February 13, 2026 • 28 mins
On today’s Bible Answer Man broadcast (02/13/26), Hank discusses the origins of Valentine’s Day, looking at the Orthodox Church’s veneration of Saint Valentine, the Presbyter from Rome, for his martyrdom, and, as for all its saints, honors St. Valentine as a model of life in Christ. According to The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church, the traditional association of St. Valentine’s Day with courtship is likely connected with certain customs of the pagan festival Lupercalia. If so, this would be another example of Christians usurping a pagan holiday and Christianizing it for the glory of Christ.
Hank also answers the following questions:
Why didn’t God actualize the angels in righteousness before they fell? Crystal - Kansas City, KS (15:39)
Since Paul in 1 Corinthians 1:10 says there should not be divisions amongst believers, what does this say about all the different denominations within the body of Christ today? Jessie - IA (17:09)
Could you explain the story of the fish with a coin in its mouth in Matthew 17:24-27? Gus - Oklahoma City, OK (20:06)
Would the command to obey the government in Romans chapter 13 apply to Sharia law? Cameron - OK (21:51)
Hank also answers the following questions:
Why didn’t God actualize the angels in righteousness before they fell? Crystal - Kansas City, KS (15:39)
Since Paul in 1 Corinthians 1:10 says there should not be divisions amongst believers, what does this say about all the different denominations within the body of Christ today? Jessie - IA (17:09)
Could you explain the story of the fish with a coin in its mouth in Matthew 17:24-27? Gus - Oklahoma City, OK (20:06)
Would the command to obey the government in Romans chapter 13 apply to Sharia law? Cameron - OK (21:51)
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:07):
Welcome to the Bible answer Man Broadcast with Christian Research
Institute President Hank Canagraph. Our mission at CRII is not
only to equip you with sound biblical teaching and spiritual discernment,
but to help you become a winsome and fruitful witness
of Jesus Christ. Because the credibility of our faith hinges
(00:27):
on the answers we provide to life's biggest questions, there's
often not a second chance to get those answers right,
to learn more or to find resources to help you
grow in grace. Call eight eight eight seven thousand CRI.
That's eight eight eight seven thousand, two seven four, or
go to our website at equip dot org. That's equip
(00:51):
dot org. The following program was pre recorded and now
here's Hank Canagraph.
Speaker 2 (00:58):
Thank you for what you're into your room.
Speaker 3 (01:00):
Remember you can also contact us via the mail at
Bonks eighty five hundred, Charlotte, North Carolina, zip code two
eight two seven to one. Well, tomorrow is Valentine's Day,
and if you're married, or you're engaged, or you're just dating,
(01:20):
you forget this holiday at your own peril. And while
there is precious little agreement among historians regarding the precise
origin of this holiday, it's widely acknowledged as a day
for love and devotion, and of course romance. One Orthodox scholar,
(01:45):
a scholar by the name of Alexandra's Krou, puts it
this way. He says that, as in other matters of
reverence and faith, the Orthodox Church's veneration of Saint Valentine
remains immutable. Secularization in the West accounts in large part
(02:09):
for the papacy's moved to discard the memory of Saint
Valentine's martyrdom in the face of commerce and frivolity. But
Orthodox he still honors Saint Valentine as the presbyter from Rome.
Why because he was martyred, And as for all its saints,
(02:35):
the Orthodox Church honors Saint Valentine as a model of
the very life of Christ, and so for Orthodox Christians,
Saint Valentine's Day is most fully understood as a celebration
(02:55):
of romantic love and as well of God's love. Indeed,
Valentine he was willing to sacrifice his life not just
for eros, but in order to sanctify and make whole
(03:15):
the union of young couples through the blessing of God's love.
Demonstrating or love for God and reaching our fulfillment in
Christ through our relationships with our spouses and families and
communities is a way of life that is at the
(03:37):
heart of Orthodoxy. By living a life an emulation of Christ,
Saint Valentine shared this fundamental truth of Orthodox Christianity with
the entire world, one that is more beautiful and lasts
longer than the flowers and cards that we give on
(03:59):
Saint nine Time's Day. Why because this is an eternalthority.
