No God but One

No God but One: Allah or Jesus?: A Former Muslim Investigates the Evidence for Islam and Christianity

By Nabeel Qureshi

I finished this book on June 20, 2017. This book wasn't on my list to read, but a good friend was reading it, so I decided to dig deeper. I have to admit that my lack of knowledge with other religions really made this a worth while read. Nabeel's journey from Islam to Christianity is fascinating, because he was willing to set aside his biases and intentionally pursue the truth, and did so knowing that it might cost him his life. This book provides a detailed and careful comparison of Islam and Christianity, and addresses the most important questions at the core of both religions. Ultimately this book is about seeking the truth, leaving preconceived notions behind, and examining historical evidence and truths to determine indisputably if Jesus in fact is God.

"I sincerely believe that this message has the power to transform hearts and change the world. The God it proclaims is unlike any other, and it is an unfathomable honor that we get to be part of his story and introduce people to him."
― Nabeel Qureshi - No God but One: Allah or Jesus?: A Former Muslim Investigates the Evidence for Islam and Christianity

"It is one thing to have found compelling evidence and quite another to act in faith on that evidence, especially when the cost is virtually unbearable."
― Nabeel Qureshi - No God but One: Allah or Jesus?: A Former Muslim Investigates the Evidence for Islam and Christianity

"What we think God is like has a tremendous impact on how we see the world he created. Why did Got create humans: to share intimacy with them or to test them? What does he think about people: are they his servants or his children? How does he want us to live: focusing on love or focusing on law? What does he tell us about the afterlife: to anxiously anticipate unknown judgement or to have joyful faith in his grace?"
― Nabeel Qureshi - No God but One: Allah or Jesus?: A Former Muslim Investigates the Evidence for Islam and Christianity

"Sin spreads through generations like a malignant cancer, and it razes civilizations like a plague. The effect of sin is cataclysmic. Like taking a sledgehammer to a mirror, sin shatters the image in which man is made."
― Nabeel Qureshi - No God but One: Allah or Jesus?: A Former Muslim Investigates the Evidence for Islam and Christianity

"There is no way for us to un-sin. We cannot simply do a few good deeds to unshatter our souls. There is nothing on earth that we can do. It would take a miracle, an act of God, to restore us and save this world."
― Nabeel Qureshi - No God but One: Allah or Jesus?: A Former Muslim Investigates the Evidence for Islam and Christianity

"The good news is this: Even though we cannot get to God, out of his great love, God has come to us and made a way for us. God himself has paid for our sins and will eternally restore our souls. All we have to do is repent of our rebellion, have faith in what he has done, and follow him."
― Nabeel Qureshi - No God but One: Allah or Jesus?: A Former Muslim Investigates the Evidence for Islam and Christianity

"He lived the life we ought to have lived so he could die the death that we deserve to die. By dying on our behalf he took upon himself the sins of the world, so that whoever believes in him and accepts what he has done will have eternal life."
― Nabeel Qureshi - No God but One: Allah or Jesus?: A Former Muslim Investigates the Evidence for Islam and Christianity

"As we follow Jesus we become more like him, the unbroken man, and the Holy Spirit gradually begins the miraculous work of restoring our otherwise irreparable souls."
― Nabeel Qureshi - No God but One: Allah or Jesus?: A Former Muslim Investigates the Evidence for Islam and Christianity

"God loves his children despite their sins, though he does allow them to endure the consequences of their actions on earth so that they might repent and change their ways. In all this he always loves us, because he is our perfect Father, and he is love."
― Nabeel Qureshi - No God but One: Allah or Jesus?: A Former Muslim Investigates the Evidence for Islam and Christianity

"He offers mercy to everyone who has ever sinned while also demanding justice for every sin ever committed. He does this by offering to bear the consequence of our sins himself. The consequence of our sins is death, and God is willing to die on behalf of all his children."
― Nabeel Qureshi - No God but One: Allah or Jesus?: A Former Muslim Investigates the Evidence for Islam and Christianity

"In our natural selves, we perpetuate cycles of destruction. Our hearts are broken, so we break other hearts. We were abused, so we abuse in return. Our families were fractured, so we leave fractured families in our wake. When loved ones are killed, we kill in revenge. This is the way of humanity, and we need an otherworldly solution — something radical to break these cycles. We need God to save us."
― Nabeel Qureshi - No God but One: Allah or Jesus?: A Former Muslim Investigates the Evidence for Islam and Christianity

