Probably one of the worst assertions by Muslims against Jesus Christ is that Jesus didn't die on the cross. If he didn't die, than all of us are still damned for eternity, so we need to confront this challenge 'head on'.

Muslims have to say that he didn't die because the Qur'an says so in Surah 4:157, stipulating that he didn't die, but they thought it so, which suggests that someone was on the cross, and the disciples thought it was he, but it was possibly another man.

Jay finds 5 problems with that verse:

1) Surah 4:157 is confronted by Surah 19:33 where Jesus as a baby says clearly "Bless be me the day I was born, the day I die and the day I rise again", clearly saying that he was to die and rise again (future tense...later, as an adult?

If Muslims say this is a reference to the future 2nd coming then what are they going to do with Surah 19:15 where the same is said of John the Baptist (Yaxya)...certainly he's not coming back at the 2nd coming! They can't have it both ways.

2) Surahs 6:164 and 53:38 both say that no one can take on the guilt of another, and that no one can pay the sin for another, yet what about the man on the cross; isn't he paying the guilt of Issa?

3) Historical witness: Every historical witness says that it was Jesus on the cross, and not anyone else. Take for instance the two Greek scholars Thallus and Phlegon who were debating the issue of Jesus' death in 52 AD, a mere 20 years after it occurred.

Or take for instance Tacitus, a Roman historian, who not only talks about the death but says it happened under Pontius Pilate, during the reign of Tiberius (that's why we know it was in 33 AD).

Or take the reference to the death of Jesus and curiously his intimation that he also rose from the dead, by Josephus, a Jewish historian. Here are three accounts of his death by a Greek, a Roman, and a Jew, all from the 1st and 2nd centuries.

4) Eye-witness testimony: Was there no one who was there who wrote about it? Yes, there were. Let's take John, who was at the foot of the cross, who had been with Jesus for 3 years. Certainly he would have known who was on the cross. Or Mary, Jesus' own mother, she also was at the foot of the cross. Wouldn't a mother know her own son?

And what about the man on the cross? Wouldn't he have said something? Of course he would, but look at what he said..."Father forgive them, for they know not what they do"..."Into your hands I commend my spirit". Does this sound like someone who shouldn't have been there?

5) Finally, what about Issa himself? How could a prophet not die, and let another man die in his place, and then 3 days later appear in the upper room with the disciples and say it was really he. Or a week later when Thomas doubted it was really he, Jesus showed the holes in his hands and his fe
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M4kjmFiaL30