Islam vs. Christianity: After Studying Both, Here’s My Final Verdict

When I started my Islam vs. Christianity series, I knew it might make some people uncomfortable.

And it did.

I received comments, messages, and emails from Christians asking why I was spending so much time explaining Islam on a Christian channel. Some were concerned that simply talking about what Muslims believe might somehow promote Islam.

So I want to make something clear from the beginning.

I am a follower of Jesus Christ.

I believe the Bible is the Word of God. I believe Jesus Christ is the Son of God. I believe He was crucified for our sins, physically rose from the dead, and that salvation is found in Him alone.

And after spending weeks studying Islam, reading its claims, examining what Muslims believe about Jesus, the Bible, Muhammad, salvation, judgment, and the nature of God, my confidence in Christianity is not weaker.

It is stronger.

I came into this series wanting to understand Islam better.

I came out of it more convinced than ever that the Gospel of Jesus Christ is true.

What I Learned About Islam

One of the most important things I learned is that most Christians probably know far less about Islam than we think we do.

I certainly did.

Islam and Christianity have more points of contact than many Christians realize.

Muslims believe in one sovereign Creator. They honor Abraham, Moses, and other biblical figures. They believe in prayer, fasting, giving to the poor, judgment, heaven, and hell.

And perhaps most surprising to many Christians, Muslims hold Jesus in extremely high regard.

Islam teaches that Jesus was born to the Virgin Mary. Muslims call Him the Messiah. They believe He performed miracles. They consider Him a prophet and messenger of God, and the Quran even refers to Him as a “word” from God.

Muslims also believe Jesus will return.

When I first began digging into this, I remember wondering why I had never heard much of that before.

But those similarities can also be misleading.

Because once you move beyond the surface, Islam and Christianity make radically different claims about Jesus.

And eventually, those claims collide.

Islam and Christianity Cannot Both Be True

This became the central conclusion of the entire series.

Islam and Christianity may share certain names, stories, moral teachings, and historical figures, but they do not tell the same story about Jesus.

Christianity says Jesus is the divine Son of God.

Islam rejects that.

Christianity teaches that God exists eternally as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

Islam rejects the Trinity.

Christianity says Jesus was crucified.

The Quran denies that He was crucified.

Christianity says His death provided atonement for our sins.

Islam rejects that understanding of the cross.

Christianity says Jesus physically rose from the dead.

The resurrection is absolutely foundational to Christianity. Paul goes so far as to say that if Christ has not been raised, Christian faith is futile.

These are not minor theological differences.

They are contradictory claims.

And contradictory claims cannot both be true in the same sense.

That doesn’t mean Christians and Muslims cannot live together peacefully. We can work together, be friends, care about our communities, defend one another’s religious freedom, and even agree on important moral issues.

But theologically, Christianity and Islam are not two roads leading to the same destination.

They make competing truth claims about the identity of Jesus Christ.

My View of Muslims Changed

Something else happened during this series that I wasn’t necessarily expecting.

My understanding of Muslims changed too.

I grew up in America. I remember September 11, 2001. I watched the towers fall. I’ve watched ISIS, al-Qaeda, suicide bombings, terrorist attacks, and crowds chanting “Death to America.”

Whether I consciously intended it or not, some of those images became connected in my mind with the word Muslim.

So when I saw a Muslim family at an airport, a woman wearing a hijab, or people entering a mosque, there was sometimes a question buried somewhere in my mind:

What do they really believe?

Do they hate America?

Do they support what happened on 9/11?

Is there some hidden agenda?

Studying Islam forced me to confront that assumption.

I have no legitimate reason to look at an ordinary Muslim man or woman and assume they support terrorism.

Muslim does not mean terrorist.

Muslim does not mean ISIS.

Muslim does not mean al-Qaeda.

Muslim does not automatically mean “Death to America.”

That doesn’t mean Islamic extremism isn’t real. It obviously is.

It doesn’t mean Christians shouldn’t examine difficult issues involving jihad, Sharia, terrorism, or violent interpretations of Islamic texts.

We should.

But there is an important distinction:

We can critically examine Islam without prejudging every Muslim.

As Christians, we should be able to separate people from ideas.

I can love a Muslim while believing Islam is false.

I can respect a Muslim while disagreeing with his theology.

I can defend his freedom to worship while also telling him that I believe Jesus Christ is the only Savior.

Jesus told me to love my neighbor.

He never said I had to agree with my neighbor.

