The New Complete Bible Answer Book, Revised and Expanded

On today’s Bible Answer Man broadcast (07/18/24), Hank features The Complete Bible Answer Book: Collector’s Edition: Revised and Expanded. What do you do when you don’t know the answer to a question? “Research and return” is Hank’s policy when asked a question on the Bible Answer Man that he is unsure of—something we should all practice when we are unsure of an answer. This collector’s edition pays testament to the policy of research and return—as each answer was returned to and painstakingly researched to ensure the utmost of accuracy. This revised and expanded collector’s edition contains over 210 questions and answers to help seekers and skeptics alike sort through the truth on topics such as the reliability of the Bible, basic apologetics, creation, spiritual growth, ethics, religions and cults, the resurrection and afterlife, and many more issues vital to a better understanding of God in Christ and our relationship to Him.

Episode Transcript

(00:07):
From the Christian Research Institute in Charlotte, North Carolina. This is the Bible
answer Man with Hank Annigraph. We'reon the air because life and truth matter.
On today's special edition of the Bibleanswer Man Broadcast, we present an
episode of the Hank Unplugged Podcast.Here now is Hank Canigraph, and welcome

(00:28):
to another edition of the Hank UnpluggedPodcast. This is a special teaching edition
of the podcast. I finally havein my hand the Complete Bible answer Book
Collector's Edition, revised and expanded.This is a publication of Thomas Nelson,
and they did an absolutely incredible jobof presentation. And at the Christian Research

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Institute, we not only want toproduced the very best content, but marry
it with a presentation that's beautiful.That helps in terms of the content.
The two being married together is abeautiful thing, and this book is just

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that. It is absolutely beautiful.I am so pleased and proud to be
able to present it to you.It is a course available through the ministry
of the Christian Research Institute. Youcan check it out on the web at
equipped dot org. Now, someof the answers to questions in this book
are short. Some of them area little longer, and I deal with

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a host of issues In this book. Literally hundreds of questions are answered.
These are questions I've been asked overalmost forty years of doing the Bible answer
Man broadcast. For example, ina category that's titled basic Christian Thought and
Spiritual Growth, I answered the questionwhat are the secrets to spiritual growth?

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Under a category titled Spiritual Gifts,I answer this important question, what does
Jesus mean in saying that one mustbe born of water and the spirit?
Christianity and science. Another category inthis book is the Big Bang Biblical.

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I'd be interested in my take onthat particular question, Biblical interpretation. What
does it mean to interpret the Bible? Literally? I'm going to get back
to that in just a moment.Old Testament issues. A lot of people
ask the question who was Cain's wife? Does the Bible promote slavery? And

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many other questions like that. I'mnot going to go through all of the
categories, but I'll mention a fewmore New Testament issues. Is baptism necessary
for salvation? Under apparent contradictions?Does the Bible begin with two contradictory creation
accounts? Under religion cults and theoccult. What distinguishes Christianity from other religions.

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What happens to a person who dieswithout ever hearing of Jesus Christ under
discernment and aberrent teachings? What arethe flaws of the health and wealth Gospel
ethics? Is it ever morally permissibleto lie under money? What's the Biblical

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view of wealth? Under eschatology?Is the pre tribulational rapture theory biblical?
What about the millennium? Questions likethose are answered in that section? Under
resurrection and afterlife? What about purgatory? Many other questions like that? And
then final thoughts, How can Idevelop an eternal perspective, eyes that can

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look beyond time and space into eternity. So again, hundreds of questions answered
in the Complete Bible answer Book Collector'sedition. It's revised and expanded, it's
beautiful, and it's available to you. Just check it out on the web
at equipped dot or. I wantto give a sampling of answers that I

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give in the Complete Bible answer Book, So I'll start with one that's really
short. Can God create a rockthat is so heavy that he cannot move
it? Now? The reason Ibring this question up is it's a classic

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straw man But it's a classic strawman question that can have many Christians looking
like the proverbial deer in the headlights. At best, this question challenges God's
omnipot At worst, it undermines hisexistence. So we need to be able

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to answer this question. And Itry to answer these questions in three parts,
and for two reasons. First,it forces me to distill the essence
of the issue into a very readableand memorable format. The second reason is

(05:30):
just that it makes it memorable foryou. So I give three part answers
to every question, a first,a furthermore, and a final. So
the first answer to this particular questionis that there's a problem with the premise
of the question, because while itis true that God can do anything anything

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that is consistent with his nature,it is obs to suggest that he can
do everything. For example, Godcannot lie, God cannot be tempted,

