Latest / WOAY Podcasts / Bible Answer Man Podcast with Hank Hanegraaff - Q&A: Old Testament Law, Suicide, and Internet Pornography

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Bible Answer Man Podcast with Hank Hanegraaff - Q&A: Old Testament Law, Suicide, and Internet Pornography · WOAY Podcasts

• 0:07
  Speaker 1: Heard all across the United States, Canada, and around the world.
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: This is the Bible Answer Man broadcast with Hank Hanegraaff.
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: Hank is president of the Christian Research Institute. At CRI,
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: our desire is to equip you to not only defend
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: the historic Christian faith, but become an apprentice of Jesus
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: Christ because life and truth matter. To learn more or
• 0:31
  Speaker 1: to find resources to help you grow in grace, call 888-7000-CRI.
• 0:39
  Speaker 1: That's 888-7000-274. Or go to our website at equip.org. The
• 0:45
  Speaker 1: following program was pre-recorded. And now, here's Hank Hanegraaff.
• 0:50
  Speaker 2: Thank you very much, Randy. We'll go right to our callers.
• 0:52
  Speaker 2: First up is Brett, listening in Austin, Texas.
• 0:55
  Speaker 3: Hi, Brett.
• 0:56
  Speaker 4: Hi, how are you?
• 0:57
  Speaker 2: I'm good, how are you?
• 0:58
  Speaker 4: I had a question about a man named Steve McVeigh,
• 1:02
  Speaker 4: who is president of Grace Walk Ministries. I was just
• 1:06
  Speaker 4: wondering if you've heard of him, and if you have
• 1:09
  Speaker 4: any insight on him.
• 1:10
  Speaker 2: Well, the criticism we have of his ministry is essentially
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  Speaker 2: centered around the fact that he believes that as a Christian,
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  Speaker 2: there is no necessity to confess your sin or to
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  Speaker 2: ask God for forgiveness. And we believe in a Christian worldview,
• 1:27
  Speaker 2: this is something that Christians do. And the reason is,
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  Speaker 2: first of all, it's biblically driven. Secondly, if we don't
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  Speaker 2: confess our sins, we do not break our union with God,
• 1:40
  Speaker 2: but we can hamper our communion with God. And so
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  Speaker 2: we are taught in Scripture to confess our sins knowing
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  Speaker 2: that He is faithful and just He will forgive us
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  Speaker 2: our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
• 1:57
  Speaker 5: All right.
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  Speaker 4: Yeah, I guess I didn't get that far in his
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  Speaker 4: book yet. There were some red flags that really, I
• 2:03
  Speaker 4: was like, okay, that doesn't sound quite right. So I
• 2:07
  Speaker 4: knew you'd have some insight on it, and I thank
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  Speaker 4: you for it.
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  Speaker 2: You get it.
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  Speaker 6: All right, thanks.
• 2:11
  Speaker 2: Appreciate your call. We'll go back to the phone lines,
• 2:13
  Speaker 2: talk to Rachel, listening in Raleigh, North Carolina. Hi, Rachel.
• 2:17
  Speaker 7: Hi there, Hank. I'm a first-time caller, but I really
• 2:20
  Speaker 7: enjoy your show. I have a question about the Old Testament.
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  Speaker 7: Some of the parts of the law, like especially in Leviticus,
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  Speaker 7: seem super logical and easy to understand, and some parts
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  Speaker 7: seem very difficult to put into practice these days. So
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  Speaker 7: how are we to interpret the Testament?
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, well, I mean, it's really important to understand that
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  Speaker 2: not all law is law, which is to say... that
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  Speaker 2: there are civil and ceremonial laws given in the Old
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  Speaker 2: Testament which are abrogated in the New Testament. For example,
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  Speaker 2: we do not have to assume today that the ceremonial
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  Speaker 2: law regarding shellfish applies to us. It doesn't. In fact,
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  Speaker 2: Jesus made that explicit when he said it's not what
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  Speaker 2: goes into a man's mouth and out through his body
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  Speaker 2: that defiles him. It is what proceeds from the heart.
