# Is Billy Graham a heretic? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [March 7, 2008, 11:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-billy-graham-a-heretic/440531 "2008-03-07T23:32:16Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Two\_and\_a\_Half\_Inches\_of\_Fun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ea666f/32.png) [@Two\_and\_a\_Half\_Inches\_of\_Fun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Two_and_a_Half_Inches_of_Fun)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2008, 11:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-billy-graham-a-heretic/440531/1 "2008-03-07T23:32:16Z")
Is Billy Graham considered a heretic by the standards of the Southern Baptist Convention? After his wife’s death, Graham stated that she was in Heaven and that he could not wait to join her. But doesn’t the Southern Baptist Convention believe that salvation comes from God’s gift of grace and that it is not earned and that nobody can know if someone else has been saved? Was Billy Graham chastised for claiming to know his wife was in Heaven? ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2008, 12:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-billy-graham-a-heretic/440531/2 "2008-03-08T00:06:56Z")
Everybody’s a heretic in somebody’s eschatology. ---
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2008, 12:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-billy-graham-a-heretic/440531/3 "2008-03-08T00:14:41Z")
All I know, as an atheist, is that Billy Graham is one of the good guys. I respect Billy Graham. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2008, 12:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-billy-graham-a-heretic/440531/4 "2008-03-08T00:21:02Z")
I think Christians quite often speak of their late loved ones as awaiting them in Heaven, and I have never heard of any church discouraging the practice, whatever its statements of doctrine might say. ---
**Author:** ![Antinor01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecae2f/32.png) [@Antinor01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Antinor01)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2008, 12:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-billy-graham-a-heretic/440531/5 "2008-03-08T00:21:19Z")
From [here.](http://www.religioustolerance.org/chr_savs.htm) > [@](#): > > A major tenet of Protestant Fundamentalist belief is that if a person hears the Gospel, acknowledges their sinful nature, is genuinely repentant, believes in the divinity of Christ, and trusts him as Lord and Savior, then they will be “saved”. If he had a reasonable belief that she had done this (and it seems that he did) then there would be no problem in stating his belief that she was now in heaven. I spent a number of years in similar churches and that sort of sentiment was common about those that had died. ---
**Author:** ![SteveG1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bb73d2/32.png) [@SteveG1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SteveG1)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2008, 12:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-billy-graham-a-heretic/440531/6 "2008-03-08T00:40:10Z")
As was already said, Graham was by and large considered one of the good guys. He seems to have possibly been one of the very few honest ones who did not line his own pockets from church “profits”. As far as what any (probably) self serving bible thumping fire breathing wild eyed preacherman says, I don’t think Billy did or said anything wrong on this subject. He seemed to have faith not just in “his” God, but also in the basic goodness of his fellow man. Wow. Isn’t THAT just what christianity is supposed to be all about??? ---
**Author:** ![lekatt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lekatt/32/7269_2.png) [@lekatt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lekatt)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2008, 2:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-billy-graham-a-heretic/440531/7 "2008-03-08T02:30:39Z")
[QUOTE=Two and a Half Inches of Fun] Is Billy Graham considered a heretic by the standards of the Southern Baptist Convention? After his wife’s death, Graham stated that she was in Heaven and that he could not wait to join her. But doesn’t the Southern Baptist Convention believe that salvation comes from God’s gift of grace and that it is not earned and that nobody can know if someone else has been saved? Was Billy Graham chastised for claiming to know his wife was in Heaven? [/QUOTE] Leave Billy alone. He is one of the honest, true-blue ones. I was Southern Baptist in the early years of my life, and you don’t know what you are talking about. It was perfectly ok to say someone was in Heaven if they believed in Jesus, which I am sure she did. I heard it all the time. ---