The traditional association of Saint Valentine's Day with courtship well
is perhaps connected with certain customs of the pagan festival
(04:19):
that is known as Luperculia. And if this is indeed so,
this would be very much like Christmas in that it's
another example of Christians who rightly usurp a pagan holiday
and then christianized this holiday for the glory of our
(04:41):
Lord and Savior of Jesus Christ. I was on the
Orthodox Christian network just before I came to the studio,
and I saw an interesting article on this very very
fine network. It was an article titled no one is
likely to forget Saint Valentine's Day and the article says
in part that there's one Saint's day no one is
(05:06):
likely to forget, and of course it is referred to
Saint Valentine's Day. And then it asked this question, the
question how much do you really know about the saint
behind the day, And if you're like most of us,
the answer is not very much. And to make things worse,
(05:28):
most of what we think we know turns out to
be absolutely wrong. And then they give a little quiz,
a short quiz that asks a number of questions, the
first of which is what day is Saint Valentine's Day?
Speaker 2 (05:45):
Do you know?
Speaker 3 (05:47):
Well, if you pass the quiz, you would say on
the Orthodox calendar, this Saint Saint Valentine is commemorated on
either April twenty four, July sixth, or July thirty in
the Catholic Church, well, of course February fourteen. Second question
(06:10):
is a true or false question, The question is there's
only one Saint Valentine? True or false? Well, this is
false because there are two Orthodox saints named Valentine, and
both were martyred in the third century at the Christian Church.
(06:32):
The next question, again a true or false question, is
Saint Valentine is the patron saint of lovers. Well, this
happens to be true true in the Catholic understanding at least,
and then the final question true or false as well.
(06:56):
Saint Valentine is held to be a saint in both
the Catholic and Orthodox traditions. And again in the Orthodox tradition,
this is absolutely true. In the Catholic tradition, well, it's
mostly sort of true. Because of all the ambiguous and
(07:19):
conflicting information about Saint Valentine, the Catholics ended up removing
Saint Valentine from their liturgical calendar, and that was done
back in nineteen sixty nine. He can still be called
a saint and locally venerated, but the removal is a
testimony to all the confusion that surrounds this particular saint.
(07:45):
So how did it come about that Saint Valentine's is
associated with romantic love? Well, there a couple of possibilities.
The first has to do with the legends that cropped
up about this saint, for instance, the legend that he
had performed marriages in secret when the Emperor was forbidding this.
(08:09):
And the second is the idea that Saint Valentine restored
the sight of his jailer's blind daughter, and that on
the day's martyrdom, he sent a card to the daughter
that was signed from your Valentine. It might have given
(08:33):
Christians the idea of sending similar cards in February fourteen,
and maybe that's where the romantic connection began. I think,
as I look at this particular quiz, I think of
the fact that one thing that seems to be obscured,
(08:55):
at least in the thoughts of so many people today
is the martyrdom of the saints. The fact that saints
like Saint Valentine, and I should say that in the plural,
were willing to give up their lives for the gospel
of Jesus Christ. And I suppose today, even as we're
(09:20):
involved in frivolity and of course the commemoration of true
love with our spouses and loved ones, we should never
forget that the martyrs were willing to sacrifice everything because
of their love for someone far greater than any mere
(09:42):
human being, their love for our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, who,
in the Great Exchange, came down from heaven and emptied
himself so that we might be filled as I write
about in Truth Matters, Life matters more. His kenosis is
(10:06):
our theosis. His emptying becomes our filling. And so those
martyrs recognize that the paltry benefits of our short life
are only accentuated if those lives are lived for Christ,
(10:29):
and if in our death we can be absolutely certain
that as we stand before Jesus, Christ might well yet
hear those words.
Speaker 2 (10:39):
That we all long to hear.
Speaker 3 (10:41):
Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful
over a few things. I'll give you many things. Enter
thou into the joy of thy Lord. Coming to the
station break, We'll be back on the other side of
the break with more of the Bible. Answer Man broadcast,
Stay tuned.
Speaker 1 (10:58):
Hank Hanagraph has dedicated his life to defending truth because
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If so prepared to discover the unexpected beauty of an
(11:20):
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Speaker 4 (13:01):
For decades, Hank Hanagraph has shared the truth of the
historic Christian faith by answering questions over the radio, defending
the faith through the written word, and preaching from pulpits
around the globe. Today, he is ready to share his
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(13:24):
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(13:45):
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Speaker 1 (14:00):
The Complete Bible answer Book Collector's Edition is the comprehensive
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(14:23):
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(15:07):
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now once again, here is Hank Hanagraph.
