. What Paul actually said was to use a little wine for the stomach:
(1 Tim 5:23) Drink no longer water, but use a little wine for thy stomach's sake and thine often infirmities.
Paul is not talking about drinking local brews (kimpumu, mbege, kangara, komoni) or commercial beer for refreshment or thirst. He says: "A little wine!" And that little wine is for a specific purpose—stomach ailments.
This means if you are not sick and just want wine, you are simply a drunkard. Your desire is not healing, but alcohol. Furthermore, in today's world, modern medications for stomach issues are widely available.
It is the very same Paul who says in Ephesians 5:18: "And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit."
FIVE: They claim he said God does not look at the body but the spirit, which is why Christians walk half-naked, even in churches.
ANSWER:
First, Paul is not the only one who emphasizes the spirit over the body. Jesus Himself said:
(Matt 23:25-27) Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye make clean the outside of the cup and of the platter, but within they are full of extortion and excess. Thou blind Pharisee, cleanse first that which is within the cup and platter, that the outside of them may be clean also. Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, h
Second, it is false that Paul, Jesus, or the Bible approves of nudity. Paul states:
(1 Cor 8:13) Wherefore, if meat make my brother to offend, I will eat no flesh while the world standeth, lest I make my brother to offend.
This means if doing something causes others to stumble and sin, judgment falls on you—even if the act itself were harmless like eating food, let alone walking around naked!
Are you unaware that the same Paul wrote this?
(1 Tim 2:9) In like manner also, that women adorn themselves in modest apparel, with shamefacedness and sobriety; not with broided hair, or gold, or pearls, or costly array.
And Jesus said:
(Matt 18:7) Woe unto the world because of offences! for it must needs be that offences come; but woe to that man by whom the offence cometh!
SIX: They claim he said people should greet each other with a kiss and called it holy.
ANSWER:
When someone hates you, they will find fault with whatever you do. The issue is not the action itself, but the hatred in their heart.
Do you not know the difference between something holy and something unholy? If I tell you, "Drink clean water," where is the harm? Am I not telling you, "Do not drink dirty water"?
Paul instructed people to greet one another with a holy kiss. If the kiss is holy, what is your issue with it?
SEVEN: They claim he was the only one who declared all food permissible.
ANSWER:
Paul was not the only one. Jesus said the exact same thing:
(Matt 15:17-20) Do not ye yet understand, that whatsoever entereth in at the mouth goeth into the belly, and is cast out into the draught? But those things which proceed out of the mouth come forth from the heart; and they defile the man. For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies: Thes
Every culture has its own diet. If some eat dogs, let them eat. If you do not, do not judge them. If others eat snakes, frogs, or snails, let them. Even for you who eat cake, whatever enters the stomach does not enter the spirit—it ends up in the toilet!
EIGHT: They claim he introduced a mixed/syncretic religion called Christianity.
ANSWER:
We follow Jesus Christ just as Paul followed Jesus Christ. Do you know Paul better than Peter, who lived in his time, met him face-to-face, and evaluated his teachings?
Peter writes:
(2 Peter 3:15-17) And account that the longsuffering of our Lord is salvation; even as our beloved brother Paul also according to the wisdom given unto him hath written unto you; As also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things; in which are some things hard to be understood, which they that are unlearned and unstable wrest, as they do also the other scriptures, unto their own destruction. Ye therefore, beloved, seeing ye know these things before, beware lest ye also, being led away with the error of the wicked, fall from your own stedfastness.
If someone chooses to listen to an opponent of Paul rather than the Apostle Peter, that is on their own soul. But we will not stop listening to faithful servants of Jesus Christ to entertain groundless hatred against God's truth.
NINE: They claim he was the only one who claimed Jesus is Almighty God while Jesus denied it.
ANSWER:
Did Paul write the book of Isaiah?
(Isaiah 9:6) For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.
Did Paul write the Gospel of John?
(John 1:1) In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
TEN: They claim he was the only one who brought the gospel to the Gentiles, whereas it was meant for Israelites only.
ANSWER:
Centuries prior, the God of Israel had already declared this. Listen to what Jesus Himself says:
(Matt 28:19) Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.
(John 3:17) For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.
(John 12:47) And if any man hear my words, and believe not, I judge him not: for I came not to judge the world, but to s
(John 10:15-16) ...and I lay down my life for the sheep. And other sheep I have, which are not of this fold: them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice; and there shall be one fold, and one shepherd.
(Matt 24:14) And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come.
ELEVEN: They claim he was the only one who insulted the law by calling it a curse.
ANSWER:
The law itself is not a curse. However, because human beings lack the ability to fulfill all of it, they end up bearing a curse. When the law says "Do not steal," stealing is what brings a curse upon the thief, not the word of the law itself. When you steal, it is you—the thief—who becomes cursed, not the law that prohibited stealing!
Now hear what Paul himself says about the law:
(Romans 7:12-13) Wherefore the law is holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and good. Was then that which is good made death unto me? God forbid. But sin, that it might appear sin, working death in me by that which is good...
Claiming that Paul called the law a curse is a lie, a fabrication, and a distortion of Scripture.
TWELVE: They claim Paul abolished the law and demanded it no longer be used, whereas Jesus said: "For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled." (Matt 5:18)
ANSWER:
If I tell you, "This debt will not be forgiven until you pay every last cent," does that mean the debt is eternal or that it has an end?
It takes no deep expertise to realize this means the obligation ends once it is fully paid. That is what Jesus means in that verse: Not a single word of the law will pass until all is fulfilled. An entry reaches its fulfillment once completed. For example, the law prophesied that Jesus would be born:
(Matt 2:6) And thou Bethlehem, in the land of Juda, art not the least among the princes of Juda: for out of thee shall come a Governor, that shall rule my people Israel.
Now, if you still cling to "He WILL come, He WILL come, He WILL come" simply because it was written that not a single jot will pass, then you have missed the point entirely. That prophecy HAS BEEN FULFILLED.
By the logic of those twisting Scripture, if you tell them Jesus was already born, they would rely on Matthew 5:18 to claim "No, Jesus said the word does not pass, so it remains unfulfilled."
HOW LONG WILL YOU BE DECEIVED?
HOW LONG WILL YOU EMBRACE DESTRUCTION?
Hatred darkens a person's heart so much that they cannot see ahead. They then invent lies against others and believe their own fabrications to gain a false sense of peace that they are right.
And the word of the prophet Isaiah is fulfilled in them, saying: "Hearing ye shall hear, and shall not understand; and seeing ye shall see, and shall not perceive." (Matt 13:14)
By Dr. Maxwell Shimba from Shimba Theological Institute
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