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and of course God cannot cease toexist. Furthermore, just as it is
impossible to make a one sided triangle, so two, it's impossible to make
a rock too heavy to be moved. What an all powerful God can create,
he can obviously move God can doeverything that is logically possible. Finally,

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we should note that a wide varietyof similar questions are raised. Why
it's an attempt to undermine the Christianview of God, and therefore it's crucial
that we learned to question the questionrather than simply assuming that the question is

(07:06):
valid. Now here's one that's alittle longer. What does it mean to
interpret the Bible literally? Now,this again is a very relevant question because
for more than a decade, popularTV personality Bill Maher, he's made a

(07:28):
virtual cottage industry out of ridiculing Christianity. In fact, one time he went
so far as to dogmatically pontificate thatthe Bible was written in parables, and
he went on to say that it'sthe idiots who take the Bible literally,
But even a cursory reading reveals thatscripture is a treasury. It's a treasury

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replete with a wide variety of literarystyles, and those styles range from poetry
to proverbs, to psalms, tohistorical narratives to didactic or teaching epistles,
to apocalyptic revelations, and so todogmatically assert that the Bible was written in
parables, as Bill Maher does,and that those who read it literally must

(08:20):
be idiots. As he put it, is at best an idiosyncratic form of
fundamentalism from the left, and atworse, a serious misunderstanding of the literal
principle biblical interpretation. In order toread the Bible for all its substantial worth,

(08:41):
it is so crucial that we interpretit just as we would interpret other
forms of communication, and that isin the most obvious and natural sense.
As such, we have to readit as literature, and when we do,
we have to pay close attention toform, figurative language, and fantasy

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imagery. So first, in orderto interpret the Bible literally, we have
to pay special attention to what isknown as form or genre. In other
words, to interpret the Bible's literature, we have to consider the kind of

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literature that we are interpreting. Justas a legal brief differs in form from
a prophetic oracle, so too,there's a difference in genre between Leviticus and
Revelation. This is particularly important whenconsidering writings that are difficult to categorize.

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Writings such as Genesis, which islargely a historical narrative interlaced with symbolism and
repetitive poetic structure, because if Genesiswere it used to an allegor conveying merely
abstract ideas about temptation, sin andredemption that was devoid of any correlation with

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actual events in history, the veryfoundation of Christianity would be destroyed. If
the historical Adam and Eve did noteat the forbidden fruit and descend into a
life of habitual sin resulting in death, well there's no need for redemption.
On the other hand, if weconsider Satan to be a slithering snake,

(10:35):
we would not only misunderstand the natureof fallen angels, but we might well
suppose that Jesus triumph over the workof the devil by stepping on the head
of a servant, rather than,of course, through his passion on the
cross. Don't go away, Hankwill be back with more of the Bible.
Answer man in just a moment.What do you do when you don't

(10:58):
know the answer to a question?Research and return is Hank Hanigraph's policy when
asked a question on the Bible,Answerman that he is unsure of something.
We should all practice when we areunsure of an answer. The new twenty
twenty four revised and expanded Collector's Editionof The Complete Bible answer Book is a
testament to the policy of research andreturn, as each answer has been revisited

(11:22):
and meticulously researched to ensure the utmostof biblical and theological accuracy. To receive
your copy of Hank Antigraph's The CompleteBible answer Book Collector's Edition Revised and Expanded,
just call eight eight eight seven thousandCRII and make a gift to support

(11:43):
the Christian Research Institute's Mind Shaping Lifechanging outreaches eight eight eight seven thousand CROI
or visit us at EQUIP dot org. The Complete Bible answer Book Collector's Edition

(12:03):
is the comprehensive collection of the mostoften asked questions Hank Hannigraph has received throughout
his four decades as host of TheBible 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 throughthe truth on topics such as reliability of

(12:24):
the Bible, religions and cults,the resurrection and afterlife, and many more
issues vital to a better understanding ofGod in Christ and our relationship to him.
To receive your copy of the CompleteBible Answer Book Collector's Edition, revised
and expanded, call eight eight eightseven thousand CRII and make a gift to

(12:46):
support the Christian Research Institute's life changingoutreaches eight eight eight seven thousand CRII or
visit us at equip dot org.Has God Spoken? Are the words of

(13:07):
Scripture merely human in origin? Orare they, in fact the very words
of God himself. Three years inthe making and based on two decades of
research and reflection, Hank Henagraph's monumentalbook Has God Spoken answers what is surely
the most important question facing our world. In Has God Spoken? Memorable proofs

(13:30):
of the Bible's divine inspiration, Hankcounters the contentions of the Bible attackers and
clearly shows that belief in the HolyScriptures is not a guess or wishful thinking.
It is the only logical conclusion afteran honest examination of overwhelming evidence.
Ordered Has God Spoken? From theChristian Research Institute by calling eighty eight seven