"When we realize the depravity of our sins and the depths of our rebellion against God, it exceeds the mind's capacity to grasp this grace. What could we do to deserve such forgiveness? Nothing at all! He engulfs us with his infinite love and absolute mercy, though we cannot earn it."
― Nabeel Qureshi - No God but One: Allah or Jesus?: A Former Muslim Investigates the Evidence for Islam and Christianity

"The gospel is all about God and what God has done. God introduces life into the world, and when we rebel, God saves us. When we sin against God, God pays for our sins. When we sin against one another, God gives the grace of restoration. This message is all about him, not at all about what we can do or have earned for ourselves."
― Nabeel Qureshi - No God but One: Allah or Jesus?: A Former Muslim Investigates the Evidence for Islam and Christianity

"The gospel accurately diagnoses the problem of humanity, which is our own brokenness. Through his otherworldly, heavenly grace, he transforms us and frees us from our cycles of destruction. Through it all, he is at the center, disentangling us from pride and anxiety, helping us focus on others and not on ourselves. The gospel is not just an answer that works; it is the only answer that will work."
― Nabeel Qureshi - No God but One: Allah or Jesus?: A Former Muslim Investigates the Evidence for Islam and Christianity

"Since God is the greatest being, relational and loving, relationships and love are the most important commandments for mankind."
― Nabeel Qureshi - No God but One: Allah or Jesus?: A Former Muslim Investigates the Evidence for Islam and Christianity

"God is our Father. He loves us as a perfect Father, and he will always love us so. He wants us to have an intimate relationship with him, turning to him with our fears and failures, with our dreams and victories."
― Nabeel Qureshi - No God but One: Allah or Jesus?: A Former Muslim Investigates the Evidence for Islam and Christianity

"If God created our minds, then he must be greater than our comprehension. Who are we to demand that he be simple enough for us to understand him?"
― Nabeel Qureshi - No God but One: Allah or Jesus?: A Former Muslim Investigates the Evidence for Islam and Christianity

"We were made in the image of a selfless, loving God, so in our very nature we are designed to be selfless and loving. When we are self-centered instead of selfless, we act against our very nature."
― Nabeel Qureshi - No God but One: Allah or Jesus?: A Former Muslim Investigates the Evidence for Islam and Christianity

"From the Christian perspective, people ought to be selflessly loving toward others not just because it is a good idea, not just because it helps our species survive, not just because it earns us a reward, and not just because it pleases God. People ought to be selflessly loving because it is who we are. Humans are made in the image of a selfless God; loving others is what makes us truly human."
― Nabeel Qureshi - No God but One: Allah or Jesus?: A Former Muslim Investigates the Evidence for Islam and Christianity

"Christians ought to be ready to suffer alongside Jesus because their Lord suffered on the cross, and he intends for the entire world to be impacted by Christians following his model."
― Nabeel Qureshi - No God but One: Allah or Jesus?: A Former Muslim Investigates the Evidence for Islam and Christianity

"When we consider the message of the gospel, all the pieces fall in place. God did not just tell us to love sacrificially; he is our Lord and exemplar, and so he first did it for us."
― Nabeel Qureshi - No God but One: Allah or Jesus?: A Former Muslim Investigates the Evidence for Islam and Christianity

"Christians can follow Jesus and die for their enemies because the gospel promises and enacts salvation, taking away all fear of death. This frees us to love everyone, friend and foe, enabling us to live according to the image in which we were made, the image of a God who is love in his very essence."
― Nabeel Qureshi - No God but One: Allah or Jesus?: A Former Muslim Investigates the Evidence for Islam and Christianity

"Christians have traditionally taught that God inspired specific men in history to write his words, using their experiences and their language to convey his message. God masterfully used the speech of chosen men to convey exactly what he desired and has preserved that message through the millennia. The result is the Bible, a collection of sixty-six books written by about forty people over fifteen hundred years. The first thirty-nine books are called the Old Testament, and the final twenty-seven are called the New Testament. Testament is roughly a synonym for covenant, so the Old Testament was written during the time of God's covenant with Moses, whereas the New Testament was written after God came to earth, upon the advent of the new covenant initiated by Jesus and prophesied in Jeremiah 31:31-33."
― Nabeel Qureshi - No God but One: Allah or Jesus?: A Former Muslim Investigates the Evidence for Islam and Christianity

