disturber of the peace
Posts: 1,546 
Location: Edmonton, Alberta, Canada...after growing up in Thunder Bay, Ontario.
Location: Edmonton, Alberta, Canada...after growing up in Thunder Bay, Ontario.
May 15th, 2007, 02:08 PM
Television evangelist Falwell dies at 73
By SUE LINDSEY, Associated Press Writer 10 minutes ago
The Rev. Jerry Falwell, the television evangelist who founded the Moral Majority and used it to mold the religious right into a political force, died Tuesday shortly after being found unconscious in his office at Liberty University, a school executive said. He was 73.
Ron Godwin, the university's executive vice president, said Falwell, 73, was found unresponsive around 10:45 a.m. and taken to Lynchburg General Hospital. "CPR efforts were unsuccessful," he said.
Godwin said he was not sure what caused the collapse, but he said Falwell "has a history of heart challenges."
"I had breakfast with him, and he was fine at breakfast," Godwin said. "He went to his office, I went to mine, and they found him unresponsive."
Falwell had survived two serious health scares in early 2005. He was hospitalized for two weeks with what was described as a viral infection, then was hospitalized again a few weeks later after going into respiratory arrest. Later that year, doctors found a 70 percent blockage in an artery, which they opened with stents.
Falwell credited his Moral Majority with getting millions of conservative voters registered, electing Ronald Reagan and giving Republicans Senate control in 1980.
"I shudder to think where the country would be right now if the religious right had not evolved," Falwell said when he stepped down as Moral Majority president in 1987.
The fundamentalist church that Falwell started in an abandoned bottling plant in 1956 grew into a religious empire that includes the 22,000-member Thomas Road Baptist Church, the "Old Time Gospel Hour" carried on television stations around the country and 7,700-student Liberty University. He built Christian elementary schools, homes for unwed mothers and a home for alcoholics.
He also founded Liberty University in Lynchburg, which began as Lynchburg Baptist College in 1971.
Liberty University's commencement is scheduled for Saturday, with former U.S. House Speaker Newt Gingrich as the featured speaker.
In 2006, Falwell marked the 50th anniversary of his church and spoke out on stem cell research, saying he sympathized with people with medical problems, but that any medical research must pass a three-part test: "Is it ethically correct? Is it biblically correct? Is it morally correct?"
Falwell had once opposed mixing preaching with politics, but he changed his view and in 1979, founded the Moral Majority. The political lobbying organization grew to 6.5 million members and raised $69 million as it supported conservative politicians and campaigned against abortion, homosexuality, pornography and bans on school prayer.
Falwell became the face of the religious right, appearing on national magazine covers and on television talk shows. In 1983, U.S. News & World Report named him one of 25 most influential people in America.
In 1984, he sued Hustler magazine for $45 million, charging that he was libeled by an ad parody depicting him as an incestuous drunkard. A federal jury found the fake ad did not libel him, but awarded him $200,000 for emotional distress. That verdict was overturned, however, in a landmark 1988 U.S. Supreme Court decision that held that even pornographic spoofs about a public figure enjoy First Amendment protection.
The case was depicted in the 1996 movie "The People v. Larry Flynt."
With Falwell's high profile came frequent criticism, even from fellow ministers. The Rev. Billy Graham once rebuked him for political sermonizing on "non-moral issues."
Falwell quit the Moral Majority in 1987, saying he was tired of being "a lightning rod" and wanted to devote his time to his ministry and Liberty University. But he remained outspoken and continued to draw criticism for his remarks.
Days after Sept. 11, 2001, Falwell essentially blamed feminists, gays, lesbians and liberal groups for bringing on the terrorist attacks. He later apologized.
In 1999, he told an evangelical conference that the Antichrist was a male Jew who was probably already alive. Falwell later apologized for the remark but not for holding the belief. A month later, his National Liberty Journal warned parents that Tinky Winky, a purple, purse-toting character on television's "Teletubbies" show, was a gay role model and morally damaging to children.
Falwell was re-energized after family values proved important in the 2004 presidential election. He formed the Faith and Values Coalition as the "21st Century resurrection of the Moral Majority," to seek anti-abortion judges, a constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage and more conservative elected officials.
The big, blue-eyed preacher with a booming voice started his independent Baptist church with 35 members. From his living room, he began broadcasting his message of salvation and raising the donations that helped his ministry grow.
