Muslim..Out ReachActs 17:21 unknown god aka Is Allah God?The Apostle Paul could not leave well enough alone, for Acts tells us that while "Paul was waiting ...in Athens, he was deeply distressed to see that the city was full of idols." (Acts 17:16) So Paul went down to the "marketplace" where people gathered every day to hear the pitches of the various religions, and said to them, "I perceive that in every way you are very religious." (17:22, RSV) A rather bland opening gambit, for Athens was a city of so many gods it was said that there were more statues of the gods in Athens than in all the rest of Greece put together and that in Athens it was easier to meet a god than a human being!
In addition to being very religious, the curiosity of Athens' citizens was notorious. Our Scripture lesson tells us, parenthetically, that they: "...had no time for anything but talking or hearing about the latest novelty." (17:21, NEB) Or, as another translation states it: "The one amusement the Athenians and the foreigners living there seem to have, apart from discussing the latest ideas, is listening to lectures about them." (JER) Athens had earned and nurtured this reputation; 300 years earlier Demosthenes, a famous Greek orator, told the Athenians, "Instead of guarding your liberties, you are forever gadding about and looking for news."
Nonetheless, Paul entered into dialogue with the Athenians, particularly the Stoic and Epicurean philosophers, who weren't impressed initially. Some accused Paul of importing foreign divinities. Others called him a "show-off" (TEV) or "babbler" (Acts 17:18); the actual word used suggests a bird picking up seeds wherever he can find them--an eclectic "picker-up of trifles," if you will. The Athenians weren't above pointing out your intellectual inferiority. Eminently tolerant and not wanting to miss anything new, however, they asked Paul to say more. They invited him to the Areopagus, a hill in Athens at the very centre of the city's life. Next to Paul stood towered the Parthenon; indeed, he was surrounded by monuments to the splendour of Greece and was about to address those whose philosophical heritage included Plato, Socrates, and Aristotle. What could they expect from this "seed-picker," this hayseed?
I imagine it wasn't hard, in this setting, to feel apologetic about your faith. Paul began by telling the cultured Athenians, "As I went through the city and looked carefully at the objects of your worship, I found among them an altar with the inscription, ‘To an unknown god.' What therefore you worship as unknown, this I proclaim to you." (Acts 17:23) Doesn't sound very apologetic, does it? Sounds more like impertinence!
The word, "apology," as we generally use it, is an expression of regret at having caused someone trouble, but it has another meaning which makes it an very appropriate word to describe what Paul was doing. An apology, in the classical sense, is a formal written defence of something you believe in strongly. Apologetics is an academic theological discipline in its own right that dates back to the 2nd century (c.120-220 A.D.), when Christian writers known as "apologists" applied themselves to the task of making a reasoned defence and recommendation of their faith to outsiders. This is what Paul was doing in Athens; he was attempting to make a reasoned defence of Christianity in a religiously pluralistic setting, recommending Christianity to listeners who were open to hearing it.
http://www.ottawamennonite.ca/sermons/apology.htm
We make a reasoned defence of Christianity to Muslims who come here. The unknown god concept Paul used doesn't apply!
WHY?
Because if they don't know Jesus then they don't know the Father!
That is what Jesus told the Scribes and Pharisees!
If we acknowledge that Allah is God as Paul did with the unknown god concept to the Athens then we acknowledge that the Quran is true in the process. It's that simple.
We don't sell out the truth just to win 1 muslim!
Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!
For ye compass sea and land to make one convert, and when he is made, ye make him twofold more the child of hell than yourselves.
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