Speaker 2 (15:38):
Thanks very much, Randy. We'll go right to the phone callers.
Speaker 3 (15:40):
First up is Crystal, Kansas City, Kansas, Hi, Crystal, Hiang.
Speaker 5 (15:45):
I can have a question, how come God did not
actualize the angels before Shaytan to get third of them.
Speaker 3 (15:54):
Sure, and of course Satan was one of the angels
that fell, not one, but the primary angel that fell.
And certainly God could have created angels in such a
way that they had no choice, and then they would
have been robotic in their love rather than real in
their love. And I think that's the systemic problem. For
(16:17):
love to be real, you have to have the opportunity
to act or to act otherwise. So God gave angels volition,
freedom to choose to love and serve and worship Him,
to be in relationship with him or the other. And
two thirds of them chose to love God. A third
(16:42):
chose to love themselves and to do it their own way.
And they fell into the slough of despawn, as it were,
they fell into an existence which is separated from the
loving presence of God. Of course, everything is immediately within
(17:03):
the presence of God. But they fell out of relationship
with God. Let's go back to the phone lines. We'll
talk to Jesse listening in Iowa, Hi.
Speaker 2 (17:13):
Jesse.
Speaker 6 (17:14):
My question is in First corinth Years, chapter one, where
he said there shouldn't be no divisions of money, that
you should be united under the same understanding and same conditions.
I was just wondering, what does that say about all
the divisions of our churches, say with Methodist, Catholic Baptists,
and is that say for our church today?
Speaker 3 (17:35):
Well, I think it's certainly a problem. If you look
at the first one thousand years of church history, until
the Great Schism in ten fifty four, the church was
as at were one. And after the Great Schism you
had a fracturing between East and West. Then five hundred
years later you had another fissure, schism between the Western Christians.
(18:00):
You had a fissuring between Protestants and Roman Catholics. And
since that fissuring in the West, that has continued to perpetuate.
And now you have a multiplicity of denominations and even
personality cults. And is that fissering good? No, But I
do think that what I mentioned earlier applies in this
(18:22):
case as well, which is to say that we are
bound together as believers by what C. S. Lewis rightly
called mere Christianity, or the essentials of the historic Christian faith.
Speaker 2 (18:35):
So all true.
Speaker 3 (18:36):
Believers hold to the deity of Jesus Christ, the concept
theologically of original sin, although there are various permutations of that,
the canon as being the infallible repository for faith and practice,
not the only, but the infallible guide. The Trinity being
(18:58):
how God has cond sended to reveal himself to us
in the scriptures, the incarnation, whereby Christ takes on an
additional nature, one person with two natures, one hundred percent human,
one hundred percent divine, the new creation, as Paul said,
in Christ we are new creations. The old has gone,
(19:19):
the new has come. And of course the idea of eschatology,
in the sense that Jesus will appear a second time.
In what he does, he will put all things to
right now. One of the things that should be pointed
out is even within eschatology as a clear case in point,
there's division amongst Christians, but all Christians are united on
(19:44):
the essential that Jesus will appear a second time. There
are secondary issues with respect to eschatology or end times
that we can debate vigorously, but ultimately do not have
to divide over So again, in essentials we must have unity,
in non essentials, liberty, and in all things charity. Next
(20:06):
up is Gus listening in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.
Speaker 5 (20:09):
I guess, Heyhan, how you jing? Thanks for your.
Speaker 2 (20:12):
Master, you got it, Thank you for calling.
Speaker 5 (20:15):
Yes, I just have a good quick question. I do
studied in the Book of Matthew and I came across
from Matthew seventeen twenty four, which speaks about Jesus arriving
the Kapernaum and they were collecting tax for the temple,
and he sends out Peter to go out and fish,
and there was for I guess what he called the
currency back then, it was used for the tax of
(20:37):
the temple. Do you do you find any other deep
explanation of that passage? And why did he say to
Peter that the child or no tax, only the foreigners.
And I don't know. I'm just like I'm stuck in
the spassage. And for some reason, since it's only in
the Book of Matthew, I wanted to see if you
have any honor explanation.
