Billy Graham

My last blog was about how our society has changed its religious views since Billy Graham was in his prime. In searching for a picture of a young Billy Graham preaching, I wanted to show him holding the Bible with a pleasant look on his face and, I don’t know, maybe a halo around his head. I wanted him to look like Jesus, who was always smiling and never offended anybody.

However, many of those photos I found portray a more stern-looking Billy Graham than I like to remember. He often had a harsh look on his face, and even appeared to be angry about something.

How could this be? Is there a vast conspiracy out there, trying to make Billy Graham look bad? Or, is this the way he really looked when he preached those sermons that led to the salvation of countless thousands of people?

On second thought, maybe it is appropriate to have a serious look on your face when you are talking about how sin leads to the eternal destruction of people who aren’t saved. Perhaps a harsh expression is needed to go with some harsh words as we call for people to repent and leave their lives of sin in order to follow Christ.

Jesus actually did say some pretty offensive things occasionally. He once rebuked his friend Peter quite sternly (Matthew 16:23). Try reading Matthew 23 out loud sometime, just as you imagine Jesus might have said those stinging words.

Paul told Timothy to “Preach the Word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage—with great patience and careful instruction.” (2 Timothy 4:2).

Maybe we are too nice these days. Perhaps the biblical rebuke needs to make a comeback. Could there be any correlation between society’s downward spiral and our reluctance to tell the truth the way Billy Graham did a few decades ago?

Are we too nice? What do you think?