Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks on February 13, 2009
Just in time for Valentine’s Day we have Billy Graham’s response to sex researcher Alfred Kinsey. In 1952 Kinsey released his Sexual Behavior in the Human Female report to overwhelming controversey.
Billy Graham weighed in with the booklet The Bible and Dr. Kinsey, opening with this quick and clear condemnation:
Nearly every magazine and newspaper has carried a review of Dr. Alfred Kinsey’s newest book. He has used over eight hundred pages to give the most intimate details of the private lives of 5,940 women. No details are spared. It is impossible to estimate the damage this book will do to the already deteriorating morals of America.
The moral laws governing marraige have been scorned and immorality advocated. Young people are encouraged to have pre-marital experiences.
Happily married husbands and wives are going to start suspecting each other when they read that one out of every four wives is unfaithful to her husband. Doctor Kinsey’s report shows itself to be completely lopsided and unscientific when it says that seven out of ten women who had pre-marital affairs had no regrets. He certainly could not have interviewed any of the millions of born-again Christian women in this country who put the highest price on virtue, decency and modesty.
(Booklet courtesy of Knightopia)
Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks on February 2, 2009
This booklet chronicles Billy Graham’s relationship with the black community. Published in 1973 by Graham’s World Wide Publications and edited by Decision magazine staff, it includes pictures, quotes and sermon excerpts. Howard Jones and Ralph Bell, associate evangelists on Graham’s team, explain in the forward that the purpose of the booklet is to express “what the ministry of the Billy Graham Team means to Black America.”
It outlines Graham’s strong stance against segregation, his efforts to include blacks on his team, his friendship with Martin Luther King Jr. and his 1960 tour of Africa. While it’s certainly representative of Graham’s work and message, it comes off as an odd bit of PR. It probably had more context 35 years ago, but today a booklet exhorting how “Franklin Graham Loves Latinos” would seem a bit patronizing.
Still, it is an accurate record of Graham’s stand for civil rights:
“Christians should banish Jim Crow from their midst for one reason primarily: because it is right to do so. Race discrimination is a blatant denial of the fundamental gospel we preach and profess. As Christians, we must dare to obey the commandments of love, and leave the consequences in God’s hands. … The rift must be healed by Christians working in love.
“Men and women of religious conviction should declare themselves firmly on the race question—not with inflammatory words but with creative and conciliatory action. But we professing Christians have difficulty doing this because our commitment is so shallow. We refuse to let him awaken in us that deep love and concern for others which reach across all barriers in response to the commandment, ‘Love thy neighbor.’ When we do, we usually discover it is easier than we had thought.” (Reader’s Digest, August 1960)
Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks on January 4, 2009
What kind of Billy Graham blog would we be if we didn’t mention the Billy Graham iPod? The BillyPod features a ‘heaven blue’ click wheel, comes pre-loaded with Billy Graham audio files and includes Billy Graham’s signature on the back.
It’s a pretty awesome spoof, though probably funnier back in 2004 when it seemed possible that Apple might release more special edition iPods like the red and black U2 iPod.
Just in time for Valentine’s Day we have Billy Graham’s response to sex researcher Alfred Kinsey. In 1952 Kinsey released his Sexual Behavior in the Human Female report to overwhelming controversey.