"He was one of the first to come up with ways to use television to expand his ministry," said Robert Alley, a retired University of Richmond religion professor who studied and criticized Falwell's career.
In 1987, Falwell took over the PTL (Praise the Lord) ministry in South Carolina after Jim Bakker's troubles. Falwell slid fully clothed down a theme park water slide after donors met his fund-raising goal to help rescue the rival ministry. He gave it up seven months later after learning the depth of PTL's financial problems.
Largely because of the Bakker and Jimmy Swaggart scandals, donations to Falwell's ministry dropped from $135 million in 1986 to less than $100 million the following year. Hundreds of workers were laid off and viewers of his television show dwindled.
Liberty University was $73 million in debt and on the verge of bankruptcy, and his "Old Time Gospel Hour" was $16 million in debt.
By the mid-1990s, two local businessmen with long ties to Falwell began overseeing the finances and helped get companies to forgive debts or write them of as losses.
Falwell devoted much of his time keeping his university afloat. He dreamed that Liberty would grow to 50,000 students and be to fundamentalist Christians what Notre Dame is to Roman Catholics and Brigham Young University is to Mormons. He was an avid sports fan who arrived at Liberty basketball games to the cheers of students.
Falwell's father and his grandfather were militant atheists, he wrote in his autobiography. He said his father made a fortune off his businesses — including bootleging during Prohibition.
As a student, Falwell was a star athlete and a prankster who was barred from giving his high school valedictorian's speech after he was caught using counterfeit lunch tickets his senior year.
He ran with a gang of juvenile delinquents before becoming a born-again Christian at age 19. He turned down an offer to play professional baseball and transferred from Lynchburg College to Baptist Bible College in Springfield, Mo.
"My heart was burning to serve Christ," he once said in an interview. "I knew nothing would ever be the same again."
Falwell is survived by his wife, Macel, and three children, Jerry, Jonathan and Jeannie.
Television evangelist Falwell dies at 73
By SUE LINDSEY, Associated Press Writer 10 minutes ago
The Rev. Jerry Falwell, the television evangelist who founded the Moral Majority and used it to mold the religious right into a political force, died Tuesday shortly after being found unconscious in his office at Liberty University, a school executive said. He was 73.
Ron Godwin, the university's executive vice president, said Falwell, 73, was found unresponsive around 10:45 a.m. and taken to Lynchburg General Hospital. "CPR efforts were unsuccessful," he said.
Godwin said he was not sure what caused the collapse, but he said Falwell "has a history of heart challenges."
"I had breakfast with him, and he was fine at breakfast," Godwin said. "He went to his office, I went to mine, and they found him unresponsive."
Falwell had survived two serious health scares in early 2005. He was hospitalized for two weeks with what was described as a viral infection, then was hospitalized again a few weeks later after going into respiratory arrest. Later that year, doctors found a 70 percent blockage in an artery, which they opened with stents.
Falwell credited his Moral Majority with getting millions of conservative voters registered, electing Ronald Reagan and giving Republicans Senate control in 1980.
"I shudder to think where the country would be right now if the religious right had not evolved," Falwell said when he stepped down as Moral Majority president in 1987.
The fundamentalist church that Falwell started in an abandoned bottling plant in 1956 grew into a religious empire that includes the 22,000-member Thomas Road Baptist Church, the "Old Time Gospel Hour" carried on television stations around the country and 7,700-student Liberty University. He built Christian elementary schools, homes for unwed mothers and a home for alcoholics.
He also founded Liberty University in Lynchburg, which began as Lynchburg Baptist College in 1971.
Liberty University's commencement is scheduled for Saturday, with former U.S. House Speaker Newt Gingrich as the featured speaker.
In 2006, Falwell marked the 50th anniversary of his church and spoke out on stem cell research, saying he sympathized with people with medical problems, but that any medical research must pass a three-part test: "Is it ethically correct? Is it biblically correct? Is it morally correct?"
Falwell had once opposed mixing preaching with politics, but he changed his view and in 1979, founded the Moral Majority. The political lobbying organization grew to 6.5 million members and raised $69 million as it supported conservative politicians and campaigned against abortion, homosexuality, pornography and bans on school prayer.
Falwell became the face of the religious right, appearing on national magazine covers and on television talk shows. In 1983, U.S. News & World Report named him one of 25 most influential people in America.
