She was named by the American Film Institute as the greatest female star in the history of American cinema. And she won the Academy Award for best actress…four times. More than any other person in American movie history. And I read that Katharine Hepburn was a leading lady for more than 60 years. That’s mighty impressive. And I’m a fan of several of her movies. But not her worldview.
Sadly, Katharine Hepburn said she was an atheist.
In fact, I saw a quote, apparently from the October 1991 Ladies’ Home Journal, where she said, “I’m an atheist, and that’s it. I believe there’s nothing we can know except that we should be kind to each other and do what we can for each other.”
First…I wonder how she could know that. And second, it’s not that unusual for one person’s “kind” to be another person’s cruel. Because humans are some pretty wacky creatures.
Ms Hepburn did an interview with a TV talk show host, Dick Cavett, and she said, “No I don’t think you go anywhere when you die. I hope you just lie in the ground, happy, at rest at last. I don’t feel the slightest interest in the next world, I think it’s here. And I think anything good that you’re going to do you should do for other people here and not so you can try to have a happy time in the next world.”
To her credit, she did give Jesus a little respect.
She said, “I don’t believe in religion. I believe the example of Christ.”
But then she messed it up by also saying,
“I believe in the example of a perfect human being that if you can live for other people away from yourself you will be happy. If you live for yourself you will be unhappy and then you will not be able to sleep or do anything else… finally. I think insofar, and I really believe this, insofar as people do live with the other fellow [God] in mind, they have to be happy you know? Because it raises you up.”
So, Katharine Hepburn was her own benevolent and good god.
And she expressed her belief in her own abilities to be a supreme judge. With words like this…
“Now I hear people say they don’t know the difference between good and bad. I know totally for myself the difference between right and wrong. Totally. I know this because wrong makes me very uncomfortable and right makes me very happy.
And I don’t think it’s so very difficult to know when you’re doing the right thing and when you’re doing the wrong thing. And I think each person the right thing and the wrong thing varies. But committing a stinking act to someone else should make you unhappy, if it doesn’t you are diseased, and you certainly are miserable.”
She was sort of right.
You should be able to know when you’re doing the right thing and when you’re doing the wrong thing. Trouble is, for most people the wrong thing has become right. Because they don’t have any wisdom or discernment. And they certainly don’t wanna see or hear what God says about it.
So, I hope Katharine discovered where she missed the mark before she died. Because she was quite an extraordinary person. But extraordinary never got anyone into Heaven. And it never will.
In fact, Heaven will be filled with ordinary
People who aren’t stars who win awards.
But they’ll find their life, there, extraordinary,
Filled with God’s eternal Love rewards.
Stay tuned,
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