Christopher Hitchens and Peter Hitchens God and the death bed
Remember those G.I. Joe edu-mercials when you were a kid, “…and knowing is half the battle”—apparently, the other half is bloody carnage :o)
But seriously folks: at this link you can hear a program from Issues, etc. that discusses a discussion between The Brothers Hitch: Christopher Hitchens and Peter Hitchens.
Via an email discussion some wrote a very telling comment:
…It’s one thing to be a kind of neurotic, telling yourself there is no God when you know there is, resenting Him and His authority, believing that you can defy and mock Him with impunity, and living accordingly … and then when brought down to utter nothingness and despair, you relent and repent. It’s another thing to simply and genuinely reject any and all notions of the supernatural, and to therefore reject all beliefs, mores, and doctrines that hinge solely upon them as superstitions, taboos, and shibboleths.
A man of the 2nd class – far from having his un-faith challenged by adversity – would instead have it confirmed by it. Now truly miraculous deliverance and complete cure at the very precipice of death in complete defiance of all medical science … that might have an effect. But to the hardened life-long materialist, no amount of evidence or even personal experience to the contrary ever dissuades them from their un-faith — indeed an actual change of any opinion is unheard of in any elderly established and successful man.Now it’s certainly possible that Hitchens is a closeted man in the first class – his principle drive and cause seems to be not Materialism, but autonomy: his atheistic-materialism may well be but a means to that end. But Hitchens delights too much in being a controversial iconoclast roping and branding sacred cows and shouting that the emperor has no clothes as often as he can: it’s the very basis of his image of himself (and his fame and fortune) … which is probably his true god, and one to which he will remain faithful and willingly, even joyfully, sacrifice himself…
That “Hitchens delights too much…” is indeed true, which is why he refers to himself as an “anti-theist.”
The greatest issue with the death bed conversion is that a death bed is not guaranteed. Whoever said that you will rest upon a death bed and reflect upon your life, etc.? One car wreck or one fallen piano could spell your instant demise.
Daniel Dennett suffered a heart attack and he took pleasure in praising man and science for his physical salvation stating, “Thank goodness I’m alive.”
Richard Dawkins stated that he is going to record his death bed experience so that it will serve as proof that he did not repent, “When I’m on my death bed, I’m going to have a tape recorder switched on” to keep people from claiming what has been claimed of others such as Charles Darwin, that “they had a death-bed conversion when they didn’t…It’s not going to happen.”
Imagine being so very, very, very assured of your own correctness.
Indeed, when it comes to God knowing is half the battle. The Bible states that demons most certainly believe in God but what of it? “You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe and tremble” (James 2:19). They know, they believe—so what? They do not repent, they rebel against and hate the God whom they know to exist.
Imagine spending a good portion of your lifetime (and like the celebrity New Atheists; making a living by) besmirching and condemning God via thought, word and action. If you suddenly were convinced that God existed would it not be tantamount to being convinced that some dislikable figure in myth or legend is real? Sure, now you know that they are real, they exist, but you hate them all them more for really existing.
It requires an act of God to become humble enough to accept that His ways are not our ways and that His thoughts are not our thoughts but are higher (Isaiah 55:8). It requires a calling from God to come to God.
These are the fallacies of atheists demanding evidence: 1) they demand evidence without providing evidence that proves that evidence should be demanded 2) they suppose that evidence convinces 3) they assert that evidence will heal a wicked heart.
Jesus the Messiah, the way, truth and life and not evidence cleanse the heart, mind and soul.