MSNBC has a good Newsweek article on Billy Graham. His views on politics were striking to me, especially in light of Gregory Boyd’s teachings on the subject:
For Graham, politics is a secondary to the Gospel, which transcends party lines and, for believers, transcends earthly reality itself. When NEWSWEEK asked Graham whether ministers - whether they think of themselves as evangelists, pastors or a bit of both - should spend time engaged with politics, he replied: “You know, I think in a way that has to be up to the individual as he feels led of the Lord. A lot of things that I commented on years ago would not have been of the Lord, I’m sure, but I think you have some - like communism, or segregation, on which I think you have a responsibility to speak out.” Such proclamations, however, should not be “the main thing,” and he admits he has no perfect formula: “I don’t know the total answer to that.”
I can only pray that those of us who are younger than Rev. Graham (myself included) would take his words to heart. It is incredibly tempting to place victory for the cause above our call to love our neighbors and enemies alike. But in the end, if our cause wins and we have no love, then as Paul says in 1 Corinthians 13:1, we are “only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal.”
We have plenty of gongs and cymbals in the world. But we sure could use some more love.
