http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Proverbs+14:12&version=NIV1984
http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Hebrews%2010:31&version=NIV1984
http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=2%20Peter%203:9&version=NASB
Christopher Hitchens died yesterday. He was 62. Four months ago I wouldn’t have even known who Hitchens was. Today I do. The reason is that in August I was doing some research for a sermon on Antiochus Epiphanes. I was preaching a summer series on non-Jewish kings of the Bible. With each king I tried to select one word that summarized their life. For Epiphanes it was the word defiant. As I was looking for an illustration to introduce the sermon I came across Hitchens’ biography. I knew right then that I had found the right illustration. Hitchens was the personification of defiant. He was defiant right to the very end. He and Frank Sinatra would have been good friends. Hitchens always did things his way. No matter what others said or thought.
Having never met or known Hitchens I want to be careful with my comments. All I know about him is what I have read. This can be problematic depending upon the reliability of the sources used. For this reason I will try to stick to well-attested facts.
Among other things, Hitchens was a self-proclaimed atheist. Meaning that he didn’t believe in the existence of God. Hitchens, however, preferred to call himself an ‘anti-theist’ instead. The difference, Hitchens said, is that “an atheist can still wish that belief in God were correct. An anti-theist, however, is someone who is relieved that there’s no evidence for such an assertion.” OK. At least he’s not like so many modern-day politicians who constantly change their views. Or who purposely try to keep their views vague and imprecise. Hitchens was very straightforward about what he believed. And didn’t believe.
In 2007 Hitchens wrote a book entitled, God Is Not Great. Once again, we see that Hitchens pulls no punches. In his book he contends that “the real axis of evil is Christianity, Judaism, and Islam”. He goes on to argue that the concept of God is a belief that destroys individual freedom. And that free expression and scientific discovery should replace religion as a means of teaching ethics and defining human civilization.
This past April Hitchins was unable to address the American Atheists Convention due to his battle with esophageal cancer. He sent the following letter instead:
“Dear fellow-unbelievers, nothing would have kept me from joining you except the loss of my voice (at least my speaking voice) which in turn is due to a long argument I am currently having with the specter of death. Nobody ever wins this argument, though there are some solid points to be made while the discussion goes on. I have found, as the enemy becomes more familiar, that all the special pleading for salvation, redemption and supernatural deliverance appears even more hollow and artificial to me than it did before.”
I guess I don’t have much experience in dealing with atheists. Or anti-theists. I don’t think that I have ever heard of someone being so bold, so proud, so sure of their anti-God beliefs. But that was Hitchens. What he believed, he believed. Unfortunately, like so many other people in our day, he refused to believe in anything that could be classified as ‘super’ natural. He would only believe in what he could determine to be true with his physical senses. As such he had no room in his worldview for God. Or salvation. Or divine justice.
That is too bad. A man who was created by God, in His image, with the gift of such a great intellect, let it go to waste. Instead of using his intellect to embrace God and to promote His reign, like C. S. Lewis did, he became Christopher Hitchens. Atheist. Rebel. Defiant One. The fact is that God gives each of us the power of choice. The choice to believe. Or not to believe. But along with free choice the Bible teaches that we also have to live with our choices. For all eternity. Sadly, if Hitchens’ life and comments are any indication, at this very moment, he is living with his.
Lord, I thank you for the truth found in Your Word. That You exist. That You created all that exists. That You rule over all that exists. I thank you that You rule in my heart and life. I pray for those who are blind to the truth. For those who reject it. For those who insist that the only reality is physical in nature. Continue to give them light. Be patient with them. Keep on pursuing them. May my life be used to direct those who live in the darkness of intellectualism and humanism to You. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
Having never met or known Hitchens I want to be careful with my comments. All I know about him is what I have read. This can be problematic depending upon the reliability of the sources used. For this reason I will try to stick to well-attested facts.
Among other things, Hitchens was a self-proclaimed atheist. Meaning that he didn’t believe in the existence of God. Hitchens, however, preferred to call himself an ‘anti-theist’ instead. The difference, Hitchens said, is that “an atheist can still wish that belief in God were correct. An anti-theist, however, is someone who is relieved that there’s no evidence for such an assertion.” OK. At least he’s not like so many modern-day politicians who constantly change their views. Or who purposely try to keep their views vague and imprecise. Hitchens was very straightforward about what he believed. And didn’t believe.
In 2007 Hitchens wrote a book entitled, God Is Not Great. Once again, we see that Hitchens pulls no punches. In his book he contends that “the real axis of evil is Christianity, Judaism, and Islam”. He goes on to argue that the concept of God is a belief that destroys individual freedom. And that free expression and scientific discovery should replace religion as a means of teaching ethics and defining human civilization.
This past April Hitchins was unable to address the American Atheists Convention due to his battle with esophageal cancer. He sent the following letter instead:
“Dear fellow-unbelievers, nothing would have kept me from joining you except the loss of my voice (at least my speaking voice) which in turn is due to a long argument I am currently having with the specter of death. Nobody ever wins this argument, though there are some solid points to be made while the discussion goes on. I have found, as the enemy becomes more familiar, that all the special pleading for salvation, redemption and supernatural deliverance appears even more hollow and artificial to me than it did before.”
I guess I don’t have much experience in dealing with atheists. Or anti-theists. I don’t think that I have ever heard of someone being so bold, so proud, so sure of their anti-God beliefs. But that was Hitchens. What he believed, he believed. Unfortunately, like so many other people in our day, he refused to believe in anything that could be classified as ‘super’ natural. He would only believe in what he could determine to be true with his physical senses. As such he had no room in his worldview for God. Or salvation. Or divine justice.
That is too bad. A man who was created by God, in His image, with the gift of such a great intellect, let it go to waste. Instead of using his intellect to embrace God and to promote His reign, like C. S. Lewis did, he became Christopher Hitchens. Atheist. Rebel. Defiant One. The fact is that God gives each of us the power of choice. The choice to believe. Or not to believe. But along with free choice the Bible teaches that we also have to live with our choices. For all eternity. Sadly, if Hitchens’ life and comments are any indication, at this very moment, he is living with his.
Lord, I thank you for the truth found in Your Word. That You exist. That You created all that exists. That You rule over all that exists. I thank you that You rule in my heart and life. I pray for those who are blind to the truth. For those who reject it. For those who insist that the only reality is physical in nature. Continue to give them light. Be patient with them. Keep on pursuing them. May my life be used to direct those who live in the darkness of intellectualism and humanism to You. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
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