The Bible Creates a Serious Problem for Islam

One of the questions that became increasingly important to me during this series was Islam’s relationship with the Bible.

The Quran doesn’t simply claim that everything before Muhammad was false.

It speaks positively about earlier revelation.

Islam acknowledges the Torah given to Moses, the Psalms associated with David, and the Gospel connected to Jesus.

The difficulty comes when Muslims argue that the Bible Christians possess today has somehow become corrupted, distorted, misunderstood, or altered.

That raises an enormous historical question.

When did that happen?

The Christian Scriptures didn’t disappear for 600 years and suddenly reappear after Muhammad.

We possess Christian manuscripts that predate Muhammad by centuries.

So if someone claims that the original Christianity taught something fundamentally different from what Christians believe today, I want to see the evidence.

Where is the early Gospel in which Jesus wasn’t crucified?

Where is the early Christian movement teaching that Jesus wasn’t the Son of God?

Where are the earliest followers of Christ teaching something that resembles seventh-century Islam?

When we go back to the earliest Christian documents, we don’t find that.

We find the opposite.

The Apostle Paul wrote 1 Corinthians only decades after the life of Jesus and centuries before Muhammad.

In 1 Corinthians 15, Paul summarizes the Gospel he had already received and preached:

Christ died for our sins.

He was buried.

He was raised on the third day.

Death.

Burial.

Resurrection.

The central message of Christianity was already established long before Islam existed.

The Warning in Galatians Changed the Way I Looked at Islam

One passage became especially significant to me while researching this series.

Galatians 1.

Paul warns Christians about accepting a different Gospel and says that even if an angel from heaven were to preach a Gospel contrary to the one the apostles had already delivered, that message should be rejected.

I want to be careful here.

Paul was not predicting Muhammad.

Islam did not exist when Paul wrote those words.

But the principle is impossible for me to ignore.

According to Islamic tradition, Muhammad received revelation through the angel Gabriel.

Yet the message that eventually emerged from Muhammad contradicts essential elements of the Gospel that Christians had already received centuries earlier.

Paul says Christ died for our sins.

The Quran says Jesus was not crucified.

The apostles proclaimed Jesus as the Son of God.

Islam rejects His divine sonship.

Christianity proclaims Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

Islam rejects the Trinity.

So as a Christian, what am I supposed to do with that?

Am I supposed to reject the testimony of the apostles because centuries later another man says an angel delivered a different revelation?

I can’t.

In fact, the New Testament specifically warns Christians not to abandon the Gospel they already received even if a later message appears to come through an angel.

That is one of the strongest reasons I cannot accept the Quran as a later correction to Christianity.

Christianity Wasn’t Waiting for Muhammad

There is another issue that became increasingly clear to me.

Christianity never presented itself as an unfinished story waiting hundreds of years for another prophet to explain what Jesus was really about.

The New Testament presents Jesus Himself as the climax of God’s revelation.

Jesus had come.

Jesus had taught.

Jesus had died.

Jesus had risen.

The apostles had explained what those events meant.

The Gospel was already established.

From a Christian perspective, there simply wasn’t a theological vacancy waiting for Muhammad to fill.

And that brings me to what I believe is the biggest difference between Islam and Christianity.

What Do I Do With My Sin?

Eventually, every religion has to answer that question.

What do I do with my guilt?

Islam teaches that Allah is merciful. Muslims believe in repentance, obedience, prayer, good deeds, submission to God, and seeking His forgiveness.

I want to represent that accurately.

It would be too simplistic to say Muslims merely believe they can “earn heaven by being good.”

But Christianity tells me that my problem goes even deeper.

My problem isn’t merely that I’ve committed bad deeds.

My problem is that I am a sinner standing before a perfectly holy God.

And God is not only merciful.

He is just.

That creates a problem.

How can a perfectly just God forgive guilty people without simply ignoring their guilt?

Imagine a murderer standing before a judge.

He says:

“I’ve done a lot of good things since the murder. I’ve helped people. I’ve donated money. I’ve been sincere. Please overlook what I’ve done.”

And the judge says:

“Okay. You’re free to go.”

We wouldn’t call that judge merciful.

We would call him unjust.

Justice means guilt matters.

So what does God do with mine?

That is where Christianity gives an answer that Islam fundamentally rejects.

The cross.

The Cross Is Why Christianity Makes Sense to Me

The cross tells me that God did not simply pretend my sin never happened.

He didn’t lower His standards for me.

I don’t balance enough good deeds against my bad ones.

My guilt has a cost.

And someone paid it.

