his Come to Jesus moment might be close at hand...Let’s keep praying for him.
HItchens is the sort of soul that I pray for. If you’ll all pardon a double negative, he is not “neither hot nor cold.”
I don’t pray for a public, grand reversal. If God seeks to fulfill his life in that way, so be it. It might be great publicity for Christ, but Christ needs no publicity, and those who hate Him will not be swayed by Hitchens. In fact, the opportunity for Christians to gloat might be a turnoff. Or, he could become a great, zealous promoter of Christianity, or the notion that he found eternal peace at the very last moment might inspire someone great. But Christ doesn’t need to do things that way; if he does or not, it’s part of a greater plan than we can fathom.
I pray for him because we are commanded to love our enemies, and if I can actually be concerned more for his own soul than what it can do for whatever cause of mine, no matter how just, it will do my own soul well. And if I can pray for him for his own sake, not my own soul’s, then we both shall be better yet.
It would not be the first time “brilliant” atheists converted. CS Lewis comes to mind. Just recently Anthony Flew—one of the leading atheist authors said he is now a Deist. Interesting no one hears of these atheist conversions, although Flew was a leading atheist for much longer than Hitchens and was the author for many books required at all the “elite” universities.
Christ’s words on the cross “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me” is a reference by him to psalm 22 and one should read the whole thing to understand. The last line is “He has done it.”
Hitchens’ brother is a Christian and is very good at apologetics. I do pray that Hitch will believe too.
his Come to Jesus moment might be close at hand...So if one is a non-believer and gets truly sick, it is ok to trash his/her character, but if a believer gets sick, you seem to have empathy to their sickness. You make me sick.
You call yourselves Christians?? You are an embarrassment to Christ's teachings. Remember this? “forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us”
Us “non-believers” treat humans with more dignity and respect than you frauds could ever fanthom.
At church we have a man who is a nuclear physicist. He was an atheist but began questioning his beliefs. Started reading a bible and slowly converted. He works on the side for a company called apologetics press. It is publications that use science to teach creation and christianity. Another member is a teacher who also was an atheist. Some of our high school students taught him and he converted. It is possible! :)
Not a chance. That’s a real stretch to extrapolate that he would from that comment. But, hey ... here’s hoping.
Hitchens did a disgusting piece in VF on how the 10 commandments are useless & unnecessary. When in fact the opposite is true - if most people followed most of the 10 commandments most of the time, we’d be doing great. This guy deserves what he gets.
Cancer attacks the mind, body, and spirit. No one escapes cancer scot free - it comes with a price even if one survives. I believe no one goes through cancer without having or reaching an understanding of the divine in the process. The fabric between this physical world and the spiritual world thins, one cannot help but see the miracles, no matter the eventual outcomes. I had an advanced adenocarcinoma, Mrs FE also survived cancer, both of us going through surgery and heavy chemo (whick took me right to the edge). The experience brought us both closer to God and to each other. I hope Hitchens is experiencing an epiphany.
The author has no business mentioning the latter two in the same sentence as the former three.
I’m a Christian....and call me crazy...but I’ve always had an affinity for ol’ Hitch. Maybe it’s because I’ve lived in Britain (or married to a Brit)....but I’ve always chuckled at his candor. He’s been VERY outspoken about Islam (which is BANG ON)....but I’ve never found a cold-hardheartedness like I have with so many other atheists....and, sometimes, I’m wondering if he’s just ‘being bombastic for ratings and writings’.
I pray for him. There is always hope....and something tells me.......he knows that.
Christopher Hitchens’ brother is a very strong Catholic. Maybe he’s having an influence on him, in the late stages of his disease.
I remember listening to a man from India who anguished over what he might be reincarnated into after his death. He was truly troubled by the thought that he might have to go through another painful illness. Over and over.
The pain of despair has got to be worse. Resting in the arms of someone who loves you is a much more comforting end.
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In later life, Russell concluded that injustice in the world constitutes a moral argument against the existence of God Himself. But then, he found himself in a dilemma. If there is no moral standard, why even suggest that there is such a thing as injustice?
He began to think that if there was no moral law, and no God, that mankind had to live as if there was one, because without it, pain, suffering, death, rape, mutilation, oppression, and cruelty were our only options.
I told him once in DC after he spoke to the FR, “God picks the least likely to do his work”. I hope that sinks in some day.
Live and learn, I always think of Faulkner when I see that title but now I'll have to check the one by Neuhaus out.
As for Hitchens, I won't hold my breath but I will continue to pray for him. A lot of people sure would think it's a miracle if he became a Christian and hung around a while like Malcolm Muggeridge did, making all his old allies look foolish.
As Chesterton noted, Christianity is the only religion that allows God to be an atheist (“Why have you forsaken me?”).
Asking God why He has forsaken you seems to me to be the oppoaite of Atheisim. But I get what he meant.
Hitch is a barometer of how far America has fallen. In the ‘70’s, reading him in Newsday I knew that no one to the right of Stalin could have stomached him. Along comes the 90’s and the Clintons and...