Posted on 02/27/2018 5:32:25 AM PST by Kaslin
I was profoundly disappointed to learn that National Review had published George Will’s ugly attack on evangelist Billy Graham just days after America’s pastor died.
“Billy Graham: Neither Prophet nor Theologian,” the conservative publication’s headline declared.
I would expect to read such anti-Christian mockery in the pages of The New York Times and Washington Post, but not National Review. My, how times have changed.
“Prophets take adversarial stances toward their times, as did the 20th century’s two greatest religious leaders, the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and Pope John Paul II. Graham did not. Partly for that reason, his country showered him with honors,” the self-described atheist wrote.
Will went on to describe Graham as an “entrepreneurial evangelical who consciously emulated masters of secular communication.”
He also derided those who walked the aisle to accept Jesus Christ as their Lord at Graham’s crusade meetings.
“His audiences were exhorted to make a ‘decision’ for Christ, but a moment of volition might be (in theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s phrase) an exercise in ‘cheap grace.’ Graham’s preaching, to large rallies and broadcast audiences, gave comfort to many people and probably improved some,” Will wrote.
Robert Jeffress, the pastor of the First Baptist Church in Dallas and a spiritual advisor to President Trump, delivered a blunt rebuke of the so-called conservative writer.
“George Will’s article reveals that he is neither a conservative nor a Christian,” Jeffress told the Todd Starnes Radio Show.
Some of the nation’s leading Christian leaders were also quick to condemn Will’s ugly screed.
“George Will’s snide and spiritually clueless criticisms of the incomparable Billy Graham reveal far more about Will’s ignorance and hostility to the spiritual than he perhaps intended,” Southern Evangelical Seminary President Richard Land said.
“When I read Will’s column the image that came to mind was of an ignorant Pekingese yapping at the heels of a spiritual Great Dane,” the noted seminary president remarked.
Of Graham’s theology, Will referenced an off-hand question he answered regarding his belief in miracles.
“Billy Graham answered: Yes, Jesus performed some and there are ‘many miracles around us today, including television and airplanes.’ Graham was no theologian,” Will wrote.
Emir Caner, the president of Truett McConnell University in Georgia, disputed Will’s assertion.
“Graham was a solid theologian, standing for the inerrancy of Scripture, the exclusivity of salvation in Jesus Christ and the fundamentals of the faith,” Caner told me.
Will also brought up an infamous Oval Office conversation the evangelist had with President Richard Nixon regarding Jews in the media.
“One can reasonably acquit Graham of anti-Semitism only by convicting him of toadying,” Will wrote.
Caner called that Will’s greatest misstep in the hit piece – feeding the liberal media’s narrative that Graham was an anti-Semite.
“Will never mentions Graham’s apology years later and the Jewish community’s acceptance of the apology. Will never mentioned how Graham visited the newly formed state of Israel in 1960 when such a visit was unpopular in many Evangelical circles. Will never mentioned that it was Graham who personally brought the plight of Soviet Jews to the attention of President Nixon,” Caner said.
In spite of the shameful smear, I doubt Billy Graham would’ve been all that bothered.
I reckon he would’ve smiled at George Will and reminded him that we are all sinners and that God loves him and wants to have a relationship with him.
Technically, no, it is not blasphemy to criticize Billy Graham. Blasphemy is speaking ill against God alone.
However, it is reprehensible to smear the reputation of a good and decent human being. Always has been and always will be.
But, others are only an inch deep in faith. Jesus explained in all:
Matthew 13:
3 And he spake many things unto them in parables, saying, Behold, a sower went forth to sow; 4 and when he sowed, some seeds fell by the way side, and the fowls came and devoured them up: 5 some fell upon stony places, where they had not much earth: and forthwith they sprung up, because they had no deepness of earth: 6 and when the sun was up, they were scorched; and because they had no root, they withered away. 7 And some fell among thorns; and the thorns sprung up, and choked them: 8 but other fell into good ground, and brought forth fruit, some an hundredfold, some sixtyfold, some thirtyfold.
“I used to like George Will, but now sadly see him has a bow-tie wearing affectatious and arrogant elitist.”
George will has always been a “bow-tie-wearing, affectatious, arrogant elitist.” He always posed himself as the quiet voice of intellectual moderation, always able to find a middle way between the conservatives and the liberals. He always spoke in pastels, and criticized those who didn’t. I’m surprised at the tone of his comments on Billy Graham, but not surprised to find out that he held those opinions. I always suspected that he was a wolf in sheep’s clothing.
The intellectual ivory tower Conservatives in the Republican Party have NEVER been happy about the influence the Moral Majority and Evangelicals have exerted upon the party.
“He is on record saying things that simply do not align themselves with conservative Christian theology.”
That bit with Schuller was bizarre. Definitely some problematic statements from Graham there.
Geez, what a tiny little man.
It wasn’t complimentary, but it wasn’t a smear.
Not all ministers have exactly the same calling, and therefore don’t need to be doing the same things. You don’t blame a clarinet player for not being a guitarist.
Did George accuse Graham of corking his Bat?
I’m 60 and wearing my Wrangler blue jeans. Blue. Can’t think of a reason to switch. But then, I live in Arizona. Most of the guys in church last Sunday were wearing jeans...as was I.
“Black” blue jeans? THAT looks as stupid as a bow tie!
It’s amazing how clueless some people are. Rude and clueless. Anyone who listened to Graham’s sermons came away impressed with his wonderful gift of oratory and grasp of Scripture. As my husband might say “He ain’t famous for nothing!” Will will be forgotten 6 months after his death.
Buckley wasn’t exactly nice on Firing Line when he had representatives from The Moral Majority as guests. I’ll never forget his condescension.
Black jeans are excellent. Blue, not so much.
That says it all.
While there are grounds to criticize Billy Graham's methods or theology, there is one thing about the man that is unassailable - his character. How many men have spent 70 years in the public eye with a message that is not conducive to worldly thinking and not had a hint of scandal in their lives? There was a Pulitzer Prize waiting for the journalist who could prove Billy Graham a hypocrite and yet, they couldn't.
I really believe that God blessed the evangelical Christian community by giving us Billy Graham to act as the face of our community for the better part of two generations. Can you name one conservative theologian who had any where near the impact of Billy Graham? I think that our community would be well-served to pray that God raise up another like Billy Graham.
Along these lines, I would like to point out to George Will that Billy Graham had far, far, far more positive societal impact than his snobbish, elitist, effete, back-biting, bow-tied critic.
You’ve revealed the source of Will’s deepest thoughts.
George Will is his own god and will tolerate no others.
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