(Christopher Hitchens was an outspoken Atheist who recently died do to cancer)
I must say that when I saw this I was rather amazed. I was amazed at two things:
1)-Christopher Hitchens has made millions of dollars from selling books and doing debates and is well known for his brutal attack on Theism.
As Hitchens recounts his conversation with Dawkins off camera he says in essence if he had the chance to get rid of Theism he wouldn't do it.
Could it be that deep down Hitchen's knows that God exists?
(Romans 1:18-21 ESV)
"For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse. For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened."
According to Holy Scripture ALL MAN knows that God exists but in our sinful nature we suppress this truth. The text says God's evidence for His existence is plain for all to see so we do not have an excuse.
The Atheist can not stand before the throne of the Triune God and plead ignorance. Scripture say's we know God exists but we rather worship the created things rather than the Creator.
Could it also be that Christopher know's that with the atheist worldview it is bankrupt on issues of morality and ultimate purpose and that the atheist worldview is really not all that beautiful.
"The Mad Man". Here is a video of Ravi Zacharias reading this parable:
Here is the parable in written form:
The Mad-Man
The Mad-Man
"Have you not heard of that madman who lit a lantern in the bright morning hours, ran to the market-place, and cried incessantly: "I am looking for God! I am looking for God!"
As many of those who did not believe in God were standing together there, he excited considerable laughter. Have you lost him, then? said one. Did he lose his way like a child? said another. Or is he hiding? Is he afraid of us? Has he gone on a voyage? or emigrated? Thus they shouted and laughed. The madman sprang into their midst and pierced them with his glances.
"Where has God gone?" he cried. "I shall tell you. We have killed him - you and I. We are his murderers. But how have we done this? How were we able to drink up the sea? Who gave us the sponge to wipe away the entire horizon? What did we do when we unchained the earth from its sun? Whither is it moving now? Whither are we moving now? Away from all suns? Are we not perpetually falling? Backward, sideward, forward, in all directions? Is there any up or down left? Are we not straying as through an infinite nothing? Do we not feel the breath of empty space? Has it not become colder? Is it not more and more night coming on all the time? Must not lanterns be lit in the morning? Do we not hear anything yet of the noise of the gravediggers who are burying God? Do we not smell anything yet of God's decomposition? Gods too decompose. God is dead. God remains dead. And we have killed him. How shall we, murderers of all murderers, console ourselves? That which was the holiest and mightiest of all that the world has yet possessed has bled to death under our knives. Who will wipe this blood off us? With what water could we purify ourselves? What festivals of atonement, what sacred games shall we need to invent? Is not the greatness of this deed too great for us? Must we not ourselves become gods simply to be worthy of it? There has never been a greater deed; and whosoever shall be born after us - for the sake of this deed he shall be part of a higher history than all history hitherto."
Here the madman fell silent and again regarded his listeners; and they too were silent and stared at him in astonishment. At last he threw his lantern to the ground, and it broke and went out. "I have come too early," he said then; "my time has not come yet. The tremendous event is still on its way, still travelling - it has not yet reached the ears of men. Lightning and thunder require time, the light of the stars requires time, deeds require time even after they are done, before they can be seen and heard. This deed is still more distant from them than the distant stars - and yet they have done it themselves."
"What Nietzsche is concerned at in relating the above is that God is dead in the hearts of modern men - killed by rationalism and science. This same God however, before becoming dead in men's hearts and minds, had provided the foundation of a "Christian-moral" defining and uniting approach to life as a shared cultural set of beliefs that had defined a social and cutural outlook within which people had lived their lives."
"Nietzsche seems to be suggesting that the acceptance of the Death of God will also involve the ending of accepted standards of morality and of purpose. Without the former and accepted faith-based standards society is threatened by a nihilistic situation where peoples lives are not particularly constrained by considerations of morality or particularly guided by any faith-related sense of purpose."
As many of those who did not believe in God were standing together there, he excited considerable laughter. Have you lost him, then? said one. Did he lose his way like a child? said another. Or is he hiding? Is he afraid of us? Has he gone on a voyage? or emigrated? Thus they shouted and laughed. The madman sprang into their midst and pierced them with his glances.
