Q&A: Old Testament Law, Suicide, and Internet Pornography

0:07 Heard all across the United States, Canada, and around the world. This is the Bible Answer Man broadcast with Hank Hanegraaff. Hank is president of the Christian Research Institute. At CRI, our desire is to equip you to not only defend the historic Christian faith, but become an apprentice of Jesus Christ because life and truth matter. To learn more or to find resources to help you grow in grace, call 888-7000-CRI.

0:39 That's 888-7000-274. Or go to our website at equip.org. The following program was pre-recorded. And now, here's Hank Hanegraaff.

0:50 Thank you very much, Randy. We'll go right to our callers. First up is Brett, listening in Austin, Texas.

0:55 Hi, Brett.

0:56 Hi, how are you?

0:57 I'm good, how are you?

0:58 I had a question about a man named Steve McVeigh, who is president of Grace Walk Ministries. I was just wondering if you've heard of him, and if you have any insight on him.

1:10 Well, the criticism we have of his ministry is essentially centered around the fact that he believes that as a Christian, there is no necessity to confess your sin or to ask God for forgiveness. And we believe in a Christian worldview, this is something that Christians do. And the reason is, first of all, it's biblically driven. Secondly, if we don't confess our sins, we do not break our union with God, but we can hamper our communion with God. And so we are taught in Scripture to confess our sins knowing that He is faithful and just He will forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

1:57 All right.

1:58 Yeah, I guess I didn't get that far in his book yet. There were some red flags that really, I was like, okay, that doesn't sound quite right. So I knew you'd have some insight on it, and I thank you for it.

2:09 You get it.

2:11 All right, thanks.

2:11 Appreciate your call. We'll go back to the phone lines, talk to Rachel, listening in Raleigh, North Carolina. Hi, Rachel.

2:17 Hi there, Hank. I'm a first-time caller, but I really enjoy your show. I have a question about the Old Testament. Some of the parts of the law, like especially in Leviticus, seem super logical and easy to understand, and some parts seem very difficult to put into practice these days. So how are we to interpret the Testament?

2:42 Yeah, well, I mean, it's really important to understand that not all law is law, which is to say... that there are civil and ceremonial laws given in the Old Testament which are abrogated in the New Testament. For example, we do not have to assume today that the ceremonial law regarding shellfish applies to us. It doesn't. In fact, Jesus made that explicit when he said it's not what goes into a man's mouth and out through his body that defiles him. It is what proceeds from the heart.

3:22 And then Mark adds the note, in saying this, Jesus declared all foods clean. So the point here is that civil and ceremonial laws have been abrogated, and the reason is Jesus Christ has fulfilled them. In fact, if you read the book of Hebrews, Hebrews makes plain that to go back to types and shadows, when the substance has come, is tantamount to trampling upon the sacred blood of Jesus Christ. Now, there are moral aspects of the law that apply today, which is to say we can say of certainty that the Ten Commandments apply today, even the commandment with regards to the Sabbath, which is to say that the Sabbath is now in celebration of the rest we have through Jesus Christ. And that's why the day has changed, but

4:11 the cycle hasn't changed. So we work six days, we rest one in honor... of the rest that we find in Jesus Christ, who liberates us from bondage to sin and death through the power of his resurrection.

4:28 Well, could you explain how to interpret something like women should cover their head or men should not cut their sideburns or you should not be homosexual? I mean, are those both the same?

4:38 No, they're not the same. When we speak of homosexuality, we're talking about an enduring moral law. When we talk about certain aspects of the law, they are, for example, when we're told that we are to greet one another with a holy kiss, the principle there is a universal principle. The way in which that principle is expressed is not universal.

5:03 The laws with respect to homosexuality, however, have never been abrogated. In other words, they're enduring moral laws, and they're laws that are made in the Old Testament and then repeated in the New Testament in such a way that we understand that Christ is ultimately setting parameters around our lives so that our joy might be complete. Which is to say that he has created us in such a way that we are to function in concert with his principles, and when we don't, we bear... the marks of that psychologically and physiologically as well. And that's why those laws have been set there in place for our protection.

5:49 Okay.

5:50 Well, this will definitely help me in my study.

5:51 I appreciate it.

5:52 You got it. Appreciate your call. I want to go back to the phone lines. Talk next to Tom. He's listening in Maryland. Hi, Tom.

6:00 Hi.

6:00 I appreciate you.

6:01 Taking my call.

6:01 I apologize for the question because I know it's one you've answered several times each week, and it's about the triune God. And no one's ever asked this question that I have heard. My question is, if it's God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit are one, when Jesus was baptized by John, God came down and spoke and said, you know, this is my son who I'm well pleased. I'm just wondering how that happened, how that kind of works into it.

