Posted on 11/19/2001 11:54:59 AM PST by Stand Watch Listen
But `evil and wicked' quote doesn't cancel Christian love, he says
While saying he is called to love people regardless of their faith, evangelist Franklin Graham on Sunday wouldn't back away from his recent statement on a national news program that Islam "is a very evil and wicked religion."
In a prepared statement released to The Observer through a spokesman, Graham said his Samaritan's Purse ministry in Boone will continue providing millions of dollars in aid to Muslims in need around the world. But he did not take back the controversial comments aired Friday night on "NBC Nightly News" and repeated on cable stations.
Those pieces were based on an interview Graham gave last month near Wilkesboro, at the dedication of a chapel in his parents' name, when he said: "We're not attacking Islam but Islam has attacked us. The God of Islam is not the same God. He's not the son of God of the Christian or Judeo-Christian faith. It's a different God and I believe it is a very evil and wicked religion."
In his prepared statement Sunday, Graham said: "It is not my calling to analyze Islam or any other religions, though I recognize that all religions have differences. In the past, I have expressed my concerns about the teachings of Islam regarding the treatment of women and the killing of non-Muslims or infidels."
Graham, 49, does not plan to comment publicly on the issue, and only will release Sunday's statement in response to questions.
His response comes a day after his ministry's Operation Christmas Child began processing 1 million shoe boxes in Charlotte for needy children overseas - including thousands destined for largely Muslim nations.
His comments were challenged by former Charlottean Ali Akber, who helped organize a meeting between local Jews and Muslims after Sept. 11, before he relocated to Maryland.
"That's spreading hatred," said Akber. "It is the same God. We just don't worship the same way. We all believe in God and charity and worshipping and not doing any evil."
Franklin Graham's views run counter to those expressed on Sept. 17 by President Bush, who called Islam "a faith that brings comfort to a billion people around the world."
It also stands in contrast to the message delivered by Graham's father at the National Day of Prayer and Remembrance service at the National Cathedral in Washington, on Sept. 14. "We come together today to affirm our conviction that God cares for us, whatever our ethnic, religious or political background may be," Billy Graham preached. "The Bible says that he is `the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles.'"
My, my. And who are you to speak for Him?
BTTT
In this country, we tend to bunch peoples together rather simplisticallyThanks bro, but don't feel bad as ignorant people do that everywhere...
what goes around, comes around.That's what this is don't you know.
Go read your book againTake your own advice lady.
God bless you, my brother. I believe the time is very near that Christians in this nation will be subject to just that kind of persecution. But praise God that we have the promise in his Word that "he who endures to the end shall be saved."-Matthew 24:13
That word, "endure", suggests to me that there is going to be some pressing trials and tribulations that Christians will face.
Why is the press so quick to denounce Catholics and Christians, but do not even ask any questions of muslims?
Don't write em off so easily. Given the right environment, they could make OBL look like a moderate. Women used to be burned at the stake here for being religiously incorrect.
My, my. And who are you to speak for Him?
Are you about ready to cross swords with this Christian's views? Religious hatred is a bitch, hey? Stir it up against Moslems, and it spills over as some of the Jesus loving Christians are ready to tell others the son of God will take care of them.
Now I wonder who could be next, Catholics, Mormons, Jews?? What goes around, comes around. Religious hatred doesn't look so attractive after all does it?
I do not have to say anything for my Lord says it:
"Whosoever therefore shall confess Me before men, him will I confess also before My Father who is in Heaven. But whosoever shall deny Me before men, him will I also deny before My Father who is in Heaven. "Think not that I am come to send peace on earth. I came not to send peace, but a sword.That Jesus is Almighty God is beyond controversy:
And beyond controversy, great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen by angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory.Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God, but made Himself of no reputation, and took upon Him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men.
You who deny that Jesus is the Christ, God in the flesh, will be rewarded for your hatred of God! I can tell you with absolute and perfect certainty that whether you want to or not, you will be on your face before Him and you will confess Him from the deepest part of your heart in great fear. It is merely your choice to do this now or later... It would be better for you to taste the joy inexpressible of the fellowship with the Lord than to taste the grapes of wrath.
You who deny that Jesus is the Christ, God in the flesh, will be rewarded for your hatred of God!Stop this nonsence. What hatred? There's no hatred here.
You are right, and usually they are. I never met this type of person who, after discussion of some length, would not complain how Catholics are not "correctly" Christian and Mormons are, of course, not at all.
That's exactly the point: the religious narrowmindedness is ugly no matter whom it comes from --- a Muslim, a Jew, or a Christian.
You are absolutely right, a_Turk. I just hope that, by calling a spade a spade, the rest of us show these fanatical people for what they are. The West have left this path some centuries ago. The main attrocities of the XX century were perpetrated not in the name of G-d but by socialists of various kinds. Our friend here, CCWoody, shows that the sentiment, unfortunately, is not entirely dead.
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