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MY DEBATE ON JIHAD WATCH ABOUT CHRISTOPHER HITCHENS' AFTERLIFE FATE

Posted by ApolloSpeaks on Sunday, December 18, 2011 11:24:43 AM
 
One Minor Flaw In Chris Hitchens' Sexiness
One of the great gods of atheism is dead uneasily dwelling in the spiritual world to shake his atheist faith. It is a
baptism of fire that will purge him of error and make a better and wiser soul of him. No matter how much he ate, how much he drank, how much he screwed, smoked, learned, and raged at God and religion Hitchens could never fill the emptiness inside him. An emptiness that only God could ultimately fill as Aristotle said who rightly taught that divine contemplation was man's greatest happiness and highest good.   

Hadn't realized till now that there are quite a few atheists posting comments on Robert Spenser's Jihad Watch. As on Frontpage I posted "Christopher Hitchens In The AfterLIfe" here and got this mostly hostile response:
 
 
 
Apollo Speaks wrote:

Is he disappointed to know that he was wrong for so long, that his crude, inexorable materialism was a hoax? Does he unhappily feel cheated that he wasn't obliterated...
.....................................

I very much doubt it, Apollo. If the afterlife of Christopher Hitchens is as you imagine, I'm sure he would be fascinated at a new adventure...

Christopher Hitchens was a hero. I salute him.

ApolloSpeaks replied to comment from gravenimage

After a difficult period of adjustment where he accepts the new reality of a disembodied state (which he formally thought impossible) the experience will [as you say] become a wonderful new adventure for him.

 
lilredbird writes
 
ApolloSpeaks, this Comments section has resonated with expressions of regret at the passing of Christopher Hitchens, a staunch defender of freedom of thought and a opponent of the imposition of all forms of supernaturalist metaphysics on those who do not share such beliefs. It was such a consolation to read so many respectful and sincere tributes.

Then you came along with your childish rant, imagining him waking up in an "afterlife" with your god presumably chanting Nyah-nyah-nah-nah-nyah. Do you have any idea how smug and vindictive you sound?

We atheists hear this all the time and there is no way to express how tired we are of the silly taunts, to say nothing of the backhanded compliments about how amazing it is that we fight for freedom even though we have no souls and "don't believe in anything" (as a religious "friend" of mine puts it).

May I refer you to Ole Hartling's comment, though I doubt you are willing to hear it. Thank you, Ole, for that quote of Hitch's, which says what I feel so much better than I ever can. If only more of the "religious" were willing to listen and secure enough to take his request to heart.


Religion friendly atheist author S.E. Cupp.

ApolloSpeaks replied to comment from lilredbird

Hitchens atheism was positively vindictive, unhinged, and hateful. He didn't just want to throw out the baby with the bath, he wanted to boil the baby in oil and eat it for dinner. Compare him to the lovely S.E. Cupp, a sensible, balanced, non-militant atheist who understands, and wrote about, the essential connection between the Judeo-Christian Tradition and our great nation and civilization. I'm not nearly as hard on Hitch as he was about reasonable, universal, ancient truths about God, immortality, and a moral law of right and wrong that he's now painfully and sorrowfully discovering to be true in the purgatory of his afterlife experience.


Kinana of Khaybar replied to comment from ApolloSpeaks

ApolloSpeaks,

You disgrace only yourself, by gloating over Hitchens' death. Your irrational and unwarranted threat against atheists, at the end of your comment, is noted.

ApolloSpeaks replied to comment from Kinana of Khaybar
 
Am I disgracefully gloating over Hitchens' death? I think not. I believe that Hitch is passing through the Purgatory of the after life he so militantly denied on his way to the loving peace and grace that passeth understanding


StephenA55 replied to comment from ApolloSpeaks

ApolloSpeaks writes:

"He also saw the Christian threat, the Jewish threat, the Hindu threat, and the Buddhist threat. All religion was toxic and a threat to this man, who now sees what a fool he has been."

 You are welcome to your view. He was actually much more nuanced than your gross over-simplification suggests.

"Hitchens' soul must be in intellectual turmoil as his life of unbelief ill-prepared him for death. And so must it be for all atheistic materialists who'll have the truth thrust upon them in the end."

His life of unbelief was the perfect preparation for death. Better than living in perpetual fear of an eternal agony in Hades. What could be better than living life to the full; free of nagging guilt from inherited sin; in accordance to moral tenets evolved by a rational mind that can easily surpass in goodness those biblical commands in the OT.

The NT is better, but when you select from the bible then you are using your own judgement, and are ready to put that musty volume to one side.

Merry Christmas, and a happy, well-lived life to you.

