Comments

As a fellow Oregonian, he will be missed. His biggest impact on me was seeing him in concert with DC Talk doing "I Wish We'd All Been Ready." It was one thing I will never forget.

No more wounds that won't heal. No more heart troubles. No more bipolar disease. Just Larry sitting in God's kitchen, asking questions . . hanging on every word . . finally understanding and singing to Him who is the solid Rock . . .

What a mean-spirited story you have run on a talented artist and a fellow Christian brother. Countless people were reached for Jesus by Larry Norman. And to be this harsh on someone who had bipolar disorder -- if that is what Mr. Norman had -- is something beneath secular journalism, let alone Christianity Today. I hate to sound like your mother, but shame on you.

If we are truly people of the Book as we claim, then let Scripture guide us in these matters. God is not on the side of being nice. He is, however, very much on the side of being honest. I cannot imagine King David's family and friends enjoying seeing the Bathsheba narrative included in his life story, but there is a reason for it being there. One can have clay feet and still very much be a man after God's own heart. It does us no good to turn a blind eye to the realities of human frailty, but when truth is tempered through the lens of love, then a true story can be told. Not some white-washed version that sweeps the nastiness under the rug. Good for you!

Larry Norman profoundly impacted my life and faith. I shared several late night meals with him and considered him a model of the earnest Christian walk. I remember thinking some of the stories were outlandish (started the vineyard in his house, airplane injury, poisoned by the Russians, heart attack) but I must say that in the end they all proved to be startlingly true. Even the Russian poisoning which was the hardest for me to swallow made sense when I saw Ukranian Presidential candidate Viktor Yushchenko's face after being poisoned by the Russians and noted how a milder version of the same affliction had affected Larry's complexion after he returned from Russia.
I am disappointed with the tone of this obituary for a man who had the guts to stand on his own with nothing but the word in a world that most Christians don't even like to read about let alone live in. I hope the stories of Larry's personal ministry as well as his profound affect on the face of "Christian music" will flood the media in the next few weeks to make up for articles like this one!

Thank You for an Honest take on Larry. The people that are criticizing this article cannot seems to be able to except that Larry was a human and had "his own demons". I worked with Larry as a promoter and a road manager and I watched him struggle with areas in life but I also saw him minister to people that needed it.
Larry was a perfect example of God using us in spite of ourselves and I can only hope and pray that people can say that about me when I am gone.

I've just read a bunch of stuff on Mr. Norman and found this obituary to be the most complete and enlightening thing out there, and I actually linked it off my blog. There is nothing mean spirited about this piece. It is honest and, as far as I can tell, fair. It acknowledges his achievements and admits his faults. Steve and Derwood summed it up very well.

Larry Norman was a flawed human being, like all of us, who changed the course of Christianity in modern popular culture and he will be sorely missed.

God bless him! I'm so glad I saw him in concert in Philadelphia a decade or so ago. His son was so energetic he finally had to seat him down in the audience. It was great!

A sad loss to Christianity's `cultural landscape`. Regardless of some of his more negative (read `human`) tendancies he left a fine legacy that will reach across generations. As to the comments that the CT blog was `mean spirited` it's worth noting that St. Paul persecuted the early church and St. Peter sold our Lord and savior out when he was needed the most... the point being, Christianity has an established track record of using weakness to confound the establishment. I'll take Larry and all his flaws over a grinning televangelist who doesn't actually preach the gospel. As the man himself once opined "I'm not depressed, I've just been thinking"

THERE'S CHRISTIAN ARTISTS AND THEN THERE'S LARRY NORMAN.
THE BEATLES INSPIRED PEOPLE TO PICK UP A GUITAR AND PLAY MUSIC THEY
LOVE,LARRY NORMAN INFLUENCED GUYS TO PICK UP A GUITAR AND PLAY MUSIC THEY LOVE WITH THE MUSIC MAKER THEY LOVE.
"AND HE LED ME TO HIS KINGDOM THAT WAS IN ANOTHER LAND"
LARRY'S PROBABLY JAMMIN WITH KEITH GREEN,MARK HEARD AND OTHERS.
THANKS LARRY!!!LOVE TO YOUR FAMILY.
"WOWIE ZOWIE".HIS MUSIC LIVES ON."LET THE TAPE KEEP ROLLIN".