January 17, 2026 • 28 mins
On today’s Bible Answer Man broadcast, Hank says a few words about having an eternal perspective and how to develop one.
Hank also answers the following questions:
Can you clarify your view of the creation account and whether Adam was created with the appearance of age? James - St. Louis, MO (3:24)
If Jesus became sin per 2 Corinthians 5:21, does that mean for a moment God hated Jesus because God hates sin? Jordan - KS (15:44)
Why did God reject the sacrifice of Cain but accepted the sacrifice of Abel? Was it the blood? Patsy - Bradford, AZ (20:36)
Hank also answers the following questions:
Can you clarify your view of the creation account and whether Adam was created with the appearance of age? James - St. Louis, MO (3:24)
If Jesus became sin per 2 Corinthians 5:21, does that mean for a moment God hated Jesus because God hates sin? Jordan - KS (15:44)
Why did God reject the sacrifice of Cain but accepted the sacrifice of Abel? Was it the blood? Patsy - Bradford, AZ (20:36)
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:07):
You're just in time for the best of the Bible
answer Man broadcast with Hank Canagraph, the radio outreach of
the Christian Research Institute. Our purpose here at CRII is
to equip Christians to pursue sound doctrine, to discern truth
and error, and to become faithful disciples of Christ because
life and truth matter. For more information, to order resources
(00:31):
or donate, call eight eight eight seven thousand CROI or
go online to equip dot org. That's equip dot org.
The following program was pre recorded. Now here's the president
of the Christian Research Institute, Hank Canagraph.
Speaker 2 (00:50):
Thank you very much, Randian. We'll go to your calls momentarily,
but I want to start the broadcast today by saying
something about having an eternal perspective. How do you develop
that eternal perspective? And this is critical. We develop this
kind of a perspective by saturating ourselves with the Word
(01:11):
of God. Jesus modeled daily devotion to the Word in
the ultimate spiritual battle, Remember he takes up the sword
of the spirit. He had not only mind, but memorized
and meditated on the Word of God. And therefore, when
Satan tried to tempt him to turn stones into bread.
(01:32):
He said, it is written man does not live on
bread alone, but by every word that comes from the
mouth of God. And we begin to view this world
with an eye towards eternity when we focus on the
needs of other people. Jesus Christ sacrificed himself for the
(01:55):
sins of the world, and we too must learn to
live so lesslie rather than selfishly. At the judgment, those
who fed the hungry, those who gave drink to the thirsty,
those who clothed the naked, those who cared for the sick,
those who spread the gospel visited those in prison will
(02:19):
be rewarded as if they had done those very things
for Jesus Christ himself. And one other point, we develop
an eternal perspective by withdrawing from the invasive sounds of
the world, so that we can hear the sounds of
another place, indeed, another voice. And that's what Luke tells
(02:41):
us about Jesus Christ. He often withdrew to lonely places
and prayed. Unlike the religious leaders of his day, he
didn't pray to be seen by men. He prayed because
he treasured fellowship with his father. So if you wish
to develop that kind of perspective, of a perspective that
(03:02):
leads to abundant living, both now and for all eternity.
Go into your room, close the door, pray to your
father who's unseen. Then says Jesus, your father, who sees
what is done in secret, will reward you living with
eternity in mind. A lot of you hanging on will
(03:23):
go right to the phone lines. We'll talk first to
James listing in Saint Louis, Missouri. Hi, James, hi, ag.
Speaker 3 (03:29):
I will listen to you quite a bit, and I
certainly think that you're doing a great service to Christ Kingdom.
Speaker 2 (03:35):
Thank you.
Speaker 3 (03:36):
I wanted to ask you about a caller who had
discussed the idea that Adam was created with apparent age,
and then suggested that the possibility that perhaps God created
that way and the theory that God might have created
that way in respect to other things that appeared older.
And you answered him by saying that if if that
(04:00):
were true, that wouldn't be falsifiable. And I sort of
wanted you to explain that to me. I don't only
see how that works exactly.
Speaker 2 (04:07):
Okay, Yeah, well let me see if I can cash
that out for you a little bit. First of all,
the Bible doesn't really answer the age question. I think
we have to underscore that in any kind of a
conversation in this direction. Some say that Adam was created
with the appearance of age, but in reality we just
don't know. Was Adam created with callouses on his feet?
(04:29):
Did he have a belly button? Was he fashioned replete
with childhood memories? One would think not. But the Bible
simply doesn't tell us. And the notion that God created
his handiwork with the appearance of age is as I
said in that previous broadcast, it's logically unfalsifiable. For example,
(04:49):
how can you falsify the notion that you were created
five seconds ago and that your recollection of the show
that you just talked about was not just an implanted memory.
That's what I mean by saying it.
Speaker 3 (05:03):
I don't understand is what you mean by how can
I falsify that? I can prove that by witnesses, which
is the way we prove many things. I mean, I
can prove it because I've actually been here through the time,
and yes, those might be false, but the hundreds of
other people who've also observed my forty four years instead
of five seconds also prove it.