ApolloSpeaks replied to comment from StephenA55

StephenA55

You say that "Hitchens life of unbelief was the perfect preparation for death." Are you using your head on this one my friend? Think about it. The death Hitchens prepared himself for intellectually and morally was eternal death and oblivion, the complete, everlasting extinction of consciousness-an absolute materialist's fiction. Since the death Hitchens has isn't what he foresaw how then was he prepared for it?


Tim Reynolds replied to comment from lilredbird

Well said, LRB....

I wondered at first that ApolloSpeaks was having a larf but obviously not. He/she's a sad indicator of the lengths that people will go to to qualify their fantasies. Self-delusion is a wonderful thing and with it, anything is possible, including this type of crap. It shows an under-lying insecurity quite common in relgionists of all faiths. They hate to see any kind of challenge to their belief-system and will react in the most bizarre fashion. You only have to look at islam and the almost-as-dreadful christian far-right, with their smug interpretation of scripture and the assumption of righteousness.

In the end it's all 'borrowed-plummage'.

"Religion poisons Everything".


ApolloSpeaks relied to Tim Reynolds 

Tim Reynolds writes

"They [religious believers] hate to see any kind of challenge to their belief-system and will react in the most bizarre fashion."

How is my reaction to the death of the boldest, most outspoken, and offensive militant atheist of our time bizarre? I think most any believer in an afterlife would be fascinated to learn how Hitchens is taking to his unexpected experience; to a spiritual state which he believed with unshakable faith was a childish, evil, degrading fiction that mankind must outgrow. How is that bizarre.


Jan replied to comment from ApolloSpeaks

'' ....a moral law of right and wrong that he's now painfully and sorrowfully discovering to be true in the purgatory of his afterlife experience.''

Do you really think you speak for *God* ??

If we're going to talk about right and wrong, then I would submit that Hitch spoke about what *he* believed to be right and wrong, and he was blazingly honest in what he said. And his beliefs about 'a moral law' are just as much valid as yours, if not more so.

I would bet, if there is a God, He would like and appreciate Hitch more than the self-righteous attitudes of people like you. When you have achieved as much as Hitch, and risked as much, then you may have the right to judge his *earthly* achievements - as for the afterlife, if there is one, that is for *God* to judge, not you. Pharisee.

ApolloSpeaks replied to comment from Jan

Jan writes

"Do you really think you speak for *God* ??"
 
My reply

No. I speak from my soul about another human soul who foolishly believed he came from nothing and would return to nothing and shortened his life by his destructive excesses. If you honor the genius of Christopher Hitchens and believe that he was an asset to this country and the world then you must fault him for his nihilistic philosophy-the bad ideas that drove him to drink, chain smoking, and God knows what else, and deprived the world prematurely of his genius.



Edna Pierce | Thanks, Robert, for honoring Hitchens.

He'll be greatly missed.

And, ApolloSpeaks, you are indeed disgracefully gloating. All you seem to be preoccupied with is what you suppose Hitchens is enduring in imaginary supernatural realms. It's fairly disgusting, and even worse, silly.

ApolloSpeaks replied to comment from Edna Pierce

What kind of "disgraceful gloating" is it that sees Hitchens' afterlife experience as a kind of necessary shock treatment (some would call it tough love) to purge his mind of error and fill it with truth and great happiness? I'm hoping for the best for him, am I not?

StephenA55 writes

Apollo Speaks,

"You say that "Hitchens life of unbelief was the perfect preparation for death." Are you using your head on this one my friend? Think about it. The death Hitchens prepared himself for intellectually and morally was eternal death and oblivion, the complete, everlasting extinction of consciousness-an absolute materialist's fiction. Since the death Hitchens has isn't what he foresaw how then was he prepared for it?"

Well, how do you prepare for an afterlife!?

I won't bother because it would be a waste of my limited time here in this life. If it does happen I'll be ready. Unless it requires a lifetime of humble prayer, worship and other grovelling. If God wants that then I will argue that he should have given better evidence for his existence. And why should an omnipotent being be so needy?

Of course there is no afterlife. Nothing to worry about. Take it easy AS, you have all you need. Just enjoy your one life, it's all anyone ever gets, but it's all you need.

He'll be greatly missed.
 
Aristotle (384-322 BCE)
Aristotle believed that man could not live a truly good life without God.

ApolloSpeaks 

StephenA asks

"Well, how do you prepare for an afterlife!?"

Everything in moderation; and the contemplation of God (man's highest happiness and good) as Aristotle said.


UPDATE 

David Dowse | December 18, 2011 10:34 AM | Reply

Apollo- you are in error.

"Jan asks

Do you really think you speak for *God* ??

No. I speak from my soul about another human soul who foolishly believed he came from nothing and would return to nothing and shortened his life by his destructive excesses. If you honor the genius of Christopher Hitchens and believe that he was an asset to this country and the world then you must fault him for his nihilistic philosophy-the bad ideas that drove him to drink, chain smoking, and God knows what else, and deprived the world prematurely of his genius.

