Sunday, May 10, 2009

Debate: Hogan Elijah Hagbard versus Ayaz

My first public debate ever occured in October 2008 between myself and a local Muslim apologist and debater named Ayaz.

The topic was: The Bible or the Qur'an: Which is the Word of God.

Fortunately my brothers from the 'Only Way' team and members of another organisation were present under the debate and were kind enough to record the debate and work on it.

The debate will for the first time be available for everyone to watch on the website of 'The Only Way' team http://www.theonlyway.org.uk/ on Wednesday 13 May 17:00 UK time. The only Way websites focuses primarily on Asian Christians and Muslims. They have future plans to start live programes online, broadcasting live training in apologetics, debates and interviews.
At the moment they broadcast me mainly as a test for the future live channel.

To watch the debate you need to enter the website http://www.theonlyway.org.uk/ then click the box Tow-TV and then click the screen.

The debate is approximately two hours or more; I am sorry about the quality of the sound.

This was my first debate; I have to say here that Ayaz is a much better speaker and debater than me; in addition I had to struggle with the English language. Furthermore, after having watched the debate I noticed that I committed several errors, particularly speaking to fast (a serious problem I am trying to tackle at the moment), including a few wrong answers, which I doubt anyone in the crowd including Ayaz noticed. I must say I got stuck on the question being asked about the Aramaic word for God.

Beside all this I think I managed to give an answer to most of Ayaz's arguments.

It amazed me though that the Muslims were unable to deal with the number of objections I brought up.

The debate was a great event, good atmosphere and fairly calm; Ayaz appears to be a great guy with an excellent integrity. I hope to debate him again or at least that we may be able to arrange further events of this kind.

If the timing is unsuitable, let me know and I will ask the Only Way team to let the debate run again later.

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

Brother

I haven't yet had time to look at the debate but will do so at the first possible moment. What I do appreciate is that you see areas for improvemt and that you are willing to set up to the plate and challange Islam.

nma said...

Hi All,

I used post under the name nma, but now it is Tom.

Some questions about the debates: What happens after a debate? Can muslims convince Christians? Can Christians convince muslims? Has anyone changed the religion because of the debates?

Thanks

Sepher Shalom said...

Hogan,

I will be looking forward to watching your debate Hogan.

I am wondering, is anyone on this site aware of the fact that Shabir Ally apparently tried to have a Christian prosecuted in Canada for a pamphlet with statements against Islam? I found this article:

"In 1997, I was accused, by the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal, of 'hatred towards Muslims' in Toronto, for a pamphlet that I produced. Shabir Ally, a Muslim cleric, was seeking the charges. However the case was dropped due to a lack of evidence." ArticleI'm still trying to find out what the pamphlet said. Anyone know anything about this?

Unknown said...

Hogan:I had to struggle with the English language

How come? Aren't you a native, white Englisman?

Hogan Elijah Hagbard said...

Ibn wrote:

How come? Aren't you a native, white Englisman?

Elijah replies:

Ibn,

It seems to me that you know me, have we ever met?

Hogan Elijah Hagbard said...

There is actually a black box on the right side on the home page of http://www.theonlyway.org.uk/, which contains a presentation of the debate.

Fernando said...

And... whate aboute the lattest debates?