Christian leader faces questions about Muslim past

  • Thread starter Thread starter Dale_M
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
D

Dale_M

Guest
The Southern Baptist minister who leads Liberty University’s seminary made a career as a go-to authority on Islam for the evangelical world, selling thousands of books and touring the country as a former Muslim who discovered Jesus Christ.
Click to expand...
Now Ergun Caner is being investigated by the Lynchburg, Va., university — founded by the Rev. Jerry Falwell — over allegations that he fabricated or embellished his past.
Click to expand...
An unlikely coalition of Muslim and Christian bloggers, pastors and apologists has led the charge with video and audio clips they claim show Caner making contradictory statements.
Click to expand...
Caner has since changed the biographical information on his website and asked friendly organizations to remove damning clips from their websites, but the questions are not going away.
Click to expand...
news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100517/ap_on_re/us_rel_preacher_s_past;_ylt=AhUdRpSvACjZT8QeRDaSUiE7Xs8F;_ylu=X3oDMTJ0NWh1cm41BGFzc2V0A2FwLzIwMTAwNTE3L3VzX3JlbF9wcmVhY2hlcl9zX3Bhc3QEcG9zAzQyBHNlYwN5bl9wYWdpbmF0ZV9zdW1tYXJ5X2xpc3QEc2xrA2NocmlzdGlhbmxlYQ–

I’m posting this because Ergun Caner has often been cited here as an authority on Islam.
 
Dale_M said:
news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100517/ap_on_re/us_rel_preacher_s_past;_ylt=AhUdRpSvACjZT8QeRDaSUiE7Xs8F;_ylu=X3oDMTJ0NWh1cm41BGFzc2V0A2FwLzIwMTAwNTE3L3VzX3JlbF9wcmVhY2hlcl9zX3Bhc3QEcG9zAzQyBHNlYwN5bl9wYWdpbmF0ZV9zdW1tYXJ5X2xpc3QEc2xrA2NocmlzdGlhbmxlYQ–

I’m posting this because Ergun Caner has often been cited here as an authority on Islam.
Click to expand...
While it would be premature to indict Caner at this point in time, I have seen the videos where he has made contradictory and/or false statements regarding his past. If the charges are true and at this point, it doesn’t seem that any other explanation is possible other than his outright deceit, he should repent, confess, and resign his position.

Someone who fabricates stories of that nature, while claiming to represent the truth of the gospel, should never be in the position that he is in.
 
I live about an hour from Lynchburg and from Liberty University. Highway 460 bisects the campus and I went through there coming back from visiting my daughter last weekend.

Some years ago, when I was an EMT, I ran a mutual aid call with a member of another agency. It was a long ride to the emergency room and we had a lot of time to talk on the way back. The man was studying for the ministry at Liberty. He began to witness to me, which was all right, since I love to talk about religion.

He said he was raised in a home without God and did not find God until he was baptized as an adult. As we talked, it turned out that his parents were Catholic. I found this out when he told me that his parents were both born in Italy. When I asked, he admitted that they were indeed practicing Catholics. Further, he told me of sneaking into the room where the Bible was kept and opening it. He said that they did not use the Bible since it was only supposed to be opened by consecrated hands, meaning a priest.

What bothered me about this whole story was that he was so willing to denigrate his Catholic upbringing and write it off as being raised in a nonreligious home. I had to wonder how much this was due to indoctrination by the university or the church to which he belonged. I get the feeling that truth is not a real big issue there. I have a suspicion that Caner might have been caught in the same bind.

.
 
Oldtimer_7 said:
I live about an hour from Lynchburg and from Liberty University. Highway 460 bisects the campus and I went through there coming back from visiting my daughter last weekend.

Some years ago, when I was an EMT, I ran a mutual aid call with a member of another agency. It was a long ride to the emergency room and we had a lot of time to talk on the way back. The man was studying for the ministry at Liberty. He began to witness to me, which was all right, since I love to talk about religion.

