Muslims are taught that the Bible is not true because it was corrupted. There are some Christians who enter into discussions that are essentially book-versus-book, and they can be very successful. They have usually studied Christian apologetics for years, and have very strong foundations in discussing these matters. They know how to show, through historical evidence, that the Bible is intact as it was spoken and that it is true. They also understand the Koran and Muslim thinking very well.
More often than not, when people without those skills try to do the same thing, a book-versus-book argument occurs and there is no good solution, just a useless argument. When I was a Muslim, I got into many of these, and none of the arguments that the Christians were using made me journey any closer towards Christ because I already knew the gospel and rejected it because I did not believe the Bible. I and many MBBs that I encounter have the feeling that it is better to not specifically reference the chapter and verse of the text that you were referring to if you get into an argument debating the relative merits of the Bible and the Quran. It is often better to paraphrase it and give the Muslim the content of the Bible without specifically referencing it. Then a discussion can occur about the content of the Bible without an unfruitful and often angry argument.
Discipling Muslim Background Believers discusses methodologies to use when encountering Muslims who seem unwilling to consider Christian ideas at all. The methods have successfully been used by others. They include using specific analogies that are culturally effective, as well as reasoning that does not usually trigger book-versus-book arguments that prevent a Muslim hearing the Gospel. Please note that describing the methodologies — which are short when used — would make this post too long.
Keywords: Muslim ministry, objection, method, skeptic