The Billy Graham Rule (the opposite sex)

What began as a guard against any appearance of evil to be used against Brother Graham became something else.

It became a sign of strength for some to avoid being alone with the opposite sex, that one was wise not to be with another other than his spouse turning it into a sign of weakness. Many leaders of various denominations think that this is a good way to keep oneself from falling into lust and or adultery.

What they fail to recognize is that the goal of the believers is spiritual maturity. At some point one need not have the accountability partners, one need not fear succumbing to the flesh, and needs to walk up rightly without fear.

 

Or to allow one’s spouse to view you as an absolute failure and without hope?

 

BG was a great man. His rule has been taken out of context by Chuck Smith, by the EG White groups and many more. God classifies man into four categories in Paul’s letter to the Corinthians. It took about 4 years from the founding of the church at Corinth to the writing of I Cor.

“And I, brethren, could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, as unto babes in Christ. I fed you with milk, not with meat; for ye were not yet able to bear it: nay, not even now are ye able; for ye are yet carnal: for whereas there is among you jealousy and strife, are ye not carnal, and do ye not walk after the manner of men?”
‭‭1 Corinthians‬ ‭3:1-3‬ ‭ASV‬‬

The carnal man, the babe in Christ, the carnal believer, and the full grown spiritually adult believers.
The time it takes to go from babyhood into adulthood is between 3-5 years. As a child learns to walk stumbling happens but the stumbling becomes less and less frequent as he learns to stand and walk. We can become mature enough to be as Joseph when it comes to the opposite sex. The idea that BG was a carnal believer is ridiculous. For us we may not be affected by the misapplication of the BG rule but there are many who are in a state of spiritual defeatism having no hope in their spouses even tho Christ enables us for victory.