Veritas in Latin means truth. Verdict means speak the truth.

Welcome aboard

My name is Harris Himes, and I'd like to go over with you what I hope to achieve with Veritas. You realize that Veritas means truth, and I'm interested in looking at various things from different angles, and we together can try to determine what the truth is. Each of you has your input, as have I, and ultimately each of you will make his or her decision about what the truth is. In fact, you will render a verdict in your own mind. Veritas in Latin means truth. Verdict means speak the truth. That's what a jury does.

So, I had a wonderful background with Calvary Chapel in Costa Mesa, California. And Chuck Smith, I knew him. I wasn't on the inner circle by any means, but after I went through the school of ministry and taught Greek and some rudimentary Hebrew there, Chuck Smith had a prodigious memory, and he knew everybody's name and everybody's family also. But I became involved with Calvary Chapel, and one of the reasons was I wanted to learn Greek. I was tired of hearing things like, well, it's this guy's interpretation or that guy's interpretation, and I wanted to endeavor to learn it myself so it would be my interpretation.

And then ever since 1992, when I began studying Greek, I learned some nuances that I think would be helpful to bring to you so that you can make up your minds for yourselves what Scripture really says. Greek is a wonderful language, especially the verbs. It gives you a much more precise way of determining what a word means. And if you know what a word means better, then you can have greater application to yourself, for yourself. I'm going to endeavor to actually show you the textbook that I used and taught out of so that you can see that I'm not just blowing smoke. You can see what it says, and if you have a taste for it, learn a little Greek yourself. But if you have a real interest in Scripture, I think that you will find this interesting, although it's not going to be fast and it's not necessarily going to be easy.

Then, at some point, I'm interested in using these concepts to compare theologies. I'm not going to use the person's name whose opinion it is, who teaches it, because I'm more interested in the concept than having people say, oh, well, if it's so-and-so, it must be right, and let it go.

I also think that I'll be talking about the military, and particularly since I'm a Marine, I think it's important for the country to remember. People somewhat blithely say that because of what we have done over the centuries as military people to preserve the freedom, that should be preserved. And I saw as much action as anybody could have in Vietnam on the DMZ during the hot years of 67 and 68. And I'd like to talk about my Marines and the wonderful people they were and the other military people I know. And this would be new information for the young people, and it would be something for us older people to reminisce about.

So current events are something that also we may discuss, along with politics, which I prefer to call God's policies, since I think that they are particularly and should be the basis for how men govern each other. So we'll deal some with that. And in fact, in the first episode, that's exactly what we do.

You will note that I wear coat and tie or suit. And there are several reasons for that, but really, biblically, you'll recall that God specifies what the priest should wear. Now, I think I can deduce from that that God requires, and I say requires, those who represent him to be dressed in such a way that they do him honor and that they represent him adequately and properly. Another thing is that I think that Pastor Chuck Smith was in agreement with that. At least people used to go to church dressed up because they felt they were going to go meet their God, their Creator, and show him respect. And somehow that's gone by the board. Everybody's in cutoffs and jeans. The come-as-you-are attitude is certainly valid to a point, but I think that there comes a time when you mature into recognizing that God really appreciates a little more respect than that. And another thing is that I developed a taste for suits and good, nice clothes when I was a trial attorney, and so I think that's probably hung on too.

The program will probably evolve. It certainly, I've seen other programs, how they change. I remember Johnny Carson, and he started one direction, and then he went off another direction. So did Rush Limbaugh, and I expect that to be the case with us. But the purpose really is ultimately to serve God, help build the kingdom of God, to serve you, but God always gets the glory. Welcome aboard.

Harris Himes

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