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  Speaker 2: And then Mark adds the note, in saying this, Jesus
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  Speaker 2: declared all foods clean. So the point here is that
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  Speaker 2: civil and ceremonial laws have been abrogated, and the reason
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  Speaker 2: is Jesus Christ has fulfilled them. In fact, if you
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  Speaker 2: read the book of Hebrews, Hebrews makes plain that to
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  Speaker 2: go back to types and shadows, when the substance has come,
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  Speaker 2: is tantamount to trampling upon the sacred blood of Jesus Christ. Now,
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  Speaker 2: there are moral aspects of the law that apply today,
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  Speaker 2: which is to say we can say of certainty that
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  Speaker 2: the Ten Commandments apply today, even the commandment with regards
• 4:01
  Speaker 2: to the Sabbath, which is to say that the Sabbath
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  Speaker 2: is now in celebration of the rest we have through
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  Speaker 2: Jesus Christ. And that's why the day has changed, but
• 4:11
  Speaker 2: the cycle hasn't changed. So we work six days, we
• 4:15
  Speaker 2: rest one in honor... of the rest that we find
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  Speaker 2: in Jesus Christ, who liberates us from bondage to sin
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  Speaker 2: and death through the power of his resurrection.
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  Speaker 7: Well, could you explain how to interpret something like women
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  Speaker 7: should cover their head or men should not cut their
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  Speaker 7: sideburns or you should not be homosexual? I mean, are
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  Speaker 7: those both the same?
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  Speaker 2: No, they're not the same. When we speak of homosexuality,
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  Speaker 2: we're talking about an enduring moral law. When we talk
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  Speaker 2: about certain aspects of the law, they are, for example,
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  Speaker 2: when we're told that we are to greet one another
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  Speaker 2: with a holy kiss, the principle there is a universal principle.
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  Speaker 2: The way in which that principle is expressed is not universal.
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  Speaker 2: The laws with respect to homosexuality, however, have never been abrogated.
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  Speaker 2: In other words, they're enduring moral laws, and they're laws
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  Speaker 2: that are made in the Old Testament and then repeated
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  Speaker 2: in the New Testament in such a way that we
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  Speaker 2: understand that Christ is ultimately setting parameters around our lives
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  Speaker 2: so that our joy might be complete. Which is to
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  Speaker 2: say that he has created us in such a way
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  Speaker 2: that we are to function in concert with his principles,
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  Speaker 2: and when we don't, we bear... the marks of that
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  Speaker 2: psychologically and physiologically as well. And that's why those laws
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  Speaker 2: have been set there in place for our protection.
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  Speaker 8: Okay.
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  Speaker 7: Well, this will definitely help me in my study.
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  Speaker 6: I appreciate it.
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  Speaker 2: You got it. Appreciate your call. I want to go
• 5:54
  Speaker 2: back to the phone lines. Talk next to Tom. He's
• 5:57
  Speaker 2: listening in Maryland. Hi, Tom.
• 6:00
  Speaker 7: Hi.
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  Speaker 5: I appreciate you.
• 6:01
  Speaker 4: Taking my call.
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  Speaker 5: I apologize for the question because I know it's one
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  Speaker 5: you've answered several times each week, and it's about the
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  Speaker 5: triune God. And no one's ever asked this question that
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  Speaker 5: I have heard. My question is, if it's God, Jesus,
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  Speaker 5: and the Holy Spirit are one, when Jesus was baptized
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  Speaker 5: by John, God came down and spoke and said, you know,
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  Speaker 5: this is my son who I'm well pleased. I'm just
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  Speaker 5: wondering how that happened, how that kind of works into it.
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  Speaker 2: Well, I think it actually makes the point of the Trinity.
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  Speaker 2: There are three planks in the Trinitarian platform. The first
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  Speaker 2: is that there's only one God. And when we say
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  Speaker 2: there's only one God, we're talking about the nature or
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  Speaker 2: essence of God. The second plank of the Trinitarian platform
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  Speaker 2: is that the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are God.