"The Bible, on account of its written modality, sufficiency, and translatability, is accessible enough for the average literate Christian to read it directly and learn from it. One does not need to be a scholar to interpret what the Bible says. Of course, knowing more context is helpful, and the insights of scholars and theologians are valuable, but the nature of the biblical text allows devout Christians to go to it directly and learn from it, and so they do."
― Nabeel Qureshi - No God but One: Allah or Jesus?: A Former Muslim Investigates the Evidence for Islam and Christianity

"The Bible is a collection of very diverse books, and we ought not read all the books in the same way. The genre of a book affects the way we interpret it. For example, one should not read the book of Psalms in the same way as the book of Romans; the former is a book of poetry and should be read as a sanctified expression of the heart, whereas the latter is an epistle that explores Christian doctrine and should be among the first foundations of a systematic theology. Another example of poor exegesis would be reading the gospel of John in the same manner as the book of Revelation. Even though they are written by the same author, their genres are very different: The gospel of John is historical and biographic, whereas the book of Revelation is a book of apocalypse, and intends to be understood in prophetic terms. So although we can be quite confident that Jesus literally walked in Galilee (e.g., John 1:43), it is poor exegesis to read about a dragon sweeping away the stars in the same literal way (Rev. 12:4)! Understanding genre is an essential part of interpreting Scripture."
― Nabeel Qureshi - No God but One: Allah or Jesus?: A Former Muslim Investigates the Evidence for Islam and Christianity

"In addition to its more pristine textual history, the diversity of the Bible is a strength. It reflects God's love for diversity. One language is not superior, one people are not superior, one mode of writing is not superior. Rather, God intends for humans to learn from history books, from law, from poetry, from proverbs, from apocalyptic literature, and more. He can teach through a fisherman like Peter, through a theologian like Paul, through a statesman like Moses, through a queen like Esther, and through his own incarnation. There is beauty and power in diversity, and the Bible reflects that."
― Nabeel Qureshi - No God but One: Allah or Jesus?: A Former Muslim Investigates the Evidence for Islam and Christianity

"For Christians, the final marching orders are the Great Commission: to spread the good news of God's love and mercy throughout the world by multiplying disciples of Jesus."
― Nabeel Qureshi - No God but One: Allah or Jesus?: A Former Muslim Investigates the Evidence for Islam and Christianity

"It is beautiful that Jesus Christ, the exemplar for Christians, is never once reported to have even carried a sword. That leaves his followers somewhere between an otherworldly reliance upon God in pacifism and a reluctant use of violence for the defense of the oppressed. There is absolutely no room for exulting in violence for the follower of Jesus."
― Nabeel Qureshi - No God but One: Allah or Jesus?: A Former Muslim Investigates the Evidence for Islam and Christianity

"Romans 10:9: “If you declare with your mouth, 'Jesus is Lord,' and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved” (NIV). Here we found the entire gospel message formulated as the minimum requirement for saving faith. It has three components: (1) that Jesus died, (2) that he rose from the dead, and (3) that his is God."
― Nabeel Qureshi - No God but One: Allah or Jesus?: A Former Muslim Investigates the Evidence for Islam and Christianity

"Theoretically, even if the Bible had never been written, Jesus could still have died on the cross for our sins and risen from the dead, making the Christian message true. The inspiration of the Bible is not central to the case for Christianity."
― Nabeel Qureshi - No God but One: Allah or Jesus?: A Former Muslim Investigates the Evidence for Islam and Christianity

"When the early Christians proclaimed the gospel, the primary proof that they pointed to was the resurrection of Jesus not the text of the Bible."
― Nabeel Qureshi - No God but One: Allah or Jesus?: A Former Muslim Investigates the Evidence for Islam and Christianity

"It is not difficult to defend what you already believe, and anyone who sets their mind to it will be able to do so, whether Muslim, Christian, or anything else. What is difficult is pursuing the truth about your faith and assessing it honestly. This feat requires one to be introspective and self-critical at frequent intervals. Although we can never completely overcome our biases, the most important step we can take is to pursue fair-mindedness with intentionality."
― Nabeel Qureshi - No God but One: Allah or Jesus?: A Former Muslim Investigates the Evidence for Islam and Christianity

