This one is pretty short. Christians believe that Jesus is God who became man. (See our other pages for details on the doctrine of the incarnation.)

The usual Muslim approach is to point to a number of New Testament verses which clearly show that Jesus is a man. And then to conclude: Therefore he is not God.

But obviously this argument misses the boat. Christians do believe that Jesus is a man. So, the Muslim has not shown us anything new. The issue is the selective reading of the Bible by the Muslim. Obviously the Christian understanding is the result of observing in our scriptures that Jesus is described with both human and divine attributes. Telling us about the human ones does in no way obliterate the divine attributes. The claims to deity by Jesus are the verses the Muslim needs to deal with, not those attesting to Jesus' humanity.

This example is the most prominent in this category which is the reason that I chose it to give this fallacy a name.

But it is the same fallacy when arguing about the Trinity. We do believe that God is three in one. But God is ONE. Every Christian will affirm this and defend this. If the Muslim shows us Bible verses that clearly state that God is one, then he has affirmed not contradicted us. The evidence he needs to deal with is those verses that show the divinity of Jesus and the Holy Spirit. The step from "God is one" to "therefore he is not three in one" is the logical fallacy.

After establishing that there is only one God, we still have to ask what kind of God is it? A unitarian or a trinitarian God?

Logical Fallacies of Muslim Apologetics
Answering Islam Home Page