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

Wed Aug 5 12:24:33 EDT 2009

Yes, Hank took on many people in the Charismatic-Pentecostal movement and that made him lots of enemies.  And as Protestantism moves away from focusing on doctrines to practical living issues, Hank becomes less relevant to them. 

From: apologetics-bounces at gathman.org [mailto:apologetics-bounces at gathman.org] On Behalf Of Art Kelly
Sent: Wednesday, August 05, 2009 11:58 AM
To: 'Apologetics Group'; 'Jim Murphy'; 'Ward Collins'; 'Francis Thomas'
Subject: RE: [Apologetics] Re: Bible Answer Man Off the Air on WAVA

You make a good point, Marty.

I did not listen to Hank a lot, but even listening occassionally, I noticed how repetetive he was.  He used the EXACT same phrases over and over.

That might be the problem with a daily radio show on religion.  It might be hard to be fresh every day.  Furthermore, there are always new people listening every day.  Still, there are people who do listen regularly and, after a while, I could see how the program would get boring.

I've heard somewhat the same criticism about Catholic Answers Live.  One keen observer remarked that they seemed to be on "automatic pilot."  

But what do you do when someone asks a question on Wednesday that someone else asked on Monday?  Maybe your call screener should tell that person, "Hey, we answered that question a couple of days ago.  If you go to our website and click on the program for that day, you will hear the answer explained in detail."  Then, you DON'T put that call on the air and instead look for callers with questions on OTHER subjects that have not been covered in a good while.

Hank might have made too many enemies.  He is controversial WITHIN Protestantism.  In fact, WAVA had a disclaimer at the start of his program indicating that it did not reflect the views of the station, management, or owners.  

I'm wondering if WAVA discouraged CRI from keeping the show on that station.  Maybe they increased the rates so high it was no longer cost effective for this area.  It's possible WAVA did not want Hank on their station any more.

Perhaps CRI will find another station in this area for the Bible Answer Man, possibly the same foreign language station Catholic Answers Live used to be on.

Art

--- On Wed, 8/5/09, Marty Rothwell <martyr225 at cox.net> wrote:

From: Marty Rothwell <martyr225 at cox.net>
Subject: RE: [Apologetics] Re: Bible Answer Man Off the Air on WAVA
To: "'Art Kelly'" <arthurkelly at yahoo.com>, "'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>, "'Francis Thomas'" <francis.thomas at CatholicFaithForum.com>
Date: Wednesday, August 5, 2009, 9:09 AM

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 ( <http://bible.logos.com/passage/nkjv/Luke%2022.19> Luke 22:19)...

"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> 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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