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           Four Ways that God Created Man

        In March of 2008, a group of Muslims in Memphis, Tennessee, invited Dr. Ahmad H. Sakr to lecture on Family Values.  He horrified at least some in the audience (which included many physicians) by starting out with a denunciation of the idea of evolution. He then rescued himself by a wonderful transition story leading into his lecture on family values.  I liked the story so much that I asked his permission to retell it and have retold it frequently. I probably don't do as good a job as he did, but I hope you enjoy it.
(His website is  http://ahmadsakr.com/ )

        Don't believe that that stuff about evolution.  Man was created by God (Dr. Sakr, of course, said "Allah", the Arabic word for God.) God is the only one who can create Man. God is such an expert at creating Man that he has done it in four completely different ways. Count them (holding up fingers) one, two, three, four. Four ways God has Created Man.
        First way. God made a man from nothing, when God made Adam. 
Four ways.
        Second way. God made a woman, starting just from a Man, when God made Eve. 
Four ways, Two times two.  First, Adam. Second, Eve.  Four ways.
         Third way God made Man.  God made a man starting just from a woman, no man, when Mary had Jesus.
Four Ways, God made man. (Counting on fingers:)  Adam, Eve, Jesus.
        (Holding up the fourth finger:)  Everyone else has to cope with both a mother and a father.

        I've been startled at the number of times I've told this in a church Sunday School and a hand has gone up: "You mean the Muslims talk about Jesus?"  I'm a Jew, and get to explain that yes, Muslim sermons frequently mention Jesus, as the prophet who was the human
being closest to God, who ascended into heaven and will return to make judgement,  The Qur'an has many Jesus miracle stories, and actually pays more attention to John the Baptist and to Mary than the New Testament does.

        I've also used the story in another way: to explain to creationists that even if you don't believe in the "long story" version of evolution, everyone does in fact have a mother and a father, that understanding genetics can be essential to  understanding and treating some diseases, so the study of evolution may be necessary, for long-term  help of the sick, even for a creationist.

Edward Ordman posted 2012.

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