August 2, 2025 • 28 mins
On today’s Bible Answer Man broadcast, Hank answers the following questions:
Does the Christian worldview allow for alternate universes or realities? John - Silver Spring, MD (0:52)
Is it okay for a church to have separate worship services for children and adults? Jason - Hutchinson, KS (4:33)
Does Genesis 1 contradict Genesis 2 concerning the order of creation? Cameron - Edmonton, AB (8:21)
My friend’s father is having an affair. Can you give me some advice in this situation? Louisa - Toronto, ON (15:11)
My uncle is a skeptic. How can I witness to him? Jane - Kennett, MO (17:54)
Are Josephus’ references to Jesus accurate? Fernando - St. Louis, MO (21:23)
Does the Christian worldview allow for alternate universes or realities? John - Silver Spring, MD (0:52)
Is it okay for a church to have separate worship services for children and adults? Jason - Hutchinson, KS (4:33)
Does Genesis 1 contradict Genesis 2 concerning the order of creation? Cameron - Edmonton, AB (8:21)
My friend’s father is having an affair. Can you give me some advice in this situation? Louisa - Toronto, ON (15:11)
My uncle is a skeptic. How can I witness to him? Jane - Kennett, MO (17:54)
Are Josephus’ references to Jesus accurate? Fernando - St. Louis, MO (21:23)
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, dy, let it be hanging on first Up
John and Silver Spring, Maryland.
Speaker 3 (00:56):
Hi, John Hian, thank you so much for taking my
call pleasure.
Speaker 4 (01:01):
First, I just wanted to tell you. I don't know
if you remember this, but a few years ago, when
I first started listening to you, I was at Jehovah's
Witness and I called one night after I thlearned up
into strength to make a phone call and asked you
if I needed to be baptized, and you said that
I should find a healthy, well balanced church and do such.
So I just wanted to let you know that four
(01:22):
years later, my first daughter and I were just baptized
Lutheran together, and we've been at this church for a year.
And I thank you so much for all that you've
said on the radio.
Speaker 2 (01:35):
Well, John, you just made my day. Thank you so
much for that testimony.
Speaker 4 (01:39):
Yeah, yeah, thank you. So my question is I am
a huge science fiction fan and a lot of my
friends are as well. And the other night we were
all sitting around talking. Some of us are Christian in
the group, some aren't, so we got to talking about
parallel timelines or parallel worlds, alternate realities, that sort of thing.
(02:00):
And I said that I'd like to believe in those
things because they need for great stories. But I said,
I have to agree to disagree because I think that
if everything is according to God's will, in God's plan,
that leaves no possibility for their existing some alternate timeline
(02:20):
where you know, the US lost World War two or
we never went to the moon, or you know what
I'm trying to say.
Speaker 2 (02:27):
Yeah, you know, I think the first thing we have
to recognize, and by the way, good point, but we
have to recognize that it's certainly possible that there are
other universes. We can't discount that as believers look at
the fact that we're in a small galaxy. When you
think about the vastness of the universe itself. There are
a hundred billion galaxies with one hundred billion stars, So
(02:50):
we don't know what's out there, and certainly we do
know God's prowess, his power, his omnipotence, his omnistion. Said, therefore,
we can't preclude the possibility that there are other universes,
but that the same thing would have happened in inverse.
I think you're right. I think there's very little probability
(03:14):
of something like that being true. Thank you so much
for your call. I want to mention too that theoretical
physicist Stephen Hawking is infamous for supposing that the existence
of a vast number of universes, or a multiverse as
it sometimes referred to, explains the fine tuning of our universe.
(03:34):
In other words, he thinks that given a sufficient number
of random universes, one of them is bound to have
the necessary conditions to support not only intelligent life, but
also the proposition that blind chance can account for fine tuning.
In reality, however, the multiverse proposition is an utterly desperate
(03:57):
attempt to account for an unfathomably fine tuned universe. And
we should note that there's not a shred of evidence
to support the existence of a physical universe other than
our own universe, much less a virtually infinite number of
such universes. And therefore, people like Hawking are typically not
(04:21):
exercising their gifts in the area of science because their
fanciful presuppositions are based on theoretical and theological pining, not
scientific discovery. Let's go back to the phone lines. We'll
talk to Jason next listening in Kansas.
Speaker 3 (04:37):
Hi Jason, Hi Hank, Thank you Jaking, my call pleasure.
My question relates to children's ministry in the church. And
we are members of a Reformed church here in central Kansas,
and we don't have We have Sunday School and that's
(04:58):
where the you know, the kids break up off into
their particular age groups. And then after that we have
of course the worship service and the But the church
doesn't believe in quote unquote children's church. So that the
you know, the pastor is providing a sermon to all
of us parishioners, and it's on a pretty high level.
(05:19):
I mean, we're pretty uh doctrinal in our beliefs, and
it's pretty heavy stuff. So our six seven eight year olds,
you know, in the church are our fidgeting and the
seats and so forth. And I suggested one time perhaps
we could start a children's church, and the answer was
that we couldn't because during the worship service in particular
(05:43):
is kind of a special time and that's really needs
to be, you know, experienced by the family unit as
a whole. And I just wondered if you could provide
some insight on that and and what scripture tells us
about that.