Speaker 3 (20:58):
Sure, yeah, and this is a temple tax it's an
annual head tax, and all male Jews, except of course
for the priests themselves, so all male Jews over twelve
had to pay this. It was an essence for the
maintenance of the temple itself. But Jesus is the son
of God, and as the son of God, he's both
(21:20):
high priest and he is the proprietor of the temple.
In fact, he is the temple. He's the one who's
come to replace the temple, and thus he is exempt
from any temple tax.
Speaker 2 (21:34):
But he pays it anyway.
Speaker 3 (21:36):
Why because he doesn't want to show an offense, and
he also does want to show something else that he
is totally identified with humankind. Back to the phone lines,
we'll talk next to Cameron listening in Oklahoma.
Speaker 7 (21:55):
Hi Cameron, Hey, thank you for taking my car.
Speaker 2 (21:58):
You got it.
Speaker 7 (21:59):
So, our pastor had kind of raised a challenge to
us about I believe it's in Rome as thirteen discussing
how God has placed various authorities such as our governments,
and that we are too, as Christians, submit to those authorities.
And the question for challenge was kind of posed as
does that still in effect or how does it look
(22:21):
if say that government is something like Sharia law, and
how does that? I guess where I struggle with that
is it seems like in other areas of scripture there
are other things such as, for instance, I'm a father,
so I have got given responsibility to protect my family.
So I'm kind of trying to understand how all that
kind of works together.
Speaker 3 (22:43):
Yeah, I think one of the great passages in scripture
in this regard is found in Acts chapter four, and
you have a story there about Peter and John being
called in to face the Sanhedrin, and they commanded Peter
in John don't speak or teach in the name of
Jesus Christ. And then Peter and John replied, judge for
(23:06):
yourselves whether there's right in God's sight to obey you
rather than God, for we cannot help speaking about what
we have seen and heard. Well, what happened in this
particular case is there were some further threats and then
they let Peter and John go. But here's the thing
(23:28):
that's interesting about Sharia. Try living as a Christian under
Sharia in a country where Sharia is mandated, where Sharia
is law. Try living in Pakistan or living in Saudi Arabia.
If you were to adhere to Sharia law. You could
(23:49):
stay alive, but you could not testify to Jesus Christ openly.
You couldn't carry a Bible openly, you couldn't wear a
cross openly. So you could not do the very basic
things that God has called you to do. And so
(24:10):
in the case of Christianity, we could not adhere to Sharia.
Sharia has tentacles that are decidedly detrimental to any kind
of Christian belief. It's a coercion. And of course there's
much under Sharia that ultimately would be a violation of
(24:35):
morals on so many different counts, because no group, for example,
more harmed by Sharia than what you mentioned, the females
under your care. You are to protect them and nurture
them and so forth, and Sharia harms women. In fact,
under Sharia, women are considered to be worth at most
(24:57):
have a man. Sharia subordinate women to men in a
whole multitude of ways. A man has the right to
beat his wife.
Speaker 8 (25:06):
Under Sharia, you can engage in polygamy. This is a
completely bankrupt, political, economic, religio matrix of laws that is
detrimental to any healthy civilization. And those that say otherwise
(25:27):
simply don't understand Sharia. We're going through a clash of
cultures and we are called to stand as well. That's
why we ask you to stand with a shoulder to
shoulder at the battle for life and truth.
Speaker 2 (25:38):
So long for now.
Speaker 1 (25:40):
Thank you for joining us for the Bible answer Man Broadcast.
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(26:01):
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Speaker 2 (26:08):
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Speaker 1 (26:10):
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(27:47):
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Welcome to the Bible answer Man Broadcast with Christian Research
Institute President Hank Canagraph. Our mission at CRII is not
only to equip you with sound biblical teaching and spiritual discernment,
but to help you become a winsome and fruitful witness
of Jesus Christ. Because the credibility of our faith hinges
(00:27):
on the answers we provide to life's biggest questions, there's
often not a second chance to get those answers right,
to learn more or to find resources to help you
grow in grace. Call eight eight eight seven thousand CRI.
That's eight eight eight seven thousand, two seven four, or
go to our website at equip dot org. That's equip
(00:51):
dot org. The following program was pre recorded and now
here's Hank Canagraph.
Speaker 2 (00:58):
Thank you for what you're into your room.
