Billy Graham discusses God, Satan, and Katrina.

What do you tell people who ask how a loving God could let something like this happen?

Well, I spoke yesterday to the clergy and I asked myself why, and I told them don’t know why. There is no way I can know. I think of Job, who suf­fered the loss of everything—seven sons and three daugh­ters, all of his cattle, all of his sheep and his flocks, every­thing gone. He couldn’t help but ask why, but he didn’t find the answer immediately, and he really never had the answer at the end.

God came back and restored to him all these things, but the cause of the thing in his life was not God, it was the Devil. I didn’t mention that yesterday, because I don’t think this is the place to talk about Satan and the Devil, because I don’t know. The Devil might have had nothing to do with this; I don’t know. But God has al­lowed it, and there is a purpose that we won’t know maybe for years to come.

For those who have visited this website in the past you are certainly aware of my disdain for organized religions. So you may be surprised to learn that I have a lot of respect for the Reverend Billy Graham.

The reason that I afford Reverend Graham a special consideration while I lambast his fellow evangelicals is his measured approach to advice on religion. When you read the article that I linked to above you will notice that the Reverend does not present his beliefs as a certainty. He speaks of what the bible teaches and then states that he does not know for sure if evil or God is responsible for the terrible things that have happened in the world.

I find that kind of honesty to be admirable. Too many preachers stomp across the front of their churches speaking with absolute certainty about things that they cannot possibly know for sure. They demand that their adherents accept what they say as revealed truth and do no allow others to dare question what they believe God has told them. For these liars I have nothing but contempt.

For the Reverend Billy Graham I have nothing but admiration. I don't have to agree with him to find him to be an exemplary human being. I hope that he is with us for many more years.