Speaker 2 (05:57):
Well, unfortunately, this is one of those areas that denominations
divide over their secondary issues, and ecclesiology is one of
those issues. So the Bible in these areas is not
sufficiently clear such that everyone has exactly the same point
of view. I don't underestimate the value of a child
(06:20):
in a worship service, and I kind of love having
the children with me in worship services so that we
can discuss what was discussed in the service. So I'm
for multi generational kinds of services. But again, this is
a matter of conscience. It is a matter on which
honest Christians disagree, and they hopefully do it in a
(06:43):
agreeable fashion.
Speaker 3 (06:45):
Yeah, well, it's certainly not a reason for us to
leave the church. But it's one of the things that
as I read, in particular, as reading First Corinthians, I
think it was three one through three, And I know
that that's really more about Paul chiding the Corinthians for
their backsliding, essentially, but I thought that maybe what he
(07:10):
was saying is that the you know, when Jesus spoke,
he spoke in a language that people could understand and
on a level that people could understand, and maybe that
was an indication that would kind of lead us towards
having a children's church or a children's service, if you will.
Speaker 2 (07:28):
Yeah, I think that's a perfectly plausible idea, and I
think that you can extract that plausibly from the text.
Not only that, but remember that Jesus wanted the children around,
and certainly there's ample reason to suppose that children can
be greatly edified from what goes on in a church service,
(07:50):
particularly when you recognize that most of the modern translations
are written at a fifth grade level, even the Nivas
at that level. So it's not beyond the realm of
possibility that a seven eight nine year old perfectly grasps
what's going on, and I can bear eloquent testimony to
that with my own family.
Speaker 3 (08:09):
Well, thank you, Hank, God bless you and your ministry.
It certainly is very edifying to me on my commute,
and I love the end of the day when I
can get to listen to you.
Speaker 2 (08:19):
So well, thank you for that encouragement. Cameron, You're next
in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. Hi Cameron, Hi, and thanks for
taking my call, sir, You're welcome.
Speaker 5 (08:31):
I just have a.
Speaker 6 (08:31):
Question a boat the Genesis accounts. I mean, I'm just
sort of confused. I'm not saying contradict itself. And I
did some guidance on it, just in the creation in
verse one, and it goes through at the firmaments of
the water and going creates the whales and the foul
of the air on the fifth day, and then in
(08:54):
a chapter two of Genesis it says, after Adam was created,
you need to help me, so out of the ground,
God Lord has created out of the ground the beast
and the fall of the air. But I thought first
one to talk to the fall of the air was
(09:15):
out of the waters, not out of the ground. So
I just didn't get that much.
Speaker 2 (09:21):
If you sort of understand, well, I do sort of understand.
But here's the deal. If you look at Genesis chapter one,
what you have is God's purposes in creation, codified around
the six days of our normal week. And then on
the seventh day he rested. So what goes on there
(09:42):
is on the first day. Well, in the beginning, of course,
we go all the way back there. God created the
heavens and the earth. The earth was formless and empty.
Darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the
spirit of God was hovering over the waters. And then
God said, let there be light, and there was light.
God saw that the light was good, and he separated
the light and the darkness. And God called the light day,
(10:05):
and the darkness he called night. And there was evening
and there was morning the first day. So here you
have what happened in separating light from dark codified around
a solar day, so that we can remember God's prowess
in creation. And then God said, let there be an
expanse between the waters to separate the water above from
(10:28):
the water below. So God made the expanse and separated
the water under the expanse from the water above it,
and it was so God called the expanse sky. And
there was evening and there was morning the second day,
so again before the sun and moon, you have a
solar day and so on. And then back to what
you specifically asked about, that takes place on the fifth
(10:53):
day where God creates the fish and the fowl. There's
a cemetery. I don't have time to explicate it. I
was going to, but I've got seventeen seconds, so I'm
not gonna be able to get it all out. Let
me do this. Hang on. I will send you what
I've written about this in the Creation answer Book, and
I'll follow up as soon as we get back from
a heartbreak.
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
CRII PO Box eighty five hundred, Charlotte, North Carolina, ZIP
two eight two seven one, The Bible answer Man will
continue in just a moment? Has God Spoken? Are the
(12:08):
words of Scripture merely human in origin? Or are they,
in fact the very words of God himself. Three years
in the making and based on two decades of research
and reflection, Hank Henagraph's monumental book Has God Spoken answers
what is surely the most important question facing our world.
In Has God Spoken? Memorable Proofs of the Bible's Divine Inspiration,
(12:32):
Hank counters the contentions of the Bible attackers and clearly
shows that belief in the Holy Scriptures is not a
guess or wishful thinking. It is the only logical conclusion
after an honest examination of overwhelming evidence. Order Has God Spoken?
From the Christian Research Institute by calling eighty eight seven
thousand CRII or go online to equip dot org equip
(12:57):
dot Org.
Speaker 7 (13:01):
Hank Hanigraph has dedicated his life to defending truth because
truth matters. Yet, an encounter with Christians in the underground
Church of China left Hanograph contemplating his Christian experience. They
were experiencing something beyond truth. They were experiencing life.
Speaker 8 (13:17):
Truth matters, Life matters More by Hank hanigraph is two
books in one, Because Truth Matters, Part one equips Christians
to defend the essential truths of the historic Christian faith.