Speaker 2 (05:24):
Yeah, but that can all be part of an implanted memory,
is my point. And I think that if you go
beyond that, let's look at an astronomical event. A classic
example would be super nova in nineteen eighty seven. A
there you have, and I think this is instructive, particularly
in light of the past coming you just made. You
(05:46):
have an identifiable before and after. Prior to nineteen eighty seven,
the super nova was an ordinary star in a distant galaxy.
It was one hundred and sixty eight thousand light years away.
But then on February twenty third, nineteen eighty seven, the
star explodes and becomes a supernova. In other words, what
I'm saying is, one hundred and sixty eight thousand years ago,
(06:08):
the star exploded, and in nineteen eighty seven, the light
of that event finally reaches Earth. Unless, of course God
created the universe six thousand years ago, then what would
you have. Well, then the supernova would be like a
documentary film of an event that never really took place
(06:29):
in the first place.
Speaker 4 (06:31):
Well that one.
Speaker 3 (06:32):
You used that one with the caller the other day too,
And I I'm not sure what that one kind of
distracts me from the idea though that when you talked
about whether Adam was definitely old or not, well, Adam
was created old enough to observe the animals to name them.
Speaker 2 (06:49):
You know, I was simply saying, yeah, But that's not
what I'm saying. Okay, what I'm saying is something else.
First of all, how do you know that he was
an adult? You don't know that from the Biblical text.
I would come to the same conclusion that you just did.
But the appearance of age is a different question, and
that's what I addressed. There are people that say Adam
(07:09):
was created with the appearance of age, but I'm saying
the Bible doesn't say that. We don't know. Do you
think that he was created with callouses on his feet?
The Bible doesn't tell us.
Speaker 3 (07:21):
I can't know whether the hey had callouses on his feet,
but he was at least old enough to pick the
animals and do certain things that he certainly didn't come
on to earth as an infant, and that is by
the text.
Speaker 2 (07:33):
Well, first of all, you don't know. The Bible doesn't
fill in all of the details. It simply doesn't give
us all of the chronology. All of the detail we
don't have it. The Bible deals in generalities in Genesis
which do not fill in specific details, because, for example,
(07:56):
do you know all of the progeny of Adam and Eve.
You don't. In Genesis chapter four we're told about Cain
and Abel, and Genesis chapter five we're told about Seth.
But the implication of the scripture is that there are
many other kids that Adam and Eve had as well,
and therefore Cain asked to have some kind of protection
(08:21):
when he went to the land of Nod. So the
Bible doesn't fill in all the details for us. But
the one thing we do know is that the appearance
of age has some attendant liabilities, both textually and scientifically,
and I think that we have to take those things critically.
(08:43):
We have to take them seriously, and that's why I
mentioned the supernova event. When we see things in the world,
we don't think that they're mere deception. We don't think
that it's like a documentary film of something that never
really took place in the first place. Rather, we think
that we can see God's impromater on the universe that
(09:06):
he has made, and there's a way in which we
can figure things out, and if that were not the case,
science would never have developed as it has. Science developed
because of a Christian worldview. It didn't developed because of
a secular worldview. Augustine believed that God left markings, that
(09:26):
God is consistent. Aristotle, though the gods were capricious, had
a completely different view, believed in an eternal universe. Augustine
didn't think that way. He thought that God works in
an organized, systematized fashion, so that you can actually know
things about the universe. You can figure things out. But
if things aren't illusion or things aren't as they appear
(09:49):
they're otherwise, it's very difficult to figure those things out. Now. Look,
I'm a fellow sojourner with you in the quest for knowledge.
I want to be absolutely certain that I don't commit
scriptural heresy, which is to say, I want to be
absolutely certain that I take the text seriously, that I
(10:11):
don't read things into the text that the text isn't
designed to say. But I want to be sure that
I do the same thing with God's Book of Nature
as well, that I don't create scientific heresy either. If
I were to tell you today that I believe in geocentrism,
you probably wouldn't take me seriously, and yet that was
(10:32):
a dominant view for a long period of time. The
fact of the matter is, as we explore the universe
that God created, we have knowledge that does not allow
us to misread the Biblical text and think somehow or
other that the Earth is fixed at the center of
the universe that the sun revolves around it. We know
(10:54):
better because God has given us the ability to discover
things about the universe, and again that necessitates that we
do not commit scriptural heresy or scientific carecy. I'm going
to leave it at that. We'll be right back with
more of your questions right here on the Bible Answerment Broadcast,
So please don't touch that dial.
Speaker 1 (11:14):
To find out more about the materials mentioned on the show,
call a CRII Resource Consultant toll free at eight eight
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Our website is also an excellent reference destination to help you.
Just go to equip dot org and find articles by Hank, books,
(11:37):
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CRIIPO Box eighty five hundred, Charlotte, North Carolina, zip two
eight two seven one. The Bible answer Man will continue
in just a moment.
Speaker 4 (12:01):
Hank Hannograph has dedicated his life to defending truth because
truth matters. However, his life and ministry were radically transformed
by another three word phrase, Life matters more. Truth matters
because Christianity is rooted in history and evidence. Life matters
more because it is the experience of union with God.
The goal of Christian life is union with God. All
(12:24):
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(12:47):
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Speaker 1 (13:00):
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(13:24):
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To learn how you can make a difference and enjoy
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(14:07):
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(14:31):
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(14:51):
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(15:12):
on the show, call a CRII resource consultant toll free
at eight eight eight seven thousand CRII. Our website is
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(15:34):
faith in our world. Again, that's equip dot org. And
now once again here is Hank Canagraph.
