What’s the Lesson in Dolly Parton’s Passing?

Here is the video I released shortly after the news broke. I encourage you to watch it before you read the rest of this blog post. In it, I compare some of her beliefs (she often talked publicly about what she believed) against the authority of Scripture, and I challenge people regarding where they will spend eternity.

So why did I respond to the sad death of this particular celebrity? Well, for a couple of reasons. One is that the announcement of her death was very, very public, with many people commenting on it and many (including some Christian leaders) lifting her up as a wonderful example of a Christian for others to follow. Now, certainly her remarkable generosity is worth emulating and has impacted many people over the decades. It’s a good thing to celebrate a virtue like generosity. But as I shared in the video, she had many beliefs that contradicted Scripture, and Christians need to be discerning, comparing everything against Scripture and not putting anyone up on a pedestal.

The second reason was that whenever someone famous dies, people think of the moment of their own mortality. They’re reminded that everyone—no matter how rich, famous, or wonderful they were—dies eventually. And that makes for a great opportunity to share the gospel. That’s why I started with comparing some of her beliefs with Scripture and then moved into the gospel message. The video was very popular, quickly gaining hundreds and hundreds of thousands of views, many from people who would not normally watch our content. We pray that those gospel seeds produce fruit.

You can hear more of my response in a second video I released—this video also has hundreds of thousands of views:

It’s a reminder that death is an enemy; it’s a consequence of sin affecting everything. But death isn’t the end.

It’s always sad when someone dies. It’s a reminder that death is an enemy; it’s a consequence of sin affecting everything. But death isn’t the end. The Bible is clear that we all die and then stand before the judgment seat of Christ. And when we stand before God’s judgment seat, our good works, our generosity, or how much we were loved by others won’t save us. We stand condemned because of our sin. The only thing that will save us from God’s just wrath over our sin is the blood of Jesus Christ. Salvation is a free gift, given to those who place their faith in Christ.

And you were dead in your transgressions and sins, in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the ruler of the power of the air, the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience, among whom we all also formerly conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, doing the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest. But God, being rich in mercy because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not of works, so that no one may boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them. (Ephesians 2:1–10)

Are you prepared for eternity? There’s no more important question to answer.

Thanks for stopping by and thanks for praying,
Ken

This item was written with the assistance of AiG’s research team.