In Part two, Hank explains why life matters more and
how we can experience the height of human existence union
with God. Prepare to move past intellectually knowing about God
(13:38):
to experientially knowing God in Christ. To receive your copy
of Truth Matters. Life matters more, the unexpected beauty of
an authentic Christian life called eight eight eight seven thousand CRI,
and make a gift to support the Christian research institutes
Life Changing Outreaches eight eight eight seven thousand CRI or
visit us at equipped dot org.
Speaker 1 (14:00):
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 spinductors.
(14:21):
Note the real enemies of truth range from 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 Institute's mind
(14:45):
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 and now here's Hank Canadagraph.
Speaker 2 (15:09):
Thank you much for Indian Right. Back to our phone callers.
Next up is Louisa in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, listening on
the web.
Speaker 1 (15:16):
Hi Louisa, Hi Hank.
Speaker 9 (15:18):
How are you doing.
Speaker 2 (15:19):
I'm well, Thank you, Thank you for.
Speaker 9 (15:21):
Taking my call, and God bless you in your ministry.
Speaker 2 (15:24):
Thank you.
Speaker 9 (15:25):
I have a question this weekend. On Friday, I was
at a fair and I ran into not really a friend,
but an acquaintance. It's actually someone who's in my daughter's class,
and I know that the children's father is committing adultery.
And this has been bothering me all weekend. I don't
(15:46):
know what to do. I don't know if I don't
say anything, if I am accountable of sinning or I
really don't know what to do. If I should approach
him and tell him, you know, he knows he's committing
adulter because he's a Christian as well, And I don't
know if I should approach his wife. I really am
(16:08):
at a loss. I don't know what to do. So
I would really appreciate if he can help me with
the situation, if he can give me any advice.
Speaker 2 (16:16):
Yeah, I mean, I think the first thing that you
have to do in this circumstance is you have to
approach the person. I think that's what the Bible tells
you to do.
Speaker 9 (16:26):
Okay, I think that's what God has been telling me
to do, but I wasn't sure if it was just
my thinking or if it was God telling me.
Speaker 2 (16:33):
No, this is a thoroughly biblical principle. And if he
does not listen to you, then you can take a
few others, and if they still have no impact on
him collectively with you, then you can perhaps take it
to his wife or take it to the church, because
(16:54):
it is a very serious matter. But I think you
want to approach him first and deal with it in
that sense.
Speaker 9 (17:01):
Like, do you mean to take some people with me?
Speaker 2 (17:03):
Or no. Well, I think the first thing that you
should do is go yourself and talk to them, and
then establish this as the testimony if two or three witnesses,
as we're told about in Matthew chapter eighteen. Even though
Matthew Chapter eighteen specifically is dealing with someone sinning against you,
(17:26):
the principle I think applies where in fairness, you go
to the person first and talk to that person and
see if that person might repent, and as a result
of that, instead of you being the catalyst that brings
this to the wife, this can be solved within the
context of the family unit itself.
Speaker 9 (17:48):
Thank you so much and I will definitely do that.
Speaker 2 (17:51):
Bless you.
Speaker 9 (17:52):
Thank you very much.
Speaker 2 (17:53):
You get it. I want to go back to the
phone lines talk to Jane in Missouri next.
Speaker 3 (17:57):
Hi, Jane, Hi, thank.
Speaker 5 (18:00):
You so much for taking my call, and I thank
you for your service. Okay, my question is, are well
I need some help on this. I have an uncle,
that is, he's a former high school uh literature teacher,
and I know he knows the truth about the Bible.
(18:23):
He has to study that, I know, but he seems
to be so close minded, so such a skeptic. Every
time we I don't think he thinks it's I think
he believes in God, but I don't think that he
thinks that, you know, Jesus is necessary for salvagent U,
and he lives far away now, so I don't get
(18:44):
to communicate. But I was mainly wondering what what I
looked on your website, and I've tried, you know, looked
at the area of apologetics, and there's so much there,
and I just wonder, what do you think what it
might be the best resource that I could maybe seen here.
Speaker 2 (19:03):
Well, beyond a doubt, I think the resource that you
should send him is the book has God spoken, okay,
because it gives all of the evidence necessary. In fact,
there are parts of that book that you can actually
tab for him, in particular the conclusion to the book.
The conclusion of the book really demonstrates in spades that reason,
(19:25):
apart from revelation, always ends up in the blind ditch
of ignorance. But I also think that what is important
here is that it demonstrates that the Bible has to
be divine as opposed to merely human in origin. So
I think this is the main issue. The main issue
is what is our authority? Is it our own reason
(19:48):
or is it God's revelation? And if you can demonstrate
that the Bible is in fact God's revelation to humanity,
then it becomes an authority and then you trust what
it says. And I do this in a very logical,
sequenced way, but there are also places in which you
can get the essence of the argument in a very
short period of time and it piques the interest to
(20:09):
go further. What I have done in each part of
the book, and there are four main parts, is I've
ended each part with memorable snapshots so someone can read
those in a very short period of time and have
the aha moment, and then it what's the appetite for
the agnostic to want to dig further. I've done that
(20:30):
at the end of every one of the four parts.
And then the conclusion, which I mentioned as well. I
think if you tab that for him, I think it'd
be helpful.