In 1984, he sued Hustler magazine for $45 million, charging that he was libeled by an ad parody depicting him as an incestuous drunkard. A federal jury found the fake ad did not libel him, but awarded him $200,000 for emotional distress. That verdict was overturned, however, in a landmark 1988 U.S. Supreme Court decision that held that even pornographic spoofs about a public figure enjoy First Amendment protection.
The case was depicted in the 1996 movie "The People v. Larry Flynt."
With Falwell's high profile came frequent criticism, even from fellow ministers. The Rev. Billy Graham once rebuked him for political sermonizing on "non-moral issues."
Falwell quit the Moral Majority in 1987, saying he was tired of being "a lightning rod" and wanted to devote his time to his ministry and Liberty University. But he remained outspoken and continued to draw criticism for his remarks.
Days after Sept. 11, 2001, Falwell essentially blamed feminists, gays, lesbians and liberal groups for bringing on the terrorist attacks. He later apologized.
In 1999, he told an evangelical conference that the Antichrist was a male Jew who was probably already alive. Falwell later apologized for the remark but not for holding the belief. A month later, his National Liberty Journal warned parents that Tinky Winky, a purple, purse-toting character on television's "Teletubbies" show, was a gay role model and morally damaging to children.
Falwell was re-energized after family values proved important in the 2004 presidential election. He formed the Faith and Values Coalition as the "21st Century resurrection of the Moral Majority," to seek anti-abortion judges, a constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage and more conservative elected officials.
The big, blue-eyed preacher with a booming voice started his independent Baptist church with 35 members. From his living room, he began broadcasting his message of salvation and raising the donations that helped his ministry grow.
"He was one of the first to come up with ways to use television to expand his ministry," said Robert Alley, a retired University of Richmond religion professor who studied and criticized Falwell's career.
In 1987, Falwell took over the PTL (Praise the Lord) ministry in South Carolina after Jim Bakker's troubles. Falwell slid fully clothed down a theme park water slide after donors met his fund-raising goal to help rescue the rival ministry. He gave it up seven months later after learning the depth of PTL's financial problems.
Largely because of the Bakker and Jimmy Swaggart scandals, donations to Falwell's ministry dropped from $135 million in 1986 to less than $100 million the following year. Hundreds of workers were laid off and viewers of his television show dwindled.
Liberty University was $73 million in debt and on the verge of bankruptcy, and his "Old Time Gospel Hour" was $16 million in debt.
By the mid-1990s, two local businessmen with long ties to Falwell began overseeing the finances and helped get companies to forgive debts or write them of as losses.
Falwell devoted much of his time keeping his university afloat. He dreamed that Liberty would grow to 50,000 students and be to fundamentalist Christians what Notre Dame is to Roman Catholics and Brigham Young University is to Mormons. He was an avid sports fan who arrived at Liberty basketball games to the cheers of students.
Falwell's father and his grandfather were militant atheists, he wrote in his autobiography. He said his father made a fortune off his businesses — including bootleging during Prohibition.
As a student, Falwell was a star athlete and a prankster who was barred from giving his high school valedictorian's speech after he was caught using counterfeit lunch tickets his senior year.
He ran with a gang of juvenile delinquents before becoming a born-again Christian at age 19. He turned down an offer to play professional baseball and transferred from Lynchburg College to Baptist Bible College in Springfield, Mo.
"My heart was burning to serve Christ," he once said in an interview. "I knew nothing would ever be the same again."
Falwell is survived by his wife, Macel, and three children, Jerry, Jonathan and Jeannie.
World Police
Posts: 4,789
Videos: 1
Videos: 1
May 15th, 2007, 02:17 PM
I think "the devil" might be a bit of a stretch. Falwell was just another relgious nut, nothing special about him.
I think "the devil" might be a bit of a stretch. Falwell was just another relgious nut, nothing special about him.
disturber of the peace
Posts: 1,546
Location: Edmonton, Alberta, Canada...after growing up in Thunder Bay, Ontario.
Location: Edmonton, Alberta, Canada...after growing up in Thunder Bay, Ontario.
May 15th, 2007, 02:27 PM
Quoting DurkaDurka
Yes....I was being rather...um....how do I put it...overdramatic there....much like he, himself was. I think there was something special in the sense that he wasn't just a regular nut...he was a nut with influence, with power, with followers...I think that is different...and scary.
I think "the devil" might be a bit of a stretch. Falwell was just another relgious nut, nothing special about him.