Speaker 3 (01:00):
Remember you can also contact us via the mail at
Bonks eighty five hundred, Charlotte, North Carolina, zip code two
eight two seven to one. Well, tomorrow is Valentine's Day,
and if you're married, or you're engaged, or you're just dating,
(01:20):
you forget this holiday at your own peril. And while
there is precious little agreement among historians regarding the precise
origin of this holiday, it's widely acknowledged as a day
for love and devotion, and of course romance. One Orthodox scholar,
(01:45):
a scholar by the name of Alexandra's Krou, puts it
this way. He says that, as in other matters of
reverence and faith, the Orthodox Church's veneration of Saint Valentine
remains immutable. Secularization in the West accounts in large part
(02:09):
for the papacy's moved to discard the memory of Saint
Valentine's martyrdom in the face of commerce and frivolity. But
Orthodox he still honors Saint Valentine as the presbyter from Rome.
Why because he was martyred, And as for all its saints,
(02:35):
the Orthodox Church honors Saint Valentine as a model of
the very life of Christ, and so for Orthodox Christians,
Saint Valentine's Day is most fully understood as a celebration
(02:55):
of romantic love and as well of God's love. Indeed,
Valentine he was willing to sacrifice his life not just
for eros, but in order to sanctify and make whole
(03:15):
the union of young couples through the blessing of God's love.
Demonstrating or love for God and reaching our fulfillment in
Christ through our relationships with our spouses and families and
communities is a way of life that is at the
(03:37):
heart of Orthodoxy. By living a life an emulation of Christ,
Saint Valentine shared this fundamental truth of Orthodox Christianity with
the entire world, one that is more beautiful and lasts
longer than the flowers and cards that we give on
(03:59):
Saint nine Time's Day. Why because this is an eternalthority.
The traditional association of Saint Valentine's Day with courtship well
is perhaps connected with certain customs of the pagan festival
(04:19):
that is known as Luperculia. And if this is indeed so,
this would be very much like Christmas in that it's
another example of Christians who rightly usurp a pagan holiday
and then christianized this holiday for the glory of our
(04:41):
Lord and Savior of Jesus Christ. I was on the
Orthodox Christian network just before I came to the studio,
and I saw an interesting article on this very very
fine network. It was an article titled no one is
likely to forget Saint Valentine's Day and the article says
in part that there's one Saint's day no one is
(05:06):
likely to forget, and of course it is referred to
Saint Valentine's Day. And then it asked this question, the
question how much do you really know about the saint
behind the day, And if you're like most of us,
the answer is not very much. And to make things worse,
(05:28):
most of what we think we know turns out to
be absolutely wrong. And then they give a little quiz,
a short quiz that asks a number of questions, the
first of which is what day is Saint Valentine's Day?
Speaker 2 (05:45):
Do you know?
Speaker 3 (05:47):
Well, if you pass the quiz, you would say on
the Orthodox calendar, this Saint Saint Valentine is commemorated on
either April twenty four, July sixth, or July thirty in
the Catholic Church, well, of course February fourteen. Second question
(06:10):
is a true or false question, The question is there's
only one Saint Valentine? True or false? Well, this is
false because there are two Orthodox saints named Valentine, and
both were martyred in the third century at the Christian Church.
(06:32):
The next question, again a true or false question, is
Saint Valentine is the patron saint of lovers. Well, this
happens to be true true in the Catholic understanding at least,
and then the final question true or false as well.
(06:56):
Saint Valentine is held to be a saint in both
the Catholic and Orthodox traditions. And again in the Orthodox tradition,
this is absolutely true. In the Catholic tradition, well, it's
mostly sort of true. Because of all the ambiguous and
(07:19):
conflicting information about Saint Valentine, the Catholics ended up removing
Saint Valentine from their liturgical calendar, and that was done
back in nineteen sixty nine. He can still be called
a saint and locally venerated, but the removal is a
testimony to all the confusion that surrounds this particular saint.
(07:45):
So how did it come about that Saint Valentine's is
associated with romantic love? Well, there a couple of possibilities.
The first has to do with the legends that cropped
up about this saint, for instance, the legend that he
had performed marriages in secret when the Emperor was forbidding this.