Speaker 5 (20:37):
Okay, well, you've read a book one time, and I
don't know if this is what kind of I think
he said. It was about Thomas Jefferson, and he says
that the Gospels are like it's brought out to contradict
each other our art.
Speaker 2 (20:52):
Yeah, and I completely tackle that head on, and he's
able to look at that and again have the Aha moment,
because if he is open to truth, I mean, if
he's closed minded, you aren't going to reach him anyway.
But I still think that a lot of people have
their minds closed because they don't have the information presented
to them in a credible fashion. And this book will
do that.
Speaker 5 (21:14):
Right. Okay, Well that sounds great, has Godkay? Okay, thank
you so much, you got it.
Speaker 2 (21:20):
Thank you so much for your call. Let's go back
to the phone calls. We'll talk next to Fernando in
Saint Louis, Missouri. Hi, Fernando, I.
Speaker 10 (21:28):
Think thanks for your obedience to the word. I ran
into an article recently that talked about one of josesis
the references to Jesus, and questioned whether it was valid.
They were saying that it was a Christian interjection to
his writing. It was the one specifically where he praises
Jesus' words is good, and I think even calls them Messiah.
(21:51):
But they were saying that this doesn't.
Speaker 11 (21:52):
Fit with his character and that he actually called I
think best being or Vestia Caesar Messiah, and it just
seemed contray to his writing or his thoughts. Yeah, I
was wondering if you had any thoughts or comment from that.
Speaker 2 (22:05):
Yeah, I do. That is the famous Antiquities eighteen sixty
three passage, where as you mentioned Josepha's comments on Christ's character,
his crucifixion, and his resurrection. Actually, that passage goes like this,
at that time there was a wise man called Jesus.
By the way I just turned to this in my
book has got spoken because I actually deal with that
(22:25):
specific question. Again. The quote is, at that time there
was a wise man called Jesus, and his conduct was good.
They was known to be virtuous. Many people among the
Jews and the other nations became his disciples. Pilot condemned
him to be crucified and to die, but those who
had become his disciples did not abandon his discipleship. They
(22:47):
reported that he had appeared to them three days after
his crucifixion, and that he was alive. Accordingly, he was
perhaps the Messiah concerning whom the prophets have reported wonders,
and the tribe of the Christians so named after him,
has not disappeared to this day. So that's the quote
(23:08):
in question, and it is true. That the translation of
that passage by Church historian Eusebius might have contained Christian interpolations.
But a majority of scholars today view the translation that
I just read to you as historically reliable and authentic,
(23:31):
particularly authentic in view of a newly discovered text by
a Melkite historian Agapius, which bears no indication whatsoever tampering.
So Josephus must have mentioned Jesus in authentic core material
in this passage, since this passage is present in all
(23:52):
Greek manuscripts of Josephus, and the Agapian version that I
just mentioned a chords well with his vocabulary and grammar elsewhere.
So the problem is the interpolation, and the interpolation has
been essentially a function of what happened with a Church
historian Eusebius. So he spiced it up a little bit.
Speaker 1 (24:12):
So I think the.
Speaker 2 (24:13):
Translation I gave you is a better translation in harmony
with the best core material that we have available today.
Speaker 10 (24:20):
Interpolation does that mean to rewrite to your own objective.
Speaker 2 (24:25):
Or yeah, exactly, add some embellishments to make it better
than it is. It's already good. You don't have to
embellish it. And I think this is instructive for all
of us. You know, so often people embellish things to
make it appear as though God is greater than he
actually is. Well, you can't do that. To start with,
God is great and he is above all things, and
(24:49):
you can't make him greater than he already is, because
He is as great as can possibly be. And sometimes
people do that by making up testimonies or embellishing things
or evangelistic language. None of that is necessary and certainly
is not consistent with the Christian ethic.
Speaker 10 (25:06):
All right, thank you, you got it, and.
Speaker 2 (25:08):
I've pointed this out and my book Has God Spoken.
Internal evidence is sufficient to establish the Biblical manuscripts as authentic, reliable,
and complementary. And external evidence provides remarkable, coroberating attestation, which
is of course provided by people like Josepha's, but many
others as well. You have Cornelius Tacitus in the Annals,
(25:33):
you have plenty of the Younger and a get many
other sources. You can piece together highlights of the life
of Christ wholly independent descripture, which is remarkable. External attestation
to the veracity of scripture. Has God Spoken has come
up several times in my discussion on the broadcast today.
It is available through the ongoing work of the Christian
(25:56):
Research Incident. You can see it online at equipped dot org.
That this is a ministry supported by listeners just like you.
Without your support, we couldn't do what we do. So
pray for us and support is tangibly if you can.
The best way to give in a safe, secure fashion
equip dot org.
Speaker 1 (26:13):
Thank you for joining us today. Our mission at the
Christian Research Institute is to defend the faith, answer Bible
questions and encourage Christians to watch their life and doctrine closely.
To find resources to help equip you go to equip
dot org. That's equip dot org, or call us at
(26:34):
eight eight eight seven thousand CRII. You can also write
CRI at Post Office Box eighty five hundred, Charlotte, North Carolina,
two eight two seven one. The Bible answer Man Broadcast
is supported by listeners like you. We're on the air
because life and truth matter. Has God spoken? Are the
(27:08):
words of Scripture merely human in origin? Or are they
in fact the very words of God himself? Three years
in the making and based on two decades of research
and reflection, Hank Henagraph's monumental book Has God Spoken, answers
what is surely the most important question facing our world.