(13:50):
thousand CRII or go online to equipdot org. Equip dot org. The
number of wolves surrounding the Christian flockis growing, and they relish nothing more
than docile's sheep, utterly incapable ofdefending themselves from militant secularists at home to

(14:11):
militant Islamists abroad. The assaults onbiblical Christianity are growing dangerously, but Christian
Research Institutes Support Team members aren't infavor of feeding these wolves. Instead,
each day they're making possible an arrayof outreaches that defang these wolfpacks with solid
arguments and evidence that have stood thetest of time. What's more, Support

(14:35):
Team members are equipping themselves with criisequipping Essentials, a handpicked collection of the
best apologetics tools around. Your selectionof resources are just our way of saying
thanks. To learn more about thebenefits of membership, simply visit equip dot
org. Once again, that's equipdot org. Now back to the Bible

(15:07):
answer Man Broadcast and your host andcanigraph. A literalistic method of interpretation often
does as much of violence to thetext as there's a spiritualized interpretation that empties
the text of objective meaning. Aliteral at all cost method of interpretation is

(15:31):
particularly troublesome when it comes to booksof the Bible, in which visionary imagery
is the governing genre, and letme give you an example. In Revelation
the Apostle, John sees an apocalypticvision in which an angel swinging a sharp
sickle gathers grapes into the great winepress of the wrath of God. The

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blood flowing from the wine press risesas high as the horse's bridles for one
thousand, six hundred furlongs. Now, interpreting that apocalyptic energy in a woodenly
literal sense, inevity leads to absurdity. Furthermore, it's crucial to recognize that

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scripture, particularly apocalyptic portions of scripture, is replete with figurative language, and
that language differs from literal language,in which words mean exactly what they say.
Figurative language requires readers to use theirimagination in order to comprehend what the

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author is driving at, and suchimaginative leaps are actually the rule rather than
the exception, because virtually every genreof literature contains metaphorical language. In fact,
we might well say that figurative languageis the principle means by which God
communicates spiritual realities to his children.In other words, God communicates spiritual realities

(17:12):
through earthly empirically perceptible events, persons, and objects, which might best be
described as living metaphors. A metaphoris an implied comparison that identifies a word
or a phrase or something that itdoesn't literally represent. Far from minimizing biblical

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truth, metaphors serve as magnifying glassesthat identify truth we might otherwise miss.
This identification creates a meaning that liesbeyond a woodenly literal interpretation, and thus
requires an imaginative leap in order tograsp what is meant. For example,
when Jesus said I am the Breadof life, obviously he was not saying

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they was literally physical bread. Rather, he was metaphorically communicating that he is
the essence of true life. Biblicalmetaphors are never to be regarded as occasions
for subjective flights of fantasy. Onthe contrary, Biblical metaphors are always objectively
meaningful, authoritative, and true.Hyperbly is another figure of speech that's particularly

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prevalent in prophetic passages. In essence, hyperply employs exaggeration for effect or emphasis.
Now, if you step onto ascale and you say, oh,
my goodness, I weigh a ton, you're obviously not intending to say that
you literally weigh two thousand pounds.Similarly, when an NBA commentator looks at

(19:00):
the clock and sees a minute left, and then he says something like there's
a world of time left in thegame, he is using hyperpole to communicate
that in an NBA game, alot can happen in sixty seconds. So
while hyperbly is commonly used in ourculture, it is ubiquitous in the Bible.

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This is particularly true of prophetic passages. The prophet Isaiah is a classic
case in point. He used hyperboliclanguage when he predicted judgment on Babylon.
He said, see, the dayof the Lord is coming, a cruel
day with wrath and fierce anger,to make the land desolate and destroy the

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sinners within it. The stars ofheaven and their constellations will not show their
light. The rising sun will bedarkened, and the moon will not give
it light. Well, to thoseunfamiliar with Biblical language, these words might
well have been taken to mean thatthe end of the world was at hand.

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In reality, Isaiah was prophesying thatthe Meds were about to put an
end to the glories of the BabylonianEmpire. As evidence, all you have
to do is read the preceding versesthat are packed with prophetic hyperbole. Wail

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for the day of the Lord isnear. It will come like destruction from
the Almighty. Because of this,all hands will go limp. Every man's
heart will melt, Terror will seizethem, Pain and anguish will grip them.
They will writhe like a woman inlabor. They will look aghast at

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each other, their faith a flame. Even the most pedantic literalist intuitively recognizes
that Isaiah was not intending to inferthat all hands will literally go limp and
that every heart will literally melt,and nor is he literalistically predicting that every

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Babylonian face will be on fire anymorethan John was using wooden literalism to prophesy
that the two witnesses in the Bookof Revelation will literally emit flames of fire
from their mouths. Finally, it'scrucial to correctly interpret fantasy imagery in apocalyptic

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passages. Images like enormous red dragonwith seven heads and ten horns, or
locusts with human faces, women's hairand lion's teeth, and a beast that
resembled a leopard but with feet likea bear and a mouth like a lion.

