More on Spong

Spong reflects in an article entitled, "Billy Graham: A Man of Integrity for Yesterday's World" comments on Billy Graham's autobiography and comments on Graham's faith in God as a personal, involved being:

[Graham] saw God as intimately involved in human affairs, curing illnesses of faithful Christians in answer to prayer. He seemed not to notice that cures did not happen to others who prayed just as fervently.

. . .

I am confident both that he was sincere in these convictions and that this is the kind of pre-modern, religious conviction that will never carry the day in this world. Modern hearts cannot worship that which modern minds reject and I do not believe it is possible for an educated person to accept the Bible today as the literal word of God.

. . .
[Graham's] day has passed and the familiar religious themes he articulated cannot possibly be the basis for proclaiming Christ in the next century.

These sort of events are an opportunity. Do not feel sorry for ourselves or depressed and neither should we react with non-constructive anger or self-righteousness. This event and the many that are yet to come call us, instead, turn to our God in prayer, meditation and study. Know thy faith. Paul writes in 2 Tim 2:2-5:

Preach the Word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage--with great patience and careful instruction. For the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths. But you, keep your head in all situations, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, discharge all the duties of your ministry. (NIV, courtesy Bible Gateway)