Jesus Christ.

Romans 3 teaches that God can remain just while also justifying the sinner who trusts in Christ.

At the cross, justice and mercy meet.

My sin is judged.

And I am forgiven.

Not because I am good enough.

Not because I’ve accumulated enough religious points.

Not because God simply decided sin doesn’t matter.

But because Christ took my place.

That is the Gospel.

And this is where the discussion becomes intensely personal for me.

I know myself.

I know the thoughts nobody else hears.

I know the things I’ve done.

I know where I’ve failed.

I know my pride.

My selfishness.

My sin.

I don’t need a ladder telling me how to climb my way toward God.

I need a rescue.

I need forgiveness.

I need atonement.

I need a Savior.

And Christianity tells me God Himself provided one.

Jesus.

My Final Verdict: I Do Not Believe Islam Is Credible

After studying Islam throughout this series, I cannot accept its central claims as credible.

Not because I hate Muslims.

Not because I believe Christians are morally superior.

Not because of politics.

Not because of 9/11.

Not because Islam makes me uncomfortable.

I reject Islam because its claims about Jesus contradict earlier Christian testimony, because its denial of the crucifixion conflicts with the Gospel proclaimed from Christianity’s earliest days, and because I do not believe a revelation appearing centuries later should overturn what Jesus’ apostles were already teaching from the beginning.

The more I examined the claims of Islam, the more convinced I became that Christianity did not need to be corrected by Muhammad.

And the more closely I looked at the Gospel, the more extraordinary it became.

Christianity does not ultimately give me a religious checklist.

It gives me a Savior.

My Faith Is Stronger Than When This Series Began

When I began this series, I wanted to answer a fairly simple question:

What do Muslims actually believe?

I’m glad I asked it.

I learned a lot.

Some assumptions I had were challenged.

I discovered similarities between Islam and Christianity that I didn’t know existed.

I learned that Muslims honor Jesus far more than many Christians realize.

And perhaps most importantly, I learned that I need to separate Muslims from Islam.

People from ideas.

I can love the first while critically examining the second.

But studying Islam did not make me question Christianity.

It made me look again at what makes Christianity so different.

And I came back to the same place.

The cross.

Eventually, every worldview has to deal with the reality that I am going to die.

I will stand before God.

And I am a sinner.

So what am I trusting?

My goodness?

My generosity?

My prayers?

My religious devotion?

My ability to somehow make my good outweigh my bad?

I can’t trust any of those things.

I need something outside of myself.

Someone who can do for me what I cannot do for myself.

That is why I keep coming back to Jesus.

To My Muslim Friends

If you’re Muslim and you’ve watched this series or you’ve read this far, thank you.

I mean that sincerely.

Thank you for listening to a Christian talk about your faith.

Some Muslims have corrected me during this series, and sometimes they were right. I appreciate that.

My goal was never to defeat Muslims.

It was to understand Islam and compare its claims with Christianity.

And having done that, I need to tell you plainly where I stand.

I believe Jesus Christ is more than a prophet.

I believe He is the Son of God.

I believe He was crucified.

I believe He died for my sins.

I believe He physically rose from the grave.

I believe He is alive.

And I believe my only hope of being reconciled to God is found in Him.

Not because I am better than you.

I’m not.

Not because Christians are morally superior.

We’re not.

But because I need exactly what Jesus came to provide.

A Savior.

If you’re willing, I would challenge you to investigate Jesus for yourself.

Don’t begin with American politics.

Don’t begin with the Crusades.

Don’t begin with the worst Christian you’ve ever met.

And don’t even begin with what you’ve been told Christians believe.

Go back to Jesus.

Read the Gospel of John.

Examine the historical case for the crucifixion.

Investigate the resurrection.

Ask what the earliest followers of Jesus actually believed about Him.

And then answer the same question Jesus asked His disciples:

“Who do you say that I am?”

Because ultimately, that is the question behind this entire series.

It All Comes Down to Jesus

Islam says Jesus was a prophet.

Christianity says He is Lord.

Islam denies the cross.

Christianity says the cross is where our salvation was accomplished.

Islam rejects divine sonship.

Christianity says Jesus is the Son of the living God.

Those claims cannot both be true.

And after everything I’ve studied, my conclusion is clearer than when I began.

I believe Jesus is exactly who He claimed to be.

The Christ.

The Son of the living God.

The One who died for me.

The One who conquered the grave.

My Lord.

My Savior.

My hope.

And if Jesus really is who He said He is, then everything changes.