In Has God Spoken? Memorable Proofs of the Bible's Divine inspiration,
(27:32):
Hank counters the contentions of the Bible attackers and clearly
shows that belief in the Holy Scriptures is not a
guess or wishful thinking. It is the only logical conclusion
after an honest examination of overwhelming evidence. Ordered Has God
Spoken from the Christian Research Institute by calling eighty eight
seven thousand CRII, or go online to equip dot org.
(27:56):
Equip 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, dy, let it be hanging on first Up
John and Silver Spring, Maryland.
Speaker 3 (00:56):
Hi, John Hian, thank you so much for taking my
call pleasure.
Speaker 4 (01:01):
First, I just wanted to tell you. I don't know
if you remember this, but a few years ago, when
I first started listening to you, I was at Jehovah's
Witness and I called one night after I thlearned up
into strength to make a phone call and asked you
if I needed to be baptized, and you said that
I should find a healthy, well balanced church and do such.
So I just wanted to let you know that four
(01:22):
years later, my first daughter and I were just baptized
Lutheran together, and we've been at this church for a year.
And I thank you so much for all that you've
said on the radio.
Speaker 2 (01:35):
Well, John, you just made my day. Thank you so
much for that testimony.
Speaker 4 (01:39):
Yeah, yeah, thank you. So my question is I am
a huge science fiction fan and a lot of my
friends are as well. And the other night we were
all sitting around talking. Some of us are Christian in
the group, some aren't, so we got to talking about
parallel timelines or parallel worlds, alternate realities, that sort of thing.
(02:00):
And I said that I'd like to believe in those
things because they need for great stories. But I said,
I have to agree to disagree because I think that
if everything is according to God's will, in God's plan,
that leaves no possibility for their existing some alternate timeline
(02:20):
where you know, the US lost World War two or
we never went to the moon, or you know what
I'm trying to say.
Speaker 2 (02:27):
Yeah, you know, I think the first thing we have
to recognize, and by the way, good point, but we
have to recognize that it's certainly possible that there are
other universes. We can't discount that as believers look at
the fact that we're in a small galaxy. When you
think about the vastness of the universe itself. There are
a hundred billion galaxies with one hundred billion stars, So
(02:50):
we don't know what's out there, and certainly we do
know God's prowess, his power, his omnipotence, his omnistion. Said, therefore,
we can't preclude the possibility that there are other universes,
but that the same thing would have happened in inverse.
I think you're right. I think there's very little probability
(03:14):
of something like that being true. Thank you so much
for your call. I want to mention too that theoretical
physicist Stephen Hawking is infamous for supposing that the existence
of a vast number of universes, or a multiverse as
it sometimes referred to, explains the fine tuning of our universe.
(03:34):
In other words, he thinks that given a sufficient number
of random universes, one of them is bound to have
the necessary conditions to support not only intelligent life, but
also the proposition that blind chance can account for fine tuning.
In reality, however, the multiverse proposition is an utterly desperate
(03:57):
attempt to account for an unfathomably fine tuned universe. And
we should note that there's not a shred of evidence
to support the existence of a physical universe other than
our own universe, much less a virtually infinite number of
such universes. And therefore, people like Hawking are typically not
(04:21):
exercising their gifts in the area of science because their
fanciful presuppositions are based on theoretical and theological pining, not
scientific discovery. Let's go back to the phone lines. We'll
talk to Jason next listening in Kansas.
Speaker 3 (04:37):
Hi Jason, Hi Hank, Thank you Jaking, my call pleasure.
My question relates to children's ministry in the church. And
we are members of a Reformed church here in central Kansas,
and we don't have We have Sunday School and that's
(04:58):
where the you know, the kids break up off into
their particular age groups. And then after that we have
of course the worship service and the But the church
doesn't believe in quote unquote children's church. So that the
you know, the pastor is providing a sermon to all
of us parishioners, and it's on a pretty high level.
(05:19):
I mean, we're pretty uh doctrinal in our beliefs, and
it's pretty heavy stuff. So our six seven eight year olds,
you know, in the church are our fidgeting and the
seats and so forth. And I suggested one time perhaps
we could start a children's church, and the answer was
that we couldn't because during the worship service in particular
(05:43):
is kind of a special time and that's really needs
to be, you know, experienced by the family unit as
a whole. And I just wondered if you could provide
some insight on that and and what scripture tells us
about that.
Speaker 2 (05:57):
Well, unfortunately, this is one of those areas that denominations
divide over their secondary issues, and ecclesiology is one of
those issues. So the Bible in these areas is not
sufficiently clear such that everyone has exactly the same point
of view. I don't underestimate the value of a child
(06:20):
in a worship service, and I kind of love having
the children with me in worship services so that we
can discuss what was discussed in the service. So I'm
for multi generational kinds of services. But again, this is
a matter of conscience. It is a matter on which
honest Christians disagree, and they hopefully do it in a
(06:43):
agreeable fashion.
