Posted on 08/15/2010 4:29:13 PM PDT by marshmallow
I’m sure that one person praying extremely hard for him is his brother, who is a strong Catholic.
Re:Hitchens, I'm sitting here looking at a couple of photos I have of him and me--taken at one of the many Freeper rallies held in front of the White House, during the Clinton administration. I believe he was there for everyone of them---he truly despised the Clintons and all they stood for.
I pray that if he is going through therapy, that he is comfortable, he is not in pain and that, if it is God's will, he is healed. But above all, I pray that he will turn his heart back to the faith of his youth, that the Spirit of God reaches to the depths of his soul and draws him back to that simple faith in a God who created and loves him. The one who loved us so much he provided a way for us all to be reconciled to him. "For so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever believes in him will not perish but have everlasting life."
“He is dearly missed and I can’t wait to see him restored one day.”
You and I have had similar thoughts. The idea of seeing our dear sister in heaven with her faculties restored - or of the schizophrenic brother I know with his sanity restored - makes me tear up. I can barely imagine it, but I can’t wait.
I also want to see Joni on her feet, don’t you? That will be something.
I want to see joni dancing on THIS side of heaven as well...
Amen to that.
Malcolm Muggeridge comes to mind...
The idea of Joni on her feet made me smile. :) Dancing! And about my friend Frank - I want to see him standing there and hear this booming voice saying “Well done, my good and faithful servant!” Having done more during his simple life than all of us who knew him. Pretty awesome. I’m so sorry about your brother.
Thanks for responding - I’m going to smile my way to sleep over this exchange tonight.
Prayers up for Chris. I hope that one day he will be healthy, happy and evangelizing like no one has for a couple of millennium.
‘some of the biggest Atheists who later accepted the Lord, became the best preachers and Christian writers ever’
C. S. Lewis was one of them.
‘I’ll believe it, if I see a miracle myself’
By any chance is your name Thomas?
Why the attitude? I could have said something like "Thickheaded and a believer in magic" or something, but I didn't, I merely presented another view.
Once again, I am puzzled by the antagonism for other views. I've encountered more than my share of idiot, hateful atheists in my day, and plenty of similar believers, but I've never been that way, and I just don't get the need to be instantly insulting just because someone STATES a different opinion. Weird.
Well, I never said the world just "happened" so I don't know what you're talking about as a reply to my post.
Thank you, that’s very kind.
I do believe that. In fact, I have a hunch that God has a special corner of heaven set aside for those who refuse to believe in a vengeful God. I think they must believe that loving God out of fear is not love at all. For those people I pray that they will learn to simply love God for Himself alone--not for what He can give or what punishment He might hand out. Just simple unconditional love, like the love of a parent for his child. This might sound like the opposite of how we traditionally think of God, which is that He is the parent and we are the children. But children are incapable of loving their parents unconditionally. The parents are all powerful to them, so there is the element of fear, expectations, need. We must learn to love God for no reason other than that He is.
Why would it be *betraying* Hitchens's beliefs if he cried out to the Almighty in a moment of pain?
After all, religion/God is a just a psychological crutch, right? A coping mechanism to deal with meaninglessness, pain and death? So let the man have his crutch, if he needs it.
Because he doesn't believe in God as anything but a crutch for the weak, as you say below. So if in a moment of weakness he does the opposite of what he believes, that would be betraying his beliefs--just as if in a moment of weakness a believer turning his back on God would be betraying his beliefs.
After all, religion/God is a just a psychological crutch, right? A coping mechanism to deal with meaninglessness, pain and death? So let the man have his crutch, if he needs it.
So by your logic, a believer giving in to a moment of grief and deciding there is no God is just fine. Huh.
Wow--that's the best post in response to the subject I've ever read here. Well done.
You've summed up some of my feelings about the "vengeful God" idea--I'm with Mark Twain there.
Thank you. I’m not familiar with Twain’s writings on the subject, but I would like to read them. Do you remember which book or essay it was?
http://nogodzone.blogspot.com/2006/06/mark-twain-on-bible-and-religion.html
Not for the easily-offended!
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