He said he was raised in a home without God and did not find God until he was baptized as an adult. As we talked, it turned out that his parents were Catholic. I found this out when he told me that his parents were both born in Italy. When I asked, he admitted that they were indeed practicing Catholics. Further, he told me of sneaking into the room where the Bible was kept and opening it. He said that they did not use the Bible since it was only supposed to be opened by consecrated hands, meaning a priest.

What bothered me about this whole story was that he was so willing to denigrate his Catholic upbringing and write it off as being raised in a nonreligious home. I had to wonder how much this was due to indoctrination by the university or the church to which he belonged. I get the feeling that truth is not a real big issue there. I have a suspicion that Caner might have been caught in the same bind.

.
Click to expand...
In all fairness to your friend, my family attended church every Sunday without fail when I was a child. I even sang in the youth choir and my mom was the head of the youth department. And yet, in spite of all our devotion to that church, if any one of us had died, we would have gone straight to Hell because we did not know Christ.

So I don’t think it’s a matter of your friend lying, as much as it is simply a different understanding of what constitutes a Godly home.
 
He’s obviously a fraud. He’s totally ignorant about Islam and can’t even speak Turkish.
 
Thank you for providing another example of what I was talking about in the other thread.

But at least you called us a Christian group, which I appreciate, but certainly won’t earn you any points with your fellow Catholics here.

Now where is that ignore button…
 
Danny, thank you for your perspective. I understand your point. Exposure to religion does not mean it sinks in. In the Parable of the Sower, three out of four seeds do not produce. John 6:66 tells us that many people, even hearing the words of truth from Jesus’ lips did not follow Him. The greatest spiritual emptiness is not felt alone, but in the company of the faithful.
If he had said something to the effect, “Though we were going to church, I still felt a spiritual emptiness,” I certainly would have understood and sympathized. My wife went through this in her home church and ended up becoming Lutheran.

Southern Baptists were coming out of a period of strife in the denomination at the time. A friend who was in seminary in Texas at the time told me of seeing fellow students spitting on the president’s car because he did not believe as they did. There was a very strong push for orthodoxy at the time. I realize that this is a paradoxical statement, since Baptists resist the notion of any sort of creed.

My friend was a troubled man. Several years later, he committed suicide in his yard after an argument with his son. I pray that he has found the peace that escaped him in life.

I also thank God that you were able to find a spiritual home in your church. The basis of Christianity is the community, or as we Lutherans say, the communion of saints.
God bless.
 
Dale_M said:
news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100517/ap_on_re/us_rel_preacher_s_past;_ylt=AhUdRpSvACjZT8QeRDaSUiE7Xs8F;_ylu=X3oDMTJ0NWh1cm41BGFzc2V0A2FwLzIwMTAwNTE3L3VzX3JlbF9wcmVhY2hlcl9zX3Bhc3QEcG9zAzQyBHNlYwN5bl9wYWdpbmF0ZV9zdW1tYXJ5X2xpc3QEc2xrA2NocmlzdGlhbmxlYQ–

I’m posting this because Ergun Caner has often been cited here as an authority on Islam.
Click to expand...
I am a muslim and when i saw him 3 years ago i knew instantly that he was a fraud. We muslims know because of the small details. There are real converts to Christianity from Islam. But i guess the ones who do the tv shows and stuff are not these guys.

They are just making money . Even Christian channels compete between each other. They also decieve Christians by inflating their credentials. a son of a man who calls to prayer really means nothing. I used to call to the prayer in the mosque when i was 18 . Did it for a hobby for a while and then got busy with other stuff. Calling to the prayer is like church bell. Doesnt mean that you are versed in Islam in any way .

I think its a business as much as it is dissing Islam. The one who makes Islam the scariest gets more money .
 
Dale_M said:
Well, no. But Mr. Caner claims to have been raised in Turkey, with a Turkish (and Muslim) father, which is why he was raised Muslim.
Click to expand...
Yes, and he also claimed to be able to speak both Turkish and Arabic. Yet was caught several times making up Arabic words on camera to southern white audiences. Apparently, he didn’t think anyone there could speak it, so he felt free to make it up. If you’re walking around claiming to have been trained as a mujahideen warrior, you better be able to speak Arabic.
 