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  Speaker 2: We are told the Father is God in Scripture, the
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  Speaker 2: Son is God in Scripture, the Holy Spirit is God
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  Speaker 2: in Scripture. But the third plank the Trinitarian platform makes
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  Speaker 2: clear that Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are eternally distinct.
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  Speaker 2: So when the Father sends the Son, or the Father
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  Speaker 2: speaks from heaven during the baptism of Jesus Christ, we
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  Speaker 2: are seeing identity formed and completed on the basis of
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  Speaker 2: relationships within the Godhead. So the Father sends the Son,
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  Speaker 2: the Son prays to the Father, The son sends the
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  Speaker 2: counselor and so forth. So that's precisely what we have
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  Speaker 2: in Trinitarian doctrine, that there's one God revealed in three
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  Speaker 2: persons who are eternally distinct. Now, I've said this many
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  Speaker 2: times in the broadcast. That's not something that I comprehend.
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  Speaker 2: It's only something that I apprehend. That's what the Bible teaches.
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  Speaker 2: And because I'm not philosophically driven, I'm biblically driven, I
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  Speaker 2: bow my knee before God's revelation of himself to me. Now,
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  Speaker 2: the Bible is not in any sense asking us to
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  Speaker 2: believe a contradiction. If the Bible were to say in
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  Speaker 2: one place that there is only one God and another
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  Speaker 2: that there are three gods, that would be an obvious contradiction.
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  Speaker 2: That's not what is at play here. The Bible's saying
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  Speaker 2: there's one what, in terms of nature or essence, and
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  Speaker 2: three who's, in terms of relationships within the Godhead.
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  Speaker 6: Great, thank you.
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  Speaker 2: You got it. Appreciate your call. Back to the phone lines.
• 8:26
  Speaker 2: Want to go to Heidi in Omaha, Nebraska.
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  Speaker 3: Hi, Heidi.
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  Speaker 5: Hi there, Hank.
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  Speaker 7: How are you?
• 8:32
  Speaker 2: I'm good. How are you?
• 8:33
  Speaker 9: Great.
• 8:33
  Speaker 8: I'm excited to talk to you today.
• 8:35
  Speaker 2: Thank you. Likewise.
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  Speaker 8: I'm hoping that you can answer a question for me
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  Speaker 8: that's been plaguing me for years. My question is from Genesis,
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  Speaker 8: where it talks about after Cain murders Abel, God places
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  Speaker 8: a mark on him and sends him out into the world,
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  Speaker 8: the mark with the purpose of protecting him from being persecuted.
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  Speaker 8: And then he marries and continues on with his life.
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  Speaker 8: My question is, where do these people come from and
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  Speaker 8: who does he marry?
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  Speaker 2: Well, remember that Cain and Abel lived at a time
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  Speaker 2: when people lived for long periods of time. Adam lived
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  Speaker 2: almost a thousand years. You think about a thousand years
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  Speaker 2: that sometimes goes over very quickly without us contemplating the
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  Speaker 2: fact that that's half the time between the time Christ
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  Speaker 2: walked the earth and now. So it's a long period
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  Speaker 2: of time to have children and for those children to
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  Speaker 2: have other children. When I think about myself, I have
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  Speaker 2: 12 children, and in a few years, God knows how
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  Speaker 2: many grandkids we're going to have. The grandkids and great-grandkids
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  Speaker 2: are just going to multiply. But imagine living 1,000 years.
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  Speaker 2: You're going to have a lot of people, a tremendous
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  Speaker 2: proliferation that takes place. So there would have been many
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  Speaker 2: people alive at that time. The assumption that people make
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  Speaker 2: is that Cain and Abel, because they are the subjects
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  Speaker 2: and the emphasis that they're the only kids and that
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  Speaker 2: simply isn't correct. So Cain would have married a sister
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  Speaker 2: or a niece. And there was no problem with that
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  Speaker 2: early on in civilization because genetic imperfections only accumulated over time.
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  Speaker 2: So it was not a problem early on in the
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  Speaker 2: history of civilization.
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  Speaker 8: Interesting, interesting. Well, I certainly appreciate your information.