Speaker 3 (06:45):
Yeah, well, it's certainly not a reason for us to
leave the church. But it's one of the things that
as I read, in particular, as reading First Corinthians, I
think it was three one through three, And I know
that that's really more about Paul chiding the Corinthians for
their backsliding, essentially, but I thought that maybe what he
(07:10):
was saying is that the you know, when Jesus spoke,
he spoke in a language that people could understand and
on a level that people could understand, and maybe that
was an indication that would kind of lead us towards
having a children's church or a children's service, if you will.
Speaker 2 (07:28):
Yeah, I think that's a perfectly plausible idea, and I
think that you can extract that plausibly from the text.
Not only that, but remember that Jesus wanted the children around,
and certainly there's ample reason to suppose that children can
be greatly edified from what goes on in a church service,
(07:50):
particularly when you recognize that most of the modern translations
are written at a fifth grade level, even the Nivas
at that level. So it's not beyond the realm of
possibility that a seven eight nine year old perfectly grasps
what's going on, and I can bear eloquent testimony to
that with my own family.
Speaker 3 (08:09):
Well, thank you, Hank, God bless you and your ministry.
It certainly is very edifying to me on my commute,
and I love the end of the day when I
can get to listen to you.
Speaker 2 (08:19):
So well, thank you for that encouragement. Cameron, You're next
in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. Hi Cameron, Hi, and thanks for
taking my call, sir, You're welcome.
Speaker 5 (08:31):
I just have a.
Speaker 6 (08:31):
Question a boat the Genesis accounts. I mean, I'm just
sort of confused. I'm not saying contradict itself. And I
did some guidance on it, just in the creation in
verse one, and it goes through at the firmaments of
the water and going creates the whales and the foul
of the air on the fifth day, and then in
(08:54):
a chapter two of Genesis it says, after Adam was created,
you need to help me, so out of the ground,
God Lord has created out of the ground the beast
and the fall of the air. But I thought first
one to talk to the fall of the air was
(09:15):
out of the waters, not out of the ground. So
I just didn't get that much.
Speaker 2 (09:21):
If you sort of understand, well, I do sort of understand.
But here's the deal. If you look at Genesis chapter one,
what you have is God's purposes in creation, codified around
the six days of our normal week. And then on
the seventh day he rested. So what goes on there
(09:42):
is on the first day. Well, in the beginning, of course,
we go all the way back there. God created the
heavens and the earth. The earth was formless and empty.
Darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the
spirit of God was hovering over the waters. And then
God said, let there be light, and there was light.
God saw that the light was good, and he separated
the light and the darkness. And God called the light day,
(10:05):
and the darkness he called night. And there was evening
and there was morning the first day. So here you
have what happened in separating light from dark codified around
a solar day, so that we can remember God's prowess
in creation. And then God said, let there be an
expanse between the waters to separate the water above from
(10:28):
the water below. So God made the expanse and separated
the water under the expanse from the water above it,
and it was so God called the expanse sky. And
there was evening and there was morning the second day,
so again before the sun and moon, you have a
solar day and so on. And then back to what
you specifically asked about, that takes place on the fifth
(10:53):
day where God creates the fish and the fowl. There's
a cemetery. I don't have time to explicate it. I
was going to, but I've got seventeen seconds, so I'm
not gonna be able to get it all out. Let
me do this. Hang on. I will send you what
I've written about this in the Creation answer Book, and
I'll follow up as soon as we get back from
a heartbreak.
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
CRII PO Box eighty five hundred, Charlotte, North Carolina, ZIP
two eight two seven one, The Bible answer Man will
continue in just a moment? Has God Spoken? Are the
(12:08):
words of Scripture merely human in origin? Or are they,
in fact the very words of God himself. Three years
in the making and based on two decades of research
and reflection, Hank Henagraph's monumental book Has God Spoken answers
what is surely the most important question facing our world.
In Has God Spoken? Memorable Proofs of the Bible's Divine Inspiration,
(12:32):
Hank counters the contentions of the Bible attackers and clearly
shows that belief in the Holy Scriptures is not a
guess or wishful thinking. It is the only logical conclusion
after an honest examination of overwhelming evidence. Order Has God Spoken?
From the Christian Research Institute by calling eighty eight seven
thousand CRII or go online to equip dot org equip
(12:57):
dot Org.
Speaker 7 (13:01):
Hank Hanigraph has dedicated his life to defending truth because
truth matters. Yet, an encounter with Christians in the underground
Church of China left Hanograph contemplating his Christian experience. They
were experiencing something beyond truth. They were experiencing life.
Speaker 8 (13:17):
Truth matters, Life matters More by Hank hanigraph is two
books in one, Because Truth Matters, Part one equips Christians
to defend the essential truths of the historic Christian faith.
In Part two, Hank explains why life matters more and
how we can experience the height of human existence union
with God. Prepare to move past intellectually knowing about God
(13:38):
to experientially knowing God in Christ. To receive your copy
of Truth Matters. Life matters more, the unexpected beauty of
an authentic Christian life called eight eight eight seven thousand CRI,
and make a gift to support the Christian research institutes
Life Changing Outreaches eight eight eight seven thousand CRI or
visit us at equipped dot org.
Speaker 1 (14:00):
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 spinductors.
(14:21):
Note the real enemies of truth range from 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 Institute's mind
(14:45):
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 and now here's Hank Canadagraph.