Dale_M said:
Well, no. But Mr. Caner claims to have been raised in Turkey, with a Turkish (and Muslim) father, which is why he was raised Muslim.
Click to expand...
TriuneUnity said:
Yes, and he also claimed to be able to speak both Turkish and Arabic. Yet was caught several times making up Arabic words on camera to southern white audiences. Apparently, he didn’t think anyone there could speak it, so he felt free to make it up. If you’re walking around claiming to have been trained as a mujahideen warrior, you better be able to speak Arabic.
Click to expand...
Thank you for clearing that up for me. I admit I hadn’t watched any of his videos or knew anything about him. Knowing a little bit more about his background I would say that makes sense.
 
Dale_M said:
Well, no. But Mr. Caner claims to have been raised in Turkey, with a Turkish (and Muslim) father, which is why he was raised Muslim.
Click to expand...
In his book Unveiling Islam, co wrote with brother Emir, Ergen Caner states on p.17 that he and Erdem were born in Stockholm, Sweden. His father was Turkish and Mother was Swedish. The family moved to Ohio and Emir was born. The next couple of page talks about their childhood. According to this book, none of the Caner brothers were born in Turkey.

I never knew of other claims, but after this book, hearing him speak and speaking with him personally for a time in Pensacola about 7+ years ago, I had an uneasy feeling about him. Still can’t narrow it down, but it was a feeling I got whenever I met any of the Baptistic Evangelists like Junior Hill etc. At the time I was a Baptist Minister. Watching him being tasered for the gospel on U-tube or God Tube (can not remember which) a year or so ago really turned me off to him.

Whether he fabricated parts or all of his past, I can not say and will not comment about. I will wait for the investigation to be completed. I always thought Liberty made a mistake hiring him.

Fr. Mark
 
Well, the first mistake he made was saying he went to a “madras”.

The correct word in Arabic is “madrasa(h)”, but even a first year Arabic student knows a madrasa is a high school of any kind, and a Quran school is properly called a “kuttab”.

As a Protestant and someone who ministers to Muslims, this sickens me. I am praying for this man, that his sin might be brought to light and he will humbly repent, and leave Liberty if he is guilty of this fabrication.
 
Well then, it looks like a man with Muslim ancestry who says he was raised as a Muslim, but really was raised in a primarily non-religious open secular environment.

How many times do we see people who say they were “former Catholic” or “former Protestant” or “former Orthodox” who converted to something else, when it is obvious that the person was not grounded in that religion to begin with? It’s common, and these people sometimes say these things to make little brownie points in their discussions.

This man’s apparent difference is that he was making serious money by deliberately lying about his background. Now it is a scandal, and may cause others to lose Faith.

How sad :o
 
Hesychios said:
Well then, it looks like a man with Muslim ancestry who says he was raised as a Muslim, but really was raised in a primarily non-religious open secular environment.

How many times do we see people who say they were “former Catholic” or “former Protestant” or “former Orthodox” who converted to something else, when it is obvious that the person was not grounded in that religion to begin with? It’s common, and these people sometimes say these things to make little brownie points in their discussions.

This man’s apparent difference is that he was making serious money by deliberately lying about his background. Now it is a scandal, and may cause others to lose Faith.

How sad :o
Click to expand...
Seriously! At least admit your background. I don’t ever tell people I’m a “former Methodist who converted to Catholicism” because that would be wrong. I tell them I was “baptised Methodist, raised Christian, and chose Catholicism” because it is the most accurate way to describe my upbringing.
 
meedo said:
They are just making money . Even Christian channels compete between each other. They also decieve Christians by inflating their credentials. a son of a man who calls to prayer really means nothing. I used to call to the prayer in the mosque when i was 18 . Did it for a hobby for a while and then got busy with other stuff. Calling to the prayer is like church bell. Doesnt mean that you are versed in Islam in any way .
Click to expand...
Hahahahaha yeah that’s what I was thinking!!! If he had said his father was an Imam … well, now that would have been a different thing altogether!

Man, even I know that … and I’m not even a Muslim!
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top