Jesus being Tempted by the Devil
One interesting thing about the recent debate with Adnan Rashid and James White was the use of Psalm 91. A few months ago, Zakir Hussain used this argument against James White in a debate. Both times, James White didn’t have an answer. Seeing as how this has been used by more than one apologist, it seems to be a new apologetic tactic. Unfortunately White didn’t do his homework after the Hussain debate. The response isn’t a difficult one but it needs to be presented so here it goes.
Between 1:30:00 and 1:40:00 this passage was discussed. Rashid brought up Psalm 91 and how it related to Matthew and Luke Chapter 4. I want to start with Luke and then go to Matthew. This is the episode where Jesus is tempted by the Devil. Luke 4: 9 – 13 reads as such:
The devil led him to Jerusalem and had him stand on the highest point of the temple. “If you are the Son of God,” he said, “throw yourself down from here. For it is written:
“‘He will command his angels concerning you
to guard you carefully;
they will lift you up in their hands,
so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.’”
Jesus answered, “It is said: ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’”
When the devil had finished all this tempting, he left him until an opportune time.
The portion in bold is Pslam 91: 11 – 12. Rashid points out that Jesus doesn’t deny this interpretation applying to Him, though to be fair He doesn’t approve it either. Did Jesus accept this interpretation of the Devil? I actually agree with Rashid that by His silence He accepted this interpretation.
The first portion of the Psalm quoted by Rashid says:
He will command his angels concerning you
to guard you carefully;
In other words, angels will come to protect Jesus. This episode in Matthew gives us more detail. Let us look at it.
Then the devil took him to the holy city and had him stand on the highest point of the temple. “If you are the Son of God,” he said, “throw yourself down. For it is written:
“‘He will command his angels concerning you,
and they will lift you up in their hands,
so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.’”
Jesus answered him, “It is also written: ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’”
Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor. “All this I will give you,” he said, “if you will bow down and worship me.”
Jesus said to him, “Away from me, Satan! For it is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only.’”
Then the devil left him, and angels came and attended him.
The angels came and attended Christ! These are the angels spoken of in the passage that the Devil quoted. Why is this a problem for Rashid? Because God is protecting Jesus during the first part of his ministry. Yes, God is protecting Him, and guarding Him from death with His angels. However, this is very early on in the Jesus story and not at the time of the cross as Rashid would like it to be.
If the Devil were to tempt Christ with this verse when He was on the cross, then it would be a problem for the Christian position. However, it is not on the cross but in the early stages of His preaching. Dr. White needs to do research on this Psalm. He’s been stumped twice. I’d hate to see him stumped again.
Sam Shamoun has done a full refutation of the misuse of the verses in the Zakir Hussain debate. I recommend that everyone listen to them because we all need to be able to answer these verses. Especially if you’re an apologist.
Shamoun is very difficult to listen to because he wastes so much time at the beginning with insults and calling those Muslims he named, “the sewage of Islam”. Not a good evangelistic method. He is not a prophet or apostle and he does not know hearts or motives; so the Scriptures never give him permission to just call people names at the beginning of a presentation. Jesus and the prophets and apostles could do that, but the NT never gives him permission for that. He is terrible at interpreting historical narrative and thinking he has the right to act like that. All that anger and insulting at the beginning will never get a Muslim to actually listen to him. It would be better if the relevant content was typed out without all the wasting time of the sinful anger and insults and defending himself as a bold prophet / apostle. His whole approach is shameful. He also needs to learn to edit videos and get rid of all the “are you all here?” “ready”, “can you hear me?” – what a waste of time to try and listen. Laborious and ponderous to seek to get to the meat of the issues.
Hi Ken,
One doesn’t need to agree with Shamoun’s method and harshness of tone to appreciate his good responses. I do admit that he needed to edit out portions and get to the thick of things. I usually listen to things like this when I’m on my evening walk.
