You will recall that Norman Geisler has taken the lead in the cover-up of the Ergun Caner scandal, seemingly intent upon protecting his fellow Veritas professor from the great Calvinistic conspiracy at all costs. A hand full of surface-level excuses have been offered by Geisler, all of which have been reviewed and found to lack much in the way of real veritas by myself and others. But the clip I posted last evening contains a full refutation of one of Geisler’s many erroneous defenses of Caner. Remember what Geisler wrote:
Ergun’s father did have two wives, having divorced the first one. He had three sons by his first wife (Ergun and his two brothers). So, Ergun has two full brothers and two step-sisters (from his father’s second wife). While speaking quickly on one occasion, he mistakenly called his brothers his “half” brothers. This is hardly evidence of an attempt to embellish or deceive. After all, he had the right number of each sibling, and he didn’t claim to have ten brothers or sisters!
So, has it ever been rational to interpret Caner’s “my father had many wives” statement as “my father divorced my mother and married another woman”? Of course not, for we all know that Caner made those statements in a particular context of demonstrating his alleged pedigree in things Islamic, and the point was brought up in the context of living in Turkey (myth) and how his father was an Islamic scholar (well, an ulema which is the same thing as saying he was a “scholars”). Everyone in the audience knew what he meant, but those involved in this scandalous cover-up are grasping at straws, so this amazing excuse has been offered by Dr. Norman Geisler, Provost of Veritas Evangelical Seminary.
But now the question needs to be asked of Dr. Geisler, in light of Ergun Caner’s claims, made in front of an audience on September 22, 2006 (Dr. Ron Rhodes is seen in the video sitting on the front row, hence, the accuracy of the video can be verified by known attendees), whether he will withdraw this excuse and ask Dr. Caner to answer the question with honesty? All one must do is watch the video posted earlier, fast forward to the 4:05 time mark, and listen for yourself. What does Caner say? He calls his father a polygamist, and plainly tells the audience that his father used the “Abraham lie” so as to bring his multiple wives with him. How can this be denied? To even attempt to make an excuse for this is to throw common sense and rationality out the window. Caner made the claim. Will Norman Geisler show respect for truth and 1) remove the false excuse he has offered on his website, and 2) ask Ergun Caner to explain himself?
I would like to suggest a further course of action. Norman Geisler is clearly in contact with Emir Caner, Ergun’s brother. Ask Emir Caner to openly and publicly tell the entire world: did his father come to the United States with other women in tow, as a polygamist Muslim? Who are these women? Where do they live? Why is there no mention of them in the divorce papers or in Acar Caner’s will? Are we truly to believe that given the acrimony involved in the divorce that Monica Caner, who, according to Emir, stopped practicing Islam and became a “hippy,” would not have mentioned the fact that Acar Caner had other wives and was breaking the laws of the United States by practicing polygamy while living here?