(08:09):
And the second is the idea that Saint Valentine restored
the sight of his jailer's blind daughter, and that on
the day's martyrdom, he sent a card to the daughter
that was signed from your Valentine. It might have given
(08:33):
Christians the idea of sending similar cards in February fourteen,
and maybe that's where the romantic connection began. I think,
as I look at this particular quiz, I think of
the fact that one thing that seems to be obscured,
(08:55):
at least in the thoughts of so many people today
is the martyrdom of the saints. The fact that saints
like Saint Valentine, and I should say that in the plural,
were willing to give up their lives for the gospel
of Jesus Christ. And I suppose today, even as we're
(09:20):
involved in frivolity and of course the commemoration of true
love with our spouses and loved ones, we should never
forget that the martyrs were willing to sacrifice everything because
of their love for someone far greater than any mere
(09:42):
human being, their love for our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, who,
in the Great Exchange, came down from heaven and emptied
himself so that we might be filled as I write
about in Truth Matters, Life matters more. His kenosis is
(10:06):
our theosis. His emptying becomes our filling. And so those
martyrs recognize that the paltry benefits of our short life
are only accentuated if those lives are lived for Christ,
(10:29):
and if in our death we can be absolutely certain
that as we stand before Jesus, Christ might well yet
hear those words.
Speaker 2 (10:39):
That we all long to hear.
Speaker 3 (10:41):
Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful
over a few things. I'll give you many things. Enter
thou into the joy of thy Lord. Coming to the
station break, We'll be back on the other side of
the break with more of the Bible. Answer Man broadcast,
Stay tuned.
Speaker 1 (10:58):
Hank Hanagraph 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. Is there
more to the Christian life than what you are experiencing?
If so prepared to discover the unexpected beauty of an
(11:20):
authentic Christian life? In Hank's magnum opus, Truthmatters, Life matters more.
To receive a copy of Truthmatters, Life matters more for yourself,
or as a terrific gift for a friend or loved one,
Call eight eight eight seven thousand CURI and make a
gift to support the Christian Research Institute's life changing outreaches
(11:42):
Ada eight seven thousand CRI or visit us online at
equip dot org. We'll be back in just a moment
with more from Hank anagraph. The number of wolves surrounding
the Christian flock is growing, and they relish nothing more
(12:06):
than docile's sheep, utterly incapable of defending themselves from militant
secularists at home to militant Islamists abroad. The assaults on
Biblical Christianity are growing dangerously, but Christian Research Institutes Support
Team members aren't in favor of feeding these wolves. Instead,
each day they're making possible an array of outreaches that
(12:28):
defang these wolfpacks with solid arguments and evidence that have
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are equipping themselves with criis Equipping Essentials, a handpicked collection
of the best apologetics tools around. Your selection of resources
are just our way of saying thanks. To learn more
(12:48):
about the benefits of membership, simply visit EQUIP dot org
once again, That's equip dot org.
Speaker 4 (13:01):
For decades, Hank Hanagraph has shared the truth of the
historic Christian faith by answering questions over the radio, defending
the faith through the written word, and preaching from pulpits
around the globe. Today, he is ready to share his
life in Christ, as detailed in his most profoundly personal
piece of penmanship to date, Truth Matters, Life Matters More.
(13:24):
Hank feels closer to Christ than ever before and wants
you to learn from his experiences as recounted in Truth Matters,
Life Matters More, so that you can join him on
life's greatest journey, the journey toward union with God in Christ.
To receive your copy of Truth Matters, Life Matters More,
the unexpected beauty of an authentic Christian life, call eight
(13:45):
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):
The Complete Bible answer Book Collector's Edition is the comprehensive
collection of the most often asked questions Hank 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
(14:23):
topics such as reliability of the Bible, 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. To receive your copy of the Complete Bible
answer Book Collector's Edition Revised and Expanded, call eight eight
(14:43):
eight seven thousand CRII and make a gift to support
the Christian Research Institute's life changing outreaches eight eight eight
seven thousand CRII, or visit us at EQUIP dot org.
(15:07):
Why not drop us a line at CRI today. We'd
love to hear from you. You can get in touch
with us several ways. You can call us toll free
at eight eight eight seven thousand CRII. That's eight eight
eight seven thousand CRI. Also right to us, said VO
Box eighty five hundred, Charlotte and North Carolina ZIP two
(15:27):
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look us up at www dot equip dot org. And
now once again, here is Hank Hanagraph.
