Apparently Ted Turner doesn’t want to go to hell. The man that once considered Christianity a “religion for losers” now confesses that he’d prefer heaven over hell. He’s leaving the door open to the possibility of God.
In the article by CNN, Turner expressed his encouragement by his ex-wife Jane Fonda’s take on his spiritual well-being. According to her, “he’s a shoo-in”. Why?
“The miracle is that he became what he is. A man who will go to heaven, and there’ll be a lot of animals up there welcoming him, animals that have been brought back from the edge of extinction because of Ted. He’s turned out to be a good guy.”
There you have it. Apparently saving bison and being a good guy will punch his ticket to heaven. A heaven, says Turner, which is much akin to “Montana in the summer”.
The Americanized “Gospel”
Fonda is encouraging Turner with an Americanized “gospel”. Here, the first pre-requisite to going to heaven is actually wanting to go. Thankfully, Ted now has that one covered. Secondly, you’ve got to be a basically good person. Few have made explicit what qualifies as “basically”. What is the line between a basically good person and basically a jerk? And what is the exchange rate between saving a bison and committing adultery?
I feel for Turner. I really do. God has set eternity on the hearts of men. As he’s staring at death’s door all of his accomplishments are losing their luster. He knows that he cannot take his wealth with him. All he has left is to hope that he’s been a good enough person to not have to pay recompense for his missteps.
While Fonda’s gospel reassures Turner and millions of other Americans it will ultimately end up bankrupt.
Psalm 49
Rather than Jane Fonda, Psalm 49 would be a great place for Turner to consider. In this Psalm the Sons of Korah contrast the lot of the righteous with the lot of the wicked.
49:7 is telling.
“Truly no man can ransom another, or give to God the price of his life”.
You can’t buy your ticket to heaven. Not by good deeds. Not by giving $1 billion to the UN, nor by saving a million bison. If a man cannot redeem another—I seriously doubt a bearded mammal will do the trick. That’s the point of Psalm 49:7-14. If all you’ve got is your own resources on the day of judgment you won’t stand.
Psalm 49:15 is the answer that Turner is looking for—though the one that he may not want.
But God will ransom my soul from the power of Sheol, for he will receive me.
The only hope that Ted Turner has, and the only hope that you and I have, is that God would pay to ransom our soul. Only he has the resources to pay our debt. Thankfully, this he has done—in full—through the person and work of His Son, Jesus Christ.
The blood of Jesus Christ is the only thing sufficient enough to pay our debt. Everything else will leave us coming up short.
There is a debt that Ted Turner cannot pay. But it is a debt that has already been paid by the crucified Son of God. Will Turner “become weak” and call upon the name of the Lord and be saved?
Will you?
My church does door to door evangelism in the warmer months. The overwhelmingly common response to “what do you understand it takes to go to heaven” is a works-based salvation answer. Many of these people go to church. It taught me a very valuable lesson; whatever the sermon is, the gospel has to be a part of it. Thankfully, since the whole arc of the Bible points to Christ’s finished work, that doesn’t take gymnastics to do. It’s heartbreaking to hear so many people give a Jane Fonda like answer; oh I hope to be good enough and do enough good.
Well said, Mike. Asking about the exchange rate between Bison lives and adultery (or murder, fraud, theft, etc.) really highlights the absurdity of the false North American good-guy gospel. And this reminds me to be content with the material blessings I have received instead of devoting my life to the accumulation of more that is ultimately of no use or value.