Franklin Graham (Man of the past or a part of God's plan?)
I went see Franklin Graham when he was in our city. I wasn't too sure what to expect as I had never been to an evangelistic event like this before.
I enjoyed the music and tried to focus on giving God praise and praying for souls to come to a relationship with God.
Franklin only talked for about 20-30 min. He talked about sin, judgment and how the people of Noah time suffered judgment because they refused to follow God. I was also made aware that on a previous nite, he called people that had had an abortion murderers.
My first reaction was to be critical of his methods and uber-fundamental, hell-fire and brimstone preaching. I was concerned that plucking the heartstrings of people that are at the end of their rope or putting the fear of damnation into people for the purpose of salvation wouldn't lead to a genuine commitment.
Seriously... if someone commits themselves to a life contract with Jesus based on choice grounded in depression or fear, how long will that commitment last? When the emotional glow fades will their commitment fade too? I used to smoke cigarettes and felt God wanted me to quit, but and I honestly couldn't quit until I made the right choice for the right reasons and was aligned with God's timing. How often did the OT talk about Hell? How often did Jesus talk about hell? Did he incessantly preach that we should come to Him so that we wouldn't go to hell?
So what did I conclude?
I think my over the top, conservative background made me a little biased and rebellious to God's plan and will. God uses many people with many different abilities(gifts) to bring the lost home. I think Franklin Graham has a niche in God's plan... just like me. What's important is that people make the commitment and then get in a group (church) where they can be helped to grow.
I enjoyed the music and tried to focus on giving God praise and praying for souls to come to a relationship with God.
Franklin only talked for about 20-30 min. He talked about sin, judgment and how the people of Noah time suffered judgment because they refused to follow God. I was also made aware that on a previous nite, he called people that had had an abortion murderers.
My first reaction was to be critical of his methods and uber-fundamental, hell-fire and brimstone preaching. I was concerned that plucking the heartstrings of people that are at the end of their rope or putting the fear of damnation into people for the purpose of salvation wouldn't lead to a genuine commitment.
Seriously... if someone commits themselves to a life contract with Jesus based on choice grounded in depression or fear, how long will that commitment last? When the emotional glow fades will their commitment fade too? I used to smoke cigarettes and felt God wanted me to quit, but and I honestly couldn't quit until I made the right choice for the right reasons and was aligned with God's timing. How often did the OT talk about Hell? How often did Jesus talk about hell? Did he incessantly preach that we should come to Him so that we wouldn't go to hell?
So what did I conclude?
I think my over the top, conservative background made me a little biased and rebellious to God's plan and will. God uses many people with many different abilities(gifts) to bring the lost home. I think Franklin Graham has a niche in God's plan... just like me. What's important is that people make the commitment and then get in a group (church) where they can be helped to grow.
posted by Montana Quiring at 9:33 PM
1 Comments:
I agree with you Montana. God has a plan for us all, including Franklin Graham. The question that I would ask Franklin, if I were able to talk one on one with him, is what does he believe that salvation is? Does he believe salvation is a "one time" choice to avoid hell? Or is salvation a continual process that involves a continual orienting of our lives to the intent of God, our creator.
I do not believe that hell is somehow the bible's paradigmatic motivation for coming to a relationship with God. Rather, we are called to a relationship with God in order to fully realize our place in God's good creation and to participate in God's peaceful reign on earth. Hell, I believe is a metaphor or a literary tool for understanding what a life that denies God's presence looks like. I believe it more to be an example of what believing in the illusory produces in this life now, (in other words, evil is not real in any true sense of the word, but moreso a lack of recognition of the good), namely, distrust of God and ignorance of the integral peace in which the world was created in. Thus this hell on earth is encouraging a deceitful way of life and therefore it is our greatest "adversary" (Satan).
Also, I would question Franklin's method of evangelism. Like you, I don't believe that the bible paints a picture of Jesus as one who is constantly calling people murderers in order to draw them into a relationship with him. Rather, Christ lives his graceful and sacrificial life as an example of how we are to live; namely, moving beyond our own desire to control our lives, our own desire to "figure it all out", and instead to trust the God who desires to make "all things new".
I wonder what it would look like to have an evangelistic crusade that instead of having a preacher stand at the front and tell everybody about how if they don't turn away from sin, will end up in hell, and instead would provide helpful resources for dealing with the emotional aftermath of an abortion or a life of alcoholism. These thoughts are not fully developed, but these are some of the thoughts that come to my mind.
Z
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