This week in Christian history: ‘Bible Answer Man’ becomes Orthodox, Nestorius made a bishop
‘Bible Answer Man’ converts to Eastern Orthodox Church – April 9, 2017
This week marks the anniversary of when Hank Hanegraaff, an evangelical famous for his apologetics radio program “The Bible Answer Man,” converted to the Eastern Orthodox Church.
Hanegraaff and his family were chrismated, a ceremony usually performed after a baptism, on Palm Sunday at the Saint Nektarios Greek Orthodox Church in Charlotte, North Carolina.
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The decision was a controversial one, with some evangelical Protestant radio stations booting his program and others demanding that he resign from the Christian Research Institute.
Hanegraaff defended his decision, telling the Charlotte Observer at the time that “my views have not changed” when it came to his belief in Jesus Christ and the Bible.
However, others, among them Erwin W. Lutzer of Moody Church Media, argued that by leaving Protestantism for Eastern Orthodoxy, Hanegraaff had “turned away from a basic tenet of the Protestant Reformation, Sola Scriptura—meaning that the Bible alone is our source of spiritual and doctrinal authority.”
“… it appears that he will have to broaden his source of authority beyond the Scriptures as he answers the questions of his listeners. We hope he reconsiders his decision and realizes that he has chosen a path that has misled many,” wrote Lutzer in 2017.
