Why I am not a Muslim

 Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a member 
 of the Jewish ruling council. He came to Jesus at night and said, 
 "Rabbi, we know you are a teacher who has come from God. For no 
 one could perform the miraculous signs you are doing if God were 
 not with him."....
 
 "You are Israel's teacher," said Jesus, "and do you not understand 
 these things? I tell you the truth, we speak of what we know, and 
 we testify to what we have seen, but still you people do not accept 
 our testimony. 
 I have spoken to you of earthly things 
 and you do not believe; 
 how then will you believe 
 if I speak of heavenly things? 
 -- Gospel according to John 3:1,2,11,12

Gary R. Habermas
The Historical Jesus
Ancient Evidences for the Life of Christ
College Press Publishing Company, Joplin, Missouri, 1996,
ISBN 0-89900-732-5

14

And if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith.

15

More than that, we are then found to be false witnesses about God, for we have testified about God that he raised Christ from the dead. But he did not raise him if in fact the dead are not raised.

16

For if the dead are not raised, then Christ has not been raised either.

17

And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins.

1. Jesus was crucified (see above)
2. The early Christians not only believed the Crucifixion and Resurrection and testified to it as eye-witnesses but made these events the very center of their message.
3. The early Christians put a strong emphasis on the necessity that these accounts are historical to be of any meaning. They knew and stressed the difference between history and fables.

And God spoke all these words: "I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of Egypt
out of the land of slavery
You shall have no other gods before me...." Exodus 20:1-2

Isaiah 42: 

8 "I am the LORD; that is my name! 
 I will not give my glory to another 
 or my praise to idols. 
9 See, the former things have taken place, 
 and new things I declare;
 before they spring into being 
 I announce them to you."

1 "Listen to this,... 
3 I foretold the former things long ago, 
 my mouth announced them and I made them known; 
 then suddenly I acted, and they came to pass. 
4 For I knew how stubborn you were; 
 the sinews of your neck were iron, your forehead was bronze. 
5 Therefore I told you these things long ago; 
 before they happened I announced them to you 
 so that you could not say, 
 `My idols did them; my wooden image and metal god ordained them.' 
6 You have heard these things; look at them all. 
 Will you not admit them?
 "From now on I will tell you of new things, 
 of hidden things unknown to you. 

7 They are created now, and not long ago; 
 you have not heard of them before today. 
 So you cannot say, `Yes, I knew of them.'

14 "Come together, all of you, and listen: 
 Which of [the idols] has foretold these things? 

12

So I will always remind you of these things, even though you know them and are firmly established in the truth you now have.

13

I think it is right to refresh your memory as long as I live in the tent of this body,

14

because I know that I will soon put it aside, as our Lord Jesus Christ has made clear to me.

15

And I will make every effort to see that after my departure you will always be able to remember these things.

16

We did not follow cleverly invented stories when we told you about the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty.

1

That which was from the beginning,
which WE have HEARD,
which WE have SEEN with our eyes,
which WE have LOOKED AT
and our hands have TOUCHED --
this WE proclaim concerning the Word of life.

2

The life appeared;
WE have SEEN it
and testify to it,
and we proclaim to you the eternal life,
which was with the Father and has APPEARED to US.

3

We proclaim to you
what WE have SEEN
and HEARD,...

1 Now, brothers, I want to remind you of the gospel 
 I preached to you, 
 which you received and on which you have taken your stand.
2 By this gospel you are saved, if you hold firmly to the word 
 I preached to you. Otherwise, you have believed in vain.

3 For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: 
 that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures,
4 that he was buried, 
 that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures,

5 and that he appeared to Peter, 
 and then to the Twelve.
6 After that, he appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers 
 at the same time, most of whom are still living, 
 though some have fallen asleep.
7 Then he appeared to James, 
 then to all the apostles,
8 and last of all he appeared to me also, as to one abnormally born.
9 For I am the least of the apostles 
 and do not even deserve to be called an apostle, 
 because I persecuted the church of God.

10 But by the grace of God I am what I am, 
 and his grace to me was not without effect. 
 No, I worked harder than all of them --
 yet not I, but the grace of God that was with me.
11 Whether, then, it was I or they, 
 this is what we preach, 
 and this is what you believed.