Role Model - Oprah Winfrey

Oprah Winfrey

One life mixed into the sum of seven billion people can be a very meaningless stat for most people. When that one person is Oprah, then that story changes all together and that single soul becomes elevated above the rest. How does a poor baby that came from a mistake in Koscuisko, Mississippi grow up to be the most influential person in the world, apart from the Pope? Oprah is a women that influences people in over 112 countries, on any given day has an audience of 22 million, is the first women to be worth over a billion dollars (Forbes.com), and is personal friend of the President (Taylor 39). Someone that has such an influential voice in this world is bound to have a specific worldview that is foundational to the freethinking world. In this examination of Oprah, we will compare her view of family, career and mainly her take on God.

Before I go into each of these topics we need to first take a look at and understand what Oprah's worldview really is. Oprah grew up and developed her faith in a southern Baptist church. As her success took off and her ideas developed so did her understanding of God and religion. While talking with the new age author Gary Zukav, Oprah emphasizes "that we are more than physical beings. I believe that life is eternal, I believe that it takes on other forms. There's this assumption that whatever is really true can be found in many different paths"(Yonke,2009).Oprah understand Christianity and that Jesus is the Son of God, but she does not think that believing in God is the only way to get to heaven and have eternal life. Oprah speaks less about salvation through Christ than she does Christ-consciousness. Likewise, she describes heaven not as an eternal destination but an inner realm of consciousness. And she dismisses the idea that there is "one way" to God, when she says, "There couldn't possibly be just one way"(Taylor). Oprah may be a Christian based of her relationship from when she was a child but if you look at her belief now she contradicts the foundation of Christianity. There are not multiple ways to heaven, there is only one and Oprah has lost this understanding in her new free thinking belief system.

Oprah has made uncompromised success and in doing so has helped millions of people through her media, scholarships and foundation. Oprah's Angel Network has raised more than $51,000,000 for charitable programs (Business Week) again touching millions of people around the world. Oprah's mission in life is to help the world and has had a grasp of that since the age of 3. God tells us throughout the bible to have love for others and help the poor. Oprah has done just that with her life and is something that I admire about her. God wants us to always give because whatever we have isn't really ours in the first place. Our mission is to serve God by furthering His Kingdom and whether you are