Anne Graham's Take

I was sorting through my My Documents folder and came across this file. It is a post from my 20’s group’s Forum, and I decided to save it to my computer. What follows is what was posted in its original form. It made me think…

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Hey, this is something I want to share with you - Following the terrorist attack on the World Trade Centre, Anne Graham, the daughter of the evangelist Billy Graham was asked on a TV program how God could have let something like September 11 happen. This is what she said - it is something to think about!

“I believe that God is deeply saddened by this, just as we are, but for years we’ve been telling God to get out of our schools, to get out of our government and to get out of our lives. And being the gentleman that He is, I believe that He has calmly backed out. How can we expect God to give us His blessing and protection if we demand that He leave us alone? I know there’s been a lot of e-mails going around about September 11, but this really makes you think. In light of recent events… terrorist attacks, school shootings etc... Let’s see. I think it started when Madeline Murray O’Hare complained she didn’t want any prayer in our schools and we said okay. Then someone said you better not read the Bible in school. The Bible that says thou shalt not kill, thou shalt not steal, and that instructs us to love your neighbor as yourself. And we said okay. Then Dr. Benjamin Spock said we shouldn’t spank our children when they misbehave because their little personalities would become warped and we might damage their self-esteem. And we said, as an expert should know what he’s talking about, okay. Then, someone said teachers better not discipline our children when they misbehave. And the education department said no teacher in school had better touch a student when they misbehave because we don’t want any bad publicity, and we surely don’t want to be sued (There’s a big difference between disciplining and touching, beating, smacking, humiliating etc). And we said okay. And then someone said, let’s let our daughters have abortions if they want, and they won’t even have to tell their parents. And we said okay. Then some wise school board member said, since boys will be boys, and they’re going to do it anyway, let’s give our sons all the condoms they want, so they can have all the fun they desire, and we won’t have to tell their parents they got them at school. And we said okay. Then some top elected officials said it doesn’t matter what we do in private as long as we do our jobs. And agreeing with them, we said it doesn’t matter to me what anyone, including the President (USA) does in private, as long as I have a job and the economy is good. And then someone said let’s print magazines with pictures of nude women and call it wholesome, down-to-earth appreciation for the beauty of the female body. And we said okay. And then someone else took that appreciation a step further and published picture of nude children, and then stepped further by making it available on the Internet. And we said okay, they’re entitled to their free speech. And then the entertainment industry said, let’s make TV shows and movies that promote profanity, violence and illicit sex. And let’s record music that encourages rape, drugs, murder, suicide and satanic themes. And we said it’s just entertainment, it has no adverse effect, and nobody takes it seriously anyway, so go right ahead.
Now we’re asking ourselves why our children have no conscience, why they don’t know right from wrong, and why it doesn’t bother them to kill strangers, their classmates, and themselves. Probably, if we think about it long and hard enough, we can figure it out. I think it has a lot to do with “We reap what we sow”. “Dear God, why didn’t you save the little girl killed in her classroom? Sincerely, Concerned Student”. And the reply “Dear Concerned Student, I am not allowed in schools." Funny how simple it is for people to trash God and then wonder why the world’s going to hell. Funny how we believe what the newspapers say, but question what the Bible says. Funny how everyone wants to go to heaven provided they do not have to believe, think, say or do anything the Bible says. Funny how someone can say, “I believe in God” but still follow Satan, who by the way, also “believes” in God. Funny how we are quick to judge but not be judged. Funny how you can send a thousand jokes through e-mail and they spread like wildfire, but when you start sending messages regarding the Lord, people think twice about sharing. Funny how the lewd, crude, vulgar and obscene pass freely through cyberspace, but the public discussion of God is suppressed in the school and workplace.