Christopher Hitchens (1949-2011)

[bookslover]

Christopher Hitchens, the social and political commentator, prolific author - and ravingly flamboyant atheist (one of the progenitors of the "new atheism" movement) - has died of esophageal cancer. His cancer weakened him to the point where pneumonia carried him off. He was 62.

He now knows - too late - just how very, very wrong he was. Can't say RIP, alas.

One of his survivors is his younger brother, Peter, who is 60. Peter went the other direction. He abandoned his atheism for biblical Christianity.

 

[JS116]

I just heard of this,I think Albert Mohler is talking about it.

Sad story,but in the end God still get's the glory.

 

[Rufus]

Christopher Hitchens, the social and political commentator, prolific author - and ravingly flamboyant atheist (one of the progenitors of the "new atheism" movement) - has died of esophageal cancer. His cancer weakened him to the point where pneumonia carried him off. He was 62.

He now knows - too late - just how very, very wrong he was. Can't say RIP, alas.

One of his survivors is his younger brother, Peter, who is 60. Peter went the other direction. He abandoned his atheism for biblical Christianity.

His brothers blog:
Mail Online - Peter Hitchens blog

 

[MarieP]

From Doug Wilson:

"Christopher knew that faithful Christians believe that it is appointed to man once to die, and after that the Judgment. He knew that we believe what Jesus taught about the reality of damnation. He also knew that we believe—for I told him—that in this life, the door of repentance is always open. A wise Puritan once noted what we learn from the last-minute conversion of the thief on the cross—one, that no one might despair, but only one, that no one might presume. We have no indication that Christopher ever called on the Lord before he died, and if he did not, then Scriptures plainly teach that he is lost forever. But we do have every indication that Christ died for sinners, men and women just like Christopher. We know that the Lord has more than once hired workers for his vineyard when the sun was almost down (Matt. 20:6)"

Read the whole article here!

Christopher Hitchens Has Died | Christianity Today | A Magazine of Evangelical Conviction

I just heard of this,I think Albert Mohler is talking about it.

Where? On the news? He'll have a blog post, I'm sure, and perhaps a special podcast!

 

[J. Dean]

If Chris was still an atheist at the time of his death, he's not now!

 

[Backwoods Presbyterian]

Christopher Hitchens was baptized in his infancy, and his name means "Christ-bearer." This created an enormous burden that he tried to shake off his entire life. No creature can ever succeed in doing this. But sometimes, in the kindness of God, such failures can have a gracious twist at the end. We therefore commend Christopher to the Judge of the whole earth, who will certainly do right. Christopher Eric Hitchens (1949-2011). R.I.P.

-Doug Wilson

Christopher Hitchens Has Died | Christianity Today | A Magazine of Evangelical Conviction

 

[Tripel]

Very sad.

To me it is a reminder that intelligence (of which Hitchens had plenty) does not aid in finding communion with God. It is by grace alone.

 

[JStone]

I had the pleasure of interacting with Hitchens during a debate in 2008 at Stanford University. I was one of the audience members who asked him a question at the end of the debate. We had a bit of a back-and-forth which ended up drawing applause from the audience; it was a positive experience.

I, as a Christian, am saddened by his death, as I would rather have seen him come to repentance and faith in Christ. But it does not sound like he did.

 

[rookie]

Truly sad, will be praying for his family and his brother.....that he will be able to lead the rest of the family to Christ....

 

[MarieP]

I think this is an article by Russ Moore that we all can amen!

Moore to the Point – Christopher Hitchens Might Be in Heaven

 

[Fly Caster]

While we may hold hope for the salvation on Mr. Hitchens because of the mercy of the Lord to great sinners, it is good to remember that some things belong to the secret things of the Lord, and things He has not revealed are not all that helpful to speculate about. What He has revealed, however, should sober us:

Pro 1:20 Wisdom crieth without; she uttereth her voice in the streets:
Pro 1:21 She crieth in the chief place of concourse, in the openings of the gates: in the city she uttereth her words, saying,
Pro 1:22 How long, ye simple ones, will ye love simplicity? and the scorners delight in their scorning, and fools hate knowledge?
Pro 1:23 Turn you at my reproof: behold, I will pour out my spirit unto you, I will make known my words unto you.
Pro 1:24 Because I have called, and ye refused; I have stretched out my hand, and no man regarded;
Pro 1:25 But ye have set at nought all my counsel, and would none of my reproof:
Pro 1:26 I also will laugh at your calamity; I will mock when your fear cometh;
Pro 1:27 When your fear cometh as desolation, and your destruction cometh as a whirlwind; when distress and anguish cometh upon you.
Pro 1:28 Then shall they call upon me, but I will not answer; they shall seek me early, but they shall not find me:
Pro 1:29 For that they hated knowledge, and did not choose the fear of the LORD:
Pro 1:30 They would none of my counsel: they despised all my reproof.
Pro 1:31 Therefore shall they eat of the fruit of their own way, and be filled with their own devices.
Pro 1:32 For the turning away of the simple shall slay them, and the prosperity of fools shall destroy them.
Pro 1:33 But whoso hearkeneth unto me shall dwell safely, and shall be quiet from fear of evil.

