Ask Hank

If you don't already listen to the "Bible Answer Man" radio broadcast I would highly recommend it. It is on from 5 -6pm (CST) on FM 100.7. It is broadcast across the U.S., so for those of you non-Houstonions, you could probably catch it on a different local station. Hank Hanegraaff is the host of the Bible Answer Man program, and also president of the Christian Research Institute. Greg told me about this program a while back, and I have enjoyed listening to it for many months now. From what I can tell, Hank gives very scripturally sound answers and teaches truth. Listeners call in with a wide variety of questions which Hank answers, or sometimes he will have theme weeks where a certain religion or cult is discussed, or cultural trends in religion that go against the word of God and how to discern between true and false teachings. Many questions on there I wouldn't know how to answer so it has been very beneficial to me. Questions range from "Where did Cane get his wife?" to "How can we believe the word of God is truth?" to "What are the biggest differences between Catholics and Protestants?", and everything in between. And it comes on at a great time - right when most people are in the car driving home from work. If you want to know more, go here.


If I were to call up Hank, here are some things I would ask him.



1) When Joshua sends the 2 spies into Jericho (Joshua 2), why was it ok that they stayed at the house of a prostitute (Rahab)? Consider Proverbs 5:8 which warns not to go near the door of an adulterous woman. (Although this book of the bible had not yet been written at the time of Joshua).


If Greg was sent on a spy mission and came back and told me he stayed at the house of a prostitute, boy would we have words! You mean you couldn't find ANYWHERE else to stay? You just HAD to stay in the home of a scantily clad woman?



Maybe the answer is that they didn't sin in this action because in God's sovereignty the Holy Spirit led them to that house because she would be used in God's plans to deliver Jericho into the hands of the Israelites. Or maybe they did sin, yet God still used that to accomplish his purposes. I'm not sure.



2) When Jesus casts the demons out of the man "Legion"(Mark 5), and sends them into the herd of pigs, what caused the pigs to run off the bank and drown in the lake? Was it the demons that did this to the pigs in order to cause destruction? Or was it God that did this to "punish" or show power over the demons by destroying the thing in which they inhabited? If the answer is the demons, it is of course still within the confines of God's sovereignty who must have allowed that to occur since no demon could trump God. I just don't know.



3) When God promises to punish the descendants of Eli forever for the sins him and his sons by cutting off all his descendants in the prime of their life, to where there will never be an old man in their family line (1Samuel 2:30-33, and 3:11-14), is this curse still in effect? Or did this stop after the atoning sacrifice of Jesus Christ? Then this also brings up a whole other set of questions regarding punishing children for the sins of the father. How will these descendants be punished in light of Deut. 24:16? Achan's children were also killed for his sin in Joshua 7. Perhaps they had known about Achan's sin and concealed it.

These questions aren't that deep, and knowing the answers are not essential to understanding basic Christian doctrines, but I was just curious. They are questions that have come to mind from what I have been reading in the past weeks and months.

I have however, realized that I am lazy with my mind when using it for spiritual matters. I come across questions like these but am not diligent in putting in the time and effort required to research answers, and just end up forgetting about those questions. There are many wonderful teachers and Bible scholars out there who have devoted their lives to the study of God's word. We should take advantage of those resources and work hard at understanding the scriptures. Of course we should always test people's interpretations in light of the scriptures, as no man is infallible. Not all things we will find answers to. But we should use our minds to glorify God as we put it to use in the study of His word.

If you have any answers or thoughts on those questions, please comment!