Speaker 2 (15:42):
Say very much, Randy, let's go right back to where
phone callers. Next up is Jordan. He's listening in Kansas nite, Jordan, Hi, Hank,
how I'm good.
Speaker 3 (15:51):
Great.
Speaker 5 (15:52):
First of all, let's say thank you for your program.
It really blesses me.
Speaker 2 (15:56):
Well, bless you. Thank you.
Speaker 5 (15:58):
Henk. I had a question about second current five point
twenty one. Bible says that God made him who had
no sin, to be sin for us. Okay. Also the
Bible talks about God hates sin. So my question is,
is if Jesus became sin for us so that we
may be righteous? Did God hate Jesus for a brief moment.
Speaker 2 (16:20):
Good question, and it underscores a problem which relates to
the art and science of biblical interpretation. God made him
who had no sin to be sin for us, says Paul.
But what he's doing there is he's using a word
or a phrase substituted for another associated word or phrase,
(16:45):
which is to say, since it is impossible that Christ
or any person could be literally made sin, you can't
take this as a way of saying that Jesus Christ
literally became sin, because to interpret that passage of saying
that Christ was transformed into sin is to strip the
(17:09):
Savior of his personal being. It's to reduce him to
a mere abstraction, and not only is that notion unbiblical.
It's utterly absurd. Jesus did not literally become sin. Sin
was imputed to him. So the idea is he is
(17:32):
the unblemished lamb upon whom the sins of the world
were laid. He is not in any way touched by sin,
and therefore he's a sweet smelling savor unto God. He's
the unblemish lamb. If he was blemished in any sense,
he could not be our sacrifice. All he had to
(17:54):
do is look back to the types in shadows that
pointed forward to him as the un blemish lamb upon
whom the sins of the world were laid. So you
have to read this in the sense in which it's
intended and recognize that sin is a deprivation of good
(18:15):
and as such, sin is characterized by a lack of
something rather than being something in itself. It's not an
ontological reality in itself. So what's really going on here
is he becomes the sin bearer. He doesn't become sin itself. Again,
(18:37):
to reduce him to sin would be to communicate an
unbiblical notion that is utterly absurd.
Speaker 5 (18:45):
That makes perfect sense. I believe completely in reading the
Bible for all it's worth, as you say, and that's
baffled me for quite a while, and I can never
find an answer.
Speaker 2 (18:57):
Yeah. Actually, there's a book that I dealt with the
very question in because it's an issue so often brought
up by the faith teachers. They say that Christ became sin,
and they use that as a pretext for the fact
that Jesus Christ had to be born again. And so
I dealt with this in a book called Christianity in
christ Is twenty first century, so it's available there. Also
(19:19):
deal with the question what is sin and point out
that it's a deprivation of something rather than a nontological
reality itself in my book, The Complete Bible answer Book,
Collector's Edition.
Speaker 5 (19:31):
Great, great, thank you, Hank. You know, honestly, I don't agree,
I to ie with everything that you say, but you know,
the important thing is that we believe Jesus Christ is
a savior. In one of these days, I'll shake your
hand and we're up there with our Lord.
Speaker 2 (19:45):
Yeah, and I like that because I'm not the final
quote of arbitration. That is not to say that I
don't take very seriously what I do, which is to
say I have a healthy fear of God with respect
to everything that I say. So I don't simply say
something off the cust. I try to think through what
I say, because there's a platform here, there's teaching here,
(20:05):
and with teaching there is a stricter judgment. So I'm
well aware of that. But I don't expect you to
believe everything I say. I do expect you to test
everything I say and then hold fast that which is good.
And then we can always stand shoulder to shoulder on
a central Christian doctrine, which is the line of demarcation
between the Kingdom of Christ and the Kingdom of the cult,
(20:27):
so that we debate vigorously secondary issues and ultimately we learned.
Speaker 1 (20:31):
From one another.
Speaker 5 (20:33):
So I'm right there with you, sir.
Speaker 2 (20:35):
Thank you. My friend Patsy next, she's listening in Bradford, Arizona. Hi, Patsy, Hi, I.
Speaker 6 (20:43):
Want to ask you a question about kind and Ibel.
I had always thought that the sacrifice was started when
God killed the animals in night covering for Adam and Eve.
And then we were talking to a man the other
night and he said, when you see that scripture that
says Abel sacrifice was accepted and Kine's wasn't. It doesn't
(21:04):
have anything to do with the blood. It doesn't say
the reason it was not accepted. And I wanted you
to tell me. You know why I wasn't it accepted.
Speaker 2 (21:14):
Well, God knew what was in the heart of Cain,
he knew his motivation forgiving, and that ultimately is at
the root of it. But having said that, there's also
typology that's going on here by which we can read
something more into the text in terms of a type
(21:35):
or a shadow pointing ultimately in some sense forward to
the ultimate sacrificial lamb. But we don't want to extend
that typology beyond what is intended for Ultimately, sin lurked
in the heart of Cain. His offering was given from
the wrong motive, and we can see this throughout the scripture.
