Thought Experiment for My Muslim Friends

Both Christians and Muslims consider truth to be the foundation of their beliefs. This simple thought experiment considers the efficacy of the Gospel in relation to the Quran. Please review the Premises and Considerations and then answer any Questions presented below.

Premises:

Premise 1 (Hypothetical Christian Message): Suppose that God communicated to mankind through Jesus and His apostles the direct, clear, paramount and critical message that salvation (forgiveness of sins and eternal life with God) is obtained only by confessing and believing these essential facts about Jesus: (a) Jesus is God, (b) Jesus was crucified to pay for our sins, and (c) Jesus resurrected from the dead—clarifying that salvation is not obtained by doing good works.¹ 

Premise 2 (Hypothetical Deceptive Counter-Message): Suppose Satan, described by Jesus as the “father of lies” (John 8:44), sought to disrupt God's salvation plan, in part, by appearing as an angel of light (2 Corinthians 11:14) to a man (“X”), (1) convincing X that X is God's chosen messenger and prophet, (2) delivering to X a new message that directly opposes every single element of salvation as presented in Premise 1 by advocating that: (a) Jesus is not God, (b) Jesus was not crucified, (c) Jesus did not resurrect from the dead, and (d) eternal life in Paradise is secured by righteous deeds, and (3) inciting advocates of the new message to claim that prior scriptures (like those supporting Premise 1) are corrupted because they contradict the new message.

Considerations:

1. The Tactics of Satan. Genesis 2:16-17 reflects God’s specific instruction to Adam regarding an essential fact for his continuing life: ¹⁶ “The Lord God commanded the man, saying, ‘From any tree of the garden you may freely eat; ¹⁷ but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for on the day that you eat from it you will certainly die.’” When Satan, as the principal adversary of God, launched his attack on the plan of God for Adam and his family, Satan first disguised himself as a serpent, which “was more cunning than any animal of the field which the Lord God had made” (Genesis 3:1). Satan’s attack involved 2 key elements: (a) directly contradict the essential truths as stated by God, and (b) suggest that a better outcome was obtainable by believing Satan’s statement: “The serpent said to the woman, ‘You certainly will not die! ⁵ For God knows that on the day you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will become like God, knowing good and evil.’” 
2. Warnings about a False Message and Messenger. Anticipating a false message and messenger that contradicts the Gospel as given by Jesus and His apostles, Paul provides warnings:
• “But even if we, or an angel from heaven, should preach to you a gospel contrary to what we have preached to you, he is to be accursed!” (Galatians 1:8).
• “… even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light” (2 Corinthians 11:14).
• ³ “… even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing, ⁴ in whose case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelieving so that they will not see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God” (2 Corinthians 4:3-4).

Questions

1. If Premise 1 were true, how likely would it be for Premise 2 to follow as a deliberate counter—directly inverting each key element of salvation (Jesus's divinity, crucifixion, resurrection, and grace over works)—and for claims of scriptural corruption to arise as the defense of the new message?
2. If Premise 1 were false, and God wanted humanity to know the truth as distinct from the lie(s) presented in Premise 1, which response from God seems more probable: (a) sending an angel immediately to directly and urgently repudiate the message of Premise 1, or (b) sending an angel centuries later who affirms the Torah (Tawrat), Prophets, Psalms (Zabur), and Injil as divine revelations without an immediate, direct and urgent repudiation?

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¹ The elements of the message, though hypothetical, are actually substantiated by the following texts (you can read the Greek text here: https://biblehub.com/interlinear/ to compare to the New American Standard version of the Bible that was used to obtain the quotes below):

Testimony of Jesus:

Matthew 2:18-20 ⁸ ”And Jesus came up and spoke to them, saying, ‘All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to Me. ¹⁹ Go, therefore, and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, ²⁰ teaching them to follow all that I commanded you; and behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.’”

Matthew 26:27-28 ^27 “And when He had taken a cup and given thanks, He gave it to them, saying, ‘Drink from it, all of you; ²⁸ for this is My blood of the covenant, which is being poured out for many for forgiveness of sins.’”

Matthew 9:2-7 ² ”And they brought to Him a paralyzed man lying on a stretcher. And seeing their faith, Jesus said to the man who was paralyzed, “Take courage, son; your sins are forgiven.” ³ And some of the scribes said to themselves, “This man is blaspheming!” ⁴ And Jesus, perceiving their thoughts, said, “Why are you thinking evil in your hearts? ⁵ For which is easier, to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Get up and walk’? ⁶ But so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins”—then He *said to the paralyzed man, “Get up, pick up your stretcher and go home.” ⁷ And he got up and went home.

John 3:16-18 [Jesus said:] ¹⁶ “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him will not perish, but have eternal life. ¹⁷ For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but so that the world might be saved through Him. ¹⁸ The one who believes in Him is not judged; the one who does not believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.”

