Grand Central Question: Answering the Critical Concerns of the Major Worldviews

228 Pages·2014·1.3 MB·English

by  Abdu H. Murray

GRAND
CENTRAL
QUESTION
Answering the Critical Concerns
of the Major Worldviews
ABDU H. MURRAY
Foreword by Josh McDowell
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InterVarsity Press
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©2014 by Abdu H. Murray
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Scripture quotations, unless otherwise noted, are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version, copyright
© 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Unless otherwise noted, all Qu’ran quotations are taken from Abdullah Yusuf Ali, The Holy Qur’an:
Translation and Commentary (Damascus: Ouloom AlQuran, 1934).
While all stories in this book are true, some names and identifying information in this book have been
changed to protect the privacy of the individuals involved.
Design: Cindy Kiple
Images:
crushed white paper: © dbabbage/iStockphoto
trains: © Leontura/iStockphoto
ISBN 978-0-8308-9621-9 (digital)
ISBN 978-0-8308-3665-9 (print)
For all those who labor for answers that touch the heart and stir the mind.
Contents
Foreword by Josh McDowell
Prologue: What Truth Costs—What Truth Is Worth
1 Grand Central Questions
PART ONE: Secular Humanism or the Gospel
Which Provides Us with Intrinsic Value and Objective Purpose?
2 Secular Humanism—The Secular Search
3 Saying Nothing as Loud as We Can
4 Will the Real Humanism Please Stand Up?
PART TWO: Eastern and Western Spirituality or the Gospel
Which Gives Real Answers to Suffering?
5 Pantheism and Pain
6 Escaping the Escapism
PART THREE: Islam or the Gospel
Which Tells Us About God’s Greatness?
7 From Whence Comes God’s Greatness?
8 God’s Greatness and the Preservation of the Gospel
9 God’s Triune Greatness
10 Greatness Incarnate
Epilogue: A Worldview That Views the Whole World
Acknowledgments
Notes
Praise for Grand Central Question
About the Author
More Titles from InterVarsity Press
Foreword
If you care about the truth, this book is for you. I say that regardless of
whether you’re a Christian or a non-Christian.
Here’s why I’m so confident about that. For more than fifty years, I’ve been
talking to people all over the world about ultimate truth. I’ve spoken to big
audiences at packed arenas; I’ve lectured at meetings of political and business
leaders; and I’ve spoken to waiters, cab drivers and hotel staff members. No
matter how different people are and no matter what their walk of life or
profession, they all have questions about ultimate truth. The nuances in those
questions can be as different as the people asking, but the substance of those
questions is similar.
People are looking for answers to the deepest questions in life. Some think
that they have found the answers in a particular worldview or religion, but many
are still looking. Maybe their worldview gives them answers to only some of
their questions. Maybe it doesn’t even get that far. The point is, they are looking.
This book, Grand Central Question, is meant both for the people looking for
those answers and for those who want to know how to provide the answers
lovingly and intelligently.
When sincere seekers ask for answers to challenging questions, many
Christians are left without much to say. It’s frustrating that Christians have the
most important things to say about the most important questions in life, yet
they’re often silent because they’re timid, frustrated or overly cautious about
engaging with someone about difficult issues. Some Christians might be timid
because they think they don’t know how to answer tough questions or how to
articulate the answers persuasively. They might be frustrated because they feel
they don’t know enough about a questioner’s background or worldview to be
able to talk to him. And some Christians might be so afraid of offending
someone by saying that Jesus is the only way to God that they never actually say
anything.
But people deserve to be told Jesus’ message in a persuasive way. In Grand
Central Question, Abdu has provided us with a way to get around those barriers
to sharing the truth. This book aims at both the heart and the mind when it
presents biblically centered answers to the fundamental questions we’ve all had.
That’s how I know that this book is for you. If you’re a Christian, Grand
Central Question will give you the confidence, understanding and method to be
able to offer profound answers to significant questions. If you’re not a Christian,
and you want to know if the gospel has anything to offer that will not only
satisfy your intellectual quest but also be relevant to your life, you’ll find these
answers clearly articulated in Grand Central Question.
I recommend this book to you because of the way Abdu has blended
questions of the mind with issues of the heart. He has done his homework, and
he’s pulled no punches in comparing the major worldviews with the answers
provided by the gospel of Jesus Christ. But he’s done so with winsomeness and
understanding. You see, Abdu wasn’t raised in the church. He spent most of his
life as a Muslim. In his effort to spread the message of Islam, he tested the
claims that other worldviews made, including atheism, Eastern religions, Islam
and Christianity. He put them all to the test, and at the end of the day, he found
that the Christian faith stood up to the challenges. He found that the gospel
didn’t just give emotional answers. And he found that it didn’t just provide
intellectual answers. He found that it was worth believing because the
