Posted on 12/16/2011 5:22:24 AM PST by markomalley
Cancer weakened, but did not soften Christopher Hitchens. He did not repent or forgive or ask for pity. As if granted diplomatic immunity, his mind’s eye looked plainly upon the attack and counterattack of disease and treatments that robbed him of his hair, his stamina, his speaking voice and eventually his life.
“I love the imagery of struggle,” he wrote about his illness in an August 2010 essay in Vanity Fair. “I sometimes wish I were suffering in a good cause, or risking my life for the good of others, instead of just being a gravely endangered patient.”
Hitchens, a Washington, D.C.-based author, essayist and polemicist who waged verbal and occasional physical battle on behalf of causes left and right, died Thursday night at M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston of pneumonia, a complication of his esophageal cancer, according to a statement from Vanity Fair magazine. He was 62.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtontimes.com ...
“I sometimes wish I were suffering in a good cause, or risking my life for the good of others, instead of just being a gravely endangered patient.”
Suffering in a good cause- like many people of faith do all of their lives.
That was a wish he could have made come true, had he only chosen.
“If an unbeliever can redeem himself in such manner, he must have done that.
We’ll all find out on Judgment Day.”
Those of us who are saved will not have to face the White Throne of Judgment. We will go before the Bema Seat of Christ that will determine our rewards on heaven.
..unless, in his final moments, he repented and asked Jesus Christ to forgive him.
No amount of talent, and he was a very good wordsmith....will get anyone into Heaven.
..there is only one road.
If you, or anyone, can find them...Hitchens' appearances on "Firing LIine" with Wm F. Buckley Jr were memorable..
No doubt a good writer, but not a conservative, not even close.
Don’t take the Mark.
You will never know in this case.
Brilliantly said.
As a writer; far, beyond 'good'.
and the smug Christians who pop up on threads informing us all of who is going to Hell.
Many of the “smug Christians” are only repeating what God has said, and this is their belief. You of course, don’t have to agree, which is your privilege, as stated.
It’s not today that should concern us, it’s “that day” (Martin Luther).
I’d give anything to get his opinion on the existence of God right now.
>>I’ve been a Freeper for 10 years, and I love Free Republic.<<
It was a rhetorical question. I can cursor over your name and see how long you’ve been here.
>>But there are two contingencies on here I cannot stand: the teacher-bashers, and the smug Christians who pop up on threads informing us all of who is going to Hell.<<
Maybe it would be a good idea to stay off these threads today. If you’re upset by people’s beliefs in God and the afterlife, you’ll blow a clot with these threads. It’s YOUR choice to be upset. Like militant gays who get in Christian’s faces, you are choosing to be offended and lashing out. Be calm and be happy.
>>You will never know in this case. <<
One day I’ll know, but I’m not sure I’ll care at all,
“Hitchens has found out that God is great.”
I believe that too. Otherwise what’s it all about?
I admired him and admired myself for considering his points of view. I think he used the gift God gave him in the ways God planned for him. RIP, Christopher.
Christians opinions of Heaven and Hell are not based on happenstance or hearsay.....
..but on the Holy Bible, the Word of God.
You may choose, as Christopher Hitchens, not to believe Jesus is the only way to Salvation, but long time freeper, the truth is ....HE IS.
Chritians should only reflect sorrow when a defiant one has entered eternity separated from Christ forever.....
He just redeemed himself, perhaps, in ignorance of the reality of God, with those words, and wish, “ ...to die for the good of others...”. That sounds familiar. Isn’t God the root word of “good”? We know nothing of Hitch and God in the moment of the dying breath, since “ his ways are not our ways”. He is merciful to whom he is merciful, where there is repentence. We, here, just don’t know, based on what we see and hear, but what God sees and hears. Justice was done, either way.
God’s word says
Hebrews 9:27 says we are all “destined to die once, and after that to face judgment.”
Luke 16:25 “But Abraham replied, ‘Son, remember that in your lifetime you received your good things, while Lazarus received bad things, but now he is comforted here and you are in agony. 26 And besides all this, between us and you a great chasm has been set in place, so that those who want to go from here to you cannot, nor can anyone cross over from there to us.’
John 3:36
Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God’s wrath remains on them.
The Dead Are Judged
Rev 20:11 Then I saw a great white throne and him who was seated on it. Earth and sky fled from his presence, and there was no place for them. 12 And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Another book was opened, which is the book of life. The dead were judged according to what they had done as recorded in the books. 13 The sea gave up the dead that were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead that were in them, and each person was judged according to what he had done. 14 Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. The lake of fire is the second death. 15 If anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.
Two assumptions in one short sentence. Wow.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.