"The fact of the death of Jesus as a consequence of crucifixion is indisputable, despite hypotheses of a pseudo-death or a deception which are sometimes put forward. It need not be discussed futher here."
― Gerd Lüdemann

"The single most solid fact about Jesus' life is his death: he was executed by the Roman prefect Pilate, on or around the Passover, in the manner Rome reserved particularly for political insurrectionists, namely, crucifixion."
― Paula Fredriksen

"There is not the slightest doubt about the fact of Jesus' crucifixion under Pontius Pilate."
― John Dominic Crossan

"I have learned that scholars disagree on almost every historical point they discuss, and it is almost impossible to find scholarly unanimity, yet virtually all New Testament scholars agree that Jesus died on the cross."
― Nabeel Qureshi - No God but One: Allah or Jesus?: A Former Muslim Investigates the Evidence for Islam and Christianity

"Starting just a few years after Jesus' crucifixion, Christians, Jews, and Romans report that Jesus died by crucifixion. The testimony is unanimous for over one hundred years."
― Nabeel Qureshi - No God but One: Allah or Jesus?: A Former Muslim Investigates the Evidence for Islam and Christianity

"The testimony of the early Christians is corroborated by non-Christian reports: Josephus, the failed Jewish general who befriended the Roman emperor, also reports in the first century that Jesus died by crucifixion. He is joined shortly after by Tacitus, a Roman historian who also reports Jesus' death. In the first hundred years after Jesus, we have Christian, Jewish, and Roman reports that Jesus died by crucifixion, and not a single report that he may not have died by crucifixion."
― Nabeel Qureshi - No God but One: Allah or Jesus?: A Former Muslim Investigates the Evidence for Islam and Christianity

"It should come as no surprise that never in recorded history has anyone survived a full Roman crucifixion."
― Nabeel Qureshi - No God but One: Allah or Jesus?: A Former Muslim Investigates the Evidence for Islam and Christianity

"Jesus' death on the cross is not the end of the Christian message. The gospel is that Jesus then rose from the dead. Whereas every other life ended in death, Jesus' death ended in life, and his resurrection is the basis for all Christian confidence. Death is nothing to be feared. Jesus has conquered it, and we are in him."
― Nabeel Qureshi - No God but One: Allah or Jesus?: A Former Muslim Investigates the Evidence for Islam and Christianity

"Historically speaking, the three facts are indisputable: Jesus died by crucifixion, his disciples truly believed they had seen him risen, and even men who were not his disciples truly believed they had seen him risen."
― Nabeel Qureshi - No God but One: Allah or Jesus?: A Former Muslim Investigates the Evidence for Islam and Christianity

"The disciples preached Jesus' resurrection many times in the book of Acts, and their conviction that Jesus rose from the dead is the best explanation for their transformation from fearful followers in the garden of Gethsemane to bold martyrs at the hands of the Romans and others. They no longer feared death because Jesus had defeated death."
― Nabeel Qureshi - No God but One: Allah or Jesus?: A Former Muslim Investigates the Evidence for Islam and Christianity

"Not only does John's gospel present Jesus as divine, but even Mark's gospel and Paul's writings present Jesus as Yahweh. The very earliest evidence there is, possibly from the very decade of Jesus' crucifixion, equates Jesus to Yahweh."
― Nabeel Qureshi - No God but One: Allah or Jesus?: A Former Muslim Investigates the Evidence for Islam and Christianity

"The very earliest Christian records are unanimous: Jesus is God. All four gospels teach that Jesus is divine, and even before they were written, Christians had firmly established God's incarnation as the core of their faith. This was not a teaching that evolved over time but one that was present at the inception of the church and has its roots in Jesus' proclamation."
― Nabeel Qureshi - No God but One: Allah or Jesus?: A Former Muslim Investigates the Evidence for Islam and Christianity

"Is it worth sacrificing everything for the truth? Is the truth worth dying for?"
― Nabeel Qureshi - No God but One: Allah or Jesus?: A Former Muslim Investigates the Evidence for Islam and Christianity