The Sad Fate of the Unbeliever Betty White

Richard Hollerman

Today I learned that the popular TV actress and TV personality, Betty   White, died. She was up in years, some 99 years of age. Perhaps some of you will remember her earlier TV parts—and ones since then.  I’ve read that she attributed her long life to drinking vodka and eating hot dogs! Whether this is or was apocryphal or not, I don’t know but I don’t think that I heard of her great religiosity. I also read that she was a “champion for wildlife and a lover of animals.” Will this perspective count for eternity?

I know very little about this woman but the facts are clear and we must confront them and learn from them. I suppose that Betty White was attractive but I wouldn’t say super attractive. According to what I read, she had married three times and Ludden, her third “husband,” had married before her but his wife died. He (Allen Ludden) finally died on June 9, 1981 of stomach cancer.

We read this about White’s life:

Betty White, whose saucy, up-for-anything charm made her a television mainstay for more than 60 years, whether as a man-crazy TV hostess on “The Mary Tyler Moore Show” or the loopy housemate on “The Golden Girls,” has died. She was 99.

White’s death was confirmed Friday by Jeff Witjas, her longtime agent and friend. She would have turned 100 on Jan. 17

“I truly never thought she was going to pass away,” Witjas told The Associated Press. “She meant the world to me as a friend. She was the most positive person I’ve ever known.” (https://apnews.com/article/betty-white-dead-golden-girls-television-5818585387f6e5b4d5ea55ac380118aa)

This is what another source says about White’s personality:

White remained youthful in part through her skill at playing bawdy or naughty while radiating niceness. The horror spoof “Lake Placid” and “The Proposal” were marked by her characters’ surprisingly salty language. And her character Catherine Piper killed a man with a skillet on “Boston Legal.” (https://apnews.com/article/betty-white-dead-golden-girls-television-5818585387f6e5b4d5ea55ac380118aa).

We can see that White was not known for her spirituality but she did have a “happy” streak.

One of the chief points that we might want to learn from White’s life is that: We all must die. Some may live to the age of 18 or 22 or (like White) live to quite old, at age 99. But think for a moment. We may think that this is a long life but compared to 1,000 years, this would still be 1/10 of a lifetime. Compare this relatively long life to 10,000 or 1,000,000 years and we can see how utterly brief such a life is! And, as you know, the Bible speaks of eternity—an endless existence either with God or separated from God.

From what I could see from the announcement, even though White lived for nearly a century, still her life was relatively short—say 99 years compared to 1,000 or 100,000,000,000 years! Not only this, but the announcement says that she married three time. One dismaying fact is that Scripture says quite plainly that one who divorces his wife (or divorces her husband) will die in his or her sins, unless he/she repents! Mark 10:11-12 (Matthew 19:9; Luke 16:18) points this out.  We don’t want to imply that such a person will necessarily die in his or her sins and go to hell—because we know that a person can repent or change his or her mind and heart regarding past sins—then live a different, transformed life.

Thus, we don’t really know about Betty White’s past but on the surface it does seem that she died in her sins without repentance. All indications would lead in this direction. We know that no one wants to hear or read about this fact but it does seem that White did live an ungodly or wicked life and refused to repent and seek God’s forgiveness. In other words, there is no indication that she was born again and came to Christ.

It is no joy to learn about the death of one who was a renowned sinner and both lived and died in sin until the very end of her life. But it does look like this was the case. We would like to report that White came to Christ wholeheartedly toward the end, proclaimed Christ to one and all, and gave her money and fortune to the poor or distribute it to share the gospel. But we know of nothing like this. From all indications, Betty lived a selfish life and died like this. What we said earlier is true: that as sad as it is to admit, Betty White lived for herself, lived a life of self-indulgence, refused to submit to Jesus, and never truly acknowledged Jesus as Lord. Sadly, living for the moment and for this life will not lead to eternal life with God.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/betty-white-dies-99/

https://people.com/tv/betty-white-the-golden-girls-and-hot-in-cleveland-star-dead-at-99/

https://www.foxnews.com/entertainment/betty-white-long-happy-life-vodka-hot-dogs