Posted on 12/15/2011 9:12:53 PM PST by Arthurio
R.I.P. Christopher Hitchens
December 15, 2011 11:51 P.M. By Daniel Foster Vanity Fair reports that Christopher Hitchens has passed away. Often frustrating, usually provocative, always brilliant. He added to the culture, and the conversation.
I’m sure I join many in hoping he is in for a glorious, glorious surprise.
(Excerpt) Read more at nationalreview.com ...
Interesting link...:O)
You presume to tell me what I'm thinking?
May God forgive you.
That's true of everybody who has died ...
And will be true of the rest of us, when we die.
"Father, into your hands I commend my spirit ..."
“Again, you’re making an ad hoc definition of atheist. “
Well, maybe. But what I think is that just getting people to talk about God is the start. The concept of a loving God who knows you thoroughly, your inner motives, your dreams, sins, that you can speak to and communication with this Being and the feeling that he has a destiny in store for you if you will repent and turn to him is captivating.
These ideas are haunting to anyone who thinks about it, even while they deny it with calculated philosophy. Once exposed to the gospel, it quietly does its work.
All the arguments in the world can’t banish the idea of this loving God who is hounding you, trying to connect and save you. No matter what they say, inside something is happening.
Sort of like Saint Paul who persecuted believes and strongly argued against them, until the Damascus Road event.
It took decades to see Professor Anthony Flew have a change of heart. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SNkxpTIbCIw
Atheism is just an ideology. God is out for salvation which transcends assent to propositions.
I am not sure what you mean by a “level.” However, given 2,000 year of scientific advancement, we now know pretty well what the earth interior is like, and with things like the Hubble telescope, we have a pretty good idea of what the universe looks like. So nowadays, where is it suggested that heaven and hell might be located?
What amazes me is that my response was very tacky but her reply was pulled. I don’t get that way often, and expected mine to be pulled. However, her/his initial comment on this thread was way tackier than my reply.
Kudos to the admin moderators. ;o)
Maybe they are on to her/him?
She/he’s been a nasty piece of work for many years.
Just an FYI...I have no idea of the gender of this individual.
What an awesome, compassionate, and very cogent post.
You remind me of why I care about you, and consider your posts well worth reading.
“It may depend on their exposure to him. Some folks may have only seen him when he said things they disagreed with. I had seen him tweak both sides. When I disagreed with him, I could at least understand where he was coming from, although some of those times I thought he was way off base.”
I totally agree with this part of your post. He was certainly one quirky dude. But, he was always someone to listen to.
I have to somewhat disagree about your God part of the post, though.
God loves everyone, no matter what they do, and He gives us free will to conduct ourselves as we see fit.
If He grieves, it’s because of the choices we’ve made.
Upon one’s death, even until the hour of our death, we have the choice to accept Jesus as the Son of God, and our Lord and Savior.
If God grieves, it’s because those who do evil in this world didn’t accept Him.
But, you might be right that God is happy that those who do evil aren’t allowed to continue.
Shakespeare was a terrible writer......
S’s look like f’s, U’s look like v’s....absolutely terrible.
Good post. Too many people think gaining entrance to heaven is about good and evil, where God tells us it first requires His forgiveness.
Instead of wondering how a Perfect God could condemn people to Hell for all eternity, they should wonder why anybody would assume a Perfect God must endure evil in His presence for all eternity. Human good independent of God is parlayed into evil by the Adversary.
It is by His grace that He has provided a brilliant mechanism, from His love, to allow us, who are imperfect, a method by which we may be considered righteous by His gift, so that we might enter into His abode.
A smidgeon more faith than no faith whatsoever is all it takes for a saving faith.
I was brought up to say “Rest in Peace” or “May God Rest his Soul.” These are beautiful words to me and it’s my way of saying goodbye to Christopher Hitchens. My complaint is with nasty people who come on a forum like this and wish that he was burning in hell for all eternity. And then they claim to be Christians!
I appreciate that.
You made it plain yesterday that his death hit you hard.
I would say there are probably many Christians here for whom Mr. Hitchens’ words “God is Not Great” are at least as offensive as someone saying “America Is Evil.”
The big questions, which Mr. Hitchens made a life of addressing, are often going to provoke the big arguments, aren’t they?
Thanks for your posts on the matter. Take care.
Just one last thought: I know that people are upset over God Is Not Great. That’s a stupid title. But he is vicious in his denunciation of Islam. Those are the only parts of the book I have read - and they are masterful.
A Merry Christmas to you if we don’t talk again!
neither do I.
that poster seemed like something they are not...
very abrasive and all over the board
i hate the word troll except for actual lefty agents here
but we do have folks who post just to be nasty
Chris has always reminded me of the authors and poets of the Catholic Spring in England. A secret believer, who, by nature of the age he lived in, took a contrarian stance.
At the end he said, with Francis Thompson:
“Naked, I await Thy Love’s uplifted stroke.”
~~Hound of Heaven
Here is another link on Hitchens. It has quite a bit of biographical information, and around 2,000 comments pro and con. I did not know that he was pro Iraq war. He was good at throwing stuff at both the right and left if he felt their thinking was flawed.
I think we there are some folks here who are just plain unhappy, and take out their frustrations here.
The one thing that I liked about Hitchens is that he was extremely honest and forthright.
One always knew where he stood on any issue.
He was a complicated person in that he held views on both the left and the right.
You couldn’t pigeon hole him.
funny how England produces so many gay big drinking wits
Wilde, Coward, Shaw and Hitchens
Hitchens being the least liberal actually
Coward’s last “partner” was my Red Stripe girlfriends godfather...a dapper fop himself
probably gone now too...last I saw him was walking down Madison Ave in 1985
I love reading your stories.
You’ve seen more than most, and I’m glad to be part of your experiences even though they are, for me, second hand.
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