(21:56):
I mean, we see that with Antonius and Saphira, they
have kept everything. They didn't have to give it, it
was their own. But when they had a false motivation,
when they lied, and not only lied to men, but
lied to God, there was a penalty to their sin.
(22:17):
So ultimately it is what is in the heart. The
real difference between Able and cain sacrifices was an animal
and plant but true faith and sin. That's where the
distinction lies.
Speaker 6 (22:32):
Okay. He said the sacrifices hadn't been established. The blood
sacrifice wasn't established until Ibraham, you know. But I was thinking,
if they were supposed to give a sacrifice, the sacrifices
had been, you know, already established.
Speaker 2 (22:48):
Well, the sacrificial system had not been established. The very
types and shadows of the civilian ceremonial laws that would
ultimately set Israel apart as a light to the nations
hadn't been established in that sense. But principles are still principles,
and those principles still apply. We sacrifice everything to God,
(23:10):
don't we. I mean, we are living sacrifices to God
in our persons, which is to say, we hold everything
that we have with an open hand, so that God
can take out and put in as he sees fits.
So in some sense, though there is a tithe in
the Old Testament, and that tithe is uniquely geared or
(23:30):
established around a theocratic system, it doesn't mean that the
principle doesn't apply today. The principle still applies, Okay.
Speaker 6 (23:41):
And I noticed too, you know that. I mean God
gave kind of another chance. He didn't want to take it,
you know, because he told him right after that that
he could have you know, he was giving him another
chance to make a right sacrifice. So I guess it
was the heart, not of what he was bringing. Y.
I've just never seen it.
Speaker 1 (24:00):
Why.
Speaker 2 (24:01):
Yeah, And again, that is the difference, That is the distinction,
that is what should be paramount in our thinking. Able
and Caine's sacrifices aren't delineated as being evil because one
is a plant sacrifice and the others an animal sacrifice,
but rather because something far grander is going on. The
(24:26):
difference between true faith and sin is being identified. Acceptable
worship is that which flows from a pure heart. And
it seems unwarranted to conclude that Abel's offering was accepted
because it was a blood sacrifice. In fact, the text
(24:47):
emphasizes offering, not sacrifice, and both offerings are referred to
as first fruit offerings. Thus the difference was one of
motivation or one of the heart.
Speaker 6 (25:00):
Okay, I can truly understand that because I was a
lost church member for twenty years and when I was
twenty nine, Jesus saved me. Anyway, Praise and bless his
holy name, Amen, and thank high.
Speaker 2 (25:11):
When you were twenty nine.
Speaker 6 (25:13):
When I was twenty nine, Jesus saved me. I was
born again when I've heard the sermon that caused me
to see myself as lost and on the way to Hell.
I almost had to jump apew and run down the
aisle benieve Jesus as my savior. So I understand what
you're talking about.
Speaker 2 (25:27):
And we have something in common because I bowed my
knee to Jesus, Christ's Savior and Lord when I was
twenty nine years of age, even though I grew up
in a Christian home. But I didn't want to believe
the Christian Gospel because I didn't want to live within
the parameters that God set fourth for us to live within,
and so I tried to rationalize them out of existence.
(25:49):
And so I bought into the evolutionary paradigm, not because
I couldn't believe, but because I wouldn't believe. But all
that changed when I was twenty nine years of age.
So we have that in common. Thanks again for two in.
We look forward to seeing you next time with more
of the broadcast.
Speaker 1 (26:04):
We appreciate you tuning in to the Bible answer Man broadcast.
Before we sign off today, here's our contact information. By
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(26:26):
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five hundred, Charlotte, North Carolina. The zip code is two
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(26:48):
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Speaker 4 (27:01):
Truth matters, Life matters. More details Hank Hanigraf's personal pilgrimage
from his long defensive truth to his discovery that life
matters more. Essentially, two books in one. Part one equips
Christians to defend the essential truths of the historic Christian faith.
Part two explains why truth is necessary but hardly sufficient.
(27:22):
That the map is not the territory, the menu is
not the meal. We are created to experience life to
the full through union with God in Christ. Is there
more to the Christian life than what you are experiencing?
Truth Matters, Life Matters More unveils the unexpected beauty of
an authentic Christian life. To receive Truth Matters, Life Matters
(27:42):
More for yourself or as a terrific gift to a
friend or loved one, called eight eight eight seven thousand
CRI and make a gift to support the Christian Research
Institute's life changing outreaches eight eight eight seven thousand CRI
or visit us online at equipp dot org
You're just in time for the best of the Bible
answer Man broadcast with Hank Canagraph, the radio outreach of
the Christian Research Institute. Our purpose here at CRII is
to equip Christians to pursue sound doctrine, to discern truth
and error, and to become faithful disciples of Christ because
life and truth matter. For more information, to order resources
(00:31):
or donate, call eight eight eight seven thousand CROI or
go online to equip dot org. That's equip dot org.
The following program was pre recorded. Now here's the president
of the Christian Research Institute, Hank Canagraph.
