Rich Young Influencer Ben Shapiro Ponders What One Must Do To Inherit Eternal Life
If a poll asked young conservative Christian men to identify a culturally significant figure that they admire, Daily Wire co-founder Ben Shapiro would undoubtedly be near the top of the list. With Shapiro as its figurehead in the last eight years, the Daily Wire has grown from a small, relatively insignificant niche conservative news outlet to one of the fastest-growing media companies in the United States, boasting more than $100 million annually in revenue and 200+ employees.
If one had a conversation with Ben about his wealth and success, Shapiro would undoubtedly punctuate the conversation with the statement, “and did I mention that my wife is a doctor?” As a well-polished political commentator with bonafide conservative credentials, Ben Shapiro seems to have it all together. Still, in a series of recent Facebook posts, the 39-year-old adherent to Orthodox Judaism delved into the topic of religion, discouraging non-Jews from converting to Judaism, and making the claim that the majority of people on earth will get into heaven without converting to Judaism.
Shapiro’s statements about lawkeeping show the heart and philosophy behind his theology. According to Shapiro, the majority of people on the earth keep a form of gentile law that is derived from the Jewish Talmud, known as the “Seven Laws of Noah”, which, by Shapiro’s standard, makes them basically morally good.
The Jewish theology of Ben Shapiro is nearly indistinguishable from the theology of therapeutic moral deism, which says that people are basically good and as long as they make an effort to live a moral life they will end up in heaven. Interestingly, Shapiro finds the keeping of the 613 commandments of Orthodox Judaism “onerous” but apparently believes that as an Orthodox Jew, he is capable of living up to the standard of the law.
Nearly two millennia ago, another distinguished rich young man approached Jesus with the issue of eternal life on his mind. Like Ben Shapiro, the man held a high view of himself as a lawkeeper and generally good person, but this man wanted Jesus to affirm his personal accomplishments of moral living and law keeping. Matthew recorded the interaction in his Gospel account:
And behold, a man came up to him, saying, “Teacher, what good deed must I do to have eternal life?” And he said to him, “Why do you ask me about what is good? There is only one who is good. If you would enter life, keep the commandments.” He said to him, “Which ones?” And Jesus said, “You shall not murder, You shall not commit adultery, You shall not steal, You shall not bear false witness, Honor your father and mother, and, You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” The young man said to him, “All these I have kept. What do I still lack?” Jesus said to him, “If you would be perfect, go, sell what you possess and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.” When the young man heard this he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions. Matthew 19:16-22
Jesus recognized that the rich young man who approached him was incapable of keeping the law. The man’s desire to achieve personal holiness through effort, while admirable in the eyes of a moralistic culture, was a fool’s errand because a fallen man is incapable of perfectly keeping the law in its entirety. Jesus pointed out a single obvious weak point in the rich young man’s claim to personal piety, and the entire facade came crashing down. The rich young man loved his wealth and possessions more than he loved God, a form of idolatry. Those things that he loved more than God were his idols. His failure to keep a single point of the law meant that he had failed to keep the whole law, rendering him insufficiently righteous to live eternally with a perfect and holy God. In his Sermon on the Mount, Jesus punched additional holes in the moralistic worldview, showing how every single person fails to live up to the moral law of God.
“You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not murder; and whoever murders will be liable to judgment.’ But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment; whoever insults his brother will be liable to the council; and whoever says, ‘You fool!’ will be liable to the hell of fire. Matthew 5:21-22
“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart. Matthew 5:27-28
Like the rich young man, Ben Shapiro has all the admiration of the world and signs of materialistic success, but he lacks one thing. That one thing is the ability to perfectly keep the law of God in its entirety. Whether the law is expanded into an extensive list of 613 rules, translated and distilled into 7 basic rules for Gentiles, or boiled down into its most basic form of the two greatest commandments (love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind, and love your neighbor as yourself), there is no hope for Ben Shapiro or any other person who pursues salvation through personal self-righteousness. Whether you are a Harvard Law graduate like Shapiro, or a simple uneducated man, you are incapable of attaining the law of God.
For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become guilty of all of it. James 2:10
Fortunately for Ben Shapiro and every other person in this fallen world, there was one man, Jesus, the Son of God and Messiah who fulfilled the whole law, died, and rose again so that imperfect people, both Jewish and Gentile, can be reconciled to a Holy God. That is the good news of the Gospel. Those who receive the gift of his atoning sacrifice on the cross by grace through faith cannot trust in their own works, because they know that they are sinners in need of salvation. Jesus Christ is the only hope for Ben Shapiro and all sinners, whether Jew or Gentile.
But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it— the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction: for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God’s righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins. It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus. Romans 3:21-26
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Amen brother.
Good read, thanks.
Ben’s a fraud who’s been manufactured from the beginning by Conservative Inc.; and why isn’t he fighting for Israel?