That is what I have been telling him for several years now – he has some good content – if he would repent of his sinful anger and nastiness and just speak the truth in principle and intellectual argumentation and do with a humble spirit ( & love – Ephesians 4:15; I peter 3:15 (apologetics AND respect and gentleness); maybe Muslims would listen to him. But I fear it is too late; they have already written him off as an angry nut-job with mental issues.
Only certain kinds of Christians are listening to him nowadays, it seems. His method and style is a turn-off and waste of time and discredits the good content.
Also, the way he prays seems like he thinks saying words in prayer is a kind of magic, but after he prays he just turns right around and starts with the insults and anger.
Muslims and others cannot believe that is from the Holy Spirit; so all that pious words of “praying” is actually a noxious smell and noisy gong. “If I have not love, I am nothing.”
Shamoun needs to read John Crotts book, “Graciousness: Tempering Truth with Love”.
Then the devil left him, and angels came and attended him.
The angels came and attended Christ! These are the angels spoken of in the passage that the Devil quoted. Why is this a problem for Rashid? Because God is protecting Jesus during the first part of his ministry. Yes, God is protecting Him, and guarding Him from death with His angels. However, this is very early on in the Jesus story and not at the time of the cross as Rashid would like it to be.
If the Devil were to tempt Christ with this verse when He was on the cross, then it would be a problem for the Christian position. However, it is not on the cross but in the early stages of His preaching.
This is good; but I don’t remember Shamoun covering any of this at all; – if he did make that point that you made, then I didn’t hear it probably because when I tried to listen to him, his presentations are filled with so much other extraneous garbage that I stopped listening to him.
I honestly can’t remember what Shamoun’s answer was for Psalm 91, but his overall presentation was good. I liked his responses to Pslam 116, Psalm 31, and the prayer of Christ in the Garden of Gethsemane.
Sadly, Ken’s comments regarding Sam Shamoun’s ministry sums things up all too well.
I am sorry to say this because I gained a great deal from listening to Sam Shamoun but I can no longer stand listening to him. This is a great shame because he is intelligent and knowledgeable. Passion for his subject does not excuse bad manners. I can well understand his anger towards the lies of Islam, but to give vent to it will not win people over to the Truth.
How I used to chuckle when I listened to “Jesus or Muhammed?” and heard him pause before is contribution in order to say a prayer so that he could preach in the right spirit with love and humility (and it was exactly the right thing to say!) before having a real go at the Muslims who phoned in to the show. Both he and David Wood would shout down and bully and gang up on their callers in particular Mr Shamoun – it was embarrassing to listen to. I supposed at the time that that was a deliberate tactic to account for dealing with people from a culture that tended to think that authority was declared by passion, but unfortunately he has gone too far. (Since that time David Wood has moderated his tone and approach since then and has become a very effective Christian apologist and debater – Sam Shamoun has been left far behind.)
That is a real shame because I learned a lot from listening to Sam Shamoun and he was probably the first person I listened to that brought the Old Testament alive to me by showing how it was consistent with the New Testament, even though (to my mind) it was limited by being a collection of myths and fables that stumbled imperfectly towards a better realisation of who God is and what His plan is.
Sam Shamoun could be a real asset to Christianity but as Ken has pointed out he just comes across as an angry nutter; the man lacks grace and I think he has blown it. Given the fact that his poor behaviour is recorded on modern media they will always be brought to the fore again no matter what he does henceforth. Sam Shamoun can no longer expect to be effective in his dealings with Muslims. His attacks on James White were really bad too. I really, really wish I wasn’t saying this about Sam Shamoun. I would love it if he turned things around and used his gifts and his passion in a really wholesome way.
Who did he call sewage this time?
Shamoun truly is harsh and abrasive, but “sewage” is, unfortunately, one of the first things that popped out in my head while reading/listening to the “stuff” produced by Ijaz Ahmad and Yahya Snow. Like seriously, what is the first thing that comes to your mind while reading apologetic “masterpieces” like this one- https://callingchristians.com/?s=10+questions ?
