Posted on 12/17/2011 5:32:02 AM PST by Kaslin
When Christopher Hitchens died this week, I trust that after he did so, something miraculous happened.
That’s what my faith tells me.
It’s not in good taste to speak ill of someone recently deceased. But in this case, I think Hitchens would approve, or at least shrug it off with indifference, many of the screeds written for or against him.
But, while reading the eulogies about Hitchens I get the feeling, more than anything else, of a life wasted on unbelief.
Everyone dies, and then…that’s it… or is it?
Is all that’s left behind for a writer like Hitchens a mass of manuscripts and his ability to endure- or not- over the generations?
Hitchens would argue so. But I would argue no.
Because I believe that the things you do in life to bolster faithfulness; the things you do in life to support belief in anything or even something are much more important, either way, than the things you stand against.
Faith is the most important part of life and probably the most neglected.
This is not merely a religious argument. It’s an argument against skepticism as an end rather than as a means to something. It’s an argument that understands that unbelief requires much more faith than faith does and provides us with little substance.
If Abraham Lincoln had merely been against the spread of slavery rather than also believing in the God-given equality of man, 45 million people could be in slavery today.
But let’s get back to Hitchens.
His view of the miraculous is a good example of how faith is the most extraordinary part of human existence.
He dismisses our existence as a mere accident of…well he doesn’t know what.
But if we are just an accident that happened, sentient beings with the ability to know right from wrong, of knowing the natural law from right here in our heart, of comprehending our own existence and even rejecting our existence, well that’s probably the greatest miracle of all.
Is more improbable that man with knowledge of natural law was created by a knowing and loving God or just on accident? It certainly would require a great deal of faith to believe that it was on accident.
I’m not a mathematician, but I’m guessing the odds of me being here, occupying this space and time, on accident, would be quite astronomical.
Reverse engineer the "Infinite Monkey" theory that says that if you have an infinite number of monkeys on an infinite number of typewriters that one monkey will accidentally bang out the Complete Works of William Shakespeare. This is a much-used thought experiment that deals in big number probabilities.
In Hitchens' universe, William Shakespeare was that improbable, infinite monkey, as are you. In fact, in Hitchens universe, Shakespeare is even more improbable than our infinite monkey, because our infinite monkey only accounts for the odds of creating Shakespeare's works, rather than creation of Shakespeare himself.
What atheists would have you believe is the improbable multiplied by infinity by accident.
That's why I think increasingly advances in biology and physics suggest that an accidental creation is the most improbable faith of all.
For example, the theory in quantum mechanics called the Uncertainty Principle- which so far is consistent with what has been observed in physics- increasingly suggests that everything remains only a probability until it is actually observed. Without observation, nothing actually exists.
If that’s true- Einstein rejected the possibility of the Uncertainty Principle- none of us really exist nor does the universe exists without an all-seeing being. There is just no other explanation for the universe.
In Hitchens’ universe, a universe without an all-knowing being, freed from bonds of both time and space, would suggest that our existence is only a probability, not a reality.
The awareness of our own existence, our self-consciousness therefore makes belief in a sterile universe without a Creator, an unknowable act of faith.
But instead of faith all you are left with is the certainty of doubt.
The lesson you find has the moral authority of a South Park episode.
And none of the humor.
That’s not great.
That’s an episode of The View.
Hitchens took a different path or two in his time didn't he.
Why Judge? Particularly; ‘post mortem’. Hitchens walked in his shoes. . .as does each individual. Some things are still free; as in one’s own conscience and self-determination. Whether by our own short-sightedness or otherwise.
Hey, he went to the smoking section for eternity. PC/
Hitchens used his time on earth to ask questions. He had every right to search for answers. By doing so - I am confident he provoked many to regain and strengthen their own belief in God and Christ.
It is not His methods or messengers we should question, but wonder at His results.
Thank you Christopher - may you RIP and in His embrace.
Mr. Ransom does not discuss the possibility of the actor being his own observer.
Hitchens was obsessed by God. He didn’t have to be. One can lead a perfectly irreligious life these days in New York, London, Paris and even Rome... It’s not like he was living in Saudi Arabia. Secularism is pretty domaninat.
Yet he spent more time thinking about Him than most religious people. Great Christians such as C.S. Lewis and G.K. Chesterton started out as atheists, probably reasoning along the same lines as Hitchens.
It’s against my religion to condemn people to heaven and hell, but I like to imagine a longer-living Hitchens publicly coming to reality or at least in his last minutes suddenly thanking the Lord. Mercy on his soul.
At least he didn’t spend his days ignoring God, but putting up a fight. Like lots of saints and evangelizers.
If I’m going to spend any time reading the work of an atheist or agnostic, it’ll be written by Ann Rand.
I personally did not agree with Hitchens style of Atheism (he called it Anti-theism)...nor his backing of Obama for _resident. but he definitely was in favor of kicking the crap out of the Islamofascists that caused 9/11.
and he was interesting to listen to.