6:34 Well, I think it actually makes the point of the Trinity. There are three planks in the Trinitarian platform. The first is that there's only one God. And when we say there's only one God, we're talking about the nature or essence of God. The second plank of the Trinitarian platform is that the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are God.

6:56 We are told the Father is God in Scripture, the Son is God in Scripture, the Holy Spirit is God in Scripture. But the third plank the Trinitarian platform makes clear that Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are eternally distinct. So when the Father sends the Son, or the Father speaks from heaven during the baptism of Jesus Christ, we are seeing identity formed and completed on the basis of relationships within the Godhead. So the Father sends the Son, the Son prays to the Father, The son sends the counselor and so forth. So that's precisely what we have in Trinitarian doctrine, that there's one God revealed in three persons who are eternally distinct. Now, I've said this many times in the broadcast. That's not something that I comprehend.

7:46 It's only something that I apprehend. That's what the Bible teaches. And because I'm not philosophically driven, I'm biblically driven, I bow my knee before God's revelation of himself to me. Now, the Bible is not in any sense asking us to believe a contradiction. If the Bible were to say in one place that there is only one God and another that there are three gods, that would be an obvious contradiction.

8:11 That's not what is at play here. The Bible's saying there's one what, in terms of nature or essence, and three who's, in terms of relationships within the Godhead.

8:23 Great, thank you.

8:24 You got it. Appreciate your call. Back to the phone lines. Want to go to Heidi in Omaha, Nebraska.

8:29 Hi, Heidi.

8:30 Hi there, Hank.

8:31 How are you?

8:32 I'm good. How are you?

8:33 Great.

8:33 I'm excited to talk to you today.

8:35 Thank you. Likewise.

8:37 I'm hoping that you can answer a question for me that's been plaguing me for years. My question is from Genesis, where it talks about after Cain murders Abel, God places a mark on him and sends him out into the world, the mark with the purpose of protecting him from being persecuted. And then he marries and continues on with his life.

9:00 My question is, where do these people come from and who does he marry?

9:04 Well, remember that Cain and Abel lived at a time when people lived for long periods of time. Adam lived almost a thousand years. You think about a thousand years that sometimes goes over very quickly without us contemplating the fact that that's half the time between the time Christ walked the earth and now. So it's a long period of time to have children and for those children to have other children. When I think about myself, I have 12 children, and in a few years, God knows how many grandkids we're going to have. The grandkids and great-grandkids are just going to multiply. But imagine living 1,000 years.

9:40 You're going to have a lot of people, a tremendous proliferation that takes place. So there would have been many people alive at that time. The assumption that people make is that Cain and Abel, because they are the subjects and the emphasis that they're the only kids and that simply isn't correct. So Cain would have married a sister or a niece. And there was no problem with that early on in civilization because genetic imperfections only accumulated over time.

10:12 So it was not a problem early on in the history of civilization.

10:18 Interesting, interesting. Well, I certainly appreciate your information.

10:22 You got it, Heidi, and I've actually answered that question in the Complete Bible Answer Book Collector's Edition, which is available through the Ministry of the Christian Research Institute. You can order online at equip.org. You can write me at Post Office Box 8500, Charlotte, North Carolina, zip code 28271, or as always, pick up the telephone, talk to our resource consultants at AAA. 7000 and the letters CRI. Do remember that this is a ministry supported by listeners just like you. When you join the support team, I'll send you a personalized copy of the Complete Bible Answer Book Collector's Edition to you, a family member, or a friend.

11:02 Be right back.

11:03 The famous British apologist G.K. Chesterton once noted, the true soldier fights not because he hates what is in front of him, but because he loves what is behind him. Because at CRI, we love what is behind us, our faith, our families, and our freedoms. We will never retreat quietly from the growing assaults on life and truth. Even when the costs are great, we will stand. To join like-minded friends in making a difference at home and around the globe, and to equip fellow believers to stand their ground courageously, become a member of CRI's support team. Simply call 888-7000-CRI.

11:42 That's 888-7000-CRI or visit our website at equip.org. Stay with us. Hank Hanegraaff will return in a few moments. The Complete Bible Answer Book Collector's Edition is the comprehensive collection of the most often asked questions Hank Hanegraaff has received throughout his four decades as host of the Bible Answer Man broadcast.

12:13 With more than half a million copies already in print, this newly revised and expanded Collector's Edition Help seekers and skeptics alike sort through the truth on topics such as reliability of the Bible, religions and cults, the resurrection and afterlife, and many more issues 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 888-7000-CRI. and make a gift to support the Christian Research Institute's life-changing outreaches, 888-7000-CRI, or visit us at equip.org. Anyone who's been paying attention knows there's a war going on, not just on traditional morality, civility,

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13:51 the benefits of support team membership, simply visit equip.org.

