My Point of View about Hugh Hefner is based on his exploitation of women, not speaking ill of the dead.
My point of view of him has not changed from while he was alive to now that he has met his eternal reward, whatever that is.
I have been especially forced to think about this, because of Matt Walsh’s fb write up…
Hugh Hefner died last night. I’m sorry he’s dead. I’m sorry for his family. But mostly I’m sorry for the incredible damage he did to society as one of the pioneers of the sexual revolution and a driving force behind our cultural decay.
It’s unfortunate that we must point out the fact that Hefner was a pornographer and a pimp. That his life’s work was to amass a collection of desperate women who were willing to be used and exploited. But we must tell this truth in order to combat the untruths that people are now saying about him.
We live in a country where men like Hefner are immediately canonized upon death. I’ve seen Hefner described as a “hero” and a “role model.” These are lies, and we must call them lies. The fact that Hefner is dead does not change the fact that he was a peddler of filth. If a man wishes to be remembered as virtuous and decent, he must live virtuously and decently. We don’t become virtuous and decent when we die, as if death itself washes away every bad thing we’ve done. Quite the opposite, actually. Death is when we reckon with the bad things.
I’ve been assured that Hefner is “in a better place” now. I realize this is just a thing we say about all dead people, no matter who they are and what they did. And indeed it’s possible that Hefner repented before death and has now entered the Better Place. But to confidently state as fact that a pornographer is in Heaven is arrogant and dangerous. Pray that God has mercy on him, but do not run around declaring that a man who spent his life having orgies and taking pictures of naked women must necessarily be reaping eternal rewards.
Let’s try to be serious for a change. Let’s treat the death of a man like Hefner with somber honesty. It is always sad when someone dies. It is even sadder when a corrupt and decadent man dies. We may have hope that a man of great faith and goodness is in Heaven. We may have the same hope for the corrupt man, but it is a slimmer hope. So, we simply trust in the mercy and justice of God, knowing that He will deliver us all to the destinations we have chosen. And, if we must learn anything from Hefner’s life, it’s that a life of selfish pleasure seems so pointless once it’s over. That is the great lesson he taught us.
May God have mercy on him and all sinners. Amen.
It is not my place to say what his eternal reward is, because I do not know what the last moments of his life pertained and contained.
Jude 1:22-23
1 Corinthians 3:15
If anyone’s work is burned up, he will suffer loss, though he himself will be saved, but only as through fire.
No one is good enough to enter into the presence of God!
Here’s a explanation of ‘good enough’.
I do know what the Bible says, and I do know what the God of Heaven says are the rules for entering into his house. The two biggies are to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and to love the Lord with all your heart mind soul spirit and to love your neighbor as yourself.
Believe in/on the Lord Jesus Christ
I wrote about this in Spiritual Walking Steps, Step 1
Acts 16:30-31
30 Then he brought them out and said, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” 31 And they said, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household.”
This well known salvation scripture has some additional pieces that folks would rather ignore:
John 3:16-18
16 “For God so loved the world,[a] that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. 18 Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.
And love your neighbor?
Mark 12:30-31
30 And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ 31 The second is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.”
This is the summary of the ten commandments.
Everyone would agree that the ten commandments are the set of rules originally given to mankind from God. They are listed in Exodus 20.
Exodus 20:14 says:
14 “You shall not commit adultery.
Mathew 5:27-28 (the words of Jesus – they are red in the red letter editions!)
27 “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ 28 But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart.
Jesus didn’t take lusting after a woman lightly!
Exploiting women and objectifying women is not loving your neighbor as yourself. It was raising men to a level of control over women and degrading women down to a level of objects to be used and toyed with for men’s own pleasure. There are many verses about how men should treat women. Sex toys is not in any of them.
While I am not so naive as to believe that women were raised up, cherished, respected and honored prior to Hugh Hefner’s Playboy Empire, there was a general concept that mothers and sisters were to be protected – daughters looked after. And, some husbands took advantage of that…but the scripture clearly states that a husband is to love his wife as Christ loved the church.
I do believe that the Bible teaches that women are to be treated as special as God the Father and God the Son treat God the Holy Spirit(The triune God) and defend God the Holy Spirit in a very extreme manner. The unpardonable sin – blasphemy of the Holy Spirit –
Mark 3:29
but whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit never has forgiveness, but is guilty of an eternal sin”—
Even in prisons, inmates will fight at the derogatory comment against their mother. If even the wicked know it’s right, what about those that are considered above a criminal?
God the Father, God the son, hold God the holy spirit in a very high regard. That is what a father, husband, child, should do to their mother, wife, sister, daughter. Not belittle, not degrade, not objectify, but cherish as a unique and different but equal partner in this path of life. This is the Godly way!
