The lion Of Atheism Pt.1 ~ "I like surprises"

"Well, I ought never to say there's nothing would change my mind. So, shall I just say no evidence or argument has yet been presented yet that will change my mind. But I like surprises."

Christopher Hitchens is a person I have deemed to be the "lion of atheism" because he has roared so vehemently against God and against religion over the last 8 to 10 years that it has been heard all around the world. He has had many great and bold things to say against God. As you see in the piece, this man has taken secular and religious individuals to task and called for a new order of moral sense based on, if anything, anti-theism. His tenor is not just the non-belief in God, but the non-belief and repudiation of religion and faith in general. 

Just over a year or so ago the lion was shaking his fist at God, the church and everything that was called by God's name stating that the God concept (theism), religion and all them that called upon a God were the problem and trouble of this world. Hitchens, who has held that there is "no plausible, evidential or explicable reason to believe in God", has seemingly left the door open or at least a window cracked to be convinced that he is wrong since his diagnosis of stage 4 esophageal cancer at the height of his zeal in mid 2010.

Luke 23:8-9 ~ "8-And when Herod saw Jesus, he was exceeding glad: for he was desirous to see him of a long season, because he had heard many things of him; and he hoped to have seen some miracle done by him. 9-Then he questioned with him in many words; but he answered him nothing."

Christopher, the author of a book, "God Is Not Great" has debated some of the countries foremost evangelists and Christian apologists. Christopher appears to be an equal opportunity  religion fighter by debating anyone who claims to know, teach or understand God in any manner. His debate opponents have ranged from Al Sharpton to William Lane Craig. In every debate he has been consistent...He has been consistent in pointing toward the great atrocities of humanity, many if not most of which (in his opinion and view) have been inspired by religion and religious teaching. One listening to him finds very little explanation of the atrocities of the non-religious and humanistically inspired individuals such as Joseph Stalin, or  Pol Pot whose atrocities had nothing to do with religion or religious belief. In debates Christopher seems to also be consistent in confusing the action of some religious with the belief in God in general amalgamating all beliefs and condemning them all as wrong and unethical. 

As an atheist, he has been consistent in asserting that God does not exist and that the Christian must prove to him (even apparently against his will) that God exists with certainty. Most of his arguments are based on the theme song of atheism that "extraordinarily claims require extraordinary evidence"(stated by Laplace, Truzzi and in another form by Hume and  popularized by Sagan) Since the claim of God is the most extraordinary claim, Hitchens demands that God give him extraordinary evidence. It would seem from his debates that "extraordinary evidence" would be evidence that provides him 100% certainty about what he is to believe. This exposes a logical fallacy and inconsistency. How can this be done? 1-It is impossible to have 100% certainty about the material world. 2- Noone can have 100% certainty regarding the non-existence of God and 3- If there is no argument that can prove God with certainty, then there is certainly no argument that can disprove him with certainty. There can only be a rejection of the God claim and even that can only be done based on subjective analysis of the facts, not an absolute or 100% certain analysis of them. In the debate below, you will see Hitchens proceed in this line of reasoning only to be addressed by Craig as to why his statement is wrong.  

"You're a miserable sinner, you're worthless, you're wrong, but the whole universe was designed with just you in mind" 

C. Hitchens, April 2009 Hitchens/Craig, "Does God Exist?"

Although I know of noone in their right mind who gloats over the sickness and eventual demise of Christopher Hitchens, it is worth noting that all men, no matter who they are, will one day answer to God for all that they have done and set forth in this world. The religious will not escape. Nor will the non-religious escape. There will be no arguments or epistemological constructs that will be presented to justify the rejection of God by any man. Hitchens has basically written his own condemnation by seeking to shame God and being presented with facts that he has rejected of his own will. The light that has been revealed has been rejected by Hitchens based on a foundation of temporal moral truths, arguments and accusations.    

1 John 1:5-10 ~ "5-This then is the message which we have heard of him, and declare unto you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. 6-If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth: 7-But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin. 8-If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. 9-If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 10-If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us."

In future posts we will look more indepth at the arguments and accusations of Hitchens to see if there is really value or truth to much of what he has claimed and espoused over the years. Certainly he has spoken many truths, but he has also yielded to an enemy who has bound and stolen his soul. We are not deceived, because we know that God has revealed himself to this world and taken upon himself the deliverance and salvation of mankind through Jesus, demonstrating the power authority and control over all aspects of life and death. These were not the tricks of a magician or the works of magic. They were the works of God with us and among us. Yes, we may be miserable, yes we may be worthless and yes we may be wrong, because we were dealt a hand of sin that we couldn't do anything with...but Thank God that in the fullness of time (appointed before the foundation of the world) Christ came and died in our place, even if it was against our will for him to do so...Why and how could this be fair? Our will didn't place us in this situation to begin with, how on earth could we ever think it right for us to expend the energy and will to get out of something that we didn't will ourselves into?