14:01 Hank Hanegraaff has dedicated his life to defending truth because truth matters. However, his life and ministry were radically transformed by another three-word phrase, life matters more. Truth matters because Christianity is rooted in history and evidence. Life matters more because it is the experience of union with God. The goal of Christian life is union with God. All attempts to understand Christianity from a solely rational perspective put us in danger of devolving into a transactional rather than transformational relationship with God. Truth Matters, Life Matters More will equip you to move beyond intellectually knowing about God to experientially knowing Him in Christ. To receive your copy of Truth Matters,

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15:52 Or visit our website at equip.org. Once again, here's your host, Hank Hanegraaff.

16:00 Thank you very much, Randy. And back to the phone lines next to John in Dallas, Texas. Hi, John.

16:05 Hi, Hank.

16:06 Thanks for taking my call.

16:07 You're welcome.

16:08 I'm on a car phone. I hope you can hear me all right. My question is about John chapter 8 and verse 30 through 32. And first, reading from the NIV in verse 30, it says, even as he spoke, many believed in him. And then in verse 31, to the Jews who believed him, Jesus said, if you hold to my teachings, you are really my disciples. So I recently heard a teaching that this This means that not everyone who believes is truly saved, that in order to be truly saved or to have assurance of our salvation, we need to demonstrate fruit in our lives. Now, while I don't really disagree with that, I'm not certain that this passage is teaching that. Can you shed any light on that?

16:53 Yeah, I can. I hope you're not reading while you're driving.

16:57 No, I'm memorized.

16:58 Oh, good. Great, yeah. Well, that's commendable. And here's the point I want to emphasize here. In this passage, you have Pharisees saying that Jesus is demon-possessed, and Jesus is pointing out that he could not possibly be demon-possessed because he does the work of the Father. So obviously, someone who is saying that Jesus Christ is demon-possessed is not a believer. And You have the explicit teaching of Christ in this passage where he says to the people who are claiming to be Abraham's descendants, he says, I know you are Abraham's descendants, yet you are ready to kill me.

17:45 So this is a clear indication that the people to whom Jesus Christ is speaking are not genuine believers. Which underscores another reality, and that is not everyone who is descendant from Abraham is the seed of Abraham in the sense in which Jesus Christ is communicating. Abraham, in the words of Scripture, Paul is talking here in Galatians 3, only had one seed, and that seed is Jesus Christ.

18:17 If you are in Christ, then you are the seed of Abraham and an heir according to the promise. Therefore, there are those who claim to be Jews and are not. They are a synagogue of Satan, as Jesus puts it elsewhere in the book of Revelation. So the point is, to be the seed of Abraham is not a genealogical construction.

18:40 It's not about your ethnicity. It's about relationship, not race.

18:45 What then does it mean in verse 30 when it says, many believed as he spoke? Is that a saving faith?

18:52 Well, in verse 30, You have these words, Jesus in Prologue says, When you have lifted up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am the one I claim to be, and that I can do nothing on my own but speak just what the Father has taught me. The one who sent me is with me. He has not left me alone, for I always do what pleases him.

19:17 Even as he spoke, many put their faith in him. So there are those that listen to what? Christ is saying, and genuinely believe. There are others who listen to what Christ is saying, and instead of believing, consider him to be a false teacher.

19:37 Okay, so then he's not necessarily addressing those exact same people in the next verse.

19:43 The next verse, where it says, to the Jews who believed in him, Jesus says, if you hold to my teachings, you are really my disciples. then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free. So those who genuinely believe are his disciples, and then they answer, we are Abraham's descendants and have never been slaves to anyone.

20:03 How can you say that we shall be set free. And Jesus replies, I tell you the truth, everyone who sins is a slave to sin. Now a slave has no permanent place in the family, but a son belongs to it forever. So if the son sets you free, then you'll be free indeed. And then the verses that I quoted earlier, I know you are Abraham's descendants, yet you are ready to kill me. So again, there are those who continue as slaves to sin and those who genuinely believe, and you see the dichotomy here, between the two spelled out very clearly by Jesus Christ.

20:39 Well, that's consistent with the teaching that I heard recently. So I appreciate your time on that, and I'll definitely drive safely and keep listening.

20:48 Thank you. Appreciate your call. I want to go back to the phone lines and talk to Margaret in West Virginia. Hi, Margaret.

20:53 I had a question. A Baptist minister that I've been listening to, among others, has preached for some time on once saved, always saved. And the logic that followed with that, this occurred to me and then I heard him preach on, is if a person was saved and they had in a moment of weakness, they took their own life, that they would still go to heaven. And all my growing up years, I was always told, you know, that was a straight ticket to hell if you committed suicide. No exceptions.

21:28 And so I'm really confused on that.

