I have always been amazed at the story of Billy Graham. I love the way he started out and just the history of his life and how many people have come to know the Lord because of him. Here is my wanderings today...I've listened to a few interviews lately by Graham on Larry King Live and his latest article in Newsweek. Read this excerpt and tell me what you think. It's tough for me to read because I feel that there is a huge confusion among Christians of today as to whether Jesus really is the gateway to heaven and the only way. This is a truth that our faith hinges on and if there are other ways then what Jesus did might have been crazy. The excerpt below was taken out of Newsweek and the whole article can be found here. Mark Cahill also wrote an article about this in his latest newsletter and he brings out some good points also.
"A unifying theme of Graham's new thinking is humility. He is sure and certain of his faith in Jesus as the way to salvation. When asked whether he believes heaven will be closed to good Jews, Muslims, Buddhists, Hindus or secular people, though, Graham says: "Those are decisions only the Lord will make. It would be foolish for me to speculate on who will be there and who won't ... I don't want to speculate about all that. I believe the love of God is absolute. He said he gave his son for the whole world, and I think he loves everybody regardless of what label they have." Such an ecumenical spirit may upset some Christian hard-liners, but in Graham's view, only God knows who is going to be saved: "As an evangelist for more than six decades, Mr. Graham has faithfully proclaimed the Bible's Gospel message that Jesus is the only way to Heaven," says Graham spokesman A. Larry Ross. "However, salvation is the work of Almighty God, and only he knows what is in each human heart."
2 comments:
I saw this same thing, and I agree with Cahill that this is not the first time Graham has made these comments. The irony is Graham claims to focus more on eternity in his older days. If that is true, I would what to be sure of how to get there, and where I was going. Do some not think about the ones that they have discipled all this time and how such statements offend and confuse them?
Michael,
I am right there with you. It confuses a lot of people in this kind of thinking. The ministry claims that if you read his life's work, u will see what he believes. The problem that Cahill brings up is...most lost people don't read his books, they read Newsweek and this is sending a mixed signal. Hopefully it will all be ironed out.
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