Billy Graham on the Salvation of Non-Christians

Billy Graham has not said a lot on the issue but it seems to me that he rejects restrictivism and affirms some form of inclusivism.

McCall’s Magazine   Jan 1978 : 100, 154-158

“I CAN’T PLAY GOD ANY MORE”

Now 59, Billy Graham talks frankly about his family and his controversial financial affairs, and tells why he’s changing his ideas about religion, politics and his won role in the world

BY JAMES MICHAEL BEAM

Graham confesses that he has taken a more modest view of his own role in God’s plan for man.  “I used to play God,” he acknowledged, “but I can’t do that any more.  I used to believe that pagans in far-off countries were lost and were going to hell—if they did not have the Gospel of Jesus Christ preached to them.  I no longer believe that,” he said carefully.  “I believe that there are other ways of recognizing the existence of God—through nature, for instance—and plenty of other opportunities, therefore, of saying ’yes’ to God.”

In recent years Graham has shown particular affection for Jews.  Like most Christian Fundamentalists, Graham once believed that Jews, too, were lost if they did not convert to Christianity.  Today Graham is willing to leave that up to God.  “God does the saving,” Graham asserts.  “I’m told to preach Christ as the only way to salvation.  But it is God who is going to do the judging, not Billy Graham.

Billy is particularly opposed to evangelical groups such as “Jews for Jesus” who have made Jews the special target of their proselytizing efforts.  “If a person wants to convert to Christianity, that is his own freewill decision,” Billy declares.  “I would never go after someone just because he is a Jew, which is why I have never supported the Jewish missions.”

He has recently repeated this in an interview that can be viewed on Youtube.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TNCnxA91fHE&feature=related

Interview with Larry King (says he does not judge those in other religions, his job is to preach the love and forgiveness of God)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bx29MRL4L6c&feature=related