Dolly Parton died this week at the age of 80 after a brief battle with cancer. I must admit that I have a soft place in my heart for her. She was born in a poor family in a holler in Tennessee. Her story is very much like my ancestors, who were from that area of the country.
Almost immediately, I saw tributes pouring in from around the world. People remembered her music, her humor, her generosity, and the remarkable kindness she showed to others. Almost universally, people said she was genuine. What you saw in the public was what she was when the cameras and microphones were not around. Her Imagination Library has provided hundreds of millions of books to children around the world. She invested in education, disaster relief, medical research, and countless charitable causes.
Christians have joined in those tributes. Don Francisco, a Christian artist, wrote a song about the Lord’s resurrection called “He’s Alive.” He worked with Dolly in the 80’s and paid tribute to her, saying:
Dolly Parton heard “He’s Alive” while riding on her tour bus. Her recording of it was heard all over the world by millions of people that I could never have reached on my own. After a standing ovation for her performance at the Country Music Awards, she sent me flowers in 1986 to thank me for the song. Although it never happened in this life, I know we will meet soon.
Dolly was a professing Christian. She grew up in the church, spoke openly about her belief in God, and recorded numerous Christian songs. She was married to the same man, Carl Dean, for nearly six decades. If we looked at someone’s works to determine if they are going to be in the kingdom, Dolly Parton would fare better than the majority of people.
Yet some Christians have responded to her death very differently. Rather than mourning her or acknowledging the good she did, they have used her death as an opportunity to declare that she was not really saved. They argue that Dolly did not live the kind of life a genuine Christian must live.
She publicly supported the queer community. Drag queens loved Dolly Parton. She cultivated a provocative, sexualized image. She made statements about her church attendance that raised eyebrows among Evangelicals. In interviews, some believe she suggested she had an “open” marriage. Despite her profession of faith and decades of kindness and generosity, some have concluded that she could not possibly have been a believer. They argue, “You will know them by their fruit,” and “Faith without works is dead.”
All of this reflects a theology known as Lordship Salvation, which argues that genuine faith inevitably produces enough good works to demonstrate that a person has truly been saved. But that approach has glaring problems: How much fruit is enough? Who gets to decide which works point to a genuine faith and which sins disqualify a person?
I once heard a Reformed theologian respond to the question, “How much fruit proves that someone is saved?”
His answer was, “Some.”
It sounds profound, but what does “some” mean?
Dolly Parton certainly had some fruit. In fact, she had a tremendous amount. She spent decades using her wealth and influence to help other people. She was no hypocrite. What you saw was what you got. I believe she genuinely cared for people. If I could choose to have dinner with someone, I would have chosen Dolly over most Evangelical preachers.
But I think Lordship and Calvinist teachers have a problem with Dolly. Because of certain aspects of her life, some of her other actions pointed to a false confession of faith. She did not “persevere” in good works. They must weigh her “some” good works against “some” other embarrassing works. Which weighs more? They become spiritual CPA’s. They must weigh the good and the bad on balanced scales. Any neutral observer realizes how subjective this is.
Will Dolly Parton be in the kingdom? Lordship Salvation and Reformed theologians will examine her life to try to answer the question. My guess is that the majority of them would say, “no.”
I don’t know, and neither do they. But I know a couple of things. If she is in the kingdom, it will not be because she was kind, genuine, and generous. If she is not in the kingdom, it will not be because she had unbiblical views of sexuality.
If, as a child in a Tennessee holler, Dolly believed in Jesus for eternal life, she will be with the Lord forever. If she ever believed in Him, we will see her with Him. If she never believed in Him, we won’t. I sure hope she did.