Speaker 2 (00:50):
Thank you very much, Randian. We'll go to your calls momentarily,
but I want to start the broadcast today by saying
something about having an eternal perspective. How do you develop
that eternal perspective? And this is critical. We develop this
kind of a perspective by saturating ourselves with the Word
(01:11):
of God. Jesus modeled daily devotion to the Word in
the ultimate spiritual battle, Remember he takes up the sword
of the spirit. He had not only mind, but memorized
and meditated on the Word of God. And therefore, when
Satan tried to tempt him to turn stones into bread.
(01:32):
He said, it is written man does not live on
bread alone, but by every word that comes from the
mouth of God. And we begin to view this world
with an eye towards eternity when we focus on the
needs of other people. Jesus Christ sacrificed himself for the
(01:55):
sins of the world, and we too must learn to
live so lesslie rather than selfishly. At the judgment, those
who fed the hungry, those who gave drink to the thirsty,
those who clothed the naked, those who cared for the sick,
those who spread the gospel visited those in prison will
(02:19):
be rewarded as if they had done those very things
for Jesus Christ himself. And one other point, we develop
an eternal perspective by withdrawing from the invasive sounds of
the world, so that we can hear the sounds of
another place, indeed, another voice. And that's what Luke tells
(02:41):
us about Jesus Christ. He often withdrew to lonely places
and prayed. Unlike the religious leaders of his day, he
didn't pray to be seen by men. He prayed because
he treasured fellowship with his father. So if you wish
to develop that kind of perspective, of a perspective that
(03:02):
leads to abundant living, both now and for all eternity.
Go into your room, close the door, pray to your
father who's unseen. Then says Jesus, your father, who sees
what is done in secret, will reward you living with
eternity in mind. A lot of you hanging on will
(03:23):
go right to the phone lines. We'll talk first to
James listing in Saint Louis, Missouri. Hi, James, hi, ag.
Speaker 3 (03:29):
I will listen to you quite a bit, and I
certainly think that you're doing a great service to Christ Kingdom.
Speaker 2 (03:35):
Thank you.
Speaker 3 (03:36):
I wanted to ask you about a caller who had
discussed the idea that Adam was created with apparent age,
and then suggested that the possibility that perhaps God created
that way and the theory that God might have created
that way in respect to other things that appeared older.
And you answered him by saying that if if that
(04:00):
were true, that wouldn't be falsifiable. And I sort of
wanted you to explain that to me. I don't only
see how that works exactly.
Speaker 2 (04:07):
Okay, Yeah, well let me see if I can cash
that out for you a little bit. First of all,
the Bible doesn't really answer the age question. I think
we have to underscore that in any kind of a
conversation in this direction. Some say that Adam was created
with the appearance of age, but in reality we just
don't know. Was Adam created with callouses on his feet?
(04:29):
Did he have a belly button? Was he fashioned replete
with childhood memories? One would think not. But the Bible
simply doesn't tell us. And the notion that God created
his handiwork with the appearance of age is as I
said in that previous broadcast, it's logically unfalsifiable. For example,
(04:49):
how can you falsify the notion that you were created
five seconds ago and that your recollection of the show
that you just talked about was not just an implanted memory.
That's what I mean by saying it.
Speaker 3 (05:03):
I don't understand is what you mean by how can
I falsify that? I can prove that by witnesses, which
is the way we prove many things. I mean, I
can prove it because I've actually been here through the time,
and yes, those might be false, but the hundreds of
other people who've also observed my forty four years instead
of five seconds also prove it.
Speaker 2 (05:24):
Yeah, but that can all be part of an implanted memory,
is my point. And I think that if you go
beyond that, let's look at an astronomical event. A classic
example would be super nova in nineteen eighty seven. A
there you have, and I think this is instructive, particularly
in light of the past coming you just made. You
(05:46):
have an identifiable before and after. Prior to nineteen eighty seven,
the super nova was an ordinary star in a distant galaxy.
It was one hundred and sixty eight thousand light years away.
But then on February twenty third, nineteen eighty seven, the
star explodes and becomes a supernova. In other words, what
I'm saying is, one hundred and sixty eight thousand years ago,
(06:08):
the star exploded, and in nineteen eighty seven, the light
of that event finally reaches Earth. Unless, of course God
created the universe six thousand years ago, then what would
you have. Well, then the supernova would be like a
documentary film of an event that never really took place
(06:29):
in the first place.
Speaker 4 (06:31):
Well that one.
Speaker 3 (06:32):
You used that one with the caller the other day too,
And I I'm not sure what that one kind of
distracts me from the idea though that when you talked
about whether Adam was definitely old or not, well, Adam
was created old enough to observe the animals to name them.
Speaker 2 (06:49):
You know, I was simply saying, yeah, But that's not
what I'm saying. Okay, what I'm saying is something else.
First of all, how do you know that he was
an adult? You don't know that from the Biblical text.
I would come to the same conclusion that you just did.
But the appearance of age is a different question, and
that's what I addressed. There are people that say Adam
(07:09):
was created with the appearance of age, but I'm saying
the Bible doesn't say that. We don't know. Do you
think that he was created with callouses on his feet?
The Bible doesn't tell us.
Speaker 3 (07:21):
I can't know whether the hey had callouses on his feet,
but he was at least old enough to pick the
animals and do certain things that he certainly didn't come
on to earth as an infant, and that is by
the text.
