Using the THINK Method

to Speak to Muslims!

Evangelism with Muslims

Developed by Steve Morrison and Dave Geisler
 Overview of the THINK Model

Trust in the Holy Spirit

Hear the discrepancies & contradictions
Illuminate discrepancies by asking questions
Navigate around barriers
Keep the door open for sharing the Gospel

If you can remember the acrostic THINK, you can more

effectively witness to others.
 THINK – Trust the Holy Spirit

Take time to relate. Take time to

demonstrate your relationship with God.

Trust God for the results.

Pray for the Holy Spirit to enliven their spirit

and awaken in the possibility that Islam has
at least one self-destroying contradiction.
THINK – Hear the Discrepancies

Contradictory Beliefs

Understand that Islam claims to build upon

the Old Testament and Gospels, yet
fundamentally rejects what the prophets
and Jesus taught.
THINK – Illuminate

Do you pray five times a day?

Can you tell me if we can know

if someone is not going to get
to heaven?
Matt. 5:21-22
THINK – Illuminate with Questions

Q: How can Jesus be considered a great

prophet when the Gospels says that Jesus
accepted worship as God?
 Matthew 8:2 – Leper
 Matthew 28:9 – women at the tomb
 Matthew 14:33 – the disciples
 Matthew 28:17; Luke 24:52 – the disciples after Jesus rose
 John 9:38 – a blind man
 John 20:28-29 – Thomas called him “My Lord and My God”
 Matthew 2:2 – God sent wise men to worship Jesus, and wise
men today worship him too.

Their Answer: The Bible is corrupt.

THINK – Illuminate with Questions

Q: Then what is your principle for determining

what parts of God’s word to disbelieve and
what parts to believe?

Their Answer: Do not know which parts to

believe, so they disregard all the Bible parts
that disagree with the Qur’an.
 THINK – Illuminate

Q: Do you really believe what the Qur’an

says?

The Qur’an itself considers the previous

revelations contained in “the book” to be
authoritative and authentic revelations from
God (Surah 2:136; 4:163)

The Qur’an states that “None can change

His word.” (Surah 6:115; see also 6:34;
10:64)
 THINK – Illuminate
The Gospel: therein was guidance and light

The Qur’an states that “And in

their footsteps We sent Jesus
the son of Mary, confirming the
Torah that had come before
him; We sent him the gospel:
therein was guidance and light.
And confirmation of the Torah
that had come before him.”
(Sura 5:46)
THINK – Illuminate

Why are Christians

commanded in the Qur’an
to obey the Bible (Sura
5:68)?
Jews & Christians: Obey the Bible

Sura 5:68 says, "O People of the Book! ye

have no ground to stand upon unless ye
stand fast by the Law, the Gospel, and all
the revelation that has come to you from
your Lord."
THINK – Illuminate

Why is Muhammad instructed

by Allah to consult Christians?
 THINK – Illuminate
Muhammad: Consult Christians

Sura 10:94 says, “But if you (Muhammad)

are in doubt as to what We (Allah) have
revealed to you, ask those who read the
Book before you; certainly the truth has
come to you from your Lord, therefore you
should not be of the disputers.”
THINK – Illuminate with Parables

Share the stories Jesus shared.

Jesus was from a Semitic back ground and

his parables speak to the hearts of Muslims.

The prodigal son is a great place to start

talking about Gods love.
THINK – Navigate Around Barriers

The teaching in the Bible today is so fundamentally

different from the Qur’an: crucifixion, resurrection,
Jesus being God, loving even unbelievers, the
Fatherhood of God, that they both cannot be true.

Q: If it could be demonstrated that God’s

message in the Bible, which the Qur’an
claims was originally from God, has been
preserved, would you want to know about it?

If not, then why not?

If so, then what would you do?
THINK – Navigate Around Barriers

The witness today of the Bible scrolls

preserved from very early times

 B.C.-68 A.D. Dead Sea Scrolls containing Torah

and the rest of the Old Testament
 117-138 A.D. John Rylands (fragment of John)

 100-150 A.D. Chester Beatty Papyrii

 125-175 A.D. - Bodmer II (p66)

 125-175 A.D. p104 (fragment of Matthew)

 30 more manuscripts before 300 A.D.

 Early church writers (from 97/98 A.D. to 200 A.D.)

referred to many verses in the Bible.

THINK – Navigate Around Barriers

Given who God is, would it make more sense

or less sense that we can fully understand
God’s nature?

“We wrestle with the mystery of the Trinity,

whereas they worship the unitary Allah. We
struggle with the mystery of the Incarnation,
whereas they teach that Jesus was just a
prophet. We try to get our minds round the
mystery of inspiration, whereas they believe
that the Qur’an was simply dictated by God.”
Nick Pollard, Evangelism Made Slightly Less Difficult, p. 92
THINK – Navigate Around Barriers

Can you see then how a belief in a

Triune God might actually have some
merit?
 THINK – Keep the Door Open
Sura 5:46 - A Remarkable Verse in the Qur’an
“And in their [the prophets’] footsteps we sent Jesus the son of
Mary, confirming the Torah that had come before him: we sent
him the gospel; therein was guidance and light. And confirmation
of the Torah that had come before him: a guidance and an
admonition to those who fear Allah”
Now this verse of the Qur’an is quite remarkable. If God sent
Jesus to confirm the Torah (first five books of the Bible’s Old
Testament), then at least in Jesus’ time, the Torah that people could
read and Jesus could confirm was the same Torah God sent.
It goes on. Sura 5:47 goes on to say, “Let the People of the
Gospel Judge by what Allah hath revealed Therein....” If the People
of the Gospel are to judge by what God has revealed in the Gospel,
then how can the Gospel they are to judge by not be the Gospel
God told them to judge by?
Sura 5:48 says, “To thee (People of the Book) We sent the
scripture in truth, confirming the scripture that came before it, and
guarding it in safety: so judge between them by what Allah hath
revealed, and follow not their vain desires, diverging from the truth
that hath come to thee....”
 THINK – Opening the Door

Regardless of whether Muslim imams like

the fundamental differences between the
Bible and the Qur’an, two points emerge:
 The Qur’an shows the Torah and gospels
were preserved from Jesus’ time up to
Mohammed’s
 Bible scrolls preserved in museums today
were written way before Mohammed’s
time
Can I share with you what God has spoken
about having a relationship with Him through
Jesus?
THINK – Keep the Door Open to
the Gospel

Even before Jesus was born, God

revealed in the scriptures that He is a
Father. We have the opportunity to
become children of God, by adoption.