John 10:11, 15, 17-18, 31-33 [Jesus said:] ¹¹ “‘I am the good shepherd; the good shepherd lays down His life for the sheep.... ¹⁵ just as the Father knows Me and I know the Father; and I lay down My life for the sheep…. ¹⁷ For this reason the Father loves Me, because I lay down My life so that I may take it back. ¹⁸ No one has taken it away from Me, but I lay it down on My own. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it back. This commandment I received from My Father…. ²⁷ My sheep listen to My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me; ²⁸ and I give them eternal life, and they will never perish; and no one will snatch them out of My hand. ²⁹ My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand. ³⁰ I and the Father are one.’ ³¹ The Jews picked up stones again to stone Him. ³² Jesus replied to them, ‘I showed you many good works from the Father; for which of them are you stoning Me?’ ³³ The Jews answered Him, ‘We are not stoning You for a good work, but for blasphemy; and because You, being a man, make Yourself out to be God.’” 

John 11:25-27 ²⁵ “Jesus said to her, ‘I am the resurrection and the life; the one who believes in Me will live, even if he dies, ²⁶ and everyone who lives and believes in Me will never die. Do you believe this?’ ²⁷ She *said to Him, ‘Yes, Lord; I have come to believe that You are the Christ, the Son of God, and He who comes into the world.’”

John 14:1-6 [Jesus said:] ¹ “‘Do not let your heart be troubled; believe in God, believe also in Me. ² In My Father’s house are many rooms; if that were not so, I would have told you, because I am going there to prepare a place for you. ³ And if I go and prepare a place for you, I am coming again and will take you to Myself, so that where I am, there you also will be. ⁴ And you know the way where I am going.’ ⁵ Thomas *said to Him, ‘Lord, we do not know where You are going; how do we know the way?’ ⁶ Jesus *said to him, ‘I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father except through Me.’”

Testimony of John the Baptist:

John 1:29-34 ²⁹ “The next day he *saw Jesus coming to him, and *said, “Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world! ³⁰ This is He in behalf of whom I said, ‘After me is coming a Man who has proved to be my superior, because He existed before me.’ ³¹ And I did not recognize Him, but so that He would be revealed to Israel, I came baptizing in water.” ³² And John testified, saying, “I have seen the Spirit descending as a dove out of heaven, and He remained upon Him. ³³ And I did not recognize Him, but He who sent me to baptize in water said to me, ‘He upon whom you see the Spirit descending and remaining upon Him, this is the One who baptizes in the Holy Spirit.’ ³⁴ And I myself have seen, and have testified that this is the Son of God.”

Testimony of Jesus’ Apostles:

Titus 3:5-7 “⁵He saved us, not on the basis of deeds which we did in righteousness, but in accordance with His mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit, ⁶ whom He richly poured out upon us through Jesus Christ our Savior, ⁷ so that being justified by His grace we would be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life.”

Ephesians 2:8-9 ⁸ ”For by grace you have been saved through faith; and this is not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; ⁹ not a result of works, so that no one may boast.”

John 1:1-5, 10-14 ¹ “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. ² He was in the beginning with God. ³ All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him not even one thing came into being that has come into being. ⁴ In Him was life, and the life was the Light of mankind. ⁵ And the Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not grasp it. ¹⁰ He was in the world, and the world came into being through Him, and yet the world did not know Him. ¹¹ He came to His own, and His own people did not accept Him. ¹² But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name, ¹³ who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of a man, but of God. ¹⁴ And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us; and we saw His glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.”

Acts 5:29-32 ²⁹ “But Peter and the apostles answered, ‘We must obey God rather than men. ³⁰ The God of our fathers raised up Jesus, whom you put to death by hanging Him on a cross. ³¹ He is the One whom God exalted to His right hand as a Prince and a Savior, to grant repentance to Israel, and forgiveness of sins. ³² And we are witnesses of these things; and so is the Holy Spirit, whom God has given to those who obey Him.’”

Romans 10:9-11 ⁹ “…that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved; ¹⁰ for with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation. ¹¹ For the Scripture says, “Whoever believes in Him will not be put to shame.”

1 Cor. 1:18 “For the word of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.”

1 Cor. 15:1-8 ¹ “Now I make known to you, brothers and sisters, the gospel which I preached to you, which you also received, in which you also stand, ² by which you also are saved, if you hold firmly to the word which I preached to you, unless you believed in vain. For I handed down to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, ⁴ and that He was buried, and that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, ⁵ and that He appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. ⁶ After that He appeared to more than five hundred brothers and sisters at one time, most of whom remain until now, but some have fallen asleep; ⁷ then He appeared to James, then to all the apostles; ⁸ and last of all, as to one untimely born, He appeared to me also.”

Phil. 2:5-11 ⁵ “Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, ⁶ who, as He already existed in the form of God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, ⁷ but emptied Himself by taking the form of a bond-servant and being born in the likeness of men. ⁸ And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death: death on a cross. ⁹ For this reason also God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name, ¹⁰ so that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, ¹¹ and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”