intellectual answers it provided to the toughest questions were emotionally
satisfying.
Abdu’s experience as a lawyer and his knowledge of real-life observation
have allowed him to do two things in writing Grand Central Question. First, he
has kept the perspective of what it’s like to be a non-Christian investigating
Christianity and dealing with Christians. That’s no small thing. If you’re a
Christian, your witness for Christ is made better when you know what the person
you are talking with is going through or is thinking about. Abdu presents the
material in this book in a way that puts you in the mindset of the truth seeker so
you can present the gospel with credibility. If you’re not a Christian, you’ll find
that Abdu has taken the time to understand what you think about Christians and
Christianity as you explore what it has to offer. He knows what it’s like to ask
the hard questions. He knows what it’s like to not necessarily be thrilled when
you find these answers, because sometimes the truth hurts. And Abdu knows
what it is like to take the plunge and embrace the truth despite the pain. He
knows it’s worth it.
Second, Abdu’s experience and research, both in dealing with followers of
every worldview and from his background as a former Muslim, allow him to get
right to the heart of the answers different groups are looking for and how the
gospel can give those answers. By getting to the core issues, Grand Central
Question gives us answers that speak to people of many different worldviews
without requiring us to have a doctorate in comparative religions to do so. Abdu
has cut right to the issues that secular humanists care about. He has examined the
heart of what pantheists think is ultimately important. He has fairly and
compassionately demonstrated what Muslims strive for in trying to submit to
God. Abdu has validated their searches, and he has validated their questions. But
he offers the gospel’s answers as the best and, in fact, the only answers to those
questions.
I highly recommend that you read this book from start to finish. Don’t skip
the prologue. If you miss what Abdu says there, you’ll miss something critical to
understanding how everyone struggles with the questions that matter most and
how the truth can get lost in the struggle. But once you’ve read the prologue, you
can jump to any major part of the book. If you want to try to understand
Muslims, jump to part 3. If you are trying to understand what pantheists are
concerned with and how the gospel addresses that concern, dive into part 2. And
if secular humanist issues concern you, by all means, start at part 1.
But I urge you to read the entire book, and here’s why: If a worldview is
true, it should answer all of life’s fundamental and central questions coherently.
By the time you turn the last page of this book, you’ll see how Abdu has shown
that the gospel is the worldview that does that.
It’s rare to read a book that blends uncompromising conviction with
compassion and understanding. When there’s too much emphasis on conviction,
the truth may sound obnoxious and repulsive. But if there’s too much emphasis
on compassion, we wind up saying nothing because we’re afraid to hurt feelings.
In the pages of this book, Abdu has balanced conviction and compassion
because he has the right attitude. He addresses ideas while respecting people.
That’s how I know this book is for you.
If you are a Christian and you want to learn how to share your faith
confidently, this book is for you. If you’re not a Christian, but you’ve been
looking for the answers that will stimulate your mind and inspire your heart, this
book is for you too.
Josh McDowell
Author and speaker
Prologue
What Truth Costs—What Truth Is
Worth
His illness was grave, a heart condition as I recall, and he was facing a risky
medical procedure. He had been in the hospital for several days before I was
invited to visit him. Probably in his midfifties, he was alone in the United States
as he waited for his children to arrive from the Middle East. He was no longer
married, either because his wife had passed away or because they were divorced.
But regardless, he was alone.
And afraid.
A woman who had heard me speak about Islam and my journey from Islam
to Christ invited me to visit the man and share the gospel with him. She served
as a Christian chaplain at the hospital and had stopped in to ask the man if he
needed any spiritual support. He told her that he was a Muslim, and they struck
up a conversation about their respective faiths and their opinions about Jesus. As
their conversation progressed, his questions became increasingly difficult to
answer, and the fact that English was his second language didn’t help. Having
heard me talk about the evidence for the Christian faith and how it factored so
heavily in my own conversion from Islam, she thought of me and asked the man
if I could visit him to address his questions. He agreed, and she called me
straightaway.
Before I knew it, I was riding up an elevator smelling of disinfectant to share
Christ with a man I had never met. As the elevator doors opened on his floor, I
expected to face many of the same challenges I myself had put to Christians who
shared the gospel with me. Little did I realize that the usual intellectual and
theological questions that Muslims lodge against the gospel would not be the
main topic of our discussion. Instead, I would be reminded of something far
more profound.
The harsh lights of his hospital room greeted us as my wife and I walked in
at the chaplain’s invitation. She smiled and made our introductions. Despite his