By God’s grace, I don’t have to show my private parts in order for men to have some interest in me. The true honor of a human being is that their value is based on their soul, their character, and their very life. Not their physical attributes that fade, but the qualities in which they bring to The Human Condition, in order to raise others up with guidance, Comfort, love, joy, peace, patience, healing, and Reconciliation.
Here’s just a few ideas for how to cherish a woman:
In my faith walk, that reconciliation of most importance is reconciliation between The Sinner and their God through Jesus Christ his son. Eternity is real. If someone wants to spend eternity in heaven, the “better place”, they need to mind the household rules of the owner of that place. Those who come into my house and disobey my house rules are asked to leave. Those who come to my house and state that they do not intend to follow my household rules, are not invited in. Someone choosing to break into my house to steal kill or destroy, is placed under government laws that we all agree are real and need to be enforced. These are but a foreshadowing of what happens on the day we die. We do stand at the gate and we do answer for our life and we do answer for whether or not we’ve made the choice that we want to spend eternity in heaven with God the Father through God the son by the power of God the Holy Spirit, In The Name of Jesus Christ.
Hindus are not saying that he who Hefner made it to their highest plane, Svargam.
Buddhists are not saying that you have never made it to their highest plane, Nirvana.
Why is it assumed that the Christian Heaven has to take in anyone and everyone no matter how disrespectful and arrogant they are against the Lord God Of Heaven and Earth?
It doesn’t make logical sense.
So if you lived a life with no belief in a God, don’t say you went to a better place, because a “better place” is just the end result of some form of faith.
The Atheist has no heaven.
Of course the atheist has no hell.
The thing is once you die as an atheist you no longer have a choice.
So this comment that he is in a better place from the life of totally anti-god and anti-religion, would mean that the better place is rotting in a casket or being incinerated whichever way they choose to deal with his Earthly remains.
You don’t go to a better place by causing the world to be a worse place.
The amazing part of Grace, though, is that at any moment anyone no matter what they have done can repent of their sins declare Jesus Christ as their lord and savior, and they can enter in to the kingdom of God, that better or best place, even though as if by fire.
But if people are not going to embrace the actual meaning of a “better place”, then stop playing the game, and just accept the man died.
His legacy is what it is no matter whose point of view feels they agree with that. And there is no basis other than some form of faith for there to be anything after life. So just accept the man died. And his legacy is what it is.
In light of this conversation:
Did Mother Teresa go to heaven?
I don’t know – but her life certainly was lived publicly as if she believed in the Christ of the Bible!
Did Judas, the betrayer of Christ go to heaven?
I don’t know – he killed himself, and for some, that is an unforgivable sin.
Killing oneself after realizing that you had condemned your Lord and Savior could have been an act of repentance.
Did Benjamin Franklin go to heaven or hell?
I don’t know…he was a Quaker, but, not necessarily a believer in Christ.
Here is an excellent write up on whether Buddhists go to heaven.…as in, a Christian Heaven! The answer is NO!
If someone wants to enter into paradise and enjoy the blessings of the Kingdom of God – Yahweh, or Jehovah – one must follow his house rules.
My point is that if one wants to enter into the King’s palace, one must be a servant of the King.
If one wants to enter Nirvana, one must practice Buddhism.
If one wants to experience the various levels of Hindu fulfillment, one must practice Hinduism.
I would also say that if someone wanted to go to the heaven of the Muslims, one would need to practice Islam!
Why, then, is it so difficult to comprehend that a man that spent his life defending ungodliness probably did not go to God’s house at his death?
Hugh Hefner died.
Hugh Hefner left a legacy of death.
Hugh Hefner’s eternal reward is between him and God – whichever God he chose to follow.
If it was the god of flesh – that god is fully in charge of his body now.
Choose ye this day whom you will serve! Joshua 24:14-28
THIS is the day of salvation! 2 Corinthians 6:2
Hebrews 9:27-28
27 And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment:
28 So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation.
Not because of fear – but because of His great love for us!
1 John 4:17
By this is love perfected with us, so that we may have confidence for the day of judgment, because as he is so also are we in this world.
There is a principle – live so that when you die, no one will have to wonder what your believed or stood for.
The Apostles Creed
Thanks for joining me in this journey,
In His hands and under His wings,
~Christi
Ps 63:7 Because you are my help, I sing in the shadow of your wings.
“The Lord does not give me rules, but He makes His standard very clear.
If my relationship to Him is that of love, I will do what He says without hesitation.
If I hesitate, it is because I love someone I have placed in competition with Him, namely, myself.” – from My Utmost for His highest
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