Speaker 2 (07:33):
Well, first of all, you don't know. The Bible doesn't
fill in all of the details. It simply doesn't give
us all of the chronology. All of the detail we
don't have it. The Bible deals in generalities in Genesis
which do not fill in specific details, because, for example,
(07:56):
do you know all of the progeny of Adam and Eve.
You don't. In Genesis chapter four we're told about Cain
and Abel, and Genesis chapter five we're told about Seth.
But the implication of the scripture is that there are
many other kids that Adam and Eve had as well,
and therefore Cain asked to have some kind of protection
(08:21):
when he went to the land of Nod. So the
Bible doesn't fill in all the details for us. But
the one thing we do know is that the appearance
of age has some attendant liabilities, both textually and scientifically,
and I think that we have to take those things critically.
(08:43):
We have to take them seriously, and that's why I
mentioned the supernova event. When we see things in the world,
we don't think that they're mere deception. We don't think
that it's like a documentary film of something that never
really took place in the first place. Rather, we think
that we can see God's impromater on the universe that
(09:06):
he has made, and there's a way in which we
can figure things out, and if that were not the case,
science would never have developed as it has. Science developed
because of a Christian worldview. It didn't developed because of
a secular worldview. Augustine believed that God left markings, that
(09:26):
God is consistent. Aristotle, though the gods were capricious, had
a completely different view, believed in an eternal universe. Augustine
didn't think that way. He thought that God works in
an organized, systematized fashion, so that you can actually know
things about the universe. You can figure things out. But
if things aren't illusion or things aren't as they appear
(09:49):
they're otherwise, it's very difficult to figure those things out. Now. Look,
I'm a fellow sojourner with you in the quest for knowledge.
I want to be absolutely certain that I don't commit
scriptural heresy, which is to say, I want to be
absolutely certain that I take the text seriously, that I
(10:11):
don't read things into the text that the text isn't
designed to say. But I want to be sure that
I do the same thing with God's Book of Nature
as well, that I don't create scientific heresy either. If
I were to tell you today that I believe in geocentrism,
you probably wouldn't take me seriously, and yet that was
(10:32):
a dominant view for a long period of time. The
fact of the matter is, as we explore the universe
that God created, we have knowledge that does not allow
us to misread the Biblical text and think somehow or
other that the Earth is fixed at the center of
the universe that the sun revolves around it. We know
(10:54):
better because God has given us the ability to discover
things about the universe, and again that necessitates that we
do not commit scriptural heresy or scientific carecy. I'm going
to leave it at that. We'll be right back with
more of your questions right here on the Bible Answerment Broadcast,
So please don't touch that dial.
Speaker 1 (11:14):
To find out more about the materials mentioned on the show,
call a CRII Resource Consultant toll free at eight eight
eight seven thousand CRI that's eight eight eight seven thousand CRII.
Our website is also an excellent reference destination to help you.
Just go to equip dot org and find articles by Hank, books,
(11:37):
CDs and DVDs. Again, that's equip dot org. Or write
CRIIPO Box eighty five hundred, Charlotte, North Carolina, zip two
eight two seven one. The Bible answer Man will continue
in just a moment.
Speaker 4 (12:01):
Hank Hannograph has dedicated his life to defending truth because
truth matters. However, his life and ministry were radically transformed
by another three word phrase, Life matters more. Truth matters
because Christianity is rooted in history and evidence. Life matters
more because it is the experience of union with God.
The goal of Christian life is union with God. All
(12:24):
attempts to understand Christianity from a solely rational perspective put
us in danger of devolving into a transactional rather than
transformational relationship with God. Truth Matters, Life matters More will
equip you to move beyond intellectually knowing about God to
experientially knowing Him in christ. To receive your copy of
Truth Matters, Life Matters More called eight eight eight seven
(12:47):
thousand CRI and make a gift to support the Christian
Research Institute's Life Changing outreaches eight eight eight seven thousand
CRI or visit us online at equipp dot org.
Speaker 1 (13:00):
Anyone who's been paying attention knows there's a war going on,
not just on traditional morality, civility, and decency, but even
more fundamentally on historic notions of truth, and the enemy
isn't just the onslaught of fake news, facilitated by a
post truth culture and turbocharged by growing legions of ideological
spind Doctors note the real enemies of truth range from
(13:24):
postmodernist convictions that there is no objective truth to militant
scientism that claims that only science can determine truth and
religion is little more than primitive superstitions. But CRI Support
Team members are not waving a white flag of surrender.
They're holding the fort by undergirding everyone of Christian Research
(13:44):
Institute's mind shaping and life changing outreaches twenty four to seven.
To learn how you can make a difference and enjoy
all the benefits of Support Team membership, simply visit equip
dot org. The Complete Bible answer Book Collector's Edition is
the comprehensive collection of the most often asked questions Hank
(14:07):
Hannigraph has received throughout his four decades as host of
the Bible answer Man broadcast. With more than half a
million copies already in print, this newly revised and expanded
Collector's Edition helped seekers and skeptics alike sort through the
truth on topics such as reliability of the Bible, religions
and cults, the resurrection and afterlife, and many more issues
(14:31):
vital to a better understanding of God in Christ and
our relationship to Him. To receive your copy of the
Complete Bible answer Book Collector's Edition, Revised and expanded, call
eight eight eight seven thousand CRII and make a gift
to support the Christian Research Institute's life changing outreaches eight
(14:51):
eight eight seven thousand CRII or visit us at equip
dot org. Now back to the Bible answer Man with
Hank Hannagraph. To find out more about the materials mentioned
(15:12):
on the show, call a CRII resource consultant toll free
at eight eight eight seven thousand CRII. Our website is
also an excellent reference destination to help you. Just go
to equip dot org and find articles by Hank, books,
CDs and DVDs and all the latest news on your
(15:34):
faith in our world. Again, that's equip dot org. And
now once again here is Hank Canagraph.
