Tidings
The Quest for the Historical Jerry
The penultimate item in U.S. News & World Report's list of "10 Things You Didn't Know About Jerry Falwell" explained that "Falwell had been controversial throughout the years." The article then quoted his "I point the finger in their face" remarks, made on The 700 Club two days after the September 11 attacks.
Some rightly bemoaned that this was the only thing people did know about Falwell—except perhaps for his supposed "outing" of Tinky Winky the Teletubby. Conservatives rued how the "liberal media" treated Falwell. Focus on the Family headlines included "Media Warped Young Conservatives' Views of Falwell" and "Assassinating the Dead." Then again, liberals said his frequent television appearances evinced a conservative bias in the media. Religion journalist-turned-academic Gustav Niebuhr said Falwell gained media prominence largely because he "returned reporters' phone calls ahead of deadline, sat through countless interviews, and was always blunt, succinct, and consistent— thus, eminently quotable."
Blunt and succinct, yes, but without nuance, and consistency was a problem. The Falwell who spoke of Christians' political duty also said, "Preachers are not called to be politicians, but to be soul winners." The Falwell who said he was tired of being a "lightning rod" for criticism told CT that the reason "the general public thinks of me as a 'John the Baptist, confront-the-culture, nuke-the-earth' kind of person" is because he deliberately played one on TV. At the same time, he often befriended his sparring partners off camera. And gay-rights groups' favorite villain also called for churches to do more to combat anti-gay violence and "to bring down the rhetoric and the stridency" in fights over sexual ethics.
Usually, ...
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Tidings
Ted Olsen
Ted Olsen is Christianity Today's managing editor for news and online journalism. He wrote the magazine's Weblog—a collection of news and opinion articles from mainstream news sources around the world—from 1999 to 2006. In 2004, the magazine launched Weblog in Print, which looks for unexpected connections and trends in articles appearing in the mainstream press. The column was later renamed "Tidings" and ran until 2007.
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Bob
Fallwell had a national stage, and instead of using it to talk about grace, the cross, our need for a substitute, and God’s offer of forgiveness (Graham is a good counter-example), he chose instead to blame left-leaning Americans for the 911 attacks and rant angrily about the evils of Tinky-winky. Sigh. We give them stuff like this and then wonder why people aren’t interested in Christianity. It’s not just that his priorities were foolish and trivial; they were actually counter-productive. For those of us interested in engaging and perhaps even reaching the people of our lost culture, he was an obstacle and a barrier, and will likely continue to be for many years. I’m disappointed that Warren didn’t tell it like it is. Our response to his legacy should be to learn from his mistakes and move in a new direction; not talk about what a “great leader” he was.
arnold turner
I never met Dr Falwell but his vision for ministry has been a blessing for countles people. When I began to be burdened about the need for a pro-life crisis pregnancy clinic, I made one phone call and he sent an experienced minister that advised in setting up the first such clinic in the state of Kentucky. No quesions asked. No request for money. Just, "what can we do to help?". Lives were saved and many families blessed by the adoption of a wonderful child.Later, as I was called into ministry late in life, his innovative ideas allowed me to obtain a quaity and fully accredited Masters Degree in Religion without leaving my law practice and evangelism ministry. I now pastor a growing church and much of what I am is due to Liberty Theological Seminary and Dr. Falwell. I was often pained as I watched him wound himself and hurt others needlessly but will forever be thankful for what God made possible through him in my life. He was a great man of God. A doer of great things.
Robert
Sharon -I confess my ego is way too big, but like Falwell I just can't help it. I just can't seem to find the self control to reign in my appetite. Every time I try to refrain from allowing my ego to inflate further, I simply take another healthy portion of ego to go, following which I focus on the sins of others, such as Falwell's sin of obesity or his inability to keep his mouth shut. In fact, I generally find myself asking "What would Jerry do?" before I act, with the result that every time I think about being nice, kind or helpful, I find some other sin on the raise in Christian America and work myself into a frenzy of self righteous judgmentalism about. I never claimed to be free of addiction. In fact, I confess that I am addicted to sin in various forms, including arrogance, pride, selfishness, lust, etc. This list goes on, but I don't want to bore you with the details of my short comings. I am just grateful that being addiction free is not a requirement for forgiveness.