He was a good man. His many years of service to the world will not be forgotten. After 99 years, it’s time for him to go home.

Sad day he was a good man.

I volunteered at one of his crusades in Nashville. I think that was in 2000. He was a faithful servant. He's preached to more people than anyone else in history.

Sad, yet happy for him. He finally gets to go home.

Not a great man at all. Evangelism is the devil.

Some Billy Graham "greatness":

"Once leaders like Martin Luther King Jr began practicing civil disobedience and asking for the federal government to guarantee African Americans’ rights, Graham’s support evaporated.

Within days of the publication of King’s famous 1963 Letter from a Birmingham Jail, Graham told reporters that the Baptist minister should “put the brakes on a little bit”.

He criticized civil rights activists for focusing on changing laws rather than hearts."

Any one obsesses with the end of the world should not be preaching religion. I believe they call that a cult if Jesus isnt involved.

“These young people don’t put much stock in the old slogans of the New Deal, the Fair Deal, the New Frontier and the Great Society,” he said. “They believe that utopia will arrive only when Jesus returns. Thus these young people are on sound Biblical ground.”

"More recently, the evangelist denied the threat of global warming as well as federal efforts to stymie it.

In a 1992 book focused on the signs that the world was nearing its end, the preacher suggested that if humankind was going to survive, businesses needed to reduce pollution and stop contributing to global warming.

In a revised, 2010 version of the book, Graham eliminated the phrase “global warming” from the text altogether. Global warming no longer existed in the mind of Graham as a real threat.

He went on to assure readers that the earth will not “be saved through legislation.” The federal government, he indicated, had no business passing laws to protect the earth for future generations."

Class act. Super sad.

IB4TL

Is there another Billy Graham I don't know about? I don't know who some of you are talking about. Like am I just not in on the joke?

*fart*

I thought this was cool. This is from his Wikipedia page...

"Graham was frequently honored by surveys, including "Greatest Living American" and consistently ranked among the most admired persons in the United States and the world.[25] He appeared most frequently on Gallup's list of most admired people.[115] Since 1955, Graham was recognized by Gallup a record 55 times (49 times consecutively)—more than any other individual in history."

He died worth near $25 million, so he must have done something right.

I'd love to see your credentials. LOL!

I dont take money from people "in the name of the lord" and then spend it on myself. Evangelism is disgusting. Its a perversion of the church.

http://www.beliefnet.com/faiths/christianity/8-richest-pastors-in-america.aspx?p=7

$25 Million....as a preacher of the lord. Nice.

I also dont let an old paraphrased book tell me how to treat people:
https://billygraham.org/grow-your-faith/topics/health-lifestyle/homosexuality/

LOL @ "I have a loved one who is gay. Where can I find help?"

Godspped Billy!

"Some have tried to reinterpret what the Bible says, in an effort to approve homosexual relationships. For a reply to such efforts, read Straight and Narrow by Thomas Schmidt or A Strong Delusion by Joe Dallas. If you have a loved one who’s homosexual, you may refer to Someone I Love Is Gay by Anita Worthen and Bob Davies, or if you’re a Christian struggling with homosexuality, consider Coming Out of Homosexuality by Bob Davies and Lori Rentzel."

So long shitbag.

Wonder how many votes came above Kentucky?

Wish Hitchens was still around to comment. My favorite was when Jerry Falwell died:

“If you gave Falwell an enema he could be buried in a matchbox.”

Any Jim and Tammy fans in here ?

I don't think you understand what the word Evangelism means - "the preaching or promulgation of the gospel".

Did you mean Tele-Evangelism? Even if you did, anyone on TV preaching the gospel is "the devil"? Quite the stereotype there.

And your main reason for hating Billy Graham is because he didn't support the theory that Global Warming is man-made?

Matthew 19:24 "I'll say it again-it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the Kingdom of God!"

Christopher Hitchens...really miss that guy......

Hey, what's that sound? Oh, its the mods running to shut this thread down.

His Hitch-slaps were epic. No doubt this would have been a sad day for him.

Matthew 19:24 is a great warning, but it isn't about the balance of your bank account when you die. Money and the pursuit of it tends to bring out the worst in people. It also buys things that are distractions and time-sinks.

Jesus also said in Matthew 7:5 "First get rid of the log in your own eye: then you will see well enough to deal with the speck in your friend's eye.".

In both cases, he was using very differently sized items to make a point, but he wasn't being literal.

I used to be a Christian(recovering for many years now). I wasn't a fan of this type of mega-church evangelicalism then. My opinion of it, and those who make millions plying the trade, has not improved in the intervening years.
So, while I tend to frown upon disparaging the dead, there will be no tears shed over Billy(or his spawn, for that matter, should Franky bite it in the near future) in my house(we are all Pastafarians here).

I'm sure he does. While I am also sure that a discussion of the vastly different interpretations of this particular religion would get a quick mod hammer, I think that you will find that, outside of the evangelical circles, evangelicalism as a movement or ideology is not regarded favorably, even by most Christians, let alone the rest of us.

I have a question. Who here actually is a believer. Not I believe in a higher being or a creator, who believes that Jesus, the Son of God is the savior of all who put their faith in him?

That's the best thing about the bible(for a believer). Adjust the document to fit reality.
We do it in IT all the time. If the actual implementation differs from the spec, redefine the spec.

I am

I was. Now I'm a secular humanist. My "religious" views differ on how pissed off I am at <insert doofus religious thing> on a particular day. It ranges from atheist Satanism to something more resembling Dude-ism.

If you guys could only realize that all of you are just figments of my imagination, then this thread could start going in the right direction.

well said.

Matthew 7:5 is one of my favorites.

Jesus said to spread the word, to tell everyone who he was and what he did for us. Do you not think that the other side will do everything it can do to pervert that message? That includes fake religions, fake preachers, cults along with evil people in government. I have very little faith in organized religion and Im referring to mega churches as well as smaller churches who put out a happy happy message to get attendance and the basket filled. The real deal is out there, you just have to look for it.

I'm sure you're a saint as well as a know-it-all. LOL again. You and your followers should start your own thread. This one is about respect for the man. Take the hatred somewhere else.

Again, this is obviously going to get a mod post haste, but I spent years looking into it, and came out the other side with zero belief in anything supernatural, good or evil. Now, my only real interaction with religion is to attempt to minimize the negative impact on society in the small sphere of influence that I have.

We still doing that in before the lock thing around here...?

Can we please lock this thread. Not even tangentially related to pinball and sure to cause a mess of hatred.

Says the person who is mourning a preacher on a pinball site. If Anton LeVay bit it and I posted about it on a completely unrelated website, I would expect others to chime in, with all sorts of opinions.

IBTL......

Then don't read it. Drain it so you will not be tempted to read it.

There are a lot of topics that have came to Pinside that aren't "related to pinball"

At one time I would have agreed with you, until IT happened. And then I believed and will never un believe. Have you ever read " A Case For Christ"? It is worth reading.

Somebody please tell me he took Pat Robertson with him.

Stop looking for religion and seek a relationship. Religion will get you no where.

or alot wrong. Hope that 25 mil goes to the folks who truly need it.

Sorry folks. I'm afraid I have no choice but to lock this thread. There was pretty much no way it wasn't going to turn into a religious/political debate.