Posted on 12/17/2011 2:07:50 PM PST by nuconvert
I have several recollections of Christopher Hitchens, who died yesterday at the age of 62.
The first is when I served in the George W. Bush White House and, in the first term, invited Christopher to speak to the White House staff. He spoke very well, of course, but what I most recall are a couple of things that occurred before the speech. The first is standing with him outside of the Eisenhower Executive Office Building. He had gone out to smoke, which wasn’t unusual — and he confided to me that he was nervous, which was. The words “Christopher Hitchens” and “nervous” don’t usually belong in the same sentence. He also wore a tie, which he indicated to me he hadn’t done in years — and, he told me, he had gotten his shoes shined before the speech, which he didn’t recall ever having had done.
It wasn’t hard for me to fit the pieces together. Christopher felt it was an honor for him, a British citizen, to speak at the White House. For all his reputation for being a bon vivant, an iconoclast, and a man not known for his devotion to protocol, he was in fact quite moved to be a guest at one of the great symbols of American democracy. It was, I thought, something of a touching moment.
(Excerpt) Read more at commentarymagazine.com ...
It’s rough ... along with removing the beam from your own eye..
We can almost never measure up.
Psalms 14:1 (For the choir director. A Psalm of David.) The fool has said in his heart, "There is no God."They are corrupt, they have committed abominable deeds; There is no one who does good.
Proverbs 27:22 Though you pound a fool in a mortar with a pestle along with crushed grain, Yet his folly will not depart from him.
And, it seems an atheist on his deathbed was quoted as having said something to the effect of, "Oh God, if there be a god, save my soul, if I have a soul, from hell, if there be a hell." Too little, too late (many, many repetitions of this scenario throughout history).
I just got through watching Hitchens on c-spand in one of his hateful debates about religion. He would laugh in your face to even think he might be in heaven or loved by Jesus. He thought the worse thing Jesus ever claimed in that he died for your sins. He said he found that immoral and disgusting. I doubt seriousely anyone who thinks Hitch in in heaven, despite a death bead confersion is delusional. He even went so far to say if he did have a death bed conversion it was because the cancer caused him to be out of his mind and he rejects anyone thinking he did so. He does not want Gods mercy and stated that many times. He would reject it.
It is commonly accepted that certain moral teachers (Al Gore, Mother Teresa, Joe Paterno) should be above criticism.
Hitch didn't accept than, and pointed out, that, like many people, Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu had her price. The only surprising thing was how low it could be: Cult Leader John-Roger got an endorsement from her for a mere $10,000.
Be careful.
If you can't appreciate the pure beauty of the violin after hearing this, something's wrong with your ears.
Or you can get raw with these strings.
How about this gamechanger from America's Got Talent (which they SHOULD have won).
Either way, the violin is sweet yet lethal.
Do it!
“Hitchens was a crowd pleaser. He took to the podium, casually smoking a cigarette, and recharged the audience amid the unbearable Washington humidity. “We don’t have to allege a conspiracy. We just have here the revelation of a very sinister and power hungry and dishonest and corrupt official mind,” he told the roaring crowd. “The man in the Oval Office is a rapist, a war criminal, a psychopathic liar and a man who doesn’t just respond to, but solicits offers to sell his office.” “
The Truth. Love it.
Thanx for digging that out of the files.
Actually, this is quite a post,very good work.
I agree, good work on the author’s part.
(The reason I don’t say it’s my work is because it’s not. It’s an excerpt of someone else’s work.)
Agreed. After all, Yoda famously said:
I believe God will welcome him in his Kingdom
Guenevere wrote: Just curious.....you believe this, WHY?....what do you base this on?....just asking
These verses come to mind:
Gen 12:3: And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.
Jn 12:32: And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me.
1Cor 15:22: For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.
Mk 3:28: Verily I say unto you, All sins shall be forgiven unto the sons of men, and blasphemies wherewith soever they shall blaspheme:
Rom 5:18: Therefore as by the offence of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation; even so by the righteousness of one the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life
Rom 11:32: For God hath concluded them all in unbelief, that he might have mercy upon all.
