The Problem of Preaching...

Anytime we try to convince others of a truth based upon our presuppositions, we will have our presuppositions questioned.  Some would say that is the basic purpose of teenagers.

Muhammad went to the pagan believers with a message of repentance based on the coming judgment day.

First they questioned: How will we get to a judgment day, if we are already dead?

Muhammad says: God will raise you from the dead.

They responded: No one can raise the dead!  Once you are dead, that's it!

Muhammad says: Is anything impossible for God?

They responded: What has God done that even comes close to that scale of creation?

Muhammad says: Well, how about creating you from sperm?  How about creating the earth?  How about sending out winds, sometimes to our benefit, sometimes with destruction?  How about the sky-- can you find a flaw in it?

They say: Well, perhaps, perhaps not.  But even so, how do we know that anyone will actually be judged?

Muhammad says: Because some have already been judged by God.  The generation of Noah, Pharaoh of old, Sodom and Gomorrah, and some of our own generation has been punished and we will freely admit "Oh yes, they have been punished by God."  If some are judged this way, why not all?  Will God not determine justice for all the earth?

At this point they will get uncomfortable and leave.

And the preacher keeps on preaching, and some will believe and many will not.  That is the state of being a preacher.