Council Member
Posts: 1,926
Location: Northern California
Location: Northern California
May 15th, 2007, 02:28 PM
The devil is always with us. As long as we are in the flesh, the devil is tempting us.
That is par for the course. Can we beat the par? Of course.
Jesus said: Mar 9:40 For he that is not against us is on our part.
Peace>>>AJ
The devil is always with us. As long as we are in the flesh, the devil is tempting us.
That is par for the course. Can we beat the par? Of course.
Jesus said: Mar 9:40 For he that is not against us is on our part.
Peace>>>AJ
disturber of the peace
Posts: 1,546
Location: Edmonton, Alberta, Canada...after growing up in Thunder Bay, Ontario.
Location: Edmonton, Alberta, Canada...after growing up in Thunder Bay, Ontario.
May 15th, 2007, 03:00 PM
Quoting look3467
I suppose part of the thing though is that Mr. Falwell spoke as if he was morally pure...that he resisted this temptation. However, the way I see it, with his moral judgements, harsh rhetoric and hateful speech, that he had been consumed.
The devil is always with us. As long as we are in the flesh, the devil is tempting us.
That is par for the course. Can we beat the par? Of course.
Jesus said: Mar 9:40 For he that is not against us is on our part.
Peace>>>AJ
That is par for the course. Can we beat the par? Of course.
Jesus said: Mar 9:40 For he that is not against us is on our part.
Peace>>>AJ
disturber of the peace
Posts: 1,546
Location: Edmonton, Alberta, Canada...after growing up in Thunder Bay, Ontario.
Location: Edmonton, Alberta, Canada...after growing up in Thunder Bay, Ontario.
May 15th, 2007, 03:01 PM
Quoting Walter
Apparently he has had medical issues for a while. But, most likely, it was the jews, lesbians and gays, feminists and other immorals tearing apart the fabric of the US who drove him to death...
Jerry died today. He really put on the beef the last few years. I wonder what the cause of death was.
Council Member
Posts: 1,926
Location: Northern California
Location: Northern California
May 15th, 2007, 03:53 PM
There are allot of good folk who contributed to his ministry. Not to mention the college and what contribution to society that has.
I mean, think about if he would have been an individual who would have caused death and misery to thousands.
By comparison, he was a fairly righteous man.
All unrighteousness, is due and payable here on earth, by mental anguish, spiritual vexation and or been cut of yearly in life.
Living on earth is a privilege many take for granted, even though suffering is a key part in bringing us to the realization of the spiritual.
Peace>>>AJ
Quoting snfu73
Bad judgments I can agree with. What one has to consider is the good he has done verses the error of judgment, but I believe it was all well intentioned.
I suppose part of the thing though is that Mr. Falwell spoke as if he was morally pure...that he resisted this temptation. However, the way I see it, with his moral judgements, harsh rhetoric and hateful speech, that he had been consumed.
There are allot of good folk who contributed to his ministry. Not to mention the college and what contribution to society that has.
I mean, think about if he would have been an individual who would have caused death and misery to thousands.
By comparison, he was a fairly righteous man.
All unrighteousness, is due and payable here on earth, by mental anguish, spiritual vexation and or been cut of yearly in life.
Living on earth is a privilege many take for granted, even though suffering is a key part in bringing us to the realization of the spiritual.
Peace>>>AJ
Council Member
Posts: 1,926
Location: Northern California
Location: Northern California
May 15th, 2007, 04:42 PM
Rom 9:20 Nay but, O man, who art thou that repliest against God? Shall the thing formed say to him that formed it, Why hast thou made me thus?
Peace>>>AJ
Quoting mabudon
I dun-no!
I wonder if the ACLU forced "god" to call him home, to pay for his sins??
Seems like he'd understand if that was the case
Seems like he'd understand if that was the case
Rom 9:20 Nay but, O man, who art thou that repliest against God? Shall the thing formed say to him that formed it, Why hast thou made me thus?
