Review of Barbara Walters' Special on "Heaven"

After watching the Barbara Walters' special on "Heaven" last night, here are my critiques/opinions. Baptist Press has a good introduction to what the show was about:

Thomas White, director of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary’s Center for Leadership Development in Fort Worth, Texas, and an adjunct professor of Baptist history, noted in comments provided to Baptist Press:

"Although Barbara Walters’ intent should be commended, her content should not. She confused rather than clarified the issue by giving equal weight to popular authors, near-death experiences, movie stars, religious teachers and pastors. She merely surveyed various opinions in a show that should have been titled, ‘Heaven: Have It Your Way.'"

This is exactly what the show did. It seemed Walters was on a mission to find every path that could somehow lead to Heaven. Also, the show was filled with misinformation. For instance, Walters stated at the beginning of the program that the early church believed that upon death, people changed into spiritual beings, also known as angels. I am not sure what Walters means by "early church," but the New Testament church collectively did not believe this. There may have been a few sects or possibly later Catholics who believed this, but not the early church.

However, these mistakes by the secular media should not be surprising. What should be surprising, though, are the mistakes made from those people representing the Christian faith.

Walters interviewed a minister from an African-Amerian church in New York City who mentioned that Heaven existed in a "fourth dimension." I have no idea where in Scripture that idea is promulgated but I am pretty sure the biblical authors never mention anything about a "fourth dimension."

Also, the Cardinal that Walters interviewed stated that our purpose in life is to go to Heaven. He was partially right; our purpose in life is glorify God and though we sinned, starting with Adam, one day will regain that sinless perfected state and enjoy eternal fellowship with our Creator in Heaven...however, getting there is not our sole goal.

Finally, Walters interviewed Evangelical pastor Ted Haggard. White says it best about Haggard when he states, "Haggard fared better but needed stronger wording. He stated there is ‘only one guaranteed way to go to heaven and that is through Jesus Christ....If you are not born again, then you do not have the assurance of going to heaven.’ He needed to omit the qualifiers ‘guaranteed’ and ‘assurance’ while pointing to New Testament’s declaration -- Jesus is the only way to get to heaven." Exactly. Saying simply 'there is no guarantee' to Heaven if one does not go through Jesus, leaves a possibility that one may make another route to eternal life apart from Christ, which is of course, heresy.

Haggard also unfortunately stated that when he smells alcohol it makes him want to "throw up." Let's not associate abstaining from alcohol as being necessary for salvation. There are plenty of Christian brothers and sisters who drink alcohol moderately and do not sin in doing so. Haggard's comment on this issue smells of legalism.

Also, it would have been nice if Haggard could have explained what it meant to be 'born again.' This phrase has been adulterated so as to lose its meaning and many people think they are born again when they really have no idea what the phrase means.

All in all, Walters' special was what one could expect for a network television production on Heaven: political correctness at its finest by not hurting anyone's feelings (or worldview) and not coming up with any definitive answer.