The Cairo Debate — Page 1
The Debate Begins. In January March, 1933, I was in Cairo. I called on various padres so as to expound the gospel of Islam. . One Dr. Philips an American, then in charge of the. Cairo mission - arrested my attention. He was very staunch in his Christian beliefs. From the very beginning he set out to lay emphasis on the Atonement. . Without faith in Atonement and Crucifixion man had no escape from sin, he asserted. This bold claim was at one with neither ordinary reason nor scriptures, I observed. Salvation and Crucifixion are foreign to each other. His claim, therefore, was not justifled, [ maintained. . Dr. Philips was not prepared to accept the truth as readily as that. He advanced to elaborate his claim with greater persistence. There was not anyone sinless in the progeny of Adam but Jesus, the son of. God. He with his death on the cross atoned for our sins. . This doctrine is at issue between Islam and. Christianity. It was settled at last between Dr. Philips and myself to take issue on three points : (1) Besides Jesus, the Messiah, is there anyone. Immaculate ? (2) Was Jesus, the Messiah, truly God? 1