**Author:** ![FriarTed](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/friarted/32/1052_2.png) [@FriarTed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FriarTed)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2008, 7:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-billy-graham-a-heretic/440531/8 "2008-03-08T07:05:14Z")
SBC doctrine emphasizes that assurance of salvation is part of God’s gracious gift. In fact, SBC doctrine includes “Eternal Security”- that someone who has truly been reborn in Christ cannot lose his/her salvation. This produces some Biblical & logical dilemnas & I don’t agree with it. Billy Graham IS considered a heretic by some fundies for his outreach to & acceptance of the Catholic Church & mainline “liberal” Protestant churches, and for being open to the possibility that God may save some who have not accepted Christ under certain circumstances. And some SBC’ers may be among that group. ---
**Author:** ![Two\_and\_a\_Half\_Inches\_of\_Fun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ea666f/32.png) [@Two\_and\_a\_Half\_Inches\_of\_Fun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Two_and_a_Half_Inches_of_Fun)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2008, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-billy-graham-a-heretic/440531/9 "2008-03-08T15:47:13Z")
[QUOTE=FriarTed] SBC doctrine emphasizes that assurance of salvation is part of God’s gracious gift. In fact, SBC doctrine includes “Eternal Security”- that someone who has truly been reborn in Christ cannot lose his/her salvation. [/QUOTE] I thought the only person’s salvation you were supposed to be sure of was your own. Is that incorrect? ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2008, 4:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-billy-graham-a-heretic/440531/10 "2008-03-08T16:23:14Z")
[QUOTE=Two and a Half Inches of Fun] I thought the only person’s salvation you were supposed to be sure of was your own. Is that incorrect? [/QUOTE] Depends. You seem to think that the baptists are monolithic. They’re not. Some are Arminian in nature, some are Calvinist. > **[History of the Calvinist–Arminian debate](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Calvinist-Arminian_Debate)** > > The history of the Calvinist–Arminian debate begins in the early 17th century in the Netherlands with a Christian theological dispute between the followers of John Calvin and Jacobus Arminius and continues today among some Protestants, particularly evangelicals. The debate centers around soteriology (the study of salvation) and includes disputes about total depravity, predestination, and atonement. While the debate was given its Calvinist–Arminian form in the 17th century, issues central to the... ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2008, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-billy-graham-a-heretic/440531/11 "2008-03-08T19:47:16Z")
[QUOTE=Two and a Half Inches of Fun] I thought the only person’s salvation you were supposed to be sure of was your own. Is that incorrect? [/QUOTE] I dunno. There’s this dress that **kaylasmom** wears sometimes that really does a lot for my salivation. ---
**Author:** ![Kozmik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/8dc957/32.png) [@Kozmik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kozmik)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2008, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-billy-graham-a-heretic/440531/12 "2008-03-09T19:20:00Z")
He might be considered an apostate. But nothing as extreme as a heretic. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2008, 10:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-billy-graham-a-heretic/440531/13 "2008-03-09T22:02:38Z")
[QUOTE=Two and a Half Inches of Fun] I thought the only person’s salvation you were supposed to be sure of was your own. [/QUOTE] Even if that were true, couldn’t Mrs. Graham have been sure of her own salvation, and couldn’t she have told Billy so, and couldn’t he have believed her? ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2008, 11:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-billy-graham-a-heretic/440531/14 "2008-03-09T23:39:28Z")
[QUOTE=Kozmik] He might be considered an apostate. But nothing as extreme as a heretic. [/QUOTE] Isn’t an apostate about the same thing as a heretic? I’ve never heard of any Christian funeral service, in any denomination, where the priest or minister doesn’t as much as assure the bereaved audience that their loved one is with God. ---
**Author:** ![FriarTed](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/friarted/32/1052_2.png) [@FriarTed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FriarTed)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2008, 11:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-billy-graham-a-heretic/440531/15 "2008-03-10T11:38:58Z")
[QUOTE=Spectre of Pithecanthropus] Isn’t an apostate about the same thing as a heretic? [/QUOTE] Not necessarily. An apostate is one who has departed from the faith, while a heretic is one who professes the faith but holds to a radically different doctrine than is commonly accepted. The issue is confused by those who profess the faith but depart from very significant doctrines, such as a Christian cleric who denies the unique Divine Sonship of Jesus, His sacrificial death & bodily resurrection, and even a traditional Theistic understanding of God, and yet still professes to be a Christian & retains his ministerial office.