Speaker 2 (15:38):
Thanks very much, Randy. We'll go right to the phone callers.
Speaker 3 (15:40):
First up is Crystal, Kansas City, Kansas, Hi, Crystal, Hiang.
Speaker 5 (15:45):
I can have a question, how come God did not
actualize the angels before Shaytan to get third of them.
Speaker 3 (15:54):
Sure, and of course Satan was one of the angels
that fell, not one, but the primary angel that fell.
And certainly God could have created angels in such a
way that they had no choice, and then they would
have been robotic in their love rather than real in
their love. And I think that's the systemic problem. For
(16:17):
love to be real, you have to have the opportunity
to act or to act otherwise. So God gave angels volition,
freedom to choose to love and serve and worship Him,
to be in relationship with him or the other. And
two thirds of them chose to love God. A third
(16:42):
chose to love themselves and to do it their own way.
And they fell into the slough of despawn, as it were,
they fell into an existence which is separated from the
loving presence of God. Of course, everything is immediately within
(17:03):
the presence of God. But they fell out of relationship
with God. Let's go back to the phone lines. We'll
talk to Jesse listening in Iowa, Hi.
Speaker 2 (17:13):
Jesse.
Speaker 6 (17:14):
My question is in First corinth Years, chapter one, where
he said there shouldn't be no divisions of money, that
you should be united under the same understanding and same conditions.
I was just wondering, what does that say about all
the divisions of our churches, say with Methodist, Catholic Baptists,
and is that say for our church today?
Speaker 3 (17:35):
Well, I think it's certainly a problem. If you look
at the first one thousand years of church history, until
the Great Schism in ten fifty four, the church was
as at were one. And after the Great Schism you
had a fracturing between East and West. Then five hundred
years later you had another fissure, schism between the Western Christians.
(18:00):
You had a fissuring between Protestants and Roman Catholics. And
since that fissuring in the West, that has continued to perpetuate.
And now you have a multiplicity of denominations and even
personality cults. And is that fissering good? No, But I
do think that what I mentioned earlier applies in this
(18:22):
case as well, which is to say that we are
bound together as believers by what C. S. Lewis rightly
called mere Christianity, or the essentials of the historic Christian faith.
Speaker 2 (18:35):
So all true.
Speaker 3 (18:36):
Believers hold to the deity of Jesus Christ, the concept
theologically of original sin, although there are various permutations of that,
the canon as being the infallible repository for faith and practice,
not the only, but the infallible guide. The Trinity being
(18:58):
how God has cond sended to reveal himself to us
in the scriptures, the incarnation, whereby Christ takes on an
additional nature, one person with two natures, one hundred percent human,
one hundred percent divine, the new creation, as Paul said,
in Christ we are new creations. The old has gone,
(19:19):
the new has come. And of course the idea of eschatology,
in the sense that Jesus will appear a second time.
In what he does, he will put all things to
right now. One of the things that should be pointed
out is even within eschatology as a clear case in point,
there's division amongst Christians, but all Christians are united on
(19:44):
the essential that Jesus will appear a second time. There
are secondary issues with respect to eschatology or end times
that we can debate vigorously, but ultimately do not have
to divide over So again, in essentials we must have unity,
in non essentials, liberty, and in all things charity. Next
(20:06):
up is Gus listening in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.
Speaker 5 (20:09):
I guess, Heyhan, how you jing? Thanks for your.
Speaker 2 (20:12):
Master, you got it, Thank you for calling.
Speaker 5 (20:15):
Yes, I just have a good quick question. I do
studied in the Book of Matthew and I came across
from Matthew seventeen twenty four, which speaks about Jesus arriving
the Kapernaum and they were collecting tax for the temple,
and he sends out Peter to go out and fish,
and there was for I guess what he called the
currency back then, it was used for the tax of
(20:37):
the temple. Do you do you find any other deep
explanation of that passage? And why did he say to
Peter that the child or no tax, only the foreigners.
And I don't know. I'm just like I'm stuck in
the spassage. And for some reason, since it's only in
the Book of Matthew, I wanted to see if you
have any honor explanation.
