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How Do We Explain the Trinity to a Muslim?
If you’ve ever shared your faith with a committed Muslim, you know they have been taught a lot of untruths about the Bible and Jesus. Sometimes, part of explaining the gospel to them is correcting those untruths.
A friend of mine recently told me about a conversation she had with her Muslim friend. Her friend, let’s call her Fatima, is from a Muslim family, but Fatima has chosen to adopt the most conservative form of Islam. She hopes that by completing her prayers each day and fully covering her face and body that she’ll eventually be accepted into heaven.
My friend gave Fatima an Action Bible. Fatima owns a New Testament, but she said the Action Bible was much easier for her to read and understand. After she read it, she and my friend discussed what Fatima had read. One of her sticking points, as it is for many Muslims, is that Christians worship three gods.
Muslims are commonly taught that Christians are polytheists, because of the three persons of God: Father, Son and Holy Spirit. To them, this is absolute blasphemy, because they are taught that God is one. Their statement of faith begins, “There is no god but Allah… (emphasis mine).”
As believers, we would also ardently stress that we worship one God. “Hear, O Israel: the Lord our God, the Lord is one!” (Deuteronomy 6:4) “Jesus answered…”Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one.” (Mark 12:29)
So when in discussion with a Muslim, how do we answer this question?
One way to explain it is this: God in three persons is like water. Water can be ice, water can be steam, water can be liquid, but it’s all water. God can be experienced as Father, he can be experienced as Jesus the Son, he can be experienced as the indwelling Holy Spirit, but he remains One.
Will this simple illustration answer the theological accusations that Muslims have against believers? I doubt it, but it may help a Muslim friend understand a little better about why we believe God is One, and yet we call him by different names and interact with him in various ways. I think it also shows the personal nature of a God who wants to meet us on so many levels.
Our God is one, but he also appears as three. May the Holy Spirit use this idea to bring the light of Christ into the hearts of our Muslim friends.
Dory P. has worked with VOM for nine years. She grew up in Ecuador, met her husband while working with another mission organization, and now lives in Oklahoma. Between Dory, her husband, five-year-old son and two-year-old daughter, the family shares seven passports. Dory tells the stories of the persecuted through VOM's newsletter, and her husband serves in VOM's international department. Listen to an interview with Dory on VOM Radio.
Source: http://www.persecutionblog.com/2016/03/how-do-we-explain-the-trinity-to-a-muslim.html
Not sure how you could do that — since it is lie invented by Rome in the 4th century?
Elohiym is the family of the the Father and the Son.