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  Speaker 2: You got it, Heidi, and I've actually answered that question
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  Speaker 2: in the Complete Bible Answer Book Collector's Edition, which is
• 10:28
  Speaker 2: available through the Ministry of the Christian Research Institute. You
• 10:32
  Speaker 2: can order online at equip.org. You can write me at
• 10:35
  Speaker 2: Post Office Box 8500, Charlotte, North Carolina, zip code 28271,
• 10:40
  Speaker 2: or as always, pick up the telephone, talk to our
• 10:42
  Speaker 2: resource consultants at AAA. 7000 and the letters CRI. Do
• 10:48
  Speaker 2: remember that this is a ministry supported by listeners just
• 10:52
  Speaker 2: like you. When you join the support team, I'll send
• 10:55
  Speaker 2: you a personalized copy of the Complete Bible Answer Book
• 10:58
  Speaker 2: Collector's Edition to you, a family member, or a friend.
• 11:02
  Speaker 5: Be right back.
• 11:03
  Speaker 1: The famous British apologist G.K. Chesterton once noted, the true
• 11:08
  Speaker 1: soldier fights not because he hates what is in front
• 11:11
  Speaker 1: of him, but because he loves what is behind him.
• 11:13
  Speaker 1: Because at CRI, we love what is behind us, our faith,
• 11:18
  Speaker 1: our families, and our freedoms. We will never retreat quietly
• 11:21
  Speaker 1: from the growing assaults on life and truth. Even when
• 11:24
  Speaker 1: the costs are great, we will stand. To join like-minded
• 11:29
  Speaker 1: friends in making a difference at home and around the globe,
• 11:32
  Speaker 1: and to equip fellow believers to stand their ground courageously,
• 11:36
  Speaker 1: become a member of CRI's support team. Simply call 888-7000-CRI.
• 11:42
  Speaker 1: That's 888-7000-CRI or visit our website at equip.org. Stay with us.
• 11:51
  Speaker 1: Hank Hanegraaff will return in a few moments. The Complete
• 12:01
  Speaker 1: Bible Answer Book Collector's Edition is the comprehensive collection of
• 12:05
  Speaker 1: the most often asked questions Hank Hanegraaff has received throughout
• 12:09
  Speaker 1: his four decades as host of the Bible Answer Man broadcast.
• 12:13
  Speaker 1: With more than half a million copies already in print,
• 12:16
  Speaker 1: this newly revised and expanded Collector's Edition Help seekers and
• 12:21
  Speaker 1: skeptics alike sort through the truth on topics such as
• 12:24
  Speaker 1: reliability of the Bible, religions and cults, the resurrection and afterlife,
• 12:29
  Speaker 1: and many more issues vital to a better understanding of
• 12:33
  Speaker 1: God in Christ and our relationship to Him. To receive
• 12:37
  Speaker 1: your copy of the complete Bible answer book, Collector's Edition,
• 12:41
  Speaker 1: revised and expanded, call 888-7000-CRI. and make a gift to
• 12:47
  Speaker 1: support the Christian Research Institute's life-changing outreaches, 888-7000-CRI, or visit
• 12:51
  Speaker 1: us at equip.org. Anyone who's been paying attention knows there's
• 13:03
  Speaker 1: a war going on, not just on traditional morality, civility,
• 13:07
  Speaker 1: and decency, but even more fundamentally on historic notions of truth.
• 13:12
  Speaker 1: And the enemy isn't just the onslaught of fake news
• 13:15
  Speaker 1: facilitated by a post-truth culture and turbocharged by growing legions
• 13:19
  Speaker 1: of ideological spin doctors. No, the real enemies of truth
• 13:23
  Speaker 1: range from post-modernist convictions that there is no objective truth
• 13:27
  Speaker 1: to militant scientism that claims that only science can determine
• 13:32
  Speaker 1: truth and religion is little more than primitive superstitions. But
• 13:36
  Speaker 1: CRI support team members are not waving a white flag
• 13:39
  Speaker 1: of surrender. They're holding the fort by undergirding every one
• 13:43
  Speaker 1: of Christian Research Institute's mind-shaping and life-changing outreaches 24-7. To
• 13:48
  Speaker 1: learn how you can make a difference and enjoy all
• 13:51
  Speaker 1: the benefits of support team membership, simply visit equip.org.
