For additional in-depth information, please visit
Ask Hank: Questions and Answers About Orthodoxy.
Through Christian Research Institute staff and friends, I’ve become aware of chatter on the Internet—the gist of which is that I’ve walked away from the Christian faith. Amid Holy Week I pray that those forwarding this notion may have an ever-deeper encounter with our crucified and resurrected Lord. May they and their loved ones be blessed and their faith strengthened. If I have caused any to stumble, I humbly ask forgiveness.
My purpose in this post is not so much to respond but to reassure. As I have never been more in love with my wife and family, so, too, I have never been more in love with the Lord Jesus and His body the church. As such,
I confess my faith in the deity of Jesus Christ — “the only-begotten Son of God, begotten of the Father before all ages; Light of Light, true God of true God, begotten not created, of one essence with the Father, through whom all things were made.”
I affirm the doctrine of original sin — “sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all people, because all sinned” (Romans 5:12).
I am deeply committed to “the church of the living God, the pillar and foundation of the truth” (1 Timothy 3:15) and to the Holy Scriptures, the only infallible repository of redemptive revelation (2 Timothy 3:15–16).
I love the Holy Trinity — one God revealed in three Persons eternally distinct. And am deeply grateful that the true and living God invites us to participate in the loving relationships that Father, Son, and Holy Spirit have enjoyed throughout eternity.
I hold to the glorious reality that Jesus “rose on the third day, according to the Scriptures. He ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of the Father.”
I am grateful to the Lord Jesus “who for us and for our salvation came down from heaven and was incarnate of the Holy Spirit and the Virgin Mary and became man.”
I thank God daily that I am a new creation in Christ. For by grace I have been saved through faith, and that not of myself; it is the gift of God, not of works lest I should boast. “For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them” (see Ephesians 2:8–10).
“I look for the resurrection of the dead, and the life of the age to come.”
While there are many secondary issues genuine believers will continue to debate this side of eternity, I have and will always champion what C.S. Lewis called mere Christianity. “In essentials unity, non-essentials liberty, and in all things charity.”
Hank Hanegraaff
Holy Week 2017
For additional in-depth information, please visit
Ask Hank: Questions and Answers About Orthodoxy.