 

[Weston Stoler]

I just had an old ultra Dispensational freind tell me not to worry, that he was Jewish and that he will be in the millennial kingdom......

 

[Somerset]

The radio 4 news at 8am this morning thought this was the second most important story in the world. Just shows how inward looking the media is.

(radio 4 is the current affairs channel of our public service (sic) broadcaster)

 

[Dwimble]

An atheist coworker just posted this comment on facebook:

You changed my life. I will be forever grateful. RIP, Mr. Hitchens.

The irony of her statement is completely lost on her. If her hero, Mr. Hitchens, were correct then there would be no "forever" in which to be grateful and there most certainly would be no "resting in peace," for him or anyone else. There would be simply nothing.

 

[MarieP]

An atheist coworker just posted this comment on facebook:

You changed my life. I will be forever grateful. RIP, Mr. Hitchens.
The irony of her statement is completely lost on her. If her hero, Mr. Hitchens, were correct then there would be no "forever" in which to be grateful and there most certainly would be no "resting in peace," for him or anyone else. There would be simply nothing.

"...He has put eternity in their hearts..."- Ecclesiastes 3:11

 

[rookie]

I just got DEfriended by someone on facebook. She put down that she respects everyone's beliefs, but someone taking the opportunity to put down that Mr. Hitchens might not be in heaven is a bit far, especially on FB.

MY question is, why does everyone say they all respect everyone elses beliefs, but as soon as you mention you're a Christian that believes in God, sin, hell.....then they don't respect you anymore? Isn't that kind of an oxymoron?

 

[InSlaveryToChrist]

I think James White gave some insightful thoughts on the life and death of Christopher Hitchens.

[video=youtube;5cbOSokYjNE]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5cbOSokYjNE&feature=g-u&context=G2094043FUAAAAAAABAA[/video]

 

[SolaSaint]

Listening to Brian Fisher yesterday on AF Radio he said that if Hitchens is in hell it was because God loves him, not sure if he was reading a quote or not. The reasoning is that Hitchens is where he wanted to be. I agree with this statement. Hitchens was reported to have also stated that if after his death if it was siad he made a death bed conversion to ignore for he would have been speaking not of a sound mind.

 

[MarieP]

The reasoning is that Hitchens is where he wanted to be.

The bitter irony is that he doesn't want to be there now, if that is where he went...do not think he's enjoying one moment of it!

Just this past Lord's Day, one of my pastors quoted several authors on this very issue

"Things will be very different in hell for those who have numbed their consciences here on earth. Their consciences will be their worst tormentors, nor will there be any way in which they can be stifled or silenced"- John Blanchard

"Conscience, which should have been the sinner's curb here on earth, becomes the whip that must lash his soul in hell"- John Flavel

 

[TimV]

I just had an old ultra Dispensational freind tell me not to worry, that he was Jewish and that he will be in the millennial kingdom......

He had some Jewish blood, but didn't identify with being Jewish, and so no one considered him so. He followed the same intellectual evolution as the so called neocon Jews, going from leftist Trotskyite politics to never ending war waged by liberal capitalist democracies against everyone else to end history, but how much of that was headline grabbing and how much what he really felt was right is something we may never know.

 

[Rufus]

He had some Jewish blood, but didn't identify with being Jewish, and so no one considered him so. He followed the same intellectual evolution as the so called neocon Jews, going from leftist Trotskyite politics to never ending war waged by liberal capitalist democracies against everyone else to end history, but how much of that was headline grabbing and how much what he really felt was right is something we may never know.

I've heard that a lot of people on the political left where disappointed when Christopher Hitchens supported the war in Iraq (and he, from my knowledge, still did until his death), his brother, pretty much a British paleoconservative didn't support it.

 

[FedByRavens]

This breaks my heart. I wanted so bad for Mr. Hitchen to see the glories of Jesus Christ. Now he is destined to feel His wrath, and i do not rejoice in that. On the contrary, my heart is broken.Let's pray for his family, maybe they'll see the realities of death and flee to Christ.

 

[BJClark]

FedByRavens;

This breaks my heart. I wanted so bad for Mr. Hitchen to see the glories of Jesus Christ. Now he is destined to feel His wrath, and i do not rejoice in that. On the contrary, my heart is broken.Let's pray for his family, maybe they'll see the realities of death and flee to Christ.

Even in hell he will see the glories of Christ, he will not however, enjoy them.

As far as his family, his brother is a Believer...