• 14:01
  Speaker 3: Hank Hanegraaff has dedicated his life to defending truth because
• 14:05
  Speaker 3: truth matters. However, his life and ministry were radically transformed
• 14:09
  Speaker 3: by another three-word phrase, life matters more. Truth matters because
• 14:14
  Speaker 3: Christianity is rooted in history and evidence. Life matters more
• 14:18
  Speaker 3: because it is the experience of union with God. The
• 14:21
  Speaker 3: goal of Christian life is union with God. All attempts
• 14:24
  Speaker 3: to understand Christianity from a solely rational perspective put us
• 14:28
  Speaker 3: in danger of devolving into a transactional rather than transformational
• 14:32
  Speaker 3: relationship with God. Truth Matters, Life Matters More will equip
• 14:36
  Speaker 3: you to move beyond intellectually knowing about God to experientially
• 14:41
  Speaker 3: knowing Him in Christ. To receive your copy of Truth Matters,
• 14:44
  Speaker 3: Life Matters More, call 888-7000-CRI and make a gift to
• 14:49
  Speaker 3: support the Christian Research Institute's life-changing outreaches, 888-7000-CRI, or visit
• 14:53
  Speaker 3: us online at equip.org.
• 15:07
  Speaker 1: Every Bible Answer Man broadcast, such as the one you're
• 15:10
  Speaker 1: listening to right now, is made possible through the financial
• 15:14
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• 15:32
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• 15:36
  Speaker 1: of CRI's support team today. Call 888-7000-CRI and stand with
• 15:44
  Speaker 1: CRI daily in the battle for life and truth. That's 888-7000-CRI.
• 15:52
  Speaker 1: Or visit our website at equip.org. Once again, here's your host,
• 15:59
  Speaker 1: Hank Hanegraaff.
• 16:00
  Speaker 2: Thank you very much, Randy. And back to the phone
• 16:01
  Speaker 2: lines next to John in Dallas, Texas. Hi, John.
• 16:05
  Speaker 7: Hi, Hank.
• 16:06
  Speaker 10: Thanks for taking my call.
• 16:07
  Speaker 2: You're welcome.
• 16:08
  Speaker 10: I'm on a car phone. I hope you can hear
• 16:10
  Speaker 10: me all right. My question is about John chapter 8
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  Speaker 10: and verse 30 through 32. And first, reading from the
• 16:18
  Speaker 10: NIV in verse 30, it says, even as he spoke,
• 16:21
  Speaker 10: many believed in him. And then in verse 31, to
• 16:24
  Speaker 10: the Jews who believed him, Jesus said, if you hold
• 16:27
  Speaker 10: to my teachings, you are really my disciples. So I
• 16:30
  Speaker 10: recently heard a teaching that this This means that not
• 16:35
  Speaker 10: everyone who believes is truly saved, that in order to
• 16:39
  Speaker 10: be truly saved or to have assurance of our salvation,
• 16:42
  Speaker 10: we need to demonstrate fruit in our lives. Now, while
• 16:46
  Speaker 10: I don't really disagree with that, I'm not certain that
• 16:49
  Speaker 10: this passage is teaching that. Can you shed any light
• 16:53
  Speaker 10: on that?
• 16:53
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I can. I hope you're not reading while you're driving.
• 16:57
  Speaker 10: No, I'm memorized.
• 16:58
  Speaker 2: Oh, good. Great, yeah. Well, that's commendable. And here's the
• 17:01
  Speaker 2: point I want to emphasize here. In this passage, you
• 17:06
  Speaker 2: have Pharisees saying that Jesus is demon-possessed, and Jesus is
• 17:11
  Speaker 2: pointing out that he could not possibly be demon-possessed because
• 17:16
  Speaker 2: he does the work of the Father. So obviously, someone
• 17:20
  Speaker 2: who is saying that Jesus Christ is demon-possessed is not
• 17:23
  Speaker 2: a believer. And You have the explicit teaching of Christ
• 17:29
  Speaker 2: in this passage where he says to the people who
• 17:33
  Speaker 2: are claiming to be Abraham's descendants, he says, I know
• 17:38
  Speaker 2: you are Abraham's descendants, yet you are ready to kill me.
