[Apologetics] Re: Bible Answer Man Off the Air on WAVA

Wed Aug 5 09:09:40 EDT 2009

I had listened to him when I was a Protestant.  It was also by listening to
him that I became somewhat dissolute with Protestantism,  because he would
give one interpretation to a verse, and I would have a different one, and I
thought, "Which one of us is right?"   After awhile I could see his answers
were always the same, as if he had a computer screen with ready made verses
and responses for each type of question.  And apologetics is a somewhat
limited field, so after hearing the same types of questions, with his same
responses (which I may or may not agree with) it would get boring, and I
eventually began listening to something else.

From: apologetics-bounces at gathman.org
[mailto:apologetics-bounces at gathman.org] On Behalf Of Art Kelly
Sent: Wednesday, August 05, 2009 1:16 AM
To: Apologetics Group; Jim Murphy; Ward Collins; Francis Thomas; Francis
Thomas
Subject: [Apologetics] Re: Bible Answer Man Off the Air on WAVA

Thomas,

A commentary by Hank on the Mass on the CRI website states in part:

"Now, though we differ with the Catholic view on Communion, we do share some
points in common as well. For example, we concur that Communion is biblical,
since Christ instituted it and commanded His followers to continue the
practice in His remembrance (Luke 22:19
<http://bible.logos.com/passage/nkjv/Luke%2022.19> )...

"We believe that Christ is truly present during Communion, but we certainly
cannot go along with the doctrine of transubstantiation."

The full commentary on this matter is at
http://www.equip.org/perspectives/the-catholic-mass

Art

--- On Tue, 8/4/09, Francis Thomas <francis.thomas at catholicfaithforum.com>
wrote:

From: Francis Thomas <francis.thomas at catholicfaithforum.com>
Subject: Re: Bible Answer Man Off the Air on WAVA
To: "Apologetics Group" <apologetics at gathman.org>, "Jim Murphy"
<jmurf80 at bellsouth.net>, "Ward Collins" <wcollins at netins.net>, "Francis
Thomas" <francis.thomas at CatholicFaithForum.com>, "Art Kelly"
<arthurkelly at yahoo.com>
Date: Tuesday, August 4, 2009, 9:50 PM

Hi Art:

CRI's attacks on Mary are well-known (and a book was published documenting
the Catholic response). I did not have much respect for him. I recall a few
years ago a caller had asked him about the Eucharist and the belief in the
real presence that the caller's colleagues at work had. Hank simply
dismissed this as Catholic superstition.

God bless

Francis

--- On Mon, 8/3/09, Art Kelly <arthurkelly at yahoo.com> wrote:

From: Art Kelly <arthurkelly at yahoo.com>
Subject: Bible Answer Man Off the Air on WAVA
To: "Apologetics Group" <apologetics at gathman.org>, "Jim Murphy"
<jmurf80 at bellsouth.net>, "Ward Collins" <wcollins at netins.net>, "Francis
Thomas" <francis.thomas at CatholicFaithForum.com>
Date: Monday, August 3, 2009, 8:09 PM

When the Bible Answer Man program was not on WAVA today (Focus on the Family
was in its place), I called the station and was told it is no longer being
carried locally.

As you may know, the Christian Research Institute (CRI) pays to run the
program on radio stations around the county.  The person at WAVA said that
CRI was not willing to continue to run the program here, because there were
insufficient financial contributions from this area to support it.

A number of years ago, the program was broadcast live on WAVA from 6 to 7 PM
Eastern.  Then, it started being run on a tape-delayed basis from 7 to 8 PM.
Now, it is off the air entirely.

I check the CRI website and found a list of only 108 stations now carrying
the program nationally, not counting the XM satellite radio  The only one
station in Virginia is in Richmond.  There were none in Washington, D.C.
There was one station in Maryland, but I was not familiar with the name of
the city where the station is located.

For several months I've been on the Bible Answer Man e-mail list, having
signed up through the WAVA website, and received an e-mail recently from
Hank attacking the Catholic Church on a historical matter in which I believe
he is mistaken.  I was preparing a reply, and may still complete it, but
wonder if I should bother.  If I do, I'll send you a Bcc of the message I
send to Hank.

I don't know if it is the recession or what, but it looks like CRI may be in
financial trouble. In a way, I'm a little sad.  While Hank could not resist
criticizing Catholicism from time to time, I've also heard him DEFEND the
Church from some far-out attacks by extra-chromosome fundamentalists.

And he moderated--even-handedly!--the famous radio debate between James
White and James Akin, which was a significant victory for Akin.  

(Of course, in another debate between White and Tim Staples, Hank was NOT
even-handed and it was ended up being, essentially, Hank and White against
Staples, who did not do too well.  My guess is that Hank got a lot of
criticism from Protestants for being too fair in the first debate.  He made
up for it in the debate with Staples.)

Hank was not all bad all the time.  On some matters not affecting the
Church, I sometimes agreed with him, at least partially.

Art

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