21:30 Well, it's not a straight ticket to hell, but let me say this. Someone who's a genuine believer dare not in any way take their own life, because taking their own life is the murder of oneself, and murder is condemned explicitly in Scripture, throughout the Scriptures, but very decidedly and specifically in the Ten Commandments. So one should never take the prerogative of life and death into their own hands.

21:54 That's a prerogative of God alone.

21:55 How does that fit in, though, with... That's what I thought, but how does that fit in with one saved, always saved?

22:01 Well, what I'm pointing out, if you are a believer, you should never take God's prerogative into your own hands and then murder oneself. So it's unthinkable for a Christian to do such a thing. But in the prologue to your question, you said something. During a moment of weakness... Now I can define that a lot of different ways.

22:18 Let's suppose that I did something irrational in a moment of weakness that is completely inconsistent with my Christian testimony. That does not disqualify me from heaven. Because what disqualifies you from heaven is a continuous, willful, ongoing rebellion. It's not an act, but a continuous action. So I'm saying two things. It is conceivable that someone commits suicide during an act of despondency when they're not in their right frame of mind, that does not preclude that they would go to heaven. That's not, as you pointed out in your question, an automatic ticket to hell. But having said that, the other side of the coin is it is inconceivable and inconsistent for a Christian to murder in general.

23:11 Right, right. Okay, I see what you're saying. Well, thank you so much, because I really didn't know how to digest that one.

23:19 I've laid that out in the complete Bible answer book collector's edition. And what I point out there is three sequential points. The first is that no single act is unforgivable, that the unforgivable sin is a continuous ongoing rejection of forgiveness. The second is that while suicide is not an unforgivable sin, those who take the sacred name of Christ upon their lips dare not contemplate it. And the third is, underscoring what I said earlier, which is the fact that suicide is the murder of oneself and as such is a direct violation of the Sixth Commandment. So it's a direct attack on the sovereignty of the very one who knit us together in our mother's womb. So it's inconceivable for a Christian to do that, at least a Christian in

24:03 their right mind, but who knows? The one thing that we can say as a premise is that What disqualifies you from heaven is an ongoing, continuous rejection of the love and grace of God.

24:15 Yeah, yeah, I get it. So you've got a complete Bible answer book?

24:20 Yeah, it's called the Complete Bible Answer Book Collector's Edition.

24:22 Okay, okay, that's good. All right, thank you. I appreciate this so much.

24:27 You got it. Appreciate your call. Back to the phone lines, we'll talk to Jonathan next in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Hi, Jonathan.

24:36 Yeah, hi, Hank. Thank you for taking my call.

24:38 Pleasure.

24:40 And I just wanted to also say that, you know, I travel a lot for work, so I really, really appreciate sermons and shows like yours.

24:46 So thanks for that.

24:47 Thank you.

24:49 My question is, you know, due to personal experience, I am very familiar. I think I have a really good grasp on just how much the porn industry can poison the minds of the country. And my question is, what causes? as a Christian, what kind of actions can we take to really try to put a stop to it and try to tear down and stop and shut down these websites that are just making it go so rampant and wild?

25:17 Yeah, we've got to do everything that's permissible to do that, but recognize that ultimately pagans are going to exercise their job description. They're going to be pagans. The real issue now becomes Christians exercising their job description. As people's hearts are changed, their behavioral patterns are are changed as well.

25:35 So ultimately the way that you become salt and light, the way that you redeem a culture is by changing the hearts of people within a culture and that ultimately changes the fabric of the culture itself. The problem, the systemic problem is that Christians unfortunately today are more a microcosm of the culture than a change agent in the culture and as a result of that our culture isn't being transformed, we are being conformed by the culture as Paul talks about in Romans chapter 12. Thanks for tuning in to this edition of the Bible Answer Man broadcast.

26:10 Look forward to seeing you next time with more of the show.

26:14 Thanks for tuning in to the Bible Answer Man broadcast. Our website equip.org has an abundance of resources to sharpen your discernment skills and help you grow in life and truth. We provide books, videos, and informative articles. You can also listen to the broadcast, download archived programs, get answers to pressing Bible questions, or connect with us via social media.

26:39 All this and more at equip.org. Again, the address is equip.org. The Bible Answer Man broadcast is supported by listeners like you. We're on the air because life and truth matter. The Complete Bible Answer Book Collector's Edition is the comprehensive collection of the most often asked questions Hank Hanegraaff 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 Help seekers and skeptics alike sort through the truth on topics such as reliability of the Bible, religions and cults, the resurrection and afterlife, and many more issues vital to a better understanding of God in Christ and our relationship to Him.

27:36 To receive your copy of the complete Bible answer book, collector's edition, revised and expanded, call 888-7000-CRI and make a gift to support the Christian Research Institute's life-changing outreaches.

27:51 888-7000-CRI or visit us at equip.org.