• 17:45
  Speaker 2: So this is a clear indication that the people to
• 17:49
  Speaker 2: whom Jesus Christ is speaking are not genuine believers. Which
• 17:55
  Speaker 2: underscores another reality, and that is not everyone who is
• 17:59
  Speaker 2: descendant from Abraham is the seed of Abraham in the
• 18:03
  Speaker 2: sense in which Jesus Christ is communicating. Abraham, in the
• 18:09
  Speaker 2: words of Scripture, Paul is talking here in Galatians 3,
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  Speaker 2: only had one seed, and that seed is Jesus Christ.
• 18:17
  Speaker 2: If you are in Christ, then you are the seed
• 18:21
  Speaker 2: of Abraham and an heir according to the promise. Therefore,
• 18:24
  Speaker 2: there are those who claim to be Jews and are not.
• 18:28
  Speaker 2: They are a synagogue of Satan, as Jesus puts it
• 18:31
  Speaker 2: elsewhere in the book of Revelation. So the point is,
• 18:36
  Speaker 2: to be the seed of Abraham is not a genealogical construction.
• 18:40
  Speaker 2: It's not about your ethnicity. It's about relationship, not race.
• 18:45
  Speaker 10: What then does it mean in verse 30 when it says,
• 18:48
  Speaker 10: many believed as he spoke? Is that a saving faith?
• 18:52
  Speaker 2: Well, in verse 30, You have these words, Jesus in
• 18:57
  Speaker 2: Prologue says, When you have lifted up the Son of Man,
• 18:59
  Speaker 2: then you will know that I am the one I
• 19:02
  Speaker 2: claim to be, and that I can do nothing on
• 19:05
  Speaker 2: my own but speak just what the Father has taught me.
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  Speaker 2: The one who sent me is with me. He has
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  Speaker 2: not left me alone, for I always do what pleases him.
• 19:17
  Speaker 2: Even as he spoke, many put their faith in him.
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  Speaker 2: So there are those that listen to what? Christ is saying,
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  Speaker 2: and genuinely believe. There are others who listen to what
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  Speaker 2: Christ is saying, and instead of believing, consider him to
• 19:35
  Speaker 2: be a false teacher.
• 19:37
  Speaker 10: Okay, so then he's not necessarily addressing those exact same
• 19:40
  Speaker 10: people in the next verse.
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  Speaker 2: The next verse, where it says, to the Jews who
• 19:45
  Speaker 2: believed in him, Jesus says, if you hold to my teachings,
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  Speaker 2: you are really my disciples. then you will know the truth,
• 19:52
  Speaker 2: and the truth will set you free. So those who
• 19:55
  Speaker 2: genuinely believe are his disciples, and then they answer, we
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  Speaker 2: are Abraham's descendants and have never been slaves to anyone.
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  Speaker 2: How can you say that we shall be set free.
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  Speaker 2: And Jesus replies, I tell you the truth, everyone who
• 20:09
  Speaker 2: sins is a slave to sin. Now a slave has
• 20:12
  Speaker 2: no permanent place in the family, but a son belongs
• 20:15
  Speaker 2: to it forever. So if the son sets you free,
• 20:18
  Speaker 2: then you'll be free indeed. And then the verses that
• 20:20
  Speaker 2: I quoted earlier, I know you are Abraham's descendants, yet
• 20:24
  Speaker 2: you are ready to kill me. So again, there are
• 20:28
  Speaker 2: those who continue as slaves to sin and those who
• 20:32
  Speaker 2: genuinely believe, and you see the dichotomy here, between the
• 20:35
  Speaker 2: two spelled out very clearly by Jesus Christ.
• 20:39
  Speaker 10: Well, that's consistent with the teaching that I heard recently.
