World-renowned evangelist Billy Graham has responded to a distraught person who wrote to him saying that an abusive father changed his perspective about God as the Heavenly Father.
"My father was very abusive, and if that's what God is like, I don't want anything to do with Him. You'll probably say God isn't like this, but how do you know?" a person wrote in Graham's advice column for the Bowling Green Daily News.
In response, Graham said that God isn't like the man's abusive father, since He is perfect and loving, and His every thought and action is motivated by love and kindness. This is what the Bible verses 1 John 4:16 and 19 says: "God is love. ... We love because He first loved us."
He also offered an apology to the man for his abusive childhood. "I'm sorry your father wasn't the kind of person he should have been. I know this may have scarred you emotionally, and even filled you with anger or bitterness - which can be like poisons to your soul if you aren't careful," Graham continued. "I'm concerned too that since he wasn't a healthy role model, you may have a hard time being the kind of father your children need. I pray this won't be the case - but you should be alert to the dangers."
In answering the man's question on how Graham can be sure God isn't anything like his earthly and abusive father, the evangelist provided two reasons. The first reason is in the good thing God does for people everyday. The second reason is found in 1 John 4:9, which says: "This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him."
He then encouraged the man to say a prayer to God and ask Jesus Christ to come into His life. In doing so, Graham said the man will accept God's love and forgiveness and find healing from his terrible past.
Graham earlier wrote on his website that God's love is amazing, but people will never truly understand it until they possess true peace with God. "The promises of God's love and forgiveness are as real, as sure, as positive, as human words can make them. But, like describing the ocean, its total beauty cannot be understood until it is actually seen," he said.