Jn 1:29: The next day John seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.
1Tim 4:10: For therefore we both labor and suffer reproach, because we trust in the living God, who is the Savior of all men, specially of those that believe.
Jn 1:9: That was the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world.
1Tim 2:4: Who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth.
Heb 2:9: But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honor; that he by the grace of God should taste death for every man.
See also: 2Cor 5:19; Eph 1:10; Acts 3:21; Col 1:19-20; Phil 2:10; Titus 2:11; 2Pet 3:9.
Notice the word “all” in most of these verses? I take God at his word.
Most of the founding fathers were deists and not necessarily Christians. They spoke of Providence, not Jesus. There is no mention of “Christianity” in any founding documents to my knowledge. The point I want to make is we are not to judge our fellow man in spiritual matters. Our beliefs are as different as night and day yet we are subject to the ONE creator. Hitchens was an honorable man as far as I know and he contributed to society unlike a lot of people - especially as we read today about those terrorists who chopped off a woman’s breast as she fed her baby in her house and to whom I wish eternal fire and damnation upon. We have to get off this “religion” thing and live together in peace and harmony as Jesus preached. Everyone forgets that Christianity is NOT a religion.
I don’t suppose the “go to hell, you atheist” approach converts a lot of faithless people.
And yet, I remain convinced that God loved Hitchens. But that does not mean that Hitchens was forgiven and saved from eternal damnation. I cannot understand why it is so difficult to comprehend that while God loves sinners, as are we all, not every sinner is saved. Possibly I need to read a different Bible. The one I have seems so utterly clear on this point.
Scouts Out! Cavalry Ho!
Well, meine Duetscher FReund, that's their problem, then. I imagine right about now Hitchens is regretting every atheist word he ever wrote or uttered, as will every faithless man and woman eventually.
Gruss Gott!
Scouts Out! Cavalry Ho!
You are wrong in your basic assumption. Only two or three people were “deists”—the vast majority were profound Christians and some were even clergymen. The leaders —men like Benjamin Rush and Wright and John Adams were profoundly influenced by Thomas Reid’s philosophy and Witherspoon. Look and understand their philosophy and Theology. They highly influenced the Revolution and our Founding Documents.
Christianity was the paradigm of ALL the Founders—and responsible for the Age of Reason. Middle East could NEVER have an “Age of Reason” because Christianity is the most rational religion (D’Souza’s book, Why Christianity is so Great.). John Locke’s theories on —the laws of nature and Nature’s God was highly influenced by St. Thomas Aquinas’ Summa Theologiae and the laws of nature.
You have been reading Marxist revisionism-—Howard Zinn’s cr*p. Marx = The Big Lie and is all about misinformation so they can control reality—the truth.
No society can live without a moral code—(Friedrich Nietzsche) and the best moral code—that which elevated women and gave slaves freedom and gives dignity and worth to ALL human beings—even in the womb—is Christianity. That ==all history has proven—led to the most successful and free civil societies in the history of the world.
As Nietzsche predicted—(stalin, hitler, mao, pol pot, mussolini, etc.) when you “kill God” you kill off morality—there CAN BE NO MORALITY if their is NO OBJECTIVE TRUTH—God. ALL our Founding Fathers KNEW THIS AS FACT! There were no atheists. Otherwise, hitler becomes god and there is NO Supra Positive Law which is why Nuremberg Laws were “null and void”—they were just arbitrary man-made laws that deny God—where inalienable Natural Rights come from. No God=there is no right and wrong. Even Nietzsche could see the Stalin’s when the arrogant Postmodernists destroyed Christianity in Europe in the late 18th century. It started in Frankfurt Germany where the Postmoderns collected—which including the twisted, convoluted, irrational philosophy of the atheist Marx.
http://www.adherents.com/gov/Founding_Fathers_Religion.html
Scouts Out! Cavalry Ho!
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