He lived a long life.
Oh no. Very sad day but a wonderful life.
May He be dancing on the streets of gold today. He was a monumentally important person of the 20th century.
I can’t agree that this is “very sad.” 99 is a VERY good run. Yes, loved ones will miss him, but you really can’t ask for much more than 99 years.
In a statement to The Christian Post, Will Graham, the grandson of Billy Graham (whose full name is William Franklin Graham Jr.) and the son of Franklin Graham, said:
“My grandfather once said, ‘One day you’ll hear that Billy Graham has died. Don’t you believe it. On that day I’ll be more alive than ever before! I’ve just changed addresses.’ My friends, today my grandfather moved from the land of the dead to the land of the living,” Will Graham declared.
Depth of sadness doesn’t necessarily correlate to years lived. Many will grieve the loss of his earthly presence; he would have understood and consoled.
His stunning anti-Semitism, revealed in recordings with Richard Nixon, forever tainted his legacy, despite his later apology. He still said terrible things. And likely believed them.
Reading this article from WaPo shows that he was a complex person, certainly a man of his time in many ways in terms of how he related to his family. Brilliant and flawed all at once. Almost like a Don Draper of evangelicals, if this is an accurate portrayal.https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/acts-of-faith/wp/2018/02/21/divorce-drugs-drinking-billy-grahams-children-and-their-absent-father/?hpid=hp_hp-more-top-stories-2_aof-grahamkids-635pm%3Ahomepage%2Fstory&utm_term=.d6724f6211bc
He desegregated his services in the south early in the 1950s before it was common to do so.
But like VP Pence he believed refused to ever be alone in the presence of a woman who was not his wife.
@katliamom “forever tainted his legacy, despite his apology.”
Therein lies the important and notable difference – Billy Graham, while noting his own imperfections would have endeavored to forgive you yours – as though they never happened. With no continual retrospection.
Anti-semitism is just an “imperfection” these days?
Billy Graham would have counseled that we’re all imperfect, doschicos.
Of course, we’re all imperfect. That goes without saying. Not all imperfections are equal, however. Discussing and acknowledging imperfections is the way one works on attempting to eliminate them from oneself and from society. Anti-semitism shouldn’t be swept under the carpet without retrospection. Graham was a charismatic leader and, sure, let’s comment and applaud his achievements but, in addition to his lifetime accomplishments, his bio will also include his anti-semitic comments as well as his anti-feminist and anti-LGBTQ stances. You don’t get to write history only telling a sanitized, saintly portrait of an historically important public figure. Nor is it fair, IMO, to call out another poster for pointing out something of note that actually occured.
Of course, Billy Graham would call himself an abject sinner. Christians get that.
You and I can agree to disagree on most things.
Here, I’ll point out something of note that actually occurred too:
http://www.newsobserver.com/living/religion/article201319074.html
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/feb/21/billy-graham-wrong-side-history
https://www.cnn.com/2018/02/22/us/billy-graham-mlk-civil-rights/index.html
Born in the 50s, and brought up in a Baptist Church, I lived all this history in the south. Family friends took me to one of his revivals when I was 12. My version of events is a different version than Charlotte Observer, There will always be different ways to write history.
His first apology wasn’t very convincing:
Any offense caused …
@pilot2012 – for me it’s immaterial whether Billy Graham would have forgiven my whatever. I simply stated what I feel about him: he preached love publicly, perpetuated terrible ideas privately. And not being god, I’m not in the position to forgive. But I am able to assess his legacy as it pertains to me. And it’s a messy, tainted legacy.
Of course you’re not God, @katliamom. My example suggested Billy Graham, an imperfect PERSON, not keeping a record sheet to be pored over again and again of anyone’s regretted errors.
So feel free to point out anything that you may regret in your life; you can even apologize.
So sad that this man has not even been laid to rest, smh.
In light of your other comments, that statement seems slightly disingenuous, as I get the impression that as far as you are concerned, there really would be no appropriate time to speak of BG’s “imperfections.” Apologies if I have that wrong.
I believe people CAN change in very significant ways, if deep introspection is involved. I don’t know where BG stood at the end of his life in terms of anti-Semitism, sexism, understanding of/compassion for those in the LBGT community, racism etc. But I wouldn’t call those kinds of attitudes “imperfections;” I see them instead as very significant indications of character.