No Dead Atheists
One of the western world's most famous atheists, Christopher Hitchens, died this week. He is no longer an atheist, assuming we define it not in the strictest terms (against God), but in the common vernacular - "a non-believer in God's existence."
Hitchens made lots of money writing books with titles like god is not Great (Yes, the actual book title does not capitalize "god"). He also enjoyed debating various Christian scholars or believers. Last night on NBC, Brian Williams made the outlandish claim that Hitchens won most of his debates. I personally never saw a debate that I thought Hitchens "won."
You see, when you "debate" against God, you cannot win. The Psalmist of Israel wrote, "The fool has said in his heart, there is no God." That verse can mean one of two things, or maybe both. It can mean that it is the ultimately foolish thing to do to try and claim there is no God. It is not scientific, nor is it sound religion. To ignore God's existence or to deny it is the height of folly.
But, a more literal translation would be "The fool has said in his heart, 'No, God!' " The difference is subtle, but perhaps important. Not only is it foolish to deny God's reality, it is even worse to stand against God, to tell God "no!"
Sadly, Hitchens fit both bills. He was a fool in every respect and in every way meant by the Psalmist. But, like every person before him, he died.
The irony of me and many others taking note of his death is that if we followed Hitchens' worldview to a "T," we would not mourn his loss or even take any thought of it at all. According to Hitchens' way of thinking, his death was no different than the death of a muskrat out in the unseen woods of Idaho. Both Hitchens and the muskrat were just accidental combinations of atoms and chemicals, come together in an oddly organized way for a little while, and now dissolving back into the dirt from which they spontaneously arose many millions of years ago. Both lives were, in the end, totally meaningless and without any overarching purpose. Just another cosmic accident, a cog in the evolutionary wheel.
How different this "blind faith" is from that of wise King Solomon: "Then the dust returns to the earth, as it was, and the spirit returns to God who gave it" (Eccl 12:7).
Now, Christopher Hitchens is no longer a disbeliever in God. But, he is forever "against God," which is the truest sense of the moniker "atheist." Hell is giving it to him his way, just the way he wanted it - godless. And this must be one of the worst horrors of hell - though you now know that God is great after all, so infinitely good, glorious, beautiful and worthy, you cannot have Him. Not ever. That is, after all, what atheists and all sinners apart from God's saving grace in Christ desire. As one mountain preacher put it long ago, "Hell is God saying, 'Have it your way.' "
This torment of being forever cut off from God's glory in the face of Christ I would not wish upon Hitchens or anyone else. I am saddened by Hitchens' death, as well as his sin-wracked life. The death of this one who claimed to be an atheist has only strengthened my resolve to tell more people to "Repent and believe the gospel" (Mark 1:15).
You see, there are no dead atheists.
Who do the nations rage and the peoples plot in vain? The kings of the earth set themselves and the rulers take counsel together against the Lord and His Messiah, saying, "Let us burst their bonds apart and cast away their cords from us." He who sits in the heavens laughs; the Lord holds them in derision. Then He will speak to them in His wrath, and terrify them in His fury saying, "As for Me, I have set My King on Zion, My holy hill" (Psalm 2:1-6).