Speaker 2 (15:09):
Thank you much for Indian Right. Back to our phone callers.
Next up is Louisa in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, listening on
the web.
Speaker 1 (15:16):
Hi Louisa, Hi Hank.
Speaker 9 (15:18):
How are you doing.
Speaker 2 (15:19):
I'm well, Thank you, Thank you for.
Speaker 9 (15:21):
Taking my call, and God bless you in your ministry.
Speaker 2 (15:24):
Thank you.
Speaker 9 (15:25):
I have a question this weekend. On Friday, I was
at a fair and I ran into not really a friend,
but an acquaintance. It's actually someone who's in my daughter's class,
and I know that the children's father is committing adultery.
And this has been bothering me all weekend. I don't
(15:46):
know what to do. I don't know if I don't
say anything, if I am accountable of sinning or I
really don't know what to do. If I should approach
him and tell him, you know, he knows he's committing
adulter because he's a Christian as well, And I don't
know if I should approach his wife. I really am
(16:08):
at a loss. I don't know what to do. So
I would really appreciate if he can help me with
the situation, if he can give me any advice.
Speaker 2 (16:16):
Yeah, I mean, I think the first thing that you
have to do in this circumstance is you have to
approach the person. I think that's what the Bible tells
you to do.
Speaker 9 (16:26):
Okay, I think that's what God has been telling me
to do, but I wasn't sure if it was just
my thinking or if it was God telling me.
Speaker 2 (16:33):
No, this is a thoroughly biblical principle. And if he
does not listen to you, then you can take a
few others, and if they still have no impact on
him collectively with you, then you can perhaps take it
to his wife or take it to the church, because
(16:54):
it is a very serious matter. But I think you
want to approach him first and deal with it in
that sense.
Speaker 9 (17:01):
Like, do you mean to take some people with me?
Speaker 2 (17:03):
Or no. Well, I think the first thing that you
should do is go yourself and talk to them, and
then establish this as the testimony if two or three witnesses,
as we're told about in Matthew chapter eighteen. Even though
Matthew Chapter eighteen specifically is dealing with someone sinning against you,
(17:26):
the principle I think applies where in fairness, you go
to the person first and talk to that person and
see if that person might repent, and as a result
of that, instead of you being the catalyst that brings
this to the wife, this can be solved within the
context of the family unit itself.
Speaker 9 (17:48):
Thank you so much and I will definitely do that.
Speaker 2 (17:51):
Bless you.
Speaker 9 (17:52):
Thank you very much.
Speaker 2 (17:53):
You get it. I want to go back to the
phone lines talk to Jane in Missouri next.
Speaker 3 (17:57):
Hi, Jane, Hi, thank.
Speaker 5 (18:00):
You so much for taking my call, and I thank
you for your service. Okay, my question is, are well
I need some help on this. I have an uncle,
that is, he's a former high school uh literature teacher,
and I know he knows the truth about the Bible.
(18:23):
He has to study that, I know, but he seems
to be so close minded, so such a skeptic. Every
time we I don't think he thinks it's I think
he believes in God, but I don't think that he
thinks that, you know, Jesus is necessary for salvagent U,
and he lives far away now, so I don't get
(18:44):
to communicate. But I was mainly wondering what what I
looked on your website, and I've tried, you know, looked
at the area of apologetics, and there's so much there,
and I just wonder, what do you think what it
might be the best resource that I could maybe seen here.
Speaker 2 (19:03):
Well, beyond a doubt, I think the resource that you
should send him is the book has God spoken, okay,
because it gives all of the evidence necessary. In fact,
there are parts of that book that you can actually
tab for him, in particular the conclusion to the book.
The conclusion of the book really demonstrates in spades that reason,
(19:25):
apart from revelation, always ends up in the blind ditch
of ignorance. But I also think that what is important
here is that it demonstrates that the Bible has to
be divine as opposed to merely human in origin. So
I think this is the main issue. The main issue
is what is our authority? Is it our own reason
(19:48):
or is it God's revelation? And if you can demonstrate
that the Bible is in fact God's revelation to humanity,
then it becomes an authority and then you trust what
it says. And I do this in a very logical,
sequenced way, but there are also places in which you
can get the essence of the argument in a very
short period of time and it piques the interest to
(20:09):
go further. What I have done in each part of
the book, and there are four main parts, is I've
ended each part with memorable snapshots so someone can read
those in a very short period of time and have
the aha moment, and then it what's the appetite for
the agnostic to want to dig further. I've done that
(20:30):
at the end of every one of the four parts.
And then the conclusion, which I mentioned as well. I
think if you tab that for him, I think it'd
be helpful.
Speaker 5 (20:37):
Okay, well, you've read a book one time, and I
don't know if this is what kind of I think
he said. It was about Thomas Jefferson, and he says
that the Gospels are like it's brought out to contradict
each other our art.
Speaker 2 (20:52):
Yeah, and I completely tackle that head on, and he's
able to look at that and again have the Aha moment,
because if he is open to truth, I mean, if
he's closed minded, you aren't going to reach him anyway.
But I still think that a lot of people have
their minds closed because they don't have the information presented
to them in a credible fashion. And this book will
do that.
Speaker 5 (21:14):
Right. Okay, Well that sounds great, has Godkay? Okay, thank
you so much, you got it.