Speaker 3 (20:58):
Sure, yeah, and this is a temple tax it's an
annual head tax, and all male Jews, except of course
for the priests themselves, so all male Jews over twelve
had to pay this. It was an essence for the
maintenance of the temple itself. But Jesus is the son
of God, and as the son of God, he's both
(21:20):
high priest and he is the proprietor of the temple.
In fact, he is the temple. He's the one who's
come to replace the temple, and thus he is exempt
from any temple tax.
Speaker 2 (21:34):
But he pays it anyway.
Speaker 3 (21:36):
Why because he doesn't want to show an offense, and
he also does want to show something else that he
is totally identified with humankind. Back to the phone lines,
we'll talk next to Cameron listening in Oklahoma.
Speaker 7 (21:55):
Hi Cameron, Hey, thank you for taking my car.
Speaker 2 (21:58):
You got it.
Speaker 7 (21:59):
So, our pastor had kind of raised a challenge to
us about I believe it's in Rome as thirteen discussing
how God has placed various authorities such as our governments,
and that we are too, as Christians, submit to those authorities.
And the question for challenge was kind of posed as
does that still in effect or how does it look
(22:21):
if say that government is something like Sharia law, and
how does that? I guess where I struggle with that
is it seems like in other areas of scripture there
are other things such as, for instance, I'm a father,
so I have got given responsibility to protect my family.
So I'm kind of trying to understand how all that
kind of works together.
Speaker 3 (22:43):
Yeah, I think one of the great passages in scripture
in this regard is found in Acts chapter four, and
you have a story there about Peter and John being
called in to face the Sanhedrin, and they commanded Peter
in John don't speak or teach in the name of
Jesus Christ. And then Peter and John replied, judge for
(23:06):
yourselves whether there's right in God's sight to obey you
rather than God, for we cannot help speaking about what
we have seen and heard. Well, what happened in this
particular case is there were some further threats and then
they let Peter and John go. But here's the thing
(23:28):
that's interesting about Sharia. Try living as a Christian under
Sharia in a country where Sharia is mandated, where Sharia
is law. Try living in Pakistan or living in Saudi Arabia.
If you were to adhere to Sharia law. You could
(23:49):
stay alive, but you could not testify to Jesus Christ openly.
You couldn't carry a Bible openly, you couldn't wear a
cross openly. So you could not do the very basic
things that God has called you to do. And so
(24:10):
in the case of Christianity, we could not adhere to Sharia.
Sharia has tentacles that are decidedly detrimental to any kind
of Christian belief. It's a coercion. And of course there's
much under Sharia that ultimately would be a violation of
(24:35):
morals on so many different counts, because no group, for example,
more harmed by Sharia than what you mentioned, the females
under your care. You are to protect them and nurture
them and so forth, and Sharia harms women. In fact,
under Sharia, women are considered to be worth at most
(24:57):
have a man. Sharia subordinate women to men in a
whole multitude of ways. A man has the right to
beat his wife.
Speaker 8 (25:06):
Under Sharia, you can engage in polygamy. This is a
completely bankrupt, political, economic, religio matrix of laws that is
detrimental to any healthy civilization. And those that say otherwise
(25:27):
simply don't understand Sharia. We're going through a clash of
cultures and we are called to stand as well. That's
why we ask you to stand with a shoulder to
shoulder at the battle for life and truth.
Speaker 2 (25:38):
So long for now.
Speaker 1 (25:40):
Thank you for joining us for the Bible answer Man Broadcast.
In today's post truth culture of confusion. The Christian Research
Institute exists to equip listeners like you with answers to
communicate the Gospel of Hope to a world in desperate
need of life and truth. Because life and truth matter
(26:01):
in addition to truth, we want to equip you with life,
not simply to know about God, but truly.
Speaker 2 (26:08):
To know Him.
Speaker 1 (26:10):
Experiencing union with Christ enables us to live life not
merely by our own energy, but with the energy of
the Lord Jesus working powerfully through us. For more information,
call eight eight eight seven thousand CRII. That's eight eight
eight seven thousand CRII. You can also write CRII at
(26:32):
Post Office Box eighty five hundred, Charlotte, North Carolina two
eight two seven one, or just visit us online at
equip dot org. That's equip dot org. The Bible answer
Man Broadcast is funded by listeners like you. We're on
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(27:47):
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Once again, that's equip dot org.
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