Hysterical laughing and thunderous applauses – George Carlin was a master at provoking such responses over his 50-year debut on the stage of time. Well, not quite 50 years. He didn’t quite make it. Now the headlines record this fact of Mr. Carlin’s life: “Dead at 71.”
To George Carlin’s credit were: 14 HBO specials, 23 albums, three bestsellers, five audiobooks, 130 appearances on The Tonight Show, 16 movies, including 1989’s Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure, the voice of flower-power-era VW van in 2006’s animated Cars, four-time Grammy recipient and five-time Emmy winner, etc. (1)
It seemed rather abrupt. One weekend to be doing his comedy act at Orleans Casino and Hotel in Las Vegas, and the next Sunday, to be dead. But that’s the way life is. 
Accolades of praise from his laughing audience around the world flowed in. One of his outstanding life contributions was his Seven Dirty Words comedy routine. Seven words he claimed you would never hear on television. When he first went brazenly public with his profanities in Wisconsin during his Class Clown routine, he was arrested for uttering obscenities. That was back in 1972. His admirers refer to that occasion as one of the defining moments of his long career.
The focus of this story is rather narrow. I am sure Mr. Carlin made many fine contributions to his family and society and showed much kindness and generosity. But this essay is from a spiritual perspective – his relationship with God.
One might say I have no business commenting on Mr. Carlin’s relationship with God because it is a private matter – but the reality is he made it a very public matter. He put it out in the public domain for people to consider. For that reason, I do feel sadness over Mr. Carlin’s death. In fact, as I watched a video clip of one of his performances, I was profoundly sad. He walked out on the stage, and his entire show that night was anti-God. He mocked God from A-Z with vile, obscene language punctuating every second sentence. He defiantly called God down to the lowest.
Editor’s Note: After the Show of Life is Over, What then?
Painfully I watched it to the end. Mr. Carlin obviously knew truth from the Bible. He knew about God’s might and power and holiness; he knew about sin, God’s love, the gift of His Son, the options for eternity – Heaven or Hell, and a person’s responsibility to respond to God’s love.
He knew all this, and yet he mocked God, berated Him, cursed Him, denied His existence and then, in a closing act of blatant defiance, he challenged God in words to this effect: “If You are up there, send lightening down right now and strike my audience dead.” Then he went further and became very personal: “If there is a God, strike me dead here and now on this stage.” He paused and then he rubbed his leg and mockingly said: “Oops! I have a cramp in my leg,” or something like that. He uttered a few more words and laughingly walked off the stage alive.
But on Sunday, June 22, 2008, at 6 p.m. PDT, he walked off the stage again – another stage and this time, he suddenly died going off the stage. The stage of time. He left for eternity the same day he arrived at Saint John’s Health Center in Santa Monica with chest pains – not leg cramps. As you read this, Mr. Carlin is in God’s eternity. His comedy acts are over. He sounded mighty brave on his stage. It almost sounded like he would have the last word. The last say.
The big talk for Mr. Carlin is over. While his admirers continue to rant about his comedy acts and delight in the way he popularized those seven obscene words – the man himself is in God’s eternity. I suspect the big talk is over. The seven obscene words won’t spew out now into the face of God. He now believes in God. There are no unbelievers in eternity.
If Mr. Carlin died without ever repenting of his sin, if Mr. Carlin died without ever turning to God, if Mr. Carlin died without accepting Christ as his Saviour, I feel profoundly sad. I can’t imagine what eternity is like for a Christ rejecter.
You, too, will be walking off the stage of time one of these days – maybe today. Hopefully, you have never ranted and railed against God. Hopefully, you are not an atheist or a blasphemer. But the reality is – people who do not know Christ as their personal Saviour go to the same place when they die. It is a place of conscious eternal suffering.
Be sure of this, God has the last word and the final say. For those who die in their sins, without knowing Christ as their Saviour, they will have a one-on-one meeting with Jesus Christ in eternity. He will not be their Saviour that day. He will be the Almighty and All-Knowing Judge. Every secret will be exposed.
“In the day when God shall judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ according to my gospel.” (Romans 2:16)
We urge you to flee to Christ for the forgiveness of sins NOW. Have your meeting with Christ in time. Accept Him now as your Saviour and enjoy being with Him for the eternal ages. One minute after you die is too late. If you don’t have your meeting in this life with Him as your Saviour, you will meet Him as your Judge in eternity. But there will be no mercy then.
The blood of Jesus Christ, His Son, cleanses from all sin. 1 John 1:7
Jesus says: Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Matthew 11:28
Will you trust Jesus Christ as your Saviour this very day?
(1) http://www.usatoday.com/life/people/2008-06-23-carlin-obit_N.htm
“I was an Irish Catholic,” George Carlin said in his act in the 1970s, “and now I’m a human being.” He’d already accepted Christ early in life — “I call him ‘The Man In The Clouds'” he said in a 1980s act — but as he got older he got to thinking about things and how the way the world works doesn’t jibe with how things play out, and how religion (any religion but specifically Christianity because this is what he knew best) is in the practice of pushing people around for its own benefit, under threat of eternal punishment, such as you conclude your piece speaking about.
I don’t know enough about what really exists in the world. I do know Carlin had opinions, just as you do, and beliefs in how things are or should work, as you do. Personally I think there’s a higher power but it’s not what any one religion claims it to be — the Good Book clearly states that we can’t understand the nature of God, which would be why there are so many religions saying the same thing and so many different sects and interpretations that follow the same being yet speak in contrary terms to one another on some subects — and Carlin saw too much hypocracy, suffering, and people resorting to passing off their problems through religion rather than addressing and resolving them. And that would be why his religion became Frisbeetarian, the belief that when you die your soul gets stuck on the roof, and then in the end he became an atheist that was sick of all the hypocracy, suffering, and lack of personal responsibility.
You are right. Human minds cannot comprehend the Infinite. We will never be able to fully understand the fullness of the Eternal God. We get a sense of His power, creativity and awesomeness when we study the grandeur of His creation – our universe. When Jesus came to earth, we saw the character of God on display for 33 years. The wonders of the Incarnation! John 1:14 “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.” God’s love was on full display at the Cross. John 3:16
God in His kindness, gave us His Word (The Bible). Everything God wants us to know in this life about Himself is recorded in the Bible. I am so thankful that when it comes to our relationship with Him – you don’t have to be a theologian or a Harvard Graduate to understand what’s vital about your relationship with God and your future. Matthew 11:22; John 1:29, John 3:7,16,36; Romans 3:23; Romans 5:6-8; Romans 6:23, Ephesians 2:8-9
As for George Carlin, you may want to read this post: https://heaven4sure.com/2008/06/26/george-carlins-seven-obscene-words-heaven4sure-com-life-lessons/