Speaker 2 (21:20):
Thank you so much for your call. Let's go back
to the phone calls. We'll talk next to Fernando in
Saint Louis, Missouri. Hi, Fernando, I.
Speaker 10 (21:28):
Think thanks for your obedience to the word. I ran
into an article recently that talked about one of josesis
the references to Jesus, and questioned whether it was valid.
They were saying that it was a Christian interjection to
his writing. It was the one specifically where he praises
Jesus' words is good, and I think even calls them Messiah.
(21:51):
But they were saying that this doesn't.
Speaker 11 (21:52):
Fit with his character and that he actually called I
think best being or Vestia Caesar Messiah, and it just
seemed contray to his writing or his thoughts. Yeah, I
was wondering if you had any thoughts or comment from that.
Speaker 2 (22:05):
Yeah, I do. That is the famous Antiquities eighteen sixty
three passage, where as you mentioned Josepha's comments on Christ's character,
his crucifixion, and his resurrection. Actually, that passage goes like this,
at that time there was a wise man called Jesus.
By the way I just turned to this in my
book has got spoken because I actually deal with that
(22:25):
specific question. Again. The quote is, at that time there
was a wise man called Jesus, and his conduct was good.
They was known to be virtuous. Many people among the
Jews and the other nations became his disciples. Pilot condemned
him to be crucified and to die, but those who
had become his disciples did not abandon his discipleship. They
(22:47):
reported that he had appeared to them three days after
his crucifixion, and that he was alive. Accordingly, he was
perhaps the Messiah concerning whom the prophets have reported wonders,
and the tribe of the Christians so named after him,
has not disappeared to this day. So that's the quote
(23:08):
in question, and it is true. That the translation of
that passage by Church historian Eusebius might have contained Christian interpolations.
But a majority of scholars today view the translation that
I just read to you as historically reliable and authentic,
(23:31):
particularly authentic in view of a newly discovered text by
a Melkite historian Agapius, which bears no indication whatsoever tampering.
So Josephus must have mentioned Jesus in authentic core material
in this passage, since this passage is present in all
(23:52):
Greek manuscripts of Josephus, and the Agapian version that I
just mentioned a chords well with his vocabulary and grammar elsewhere.
So the problem is the interpolation, and the interpolation has
been essentially a function of what happened with a Church
historian Eusebius. So he spiced it up a little bit.
Speaker 1 (24:12):
So I think the.
Speaker 2 (24:13):
Translation I gave you is a better translation in harmony
with the best core material that we have available today.
Speaker 10 (24:20):
Interpolation does that mean to rewrite to your own objective.
Speaker 2 (24:25):
Or yeah, exactly, add some embellishments to make it better
than it is. It's already good. You don't have to
embellish it. And I think this is instructive for all
of us. You know, so often people embellish things to
make it appear as though God is greater than he
actually is. Well, you can't do that. To start with,
God is great and he is above all things, and
(24:49):
you can't make him greater than he already is, because
He is as great as can possibly be. And sometimes
people do that by making up testimonies or embellishing things
or evangelistic language. None of that is necessary and certainly
is not consistent with the Christian ethic.
Speaker 10 (25:06):
All right, thank you, you got it, and.
Speaker 2 (25:08):
I've pointed this out and my book Has God Spoken.
Internal evidence is sufficient to establish the Biblical manuscripts as authentic, reliable,
and complementary. And external evidence provides remarkable, coroberating attestation, which
is of course provided by people like Josepha's, but many
others as well. You have Cornelius Tacitus in the Annals,
(25:33):
you have plenty of the Younger and a get many
other sources. You can piece together highlights of the life
of Christ wholly independent descripture, which is remarkable. External attestation
to the veracity of scripture. Has God Spoken has come
up several times in my discussion on the broadcast today.
It is available through the ongoing work of the Christian
(25:56):
Research Incident. You can see it online at equipped dot org.
That this is a ministry supported by listeners just like you.
Without your support, we couldn't do what we do. So
pray for us and support is tangibly if you can.
The best way to give in a safe, secure fashion
equip dot org.
Speaker 1 (26:13):
Thank you for joining us today. Our mission at the
Christian Research Institute is to defend the faith, answer Bible
questions and encourage Christians to watch their life and doctrine closely.
To find resources to help equip you go to equip
dot org. That's equip dot org, or call us at
(26:34):
eight eight eight seven thousand CRII. You can also write
CRI at Post Office Box eighty five hundred, Charlotte, North Carolina,
two eight two seven one. The Bible answer Man Broadcast
is supported by listeners like you. We're on the air
because life and truth matter. Has God spoken? Are the
(27:08):
words of Scripture merely human in origin? Or are they
in fact the very words of God himself? Three years
in the making and based on two decades of research
and reflection, Hank Henagraph's monumental book Has God Spoken, answers
what is surely the most important question facing our world.
In Has God Spoken? Memorable Proofs of the Bible's Divine inspiration,
(27:32):
Hank counters the contentions of the Bible attackers and clearly
shows that belief in the Holy Scriptures is not a
guess or wishful thinking. It is the only logical conclusion
after an honest examination of overwhelming evidence. Ordered Has God
Spoken from the Christian Research Institute by calling eighty eight
seven thousand CRII, or go online to equip dot org.
(27:56):
Equip dot org
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