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What's distinct about these fantasy images isthat they do not correspond to anything
in the real world. But whilefantasy images are unreal, they do provide
a realistic viewpoint from which to ponderreality. Fantasy imagery, of course,

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is fraught with danger. That danger, however, lies not in its use,
but in its abuse. In Revelationtwelve, the apostle John described an
enormous red dragon with seven heads andten horns, and seven crowns on the
heads, and then he says histail swept a third of the stars out

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of the sky and flung them tothe earth. While many Christians abuse this
imagery by interpreting it in a woodenlyliteralistic fashion, and therefore they miss the
point of the passage. Not onlywould a single star let alone a third
of the star's obliterated earth, butdragons are the stuff of mythology, not

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theology. And thus the danger doesnot lie in the use of fantasy imagery,
but in uncritically impregnating these images withunbiblical notions. While the scriptures must
indeed be read as literature, youand I must ever be mindful that the

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Bible is also far more than literature. The scriptures are uniquely inspired by the
spirit. Peter put it memorably,he said, no prophecy of scripture comes
by the prophet's own interpretation. Forprophecy never had its origin in the will
men, but men spoke from Godas they were carried along with the Holy

(24:03):
Spirit. So we must therefore preferventlythat the Spirit who inspired the scriptures illumines
our minds to what is in thetext. Again, the Complete Bible answer
Book. I mean, this isa treasure chest for me in many ways.
I go back and refer to it. Oftentimes I don't have an infallible

(24:26):
memory, and so many times Ihave to go back and refresh my memory
when I'm looking for an answer toa question. And maybe you're going to
get a question from a family memberor a friend, someone within your sphere
of influence, and you just don'tknow how to answer that question. Well,
perhaps you will find the answer inthis treasure chest. Again, it's
available through the ministry of the ChristianResearch Institute. You can find it on

(24:48):
the webitequipped dot org. You canwrite me at Post Office Box eighty five
hundred, Charlotte North Carolinas. Ifgo two eight two seven one, and
I want to think thank you forall the very generous comments that people are
making on the Hand Unplugged podcast.I don't think it's because of me.
I think it's because of the greatguests that I have on the podcast.

(25:11):
But also I hope you enjoy theteaching part of Hank Unplugged. It's so
important to have proper spiritual input.You know, if you have well balanced
meals, you'll develop well physically.And what we need physically, we also
need spiritually. So please pick upa copy and get into the Word of

(25:32):
God, and get the Word ofGod into you. Make sure that you're
involved in a healthy, well balancedchurch where you can receive the sacraments that
transform you from one grace to another. The liturgical sacramental nature of the church
is so important and often is neglectedin this time space continuum. Thanks for

(25:53):
tuning in once again to Hank Unplugged. Look forward to seeing you next time
with another podcast, so Long forDay. Thank you for listening to the
special edition of the Bible answer ManBroadcast with Hank cantagraph To listen to this
Hank Unplugged podcast in its entirety.Go to equip dot org, iTunes,
or wherever you listen to your favoritepodcast. If you'd like to stand shoulder

(26:18):
to shoulder with Hank Cantagraph and theChristian Research Institute and the battle for life
and truth, just call our resourceconsultants now at eight eight eight seven thousand
CRII, or go online to equipdot org. That's equip dot org.
You can also write to us atCRII Pobox eighty five hundred, Charlotte,

(26:41):
North Carolina, two eight two sevenone. The Bible answer Man Broadcast is
funded solely by listeners like you.We're on the air because life and truth
matter. The Complete Bible answer BookCollector's Edition is the comprehensive collection of the

(27:04):
most often asked questions Hank Hannigraph hasreceived throughout his four decades as host of
The Bible answer Man Broadcast. Withmore than half a million copies already in
print, this newly revised and expandedCollector's Edition helped seekers and skeptics alike sort
through the truth on topics such asreliability of the Bible, religions and cults,

(27:26):
the resurrection and afterlife, and manymore issues vital to a better understanding
of God in Christ and our relationshipto 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 agift to support the Christian Research Institute's life

(27:49):
changing outreaches eight eight eight seven thousandCRII or visit us at EQUIP dot org.