"Where has God gone?" he cried. "I shall tell you. We have killed him - you and I. We are his murderers. But how have we done this? How were we able to drink up the sea? Who gave us the sponge to wipe away the entire horizon? What did we do when we unchained the earth from its sun? Whither is it moving now? Whither are we moving now? Away from all suns? Are we not perpetually falling? Backward, sideward, forward, in all directions? Is there any up or down left? Are we not straying as through an infinite nothing? Do we not feel the breath of empty space? Has it not become colder? Is it not more and more night coming on all the time? Must not lanterns be lit in the morning? Do we not hear anything yet of the noise of the gravediggers who are burying God? Do we not smell anything yet of God's decomposition? Gods too decompose. God is dead. God remains dead. And we have killed him. How shall we, murderers of all murderers, console ourselves? That which was the holiest and mightiest of all that the world has yet possessed has bled to death under our knives. Who will wipe this blood off us? With what water could we purify ourselves? What festivals of atonement, what sacred games shall we need to invent? Is not the greatness of this deed too great for us? Must we not ourselves become gods simply to be worthy of it? There has never been a greater deed; and whosoever shall be born after us - for the sake of this deed he shall be part of a higher history than all history hitherto."
Here the madman fell silent and again regarded his listeners; and they too were silent and stared at him in astonishment. At last he threw his lantern to the ground, and it broke and went out. "I have come too early," he said then; "my time has not come yet. The tremendous event is still on its way, still travelling - it has not yet reached the ears of men. Lightning and thunder require time, the light of the stars requires time, deeds require time even after they are done, before they can be seen and heard. This deed is still more distant from them than the distant stars - and yet they have done it themselves."
Some great insights From this website says:
"Nietzsche seems to be suggesting that the acceptance of the Death of God will also involve the ending of accepted standards of morality and of purpose. Without the former and accepted faith-based standards society is threatened by a nihilistic situation where peoples lives are not particularly constrained by considerations of morality or particularly guided by any faith-related sense of purpose."
(http://www.age-of-the-sage.org/philosophy/friedrich_nietzsche_quotes.html)
Because we have been created and God has put his knowledge in us, as much as we may want to get away from Theism we can't.
Because we have been created and God has put his knowledge in us, as much as we may want to get away from Theism we can't.
2-The second thing that amazed me is that Hitchens himself said in essence he could feel the disdain and confusion coming from Dawkins. Here is two people that hate God and have made millions of dollars doing books and debates and here Hitchens is saying if he had his foot on the neck of Theism he wouldn't finish it off.
Hitchens says the way Dawkins looked at him had stayed with him and he will never forget it. Almost as though Hitchens himself got to see the anger and rage that the natural man has toward God and if given a chance to finish the theists off he would not pull the trigger.
It would definitively be interesting to have been a fly on the wall in that conversation.
I would love to see Hitchens in eternity worshiping the Lamb of God. Some may gasp at that but we need to take a minute to look at some Biblical theology. We should in no way feel that we somehow deserve heaven and Hitchens deserves hell. Truth is that before God regenerated us we ALL rage and fight against God. Don't believe me? What sayeth the scriptures:
"For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die—but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us."
(Ecclesiastes 9:3)
-"Also, the hearts of the children of man are full of evil, and madness is in their hearts while they live, and after that they go to the dead."
(John 3:19-20 ESV)
"And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil. For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed."(Ephesians 2:1-3 ESV)you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience—among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind."
As a Calvinist I believe salvation is not dependent on man but rather on God:
(John 1:12-13 ESV)
"But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God."
( James 1:18)
"Of his own will he brought us forth by the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures."
"Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead"
(Titus 3:5)
"He saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit"(2 Thessalonians 2:13)
"But we ought always to give thanks to God for you, brothers beloved by the Lord, because God chose you as the firstfruitsd to be saved, through sanctification by the Spirit and belief in the truth."
(Ephesians 1:3-6 ESV)
"Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love he predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved."
The truth is that salvation is of the Lord and no one should feel like he deserved Hell and we deserve heaven. The last verse I posted tells us he chose us because of the purpose of His will
and so we should be the first to recognize the goodness and mercy of God which was extended to us was not anything in us.
Keep preaching the word of God friends and do not lose heart. Our Sovereign Savior has chosen us to fulfill his purposes of spreading the gospel to bring people to Himself for the purpose of His will!
No comments:
Post a Comment