Our Sorrow for Clint Eastwood

Richard Hollerman

If you are a child of God, as I am, you view life and death much differently than most other people do. I have had to think of this quite often, more recently regarding the super-actor Clint Eastwood. May of you may not know Clint because of your age but some of you will know the name and even the face. He, of course, was a TV star on Rawhide many years ago.

We know that when someone dies, he goes to one of two different places. We assume that the Catholic teaching of purgatory is a false doctrine that we must reject (please see other articles on our website). Thus, a person who dies must either go to a place of torment (Luke 16:23, 28) agony (vv 24, 25), and will lament over “bad things” (v. 25) or he will go to a place where one can enjoy “good things” and be “comforted” (v. 25).

As we can see from Scripture, these two destinations are eternal. They will last forever (cf. Matthew 25:46). There will be no end, forever and ever! It is hard for us to conceive of this and something within us may seek to rebel against this reality. But it is there, plain and simple, and we must either accept this or deny the teachings of Scripture. On the other hand, if we are saved, then this reality is a great comfort for it will mean that we will never experience the dread of the damned but will be in eternal fellowship with God!

But what about Clint Eastwood?  This Actor was born on May 31, 1930 in San Francisco, California and has been divorced two times. He has had multiple sexual partners and numerous children. Reportedly, he has real estate holdings at four locations.  Clint has earned many millions of dollars over the years and may now be considered a very wealthy man—having gotten his wealth through entertainment, investments, and in other wicked ways.

We read this about his personal life:

Outside of work, Eastwood has led a hysterically convoluted existence and is described by biographer Patrick McGilligan as a cunning manipulator of the media. His large number of partners and children are now reported matter-of-factly, but for the first three decades of his celebrity, his personal life was kept top secret, and several of his families were left out of the official narrative.

The Hollywood kingpin refuses to disclose his exact number of offspring even to this day. He had a long time relationship with equally enigmatic co-star Locke (deceased 2018), and has fathered at least eight children by at least six different women in an unending string of liaisons, many of which overlapped. He has been married only twice, however — with a mere three of his progeny coming from those unions. ( https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000142/bio?ref_=nm_ov_bio_sm#salary)

But the greatest question we could ask about Eastwood is this: Is Eastwood prepared to die? Is he prepared to meet God? What will happen a moment after he breathes his last? This is what we read:

In 1973, Eastwood told the film critic Gene Siskel, “No, I don’t believe in God.” Eastwood has said that he finds spirituality in nature (as suggested by his Western, Pale Rider, 1985), stating that “I was born during the Depression and I was brought up with no specific church. We moved every four or five months during the first 14 years of my life, so I was sent to a different church depending on wherever we lived. Most of them were Protestant, but I went to other churches because my parents wanted me to try to figure out things for myself. They always said, ‘I just want to expose you to some religious order and see if that’s something you like’. So although my religious training was not really specific, I do feel spiritual things. If I stand on the side of the Grand Canyon and look down, it moves me in some way.”

Would you say that this has prepared Eastwood to have a vibrant faith in God, a commitment to Jesus, and a hope for eternal life one day? Clint continues: “Of course, it would be wonderful to talk with my parents again, who are, of course, deceased. It makes the idea of death much less scary. But then again, if you think that nothing happens after you die, maybe it makes you live life better. Maybe you’re supposed to do the best you can by the gift you’re given of life and that alone.” (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clint_Eastwood#Spiritual_beliefs)

Although we see that this Hollywood super-star has no real faith at all in God or the resurrected Christ, we realize that he is not the only one who lacks such faith. Millions of Americans also refuse to believe in God through Christ. Further, with only 3-5% or at the highest, some 8% or 10% of Europeans saying that they believe in God, we know that many more do not have genuine faith in the Lord. Also, with atheism the official system of belief in Russia and China, we know that multiple millions of others refuse to believe in God. With over a billion of Indians who are Hindu, with 1.7 billion of the earth’s population being Muslims, with hundreds of millions of others who are Buddhists, and so much more unbelief, we know that vast numbers of people do not have the hope of eternal life.

We may lament Clint Eastwood. For some 90 years, he has lived a life without God. Yet he has received the acclaim of people. Millions looked forward to his TV displays and many millions more have reveled in his movies. He has won one award after another. He has had many marriage and sexual partners. He has had multiple children through these partners. He has many houses in various places and is definitely a financially rich man.

But what is life to him now, without God His Creator and His Savior? What is it like to live day after day without a saving relationship with the Lord? And what will it be for all eternity without God but utterly separated from Him in eternal anguish? What will it be like then?

Friend, let us take a lesson from this personality and determine to live God our all. Do you see why we would have sorrow for Clint Eastwood? Maybe you do too. Now is the time to make this decision and to yield everything to the One who created us and wants us to be in fellowship with Him forever and ever!