• 20:42
  Speaker 10: So I appreciate your time on that, and I'll definitely
• 20:46
  Speaker 10: drive safely and keep listening.
• 20:48
  Speaker 2: Thank you. Appreciate your call. I want to go back
• 20:50
  Speaker 2: to the phone lines and talk to Margaret in West Virginia. Hi, Margaret.
• 20:53
  Speaker 9: I had a question. A Baptist minister that I've been
• 20:57
  Speaker 9: listening to, among others, has preached for some time on
• 21:02
  Speaker 9: once saved, always saved. And the logic that followed with that,
• 21:06
  Speaker 9: this occurred to me and then I heard him preach on,
• 21:09
  Speaker 9: is if a person was saved and they had in
• 21:12
  Speaker 9: a moment of weakness, they took their own life, that
• 21:16
  Speaker 9: they would still go to heaven. And all my growing
• 21:19
  Speaker 9: up years, I was always told, you know, that was
• 21:23
  Speaker 9: a straight ticket to hell if you committed suicide. No exceptions.
• 21:28
  Speaker 9: And so I'm really confused on that.
• 21:30
  Speaker 2: Well, it's not a straight ticket to hell, but let
• 21:32
  Speaker 2: me say this. Someone who's a genuine believer dare not
• 21:35
  Speaker 2: in any way take their own life, because taking their
• 21:38
  Speaker 2: own life is the murder of oneself, and murder is
• 21:41
  Speaker 2: condemned explicitly in Scripture, throughout the Scriptures, but very decidedly
• 21:47
  Speaker 2: and specifically in the Ten Commandments. So one should never
• 21:51
  Speaker 2: take the prerogative of life and death into their own hands.
• 21:54
  Speaker 2: That's a prerogative of God alone.
• 21:55
  Speaker 9: How does that fit in, though, with... That's what I thought,
• 21:58
  Speaker 9: but how does that fit in with one saved, always saved?
• 22:01
  Speaker 2: Well, what I'm pointing out, if you are a believer,
• 22:04
  Speaker 2: you should never take God's prerogative into your own hands
• 22:07
  Speaker 2: and then murder oneself. So it's unthinkable for a Christian
• 22:10
  Speaker 2: to do such a thing. But in the prologue to
• 22:12
  Speaker 2: your question, you said something. During a moment of weakness...
• 22:16
  Speaker 2: Now I can define that a lot of different ways.
• 22:18
  Speaker 2: Let's suppose that I did something irrational in a moment
• 22:22
  Speaker 2: of weakness that is completely inconsistent with my Christian testimony.
• 22:26
  Speaker 2: That does not disqualify me from heaven. Because what disqualifies
• 22:31
  Speaker 2: you from heaven is a continuous, willful, ongoing rebellion. It's
• 22:38
  Speaker 2: not an act, but a continuous action. So I'm saying
• 22:42
  Speaker 2: two things. It is conceivable that someone commits suicide during
• 22:48
  Speaker 2: an act of despondency when they're not in their right
• 22:53
  Speaker 2: frame of mind, that does not preclude that they would
• 22:57
  Speaker 2: go to heaven. That's not, as you pointed out in
• 22:59
  Speaker 2: your question, an automatic ticket to hell. But having said that,
• 23:03
  Speaker 2: the other side of the coin is it is inconceivable
• 23:07
  Speaker 2: and inconsistent for a Christian to murder in general.
• 23:11
  Speaker 9: Right, right. Okay, I see what you're saying. Well, thank
• 23:15
  Speaker 9: you so much, because I really didn't know how to
• 23:17
  Speaker 9: digest that one.
• 23:19
  Speaker 2: I've laid that out in the complete Bible answer book
• 23:22
  Speaker 2: collector's edition. And what I point out there is three
• 23:26
  Speaker 2: sequential points. The first is that no single act is unforgivable,
• 23:31
  Speaker 2: that the unforgivable sin is a continuous ongoing rejection of forgiveness.