Speaker 2 (15:42):
Say very much, Randy, let's go right back to where
phone callers. Next up is Jordan. He's listening in Kansas nite, Jordan, Hi, Hank,
how I'm good.
Speaker 3 (15:51):
Great.
Speaker 5 (15:52):
First of all, let's say thank you for your program.
It really blesses me.
Speaker 2 (15:56):
Well, bless you. Thank you.
Speaker 5 (15:58):
Henk. I had a question about second current five point
twenty one. Bible says that God made him who had
no sin, to be sin for us. Okay. Also the
Bible talks about God hates sin. So my question is,
is if Jesus became sin for us so that we
may be righteous? Did God hate Jesus for a brief moment.
Speaker 2 (16:20):
Good question, and it underscores a problem which relates to
the art and science of biblical interpretation. God made him
who had no sin to be sin for us, says Paul.
But what he's doing there is he's using a word
or a phrase substituted for another associated word or phrase,
(16:45):
which is to say, since it is impossible that Christ
or any person could be literally made sin, you can't
take this as a way of saying that Jesus Christ
literally became sin, because to interpret that passage of saying
that Christ was transformed into sin is to strip the
(17:09):
Savior of his personal being. It's to reduce him to
a mere abstraction, and not only is that notion unbiblical.
It's utterly absurd. Jesus did not literally become sin. Sin
was imputed to him. So the idea is he is
(17:32):
the unblemished lamb upon whom the sins of the world
were laid. He is not in any way touched by sin,
and therefore he's a sweet smelling savor unto God. He's
the unblemish lamb. If he was blemished in any sense,
he could not be our sacrifice. All he had to
(17:54):
do is look back to the types in shadows that
pointed forward to him as the un blemish lamb upon
whom the sins of the world were laid. So you
have to read this in the sense in which it's
intended and recognize that sin is a deprivation of good
(18:15):
and as such, sin is characterized by a lack of
something rather than being something in itself. It's not an
ontological reality in itself. So what's really going on here
is he becomes the sin bearer. He doesn't become sin itself. Again,
(18:37):
to reduce him to sin would be to communicate an
unbiblical notion that is utterly absurd.
Speaker 5 (18:45):
That makes perfect sense. I believe completely in reading the
Bible for all it's worth, as you say, and that's
baffled me for quite a while, and I can never
find an answer.
Speaker 2 (18:57):
Yeah. Actually, there's a book that I dealt with the
very question in because it's an issue so often brought
up by the faith teachers. They say that Christ became sin,
and they use that as a pretext for the fact
that Jesus Christ had to be born again. And so
I dealt with this in a book called Christianity in
christ Is twenty first century, so it's available there. Also
(19:19):
deal with the question what is sin and point out
that it's a deprivation of something rather than a nontological
reality itself in my book, The Complete Bible answer Book,
Collector's Edition.
Speaker 5 (19:31):
Great, great, thank you, Hank. You know, honestly, I don't agree,
I to ie with everything that you say, but you know,
the important thing is that we believe Jesus Christ is
a savior. In one of these days, I'll shake your
hand and we're up there with our Lord.
Speaker 2 (19:45):
Yeah, and I like that because I'm not the final
quote of arbitration. That is not to say that I
don't take very seriously what I do, which is to
say I have a healthy fear of God with respect
to everything that I say. So I don't simply say
something off the cust. I try to think through what
I say, because there's a platform here, there's teaching here,
(20:05):
and with teaching there is a stricter judgment. So I'm
well aware of that. But I don't expect you to
believe everything I say. I do expect you to test
everything I say and then hold fast that which is good.
And then we can always stand shoulder to shoulder on
a central Christian doctrine, which is the line of demarcation
between the Kingdom of Christ and the Kingdom of the cult,
(20:27):
so that we debate vigorously secondary issues and ultimately we learned.
Speaker 1 (20:31):
From one another.
Speaker 5 (20:33):
So I'm right there with you, sir.
Speaker 2 (20:35):
Thank you. My friend Patsy next, she's listening in Bradford, Arizona. Hi, Patsy, Hi, I.
Speaker 6 (20:43):
Want to ask you a question about kind and Ibel.
I had always thought that the sacrifice was started when
God killed the animals in night covering for Adam and Eve.
And then we were talking to a man the other
night and he said, when you see that scripture that
says Abel sacrifice was accepted and Kine's wasn't. It doesn't
(21:04):
have anything to do with the blood. It doesn't say
the reason it was not accepted. And I wanted you
to tell me. You know why I wasn't it accepted.
