Billy Graham

[rezman]

I meant to mention this earlier, but got sidetracked. I’m surprised no one has mentioned the passing of Billy Graham. .... a humble man of high moral character.

One of his quotes...
“Take one day at a time. Today, after all, is the tomorrow you worried about yesterday.””

[brian72]

I never was able to see him evangelize to the masses. But I know I'll seen him one day.

[stile99]

I meant to mention this earlier, but got sidetracked. I’m surprised no one has mentioned the passing of Billy Graham.

He pretty much asked us not to, really. Another one of his quotes went something along the lines of some day, you will hear or read that Billy Graham is dead. I want to assure you this is false, I will be more alive than ever before, only my address will have changed.

[bucktalk]

While Billy Graham wasn't a perfect man, by his own admission, he still held to a higher standard than most 'tv' type preachers/evangelist of today...or so it appears.

[jerrywall]

I don't know enough about Graham to make any judgement on him, but unfortunately I've been seeing non stop posts on Facebook celebrating his death. It's disgusting imo. Any death is a loss.

[rezman]

While Billy Graham wasn't a perfect man, by his own admission, he still held to a higher standard than most 'tv' type preachers/evangelist of today...or so it appears.

Exactly... he never claimed to be perfect, as no one is, but he did hold strongly to high moral standards. He wouldn’t even board an elevator where another woman was present, unless there were other people there as well. And he never was the typical tv preacher/evangelist.

[TheTravellers]

https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry...b005bb0fef46ec

[d-usa]

I feel like his son has killed the legacy of his ministry quite some time ago.

[mkjeeves]

I listened to BG off and on through the years, though not much recently. This is a side of his legacy I was not well aware of, the link via my older brother, a gay Christian.

Billy Graham leaves painful legacy for LGBTQ people

Evangelicals across the country are mourning the death of Billy Graham, an influential preacher who died in his home in Montreat, North Carolina, on Wednesday. But while some are celebrating his legacy, others are grappling with the lasting damage his actions have done to their communities.

Over the course of Graham's 99 years of life, he reached millions of Christians around the world and had an outsized impact on the national political landscape. For many lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer people, however, Graham was a crusader against them, one whose efforts shaped the religious right into an anti-LGBTQ political force.

https://www.nbcnews.com/feature/nbc-...ushpmg00000050

[Bullbear]

I listened to BG off and on through the years, though not much recently. This is a side of his legacy I was not well aware of, the link via my older brother, a gay Christian.

Billy Graham leaves painful legacy for LGBTQ people

Evangelicals across the country are mourning the death of Billy Graham, an influential preacher who died in his home in Montreat, North Carolina, on Wednesday. But while some are celebrating his legacy, others are grappling with the lasting damage his actions have done to their communities.

Over the course of Graham's 99 years of life, he reached millions of Christians around the world and had an outsized impact on the national political landscape. For many lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer people, however, Graham was a crusader against them, one whose efforts shaped the religious right into an anti-LGBTQ political force.

https://www.nbcnews.com/feature/nbc-...ushpmg00000050

Yup!>. I wont celebrate his death but I wont morn it either. his ministry did a lot of damage to my community. His funding of Conversion therapy being a main issue. So I wont give him props for his "high Moral Character" when he advocated for the destruction of others through atrocious acts. nope..

[baralheia]

Yup!>. I wont celebrate his death but I wont morn it either. his ministry did a lot of damage to my community. His funding of Conversion therapy being a main issue. So I wont give him props for his "high Moral Character" when he advocated for the destruction of others through atrocious acts. nope..

I echo Bullbear's sentiments exactly. I neither mourn nor celebrate his passing at all for this reason.

[TheTravellers]

^^^ Agree with both of you, that's why I posted that link earlier, wanted to get some non-fawning information out there, "high moral character" indeed...

[BoulderSooner]

Among the Highest moral character and most principled humans that has walked the earth in long Long Time

[Jersey Boss]

Among the wealthiest of pastors in America.

[Jersey Boss]

https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry...b005bb0fef46ec

Interesting read on the marriage of religion and politics.

[OU Adonis]

Not surprised to hear we have people who don't care if people pass that disagree with certain hot button topics / politics / relegion.

[Bullbear]

Not surprised to hear we have people who don't care if people pass that disagree with certain hot button topics / politics / relegion.

big difference between simply disagreeing with and actively using power and influence and money to harm others. I don't mind if people disagree but when they cross a line into interference with the lives of others then I'm done.

[OU Adonis]

big difference between simply disagreeing with and actively using power and influence and money to harm others. I don't mind if people disagree but when they cross a line into interference with the lives of others then I'm done.

Glad to know - So you have no qualms when Pro life people feel the same way you do when someone who is Pro choice dies?

[Bullbear]

Poor analogy but nice try .

but I don't see anything wrong with not mourning a death of someone you have no positive attachment to.

[stile99]

Glad to know - So you have no qualms when Pro life people feel the same way you do when someone who is Pro choice dies?

Jesus H Christ (pun completely intended) how in the hell (again, intentional) did someone manage to turn THIS thread into a political one?

[MadMonk]

Jesus H Christ (pun completely intended) how in the hell (again, intentional) did someone manage to turn THIS thread into a political one?

You had to know it would happen. Anything to do with religion is a trigger for certain segments of the population. Just like the topics of race or homosexuality is in other segments. This is the Internet, there's no such thing as universal civility.

[bchris02]

You had to know it would happen. Anything to do with religion is a trigger for certain segments of the population. Just like the topics of race or homosexuality is in other segments. This is the Internet, there's no such thing as universal civility.

Well to be fair, these days the GOP is virtually indistinguishable from fundamentalist Christianity and vice versa. It would be nice if religion and politics could be separate but in this time in history they are pretty much one and the same.

Religion wouldn’t be such a trigger if not for entities like the State of Oklahoma and increasingly the national GOP trying to force it on everyone.

[BoulderSooner]

That is laughably inaccurate. Also interesting when the dem party leadership more to the left then at any time in history

[MadMonk]

Well to be fair, these days the GOP is virtually indistinguishable from fundamentalist Christianity and vice versa. It would be nice if religion and politics could be separate but in this time in history they are pretty much one and the same.

Religion wouldn’t be such a trigger if not for entities like the State of Oklahoma and increasingly the national GOP trying to force it on everyone.

LOL, case in point.

[mugofbeer]

https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry...b005bb0fef46ec

I find the attempt to equate Billy Graham's evangelism with white patriotism totally laughable. It was conservative, fundamentalist biblical teaching at it's core. It was not, as this article states, white patriotism more than fundamentalist Christian values. His ministry was not a tightly organized go to his church every Sunday morning but an enormous media following that had a significant number of African American followers. The article shows a photo from the 1960s of a huge crowd in NYC waiting to hear him that includes a decent number of blacks and what appears to be a few Asians. The percentage of black followers was much higher in the south where his base was.
As for some on here who are members of or supporters of the gay community, I can understand their lack of remorse of his death. Keep in mind, Martin Luther King never openly supported the gay community, either though I don't think he was a litteral believer in the bible (meaning gay issues didn't come to the forfront in the 60s and I bet he would have been a supporter of gay rights today, though his family is divided on the subject).
Billy Graham was an old-fashioned fire and brimstone fundamentalist preacher who tried to apply the bible literally to todays issues. He would never waiver from his beliefs.