“Christopher Hitchens has died. While I rarely agreed with his opinions, I respected his brilliance, articulate writing, and incisive insights. He was articulate, breathtakingly knowledgeable, and provocative. His feisty presence will be missed.”
~ A Christian Facebook Friend
“In the cross of Christ I glory
Towering o’er the wrecks of time;
All the light of sacred story
Gathers round it head sublime.
~ John Bowring
I will admit to not being up on the latest atheist publications, be they books, blogs, or magazine articles. Part of the reason, I’ll admit, is reactionary: I don’t think Christian books get a fair shake in the general marketplace.
One of my relatives worked at the Borders bookshop for a few years. I still remember when the atheist Sam Harris came out with his book titled Letter to a Christian Nation, and how prominently that book was displayed at the Borders bookshop where my relative worked. I did read that book, knowing that Christian responses would be forthcoming.
And come they did: Vox Day’s The Irrational Atheist, Joel McDurmon’s The Return of the Village Atheist, Doug Wilson’s Letter from a Christian Citizen, RC Metcalf’s Letter to a Christian Nation: Counterpoint, and Ravi Zacharias’ The End of Reason to name a few that I know about.
Were any of these books displayed with even one tenth the prominence that the Harris’s book received? Not hardly. I had to do my own research to find these books. If I’d have had to depend on Borders, I wouldn’t have known they existed. That particular Borders location has now closed and good riddance.
I did happen to see a debate between Hitchens and Christian apologist William Lane Craig. It was informative and somewhat engaging, worth my time. What I didn’t hear was any new or compelling arguments for atheism.
In fact, if you watch the debate, you will notice quite a slip-up from Hitchens. At one point, he argues against design by pointing out that breakdowns that occur in nature demonstrate lack of design.
Of course, all Craig had to do was mention that cars, computers, and virtually anything designed will eventually break down. But no one argues that since your brass trumpet will eventually fail, we must therefore conclude it was never designed!
Not sure if Mr. Hitchens had a brain freeze when he brought up the argument; in any case, he didn’t return to it.
Christopher Hitchens is gone, but he will be replaced. As long as there is taxpayer funded education, we will not want for professing atheists. Many, including Christians, will praise this particular professing atheist now that he is gone. I will not be among them.
One of Mr. Hitchens most popular books was titled, God is not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything. The title of the book tells us a lot about the author: It tells us he is proud, foolish, arrogant, and narrow. It also tells us that he is anything but insightful and knowledgeable. If he had any knowledge and insight
at all, he would have recognized that God is great, greater than anything he (Hitchens) could ever imagine. God is greater than Christopher Hitchens like the universe is greater than a speck of dust, and I have no doubt that, unless he repented, he is already sorry he said what he said and wrote what he wrote.
In fact, if Hitchens had any knowledge worthy of the name, he would have experienced the fear of the Lord, the very beginning of knowledge (Proverbs 1: 7).
The rest of that verse states that “fools despise wisdom and instruction,” a description that fits Mr. Hitchens and all his atheistic tribe. “The fool hath said in his heart, ‘There is no God’” (Psalm 14: 1 & 53: 1). That description, “fool,” might not be the nicest epitaph written for the departed Mr. Hitchens.
But it is the most accurate.
~ Joel Saint