Speaker 2 (21:14):
Well, God knew what was in the heart of Cain,
he knew his motivation forgiving, and that ultimately is at
the root of it. But having said that, there's also
typology that's going on here by which we can read
something more into the text in terms of a type
(21:35):
or a shadow pointing ultimately in some sense forward to
the ultimate sacrificial lamb. But we don't want to extend
that typology beyond what is intended for Ultimately, sin lurked
in the heart of Cain. His offering was given from
the wrong motive, and we can see this throughout the scripture.
(21:56):
I mean, we see that with Antonius and Saphira, they
have kept everything. They didn't have to give it, it
was their own. But when they had a false motivation,
when they lied, and not only lied to men, but
lied to God, there was a penalty to their sin.
(22:17):
So ultimately it is what is in the heart. The
real difference between Able and cain sacrifices was an animal
and plant but true faith and sin. That's where the
distinction lies.
Speaker 6 (22:32):
Okay. He said the sacrifices hadn't been established. The blood
sacrifice wasn't established until Ibraham, you know. But I was thinking,
if they were supposed to give a sacrifice, the sacrifices
had been, you know, already established.
Speaker 2 (22:48):
Well, the sacrificial system had not been established. The very
types and shadows of the civilian ceremonial laws that would
ultimately set Israel apart as a light to the nations
hadn't been established in that sense. But principles are still principles,
and those principles still apply. We sacrifice everything to God,
(23:10):
don't we. I mean, we are living sacrifices to God
in our persons, which is to say, we hold everything
that we have with an open hand, so that God
can take out and put in as he sees fits.
So in some sense, though there is a tithe in
the Old Testament, and that tithe is uniquely geared or
(23:30):
established around a theocratic system, it doesn't mean that the
principle doesn't apply today. The principle still applies, Okay.
Speaker 6 (23:41):
And I noticed too, you know that. I mean God
gave kind of another chance. He didn't want to take it,
you know, because he told him right after that that
he could have you know, he was giving him another
chance to make a right sacrifice. So I guess it
was the heart, not of what he was bringing. Y.
I've just never seen it.
Speaker 1 (24:00):
Why.
Speaker 2 (24:01):
Yeah, And again, that is the difference, That is the distinction,
that is what should be paramount in our thinking. Able
and Caine's sacrifices aren't delineated as being evil because one
is a plant sacrifice and the others an animal sacrifice,
but rather because something far grander is going on. The
(24:26):
difference between true faith and sin is being identified. Acceptable
worship is that which flows from a pure heart. And
it seems unwarranted to conclude that Abel's offering was accepted
because it was a blood sacrifice. In fact, the text
(24:47):
emphasizes offering, not sacrifice, and both offerings are referred to
as first fruit offerings. Thus the difference was one of
motivation or one of the heart.
Speaker 6 (25:00):
Okay, I can truly understand that because I was a
lost church member for twenty years and when I was
twenty nine, Jesus saved me. Anyway, Praise and bless his
holy name, Amen, and thank high.
Speaker 2 (25:11):
When you were twenty nine.
Speaker 6 (25:13):
When I was twenty nine, Jesus saved me. I was
born again when I've heard the sermon that caused me
to see myself as lost and on the way to Hell.
I almost had to jump apew and run down the
aisle benieve Jesus as my savior. So I understand what
you're talking about.
Speaker 2 (25:27):
And we have something in common because I bowed my
knee to Jesus, Christ's Savior and Lord when I was
twenty nine years of age, even though I grew up
in a Christian home. But I didn't want to believe
the Christian Gospel because I didn't want to live within
the parameters that God set fourth for us to live within,
and so I tried to rationalize them out of existence.
(25:49):
And so I bought into the evolutionary paradigm, not because
I couldn't believe, but because I wouldn't believe. But all
that changed when I was twenty nine years of age.
So we have that in common. Thanks again for two in.
We look forward to seeing you next time with more
of the broadcast.
Speaker 1 (26:04):
We appreciate you tuning in to the Bible answer Man broadcast.
Before we sign off today, here's our contact information. By
phone dial eight eight eight seven thousand CRII, which translates
to eight eight eight seven thousand two seven four. On
the internet, go to equip dot org. That's equip dot org.
(26:26):
You can also write CRII at Post Office Box eighty
five hundred, Charlotte, North Carolina. The zip code is two
eight two seven one. Our prayer is that today's broadcast
has equipped you to better defend your faith and encouraged
you to pursue sound doctrine and godly living. Thank you
for listening. The Bible answer Man Broadcast is supported by
(26:48):
listeners like you. We're on the air because life and
truth matter.
Speaker 4 (27:01):
Truth matters, Life matters. More details Hank Hanigraf's personal pilgrimage
from his long defensive truth to his discovery that life
matters more. Essentially, two books in one. Part one equips
Christians to defend the essential truths of the historic Christian faith.
Part two explains why truth is necessary but hardly sufficient.
(27:22):
That the map is not the territory, the menu is
not the meal. We are created to experience life to
the full through union with God in Christ. Is there
more to the Christian life than what you are experiencing?
Truth Matters, Life Matters More unveils the unexpected beauty of
an authentic Christian life. To receive Truth Matters, Life Matters
(27:42):
More for yourself or as a terrific gift to a
friend or loved one, called eight eight eight seven thousand
CRI and make a gift to support the Christian Research
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