Peace>>>AJ
Metal King
Posts: 1,028
Location: Golden Horseshoe, Ontario
Location: Golden Horseshoe, Ontario
May 15th, 2007, 05:09 PM
Well, if you believe as Falwell did about the devil and all that crap, maybe Falwell just plain "lost" to the bad guys
I just find it interesting to use the same harsh, diametric worldview as the man espoused to attempt to properly eulogize him... and I feel confident in this case, he who showed NO RESPECT to so many, needs no phoney "respect" in death. The man was a villain, and hopefully his death will spawn no more of the same
Well, if you believe as Falwell did about the devil and all that crap, maybe Falwell just plain "lost" to the bad guys
I just find it interesting to use the same harsh, diametric worldview as the man espoused to attempt to properly eulogize him... and I feel confident in this case, he who showed NO RESPECT to so many, needs no phoney "respect" in death. The man was a villain, and hopefully his death will spawn no more of the same
Council Member
Posts: 1,926
Location: Northern California
Location: Northern California
May 15th, 2007, 05:48 PM
If I were to say that God used him as an instrument, however flawed the instrument might be, I believe that God had accomplished His desire in Jerry and through Jerry.
Being flawed is a natural component of being human. The whole intended purpose of religion was to offset those flaws.
So, despite any flaws we might have, we can still be used mightily by God.
Here are a few examples of flaws in character: Peter (Foot in mouth), Moses (Tapping the rock twice), The 12 brothers of Joseph (Jealousy), King David (Having someone else’s wife), Saul (Having the Christians killed).
Those were all icons of biblical history.
For more modern times, we have presidents, evangelists, dictators, judges and all sorts of people who have some purpose in the scheme of things who are instrumental in goodness being born out of the quagmire.
The best description ever given about mankind’s hopelessness was by King Solomon “Ecc 1:2 Vanity of vanities, saith the Preacher, vanity of vanities; all is vanity.
Meaning, that without God, mankind is utterly hopeless!
Peace>>>AJ
Quoting mabudon
You have every right to make that statement.
Well, if you believe as Falwell did about the devil and all that crap, maybe Falwell just plain "lost" to the bad guys
I just find it interesting to use the same harsh, diametric worldview as the man espoused to attempt to properly eulogize him... and I feel confident in this case, he who showed NO RESPECT to so many, needs no phoney "respect" in death. The man was a villain, and hopefully his death will spawn no more of the same
I just find it interesting to use the same harsh, diametric worldview as the man espoused to attempt to properly eulogize him... and I feel confident in this case, he who showed NO RESPECT to so many, needs no phoney "respect" in death. The man was a villain, and hopefully his death will spawn no more of the same
If I were to say that God used him as an instrument, however flawed the instrument might be, I believe that God had accomplished His desire in Jerry and through Jerry.
Being flawed is a natural component of being human. The whole intended purpose of religion was to offset those flaws.
So, despite any flaws we might have, we can still be used mightily by God.
Here are a few examples of flaws in character: Peter (Foot in mouth), Moses (Tapping the rock twice), The 12 brothers of Joseph (Jealousy), King David (Having someone else’s wife), Saul (Having the Christians killed).
Those were all icons of biblical history.
For more modern times, we have presidents, evangelists, dictators, judges and all sorts of people who have some purpose in the scheme of things who are instrumental in goodness being born out of the quagmire.
The best description ever given about mankind’s hopelessness was by King Solomon “Ecc 1:2 Vanity of vanities, saith the Preacher, vanity of vanities; all is vanity.
Meaning, that without God, mankind is utterly hopeless!
Peace>>>AJ
Time Out
Posts: 1,651
May 15th, 2007, 06:39 PM
Rev. Jerry Falwell
September 13th, 2001:
[T]he pagans, and the abortionists, and the feminists, and the gays and the lesbians who are actively trying to make that an alternative lifestyle, the ACLU, People For the American Way -- all of them who have tried to secularize America -- I point the finger in their face and say "you helped this happen."This man just hurt the image of Christians everywhere.
Rev. Jerry Falwell
September 13th, 2001:
[T]he pagans, and the abortionists, and the feminists, and the gays and the lesbians who are actively trying to make that an alternative lifestyle, the ACLU, People For the American Way -- all of them who have tried to secularize America -- I point the finger in their face and say "you helped this happen."This man just hurt the image of Christians everywhere.
Mighty Intellect
Posts: 1,535
Location: Calgary, Alberta
Location: Calgary, Alberta
May 15th, 2007, 08:20 PM
My goodness, Look, but you tripped on this one.
Pangloss
Quoting look3467
What stupid sophistry! What idiot ravings! Look, according to your logic: Hitler hated the Jews and the Jews hated Hitler - equal disdain, rock-for-brain, so, who's right?
The way I see it, both sides have equal disdain for each other. So, who's right?
Peace>>>AJ
Peace>>>AJ
My goodness, Look, but you tripped on this one.
Pangloss