That's yet another Hitchens argument overturned. More to come. 

Blessed! 


Hitchens/Craig Debate
  

Update 4/25/2011:

Because he was unable to attend, Mr. Hitchen's had the following letter delivered to those at the recent American Atheist convention:

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 hope to help defend and pass on the lessons of this for many years to come, but for now I have found my trust better placed in two things: the skill and principle of advanced medical science, and the comradeship of innumerable friends and family, all of them immune to the false consolations of religion. It is these forces among others which will speed the day when humanity emancipates itself from the mind-forged manacles of servility and superstitition. It is our innate solidarity, and not some despotism of the sky, which is the source of our morality and our sense of decency.

That essential sense of decency is outraged every day. Our theocratic enemy is in plain view. Protean in form, it extends from the overt menace of nuclear-armed mullahs to the insidious campaigns to have stultifying pseudo-science taught in American schools. But in the past few years, there have been heartening signs of a genuine and spontaneous resistance to this sinister nonsense: a resistance which repudiates the right of bullies and tyrants to make the absurd claim that they have god on their side. To have had a small part in this resistance has been the greatest honor of my lifetime: the pattern and original of all dictatorship is the surrender of reason to absolutism and the abandonment of critical, objective inquiry. The cheap name for this lethal delusion is religion, and we must learn new ways of combating it in the public sphere, just as we have learned to free ourselves of it in private.

Our weapons are the ironic mind against the literal: the open mind against the credulous; the courageous pursuit of truth against the fearful and abject forces who would set limits to investigation (and who stupidly claim that we already have all the truth we need). Perhaps above all, we affirm life over the cults of death and human sacrifice and are afraid, not of inevitable death, but rather of a human life that is cramped and distorted by the pathetic need to offer mindless adulation, or the dismal belief that the laws of nature respond to wailings and incantations.

As the heirs of a secular revolution, American atheists have a special responsibility to defend and uphold the Constitution that patrols the boundary between Church and State. This, too, is an honor and a privilege. Believe me when I say that I am present with you, even if not corporeally (and only metaphorically in spirit…) Resolve to build up Mr Jefferson’s wall of separation. And don’t keep the faith.

Sincerely

Christopher Hitchens

You know, cancer can happen to anyone. None of us are exempt and certainly this horrible disease would not be wished upon anyone's worst enemy (or at least none of mine). However, Mr. Hitchen's statements points me towards at least 2 biblical references off hand. 1- Pharoah, who's heart was hardened as it pertained to God. The scriptures said that "I have hardened his heart" (Ex. 10:1) Chrisopher's sentiments are the perfect example of what God was communicating. There is no mystical or magical string hardening the heart, this is simply self-will, stubbonrness and willing rebelion against God even in the dying hour.  This is spiritual obstinance at its zenith.

Who God is, causes the reprobate's mind to turn away from God instead of toward God in the time of trouble. Whereas, who God is causes the believer to turn TOWARDS God in the time of trouble:

Ps. 27:4-6 ~ "4- One thing have I desired of the LORD, that will I seek after; that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the LORD, and to inquire in his temple. 5- For in the time of trouble he shall hide me in his pavilion: in the secret of his tabernacle shall he hide me; he shall set me up upon a rock.  6- And now shall mine head be lifted up above mine enemies round about me: therefore will I offer in his tabernacle sacrifices of joy; I will sing, yea, I will sing praises unto the LORD."

Certainly noone is exempt from trouble, but I heard Bishop Hurley Basset once say that trouble drives men to God and God turns around and drives trouble away.

Mr. Hitchen's claims that things pertaining to God seem more hollow to him that ever before. That points me toward the second scriptural reference found in Revelation. Disdain for God and all that is called God is the plight of the wicked and just what the bible records that the wicked will do:

Revelation 9:18-21 ~ "18-A third of mankind was killed by the three plagues of fire, smoke and sulfur that came out of their mouths. 19-The power of the horses was in their mouths and in their tails; for their tails were like snakes, having heads with which they inflict injury.  20-The rest of mankind that were not killed by these plagues still did not repent of the work of their hands; they did not stop worshiping demons, and idols of gold, silver, bronze, stone and wood—idols that cannot see or hear or walk. 21-Nor did they repent of their murders, their magic arts, their sexual immorality or their thefts." 

   

When an individual's heart is wicked, and determined to remain that way with forethought, not even the greatest tragedy will cause them to repent. They will simply become more and more self absorbed with their own righteousness.

I don't criticize anyone for praying for this man, because he needs to gains some wisdom and be saved from his sins. I only remind you to not cast your pearls before swine!

Mt. 7:6 ~ "Give not that which is holy unto the dogs, neither cast ye your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn again and rend you."