• 23:35
  Speaker 2: The second is that while suicide is not an unforgivable sin,
• 23:39
  Speaker 2: those who take the sacred name of Christ upon their
• 23:41
  Speaker 2: lips dare not contemplate it. And the third is, underscoring
• 23:46
  Speaker 2: what I said earlier, which is the fact that suicide
• 23:50
  Speaker 2: is the murder of oneself and as such is a
• 23:52
  Speaker 2: direct violation of the Sixth Commandment. So it's a direct
• 23:56
  Speaker 2: attack on the sovereignty of the very one who knit
• 23:58
  Speaker 2: us together in our mother's womb. So it's inconceivable for
• 24:01
  Speaker 2: a Christian to do that, at least a Christian in
• 24:03
  Speaker 2: their right mind, but who knows? The one thing that
• 24:07
  Speaker 2: we can say as a premise is that What disqualifies
• 24:10
  Speaker 2: you from heaven is an ongoing, continuous rejection of the
• 24:13
  Speaker 2: love and grace of God.
• 24:15
  Speaker 9: Yeah, yeah, I get it. So you've got a complete
• 24:19
  Speaker 9: Bible answer book?
• 24:20
  Speaker 2: Yeah, it's called the Complete Bible Answer Book Collector's Edition.
• 24:22
  Speaker 9: Okay, okay, that's good. All right, thank you. I appreciate
• 24:26
  Speaker 9: this so much.
• 24:27
  Speaker 2: You got it. Appreciate your call. Back to the phone lines,
• 24:30
  Speaker 2: we'll talk to Jonathan next in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Hi, Jonathan.
• 24:36
  Speaker 6: Yeah, hi, Hank. Thank you for taking my call.
• 24:38
  Speaker 2: Pleasure.
• 24:40
  Speaker 6: And I just wanted to also say that, you know,
• 24:42
  Speaker 6: I travel a lot for work, so I really, really
• 24:44
  Speaker 6: appreciate sermons and shows like yours.
• 24:46
  Speaker 4: So thanks for that.
• 24:47
  Speaker 2: Thank you.
• 24:49
  Speaker 6: My question is, you know, due to personal experience, I
• 24:52
  Speaker 6: am very familiar. I think I have a really good
• 24:54
  Speaker 6: grasp on just how much the porn industry can poison
• 24:59
  Speaker 6: the minds of the country. And my question is, what causes?
• 25:04
  Speaker 6: as a Christian, what kind of actions can we take
• 25:07
  Speaker 6: to really try to put a stop to it and
• 25:09
  Speaker 6: try to tear down and stop and shut down these
• 25:13
  Speaker 6: websites that are just making it go so rampant and wild?
• 25:17
  Speaker 2: Yeah, we've got to do everything that's permissible to do that,
• 25:19
  Speaker 2: but recognize that ultimately pagans are going to exercise their
• 25:23
  Speaker 2: job description. They're going to be pagans. The real issue
• 25:25
  Speaker 2: now becomes Christians exercising their job description. As people's hearts
• 25:30
  Speaker 2: are changed, their behavioral patterns are are changed as well.
• 25:35
  Speaker 2: So ultimately the way that you become salt and light,
• 25:38
  Speaker 2: the way that you redeem a culture is by changing
• 25:41
  Speaker 2: the hearts of people within a culture and that ultimately
• 25:46
  Speaker 2: changes the fabric of the culture itself. The problem, the
• 25:50
  Speaker 2: systemic problem is that Christians unfortunately today are more a
• 25:54
  Speaker 2: microcosm of the culture than a change agent in the
• 25:57
  Speaker 2: culture and as a result of that our culture isn't
• 26:00
  Speaker 2: being transformed, we are being conformed by the culture as
• 26:06
  Speaker 2: Paul talks about in Romans chapter 12. Thanks for tuning
• 26:09
  Speaker 2: in to this edition of the Bible Answer Man broadcast.
• 26:10
  Speaker 2: Look forward to seeing you next time with more of
• 26:13
  Speaker 2: the show.
• 26:14
  Speaker 1: Thanks for tuning in to the Bible Answer Man broadcast.
• 26:18
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• 26:22
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• 26:26
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