RIP Chris
“If Abraham Lincoln had merely been against the spread of slavery rather than also believing in the God-given equality of man, 45 million people could be in slavery today.”
Okay, now that was just stupid. Lincoln was a “classicalist” dedicated not to “equality”, but the preservation of the union. He seriously considered that the best resolution of things would be to ship the slaves back to Africa, but was informed that it would be logistically impossible.
Unfortunately, it ended there, because he was otherwise occupied. But had circumstances been more favorable, he would have ordered a repatriation program, as he feared that emancipated blacks would become “perpetual public charges”. Rather foresighted, that.
In truth, for the next 60 years, even many blacks thought that a voluntary return to Africa was a grand idea.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Back-to-Africa_movement
Prior to Emancipation, which was done during the war as an effort to undermine the South, and until the tail end of the war, slaves “liberated” by Union forces were done so not to become free men, but as “contrabands”, who could be used pretty much as chattels, to do things like improving Union fortifications.
Most Christians see the world as divided into “Christians and others”. The belief systems of Hindus, Buddhists, Jainists, Sikhs, and others don’t really count, even though those faiths likewise hold that the universe is created, not random.
I’ve been an atheist all my life. Yet I have been intrigued by Judaism, and by the Baha’i faith, to the point where I once looked at the conversion rituals of both. I wonder if you or the author of this article would rejoice if I were to have so converted??
We don’t know that.
I don’t think Ransom’s mention of Hitchens is central to the piece at all.
The point of the article is these sentences:
“What atheists would have you believe is the improbable multiplied by infinity by accident.
That’s why I think increasingly advances in biology and physics suggest that an accidental creation is the most improbable faith of all.
For example, the theory in quantum mechanics called the Uncertainty Principle- which so far is consistent with what has been observed in physics- increasingly suggests that everything remains only a probability until it is actually observed. Without observation, nothing actually exists.
If that’s true- Einstein rejected the possibility of the Uncertainty Principle- none of us really exist nor does the universe exists without an all-seeing being. There is just no other explanation for the universe.”
Ransom sums up the question (and gives the opposite answer) that Hitchens struggled with in his controversial book.
John Ransom is the Finance Editor for Townhall Finance. He’s also a regular contributor to Townhall Magazine. Ransom’s writings on politics and finance have appeared in the Los Angeles Business Journal, the Colorado Statesman, Pajamas Media and Registered Rep Magazine amongst others. Prior to joining Townhall, he worked as a political activist and consultant in the Western states. Until 9/11, Ransom worked primarily in finance as an investment executive for NYSE member firm Raymond James and Associates, JW Charles and as a new business development executive at Mutual Service Corporation.
Now tell me why should he have written columns before about Hitchens
Certainly not. Depending on your beliefs, you either go to heaven, where you spend the rest of eternity eating grilled hamburgers from frozen patties, Sam's Club potato salad, cole slaw and potato chips with a never-ending supply of Bud Lite, or you go to hell, where the devil sticks a pitchfork up your ass. The choice is yours.
Did Hitchens sin against the Holy Ghost ? You can shake your hand at God and Christ and say what you may. However, when you sin against the Holy Ghost there is no redemption?
Hitchens died fairly young....but all of us will die...eventually.
Where do some of you (here on FR) think Christopher Hitchens.... who profanes God.....attacks God....reviles God....and His son, Jesus Christ.....goes after death?
The Hitchens we know wanted no part of Jesus Christ, the Savior.
And unless....and I hope he did....repented even on his deathbed.....he is facing eternity without Christ...and not in Heaven.
Think of it this way.....If you had a friend or even a relative who hated you.....told lies about you....wrote untruths about you and tried to distort your name and good reputation....
..would you let him into your home, knowing full well he despised and rejected you as friend or brother?
I have a sister-in-law of many years (& who I love) who has a deep enmity against Christ....
..when my mother died, she would not even enter the church for the funeral..
..she sat outside in the parking lot
..she will not attend her beloved niece Christmas programs held in a church..
..she wouldn't even stand in the supermarket parking lot to listen to our choir's Christmas carols.....
..a deep enmity.
She is very ill now.....the next virus or pneumonia could take her, and she's only a couple years older than Hitchens...
..but still she rejects him.
Ask yourself the hard questions.....
Where do you say eternity is?....and are you ready to go there?
>>>Most Christians see the world as divided into “Christians and others”<<<
You don’t know that.
What we do know is that Sojac sees the world as divided into “Others and Christians.”
And you are not alone in that, are you?
Just two days after Reagan’s death Hitchens felt the need to badmouth him. Not only is liberalism a mental disorder, it robs you of your self-respect.
A commentor here posted this, yesterday:
“Now comes the march of those who absolutely cannot stand anyone who can’t be bullied into kow-towing to their Imaginary Friend. How dare the man have the dignity to ignore all those threats of Hell — the spiritual equivalent of “pass on this chain letter or you’ll have bad luck.”
But some people just can’t be intimidated by the myths of any culture, and it really galls those who are.”
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2821161/posts?page=10#10
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