Red Hair and Billy Graham

[thebiblicalway]

Less LJ Commenting
OK, something is up. People are commenting less than normal all throughout LJ, it seems. Are the upcoming holidays affecting the number of LJ comments? No, it’s something else. What we need is synchronized days off from LJ. We should all synchronize our LJ vacations, so that we don’t miss anything. ;)

Red Hair Comments

Comments

[arcticfidelity]

I don't know if I have noticed that there is a great reduction in LJ comments so much as there are not as many posts which are interesting. :-) Granted, my group of journals that I read is not all that great, so when a few of them disappear it seems like time has stopped on LJ.

Another thing about which I have no doubt is that there are plenty of people become busy with the up and coming holiday seasons.

I must say that red hair never did fit my fancy, but I have a great respect for people who can wear it well. :-) Specifically, any male who can wear red hair has my respect. :-P

As for Mr. Graham, I must say that I was never comfortable with his preaching in the ways of saying that I wholly approve of everything he is saying, but then again, I don't know that I have agreed with anyone like that. The main thing for me is that I have to realize that I don't understand what he was doing, who he was, or how he was thinking. I also haven't been privy to much of how he affected the world. Thus, I can't say much about him period. The only thing I can say is that no matter what he preached, I am sure that God used him in a way to bring good to the world, ultimately speaking.

I think the generalism and universalism that is being taught today is truly sad. I think people have taken something that was meant to be good, and a way of teaching men about God, into a twisted doctrine of Satan.

I think that people can come to know and understand God in various ways. I also think that there are people who have a real thirst for the truth who are not belivers in Christ. I do think that God can lead a person to the truth through various means, and that those means may in a large part have to deal with things other than the gospel. I do not however, ascribe to the belief that a man, after finding the truth, can be saved by anything but the faith in Jesus Christ, and the sacrifice that he gave. I take it in the same way that one might take some of the ancient people, who sacrificed to an unamed God, or the Chinese, who had originally worshipped and Sacrificed to the "Ultimate Emperor." They were closer to the truth than others, and the grace is that the gospel is now come unto them, and they can know the truth, believe in it, and be saved. It is very sad that the universalists would leave out the last and most important part, that they are given the gospel, and by faith are saved.

[thebiblicalway]

Nah, there's probably not been a great reduction in LJ comments. It was probably just another natural fluctuation in the LJ traffic -- or maybe my imagination. =)

Startling admission: I've never been a big fan of red hair, either, if you can believe that. Black hair would have been more to my liking, but God didn't choose that for me. (I'm not sure, but if that was a compliment, thanks. =)

You know, I don't intend on judging Mr. Graham's heart, only his teaching. Probably he's been very sincere and zealous to "win souls." People can be sincerely wrong, however. At the same time, the apostle Paul said that he would rejoice even if some proclaimed Christ out of envy and strife, so we should rejoice in the gospel being preached even by confused individuals.

Now, I would suggest that Billy Graham had a twisted form of the gospel. Can we rejoice in that being preached? I'll rejoice in true converts, but not in error being proclaimed.

Your last paragraph has much with which I can agree -- most of it. God does use means to save people. God uses various means to lead people to the place where they hear the gospel, which must be heard for salvation. Also, I believe, different people have different pre-salvation experiences: some are saved immediately after hearing the Word, while a few are saved after many years of hearing it; some are saved while really young, while a few are saved on their death beds; and some have a radical change in their lives, while some have only a less noticable change.

There may be a bit of disagreement about people being closer/farther from the Truth in the sense that they are more/less easily saved. Though sometimes God may be preparing the heart and causing one to draw nearer to the truth before conversion, I don't think that's always the case. God can break through and save anyone equally as easily by His grace, no matter how far/close they are to the Truth. (A bit of Calvinism for you. ;-)

This is a good topic. I wouldn't mind e-mailing you at greater length on it.

[arcticfidelity]

I agree with you, I couldn't rejoice over false teachings being presented; at least, I don't think I could so easily rejoice over something like that.

Hehe, I figured you might catch the interesting bit of mid-line slightly not calvanisticy feeling innuendo there. :-) Very astute. I don't know how calvanistic that statement you made is though. I think it's pretty easy for most people to agree with that. Who could not agree with that, after all, with such evidence like the conversion of Paul on the Road, or any number of "enlightenments" that God decided to put on people who were fairly confused. :-) That's the great thing about God, he'll do things his way.

Of course, I would welcome further discussion along these lines in email or whatever medium you choose. I think a good question that we run into through these means is whether a person can be saved by false teachings, or whether God can use false teachings to lead someone to him. Another qestion I have along the same lines, would be the argument that if it brings people to the Lord, then its okay. I mean, that's kind of like saying that "all is well that ends well." I traditionally have not believed that. So if Billy Graham did in fact bring forward a ministry that brought people to God, is it then enough to say that his ministry was right? And if not, then are we to say that such a ministry should not exist? I think this affects those people who say that we should use any and all means to get people "turned on" towards God. I think most people would say that seeking the truth is of the utmost import, but then those same people will turn around and say that something else is alright because it is furthering the kingdom. OF course, I'm just thinking aloud here. :-)