There is a difference between calling someone’s arguments garbage, vs. calling them as human beings, “garbage” (or sewage). Shamoun attacks the person rather than their arguments. The article you linked to is about Muslim arguments and questions. It is better to engage their arguments rather than just calling them names. Just the fact that these are the most common questions / issues that thinking Muslims bring up and as Dr. White, “hello, they (Muslims, atheists, skeptics, etc.) have computers, and read and do research!!” – we need to deal with those arguments rather than just calling them “sewage”. It makes the Christian who reacts that way look really childish and bad and causes an unbeliever to think, “see, the Christians really are dumb fundamentalists with no brain.” or “sinfully angry & mentally ill” (like the way they accuse Shamoun of)
I hope to find time to actually read through all of those arguments by Ijaz Ahmad – the first one is complicated, because of the nature of the evidence that we have from the 2nd Century, but the way Ijaz and other Muslims, AND Roman Catholics and liberals, frame the question, is that they give the impression that NONE of the NT existed until the provincial North African councils in the late 300s and Athanasius’ list in 367 AD.
Ijaz ignored the fact that both Irenaeus and Tertullian quoted from as Scripture or referred to, 22 out of the 27 books of the NT by 180-200 AD.
Earlier writers used and alluded to some, but earlier writers, of what we have, did not write much. (Polycarp, Ignatius, Clement of Rome, Didache, Shepherd of Hermas, Pseudo-Barnabas, and Justin Martyr (who refers to the memoirs of the apostles and obviously knew about the Gospel of John, for he wrote a lot about Jesus as the Logos, and born of the virgin Mary, etc.
Also, Origen actually did list all the NT 27 books earlier than Athanasius. Origen, around 250 AD. (Died in 254 AD) See the link to the details on Origen’s list at Dr. Kruger’s cite, within this link.
https://apologeticsandagape.wordpress.com/2014/05/10/sola-scriptura-the-canon-and-roman-catholicism/
I’m not trying to justify Shamoun’s behaviour, I’m just saying that I fully understand how such ludicrous butchering of God’s word and historical facts could anger a sincere believer, especially a short-tempered one. Ahmad tries to create the impression that he is well-versed in Biblical studies and Church history, but in reality he is just another insolent dawahmonger. He would throw in anything, even the most egregious lies and distortions, if that would help him trick ignorant Christians into embracing Islam. He pretty much reminds me of Bassam Zawadi, another unfortunate dawagandist that was using similar tactics. Just like Zawadi, Ahmad likes to accuse falsely his opponents of committing logical fallacies, while at the same time he commits myriad of them, hoping that his readers are even worse than him and won’t take notice of that. That’s both sad and pathetic. And I fully agree, Christians should be prepared to counter this kind of polemics.
James White is not afraid to critique rogue Christians.
https://bloggingtheology.net/2018/02/07/james-white-echoes-what-muslims-have-said-about-jay-smiths-student-lizzie-schofield/
Hi Yahya,
I’m well aware. James White has responded to posts on my blog on the DL before. He spent over an hour going after me once. See below.
Fame at last, eh? Not bad to be so distinguished, he didn’t even answer my email and it was a very complimentary one (I did mention that I am Catholic – I hope that didn’t have anything to do with it). I admire James White, and I really like him, even when I think he is wrong.
As usual though, too many words, they flow out like a torrent. (Dr White is at his best when pitted against someone he can debate with, that gives him focus.)
What some protestants appear to misunderstand is that the Catholic church (inc. Orthodox) is best-suited to large congregations, more than just the small (but dedicated congregations) that may be found in some protestant churches. Such congregations need a leader and a focus, and that is provided by the altar and the priests (I could put this better but I don’t have the time).
There are many things in Protestantism that I agree with and there are things that perhaps should be otherwise in the Roman Catholic church but the really important point is this…..it is wrong for us to be apart, we should be together even though we might have differences in interpretation and opinion.
I suppose I am not a very orthodox Roman Catholic, but I am a member of the church all the same and would not be separated from my fellows.
I heard this citation of Psalm 91 too, and was waiting for Nabeel to respond to it – but that was not his focus.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RO1qBclQ5Bg
Glad you covered it here!