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How important is our belief in all of God’s Word? Even when we cannot understand all of the Scriptures, must we still hold on to them as truth? I recently came across a story of two men, both self-proclaimed followers of Christ, and both given a platform to preach the gospel as evangelists. While they would grow to become friends for a short time, their convictions regarding the truth and reliability of God’s Word would set them upon life courses that could not be more dissimilar. One’s decision to hold to the sureness of the Bible, and the other’s decision to question its correctness, would cause these men to diverge into two separate paths for all eternity.
In the late 1940’s, Charles Templeton was serving as a staff evangelist for Youth for Christ. He was involved in preaching the gospel to thousands, pleading that they become Christians. However, following his studies at a prominent but theologically liberal university, he began to seriously question the teachings of the Bible. He shared these serious doubts with his good friend and fellow evangelist, Billy Graham. Excerpted from his book, Farewell to God: My Reasons for Rejecting the Christian Faith, Templeton would share the conversation that marked the trajectory for both men for the rest of their lives.
All our differences came to a head in a discussion which, better than anything I know, “explains” Billy Graham and his phenomenal success as an evangelist.
In the course of our conversation I said, “But, Billy, it’s simply not possible any longer to believe, for instance, the biblical account of creation. The world was not created over a period of days a few thousand years ago; it has evolved over millions of years. It’s not a matter of speculation; it’s a demonstrable fact.”
“I don’t accept that,” Billy said. “And there are reputable scholars who don’t.”
“Who are these scholars?’ I said. “Men in conservative Christian colleges?”
“Most of them, yes,” he said. “But that is not the point. I believe the Genesis account of creation because it’s in the Bible. I’ve discovered something in my ministry: When I take the Bible literally, when I proclaim it as the word of God, my preaching has power. When I stand on the platform and say, ‘God says,’ or ‘The Bible says,’ the Holy Spirit uses me. There are results. Wiser men than you or I have been arguing questions like this for centuries. I don’t have the time or the intellect to examine all sides of the theological dispute, so I’ve decided once for all to stop questioning and accept the Bible as God’s word.”
“But Billy,” I protested, “You cannot do that. You don’t dare stop thinking about the most important question in life. Do it and you begin to die. It’s intellectual suicide.”
“I don’t know about anybody else,” he said, “but I’ve decided that that’s the path for me.”
From that point forward, these two men’s lives could not have taken more divergent paths. Within a decade, Charles Templeton would depart from the ministry and become a self-proclaimed agnostic, claiming that the existence of God is unknown or unknowable. Billy Graham would go on to preach the gospel to more people in all of human history, being used by God to bring millions to faith in Christ. The choice that each would make regarding belief in God’s Word and personal faith in Jesus Christ exemplify the eternal decision that each one must make. The writer of Hebrews expressed it this way. “Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen…And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him” (Hebrews 11:1, 6). While faith in Christ and His Word is not irrational, a true follower of Christ must fully surrender to faith, even amidst questions that cannot be answered.
Of course, Billy Graham’s legacy of faith has left a lasting mark upon countless souls. He preached to an estimated 2.2 billion people (215 million in live events) in 185 countries. Of these, 2.2 million people responded to an invitation by Billy Graham to follow Jesus Christ. He wrote 33 books about faith in Christ, including Peace with God, which sold 2 million copies. For a record 61 times, the amount of years that the poll was started until his death, Graham was listed in the top ten in Gallup’s poll of most admired men. And perhaps most telling of all, his marriage to Ruth lasted for more than 63 years until her death. They leave behind a family of faith.
And what of the legacy of Charles Templeton? He would have significant success as a cartoonist and politician until his death in 2001. He would have a family from two marriages. In an interview with Christian author Lee Strobel some fifty years following his departure from the faith, and only two years prior to his death, Templeton would share the following perspective after being asked about Jesus.
Templeton’s body language softened. It was as if he suddenly felt relaxed and comfortable in talking about an old and dear friend. His voice, which at times had displayed such a sharp and insistent edge, now took on a melancholy and reflective tone. His guard seemingly down, he spoke in an unhurried pace, almost nostalgically, carefully choosing his words as he talked about Jesus.
“He was,” Templeton began, “the greatest human being who has ever lived. He was a moral genius. His ethical sense was unique. He was the intrinsically wisest person that I’ve ever encountered in my life or in my readings. His commitment was total and led to his own death, much to the detriment of the world. What could one say about him except that this was a form of greatness?”
I was taken aback. “You sound like you really care about him,” I said.
“Well, yes, he is the most important thing in my life,” came his reply. “I . . . I . . . I . . . ,” he stuttered, searching for the right word, ‘I know it may sound strange, but I have to say . . . I adore him!” . . .
” . . . Everything good I know, everything decent I know, everything pure I know, I learned from Jesus. Yes . . . yes. And tough! Just look at Jesus. He castigated people. He was angry. People don’t think of him that way, but they don’t read the Bible. He had a righteous anger. He cared for the oppressed and exploited. There’s no question that he had the highest moral standard, the least duplicity, the greatest compassion, of any human being in history. There have been many other wonderful people, but Jesus is Jesus….’
“Uh . . . but . . . no,’ he said slowly, ‘he’s the most . . .” He stopped, then started again. “In my view,” he declared, “he is the most important human being who has ever existed.”
That’s when Templeton uttered the words I never expected to hear from him. “And if I may put it this way,” he said as his voice began to crack, ‘I . . . miss . . . him!”
With that tears flooded his eyes. He turned his head and looked downward, raising his left hand to shield his face from me. His shoulders bobbed as he wept. . . .
What we believe matters. And that we believe all of God’s Word and fully in Christ will make all the difference in this life…and for eternity.
Jason