Many Christians have told me that religion is worthwhile because of the social good that comes from religion. “People go to church,” they say, “for the community of it.”
We should expect that churches and preachers, like Billy Graham, would be skilled at helping people with problems like loneliness.
Billy answers a question from a lonely person in the January 13, 2012, Sioux Falls Argus Leader. Billy’s reader says, "I feel all alone in the world. I have lots of people I know casually (like at work), but no one would miss me if I left town or died. Why did God make me so shy and unable to make friends?" You can read all of Billy’s answer here.
Billy sidesteps the question by making an interesting point: God made us different and that makes life less dull. On many occasions, Billy has talked about those who go to heaven and how they will all be perfect. There are no degrees of perfection: there is perfect and something less. If everyone in heaven is perfect then everyone in heaven will be the same. In Billy’s own words, heaven must be dull.
Then Billy begins the lies. The first lie to this lonely person is that God loves them and wants to help. If God loves them and wants to help, why are they lonely? Billy seems to blame the lonely person by telling them that there are other lonely people all around them and all it will take is to ask God to hook them up. Billy makes it sound like God runs a dating service and all you have to do is apply.
Then Billy goes on with the useless advice. He tells the lonely person that they already have a friend: Jesus. Great. Tell a lonely person to invest their time in an imaginary friend. They may be sitting in their empty room all alone, but Jesus is there with them. Maybe they could play Gin Rummy with Jesus?
Next Billy plays the Gospel of John card by saying that God loves the lonely person so much, He send Jesus to die for them. Great. The lonely person just got an imaginary friend and now God has killed him.
Billy closes with the one piece of advice he should have given at the start. He tells the lonely person to find places where there are people willing to befriend strangers. Billy says go to church and that is not altogether wrong. Most churches have some kind of social period after or between services. A lonely person can go to these socials and meet people. The only drawback is that the greeters always behave the same way: “Good morning, my name is Greeter. Please have a cup of coffee and a cookie. Would you like to talk about Jesus?”
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