Read your post again, with all its questionable presumptions, then let me know, and we'll argue.

Never mind, for the moment, the man's supposed excesses, in your view, or his "religious" bent - it is not for us to judge - we may, however, judge his work, which was prolific and astounding.

Let him rest in peace.

ApolloSpeaks replied to comment from David Dowse 

THE MOHAMMED OF ATHEISM

Yes, his output was astounding. Even more astounding for a thoughtful man of the mind was his pathological hatred of God and all things spiritual. It was as though the God Idea had broken half of his astounding brain. His wanting to destroy religion (a throwback to the ghastly French Revolution) betrayed his insecurity and weakness of faith in atheism. He needed to have everyone believe as he believed so he could believe more strongly. This former communist could never fully free himself from totalitarianism. In a certain sense he was the Mohammad of atheism with a pen and tongue for his sword.
 
 
UPDATE
 
StephenA55 replied to comment from ApolloSpeaks |

Hitch did not hate God.

How could he hate God when he did not believe that God exists?

ApolloSpeaks replied to comment from StephenA55 |
 
Hitchens hated the GOD IDEA. For him it was the most toxic, poisonous, and destructive thing in existence. The man who once believed that communism was the one solution to all the world's problems became an anti-God maniac believing that mankind's salvation greatly depended on eradicating God and religion from the earth. A world free of God and religion was Hitchens' life mission and utopian dream.


UPDATE

StephenA55 replied to comment from ApolloSpeaks
 
I would say that you exaggerate a great deal.

His writings on religion were well thought out, clear and reasoned. To call him a maniac on the grounds of his speaking for rationalism as opposed to supernaturalism is absurd.

He was also well aware that he would never see a world without religion in his lifetime. His views were expressed with passion, certainly, but he was touched by the warmth of his reception in the bible belt when on his speaking tours; that was not the response of a fanatic.

He was a humane man who understood the need of many people to believe in God.

ApolloSpeaks replied to comment from StephenA55 |
 
The God Idea was Hitchen's Great Satan, Ultimate Evil, mankind's worse and most destructive invention from which sprung most of our problems and ills. He was so blinded with hate for God, and the concept of a human soul and afterlife, that he couldn't see the slightest good in any religion or spiritual philosophy. That Hitchens displayed warmth toward friendly believers on occasion did nothing to deter him from his insane mission or soften his fanaticism. Till the end he remained hellbent on his cause. To see Hitchens in perspective, and just how irrational and unhinged he was, study up on S.E. Cupp a sensitive, humane and understanding atheist who wrote a book against the Hitchens of the world and their mindless attack on the Judeo-Christian (Classical) Tradition the bedrock of our civilization.


UPDATE

Debate on Pajamas Media.
 
From Sam to Apollo:

And how will you feel Apollo when you get there [to heaven] and truly understand that despite all of Hitchens’ atheism and dismissal of the eternal while he was alive, the Creator still loves him just as much as he loves you despite your lifetime of devotion?
(Luke 15)
 
Apollo to Sam:
 
Like you I understand this in the here and now: that God is love (and wisdom) and loves his creatures and creations. I understand that despite his insane war against God (Divine Reason), and his nihilistic belief in the ultimate nothingness of existence, Hitchens still has life and being and the use of his mind by God's grace and the reality of the material and spiritual universe that He created. Having unexpectedly survived the death of his flesh Hitchens must be in a state of profound anguish and regret that he used his great intellect to no good end, in the service of big lies and very bad ideas: that God is nonexistent; that the physical world is ultimate reality; that everything comes from and returns to nothing. Now that Hitch’s disembodied state is painfully refuting his most cherished beliefs I am sure that he repents having lived his life in error spreading lies about the universe and its Creator. If he sincerely regrets his past mistakes and sins God I'm sure will forgive him.
 

UPDATE
 
Just posted this on Jihad Watch:
 
Christopher Hitchens' life was all sound and fury. And since he was an atheistic nihilist who believed that existence was an accident (that everything came from and returned to nothing with the Big Bang being a random unplanned event) by his own materialist philosophy he was an idiot telling a tale signifying nothing.
 
Posted on Atlas Shrugs several days ago:
 
CHRISTOPHER HITCHENS

Loved the man and hated him. Loved his defense of freedom against the enemies of America and Western Man. Hated his militant atheism and his intemperate, brutal and savage attacks on all things religious and spiritual-from a God of incalculable creative power who can be known by direct experience, down to the indestructible human soul made in God's intellectual image. Right now Hitchens is most likely in torment (what Catholics and the Book of Maccabees call Purgatory) as the survival of his great mind after death is painfully refuting and shattering his atheistic materialism.
 
 
This piece was linked by the Dallas Morning News (click and see).
 
 
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