Zakir Naik Exposed

Dr. Zakir Naik Makes 25 mistakes in 5 min

Zakir Naik gives the impression that he is a very learned man as he effortlessly quotes [selected] verses from the Bible. However, there is much less than meets the eye. Often times he quotes Scripture out of context in order to impose an alien teaching on the Bible, like claiming that the Bible teaches about the coming of Muhammad. I shall leave the easy task of refuting his ludicrous claims to other writers.

For the moment I invite readers to view the following YouTube episode which exposes Zakir Naik’s habit of making flippant and misleading claims (some people would call them lies). LINK – Zakir Naik Makes 25 Mistakes in 5 Minutes –  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2g-eykmCuus

Zakir Naik gets away with his outrageous lies because he makes sure that he controls the mic in front of the crowd, usually consisting of simple common folks who do not know enough to challenge him.

Zakir Naik Distorts the Teaching of Jesus by Ignoring his Actual Words
In a recent video Zakir Naik challenges a young Christian girl to prove that Jesus says that if one accepts Jesus as savior, one will go to heaven. Well, we can easily point to him many passages in the Gospel of John where Jesus Christ challenges the Jews to believe in him. Every young Christian knows John 14:6 – Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”

Be sure that Zakir Naik will insist that Jesus did not say “accept me as savior and you will go to heaven”. This is an evasion that restricts meaning to a few exact words on terms set by Zakir Naik. It is more important to understand what Jesus actually means in his own words. Jesus is surely declaring himself to be the savior when he says he comes into the world to save sinners:
Luke 19:10 // Matt 18:11 – Jesus says, “For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost.”

This may not be an exact phrase “I am the savior” but surely Jesus means exactly the same thing.

Zakir Naik remains ignorant of Jesus the savior because he ignores the full testimony of the Bible, especially the testimony of his chosen and inspired apostles like the apostle Peter, John and Paul. This is like a Muslim ignoring Allah because he rejects the testimony of his messenger, Prophet Muhammad.

I shall just cite two verses from the testimony of Jesus’ inspired apostles:
John 3:17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.
1Timothy 1:15 Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners

Zakir Naik needs to go beyond quoting from a few selected verses and take into account the comprehensive teaching of the Jesus and his apostles.
Zakir Naik willfully deprives himself of spiritual understanding when he insists that salvation of Christ be restricted to the phrase to “go to heaven”. Jesus did not use this phrase for the simple reason that it does not capture the full dimensions of salvation. Unlike Zakir Naik, Jesus spoke the language of his fellow Jews, who like other Semites prefer to use more concrete imageries.

This is evident from the Gospel of John where Jesus tells the Jews he is “the bread of life” (John 6:35ff), the Light of the world (John 8:12, 9:5), the door (John 10:7, 9), the good shepherd (John 10:11, 14), the resurrection and the life (John 11:25) and the vine (John 15:1, 5). Basically, these words promise that anyone who comes to Jesus (believe) will enjoy the blessing of wellbeing, wholeness, guidance, safety, abundant life, knowledge of saving truth etc.  This salvation is climaxed in John 17:3 “Now this is eternal life: that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.”

Jesus presents himself as the savior and describes his salvation in concrete imageries that are more vivid and arresting than the phrase “go to heaven”. To restrict the claims and promises of Jesus to the phrase limited by Zakir Naik would be to shortchange oneself of the full knowledge of Jesus the savior and his salvation.

Zakir Naik challenged the young lady to keep to the Bible and not look elsewhere, but he himself ignores the many words of Jesus recorded in the gospels. His claim to be more ‘Christian’ than Christians by following the teachings of Jesus Christ is simply baseless since he fails to take seriously Jesus’ teaching in his own words and thereby misunderstands Jesus. Zakir Naik should stop playing word games with young and vulnerable Christians as he ends up distorting the teaching of Jesus Christ and showing disrespect to the Savior of the world.