The Death of Christopher Hitchens – How Christians Should Handle the Death of an Enemy

Yesterday, Christopher Hitchens died. For those of you who don’t know who Christopher Hitchens was, he was one of the so-called Four Horsemen of the New Atheists. He received this moniker because he not only was an Atheist, but he dedicated his life to destroying religion. This ranged from books such as his famous God is not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything to public debates and discourse.

Now, many Christians may feel it is appropriate to rejoice at the death of such an enemy of the faith. These Christians may point to the imprecatory psalms and claim that God blesses such prayers and indeed delivers David from his enemies. they wouldn’t be right about the second point, but I don’t think they could be more wrong about the first.

Here is the plain and simple truth: Christopher Hitchens is suffering in hell, and he will be suffering there for eternity. This is profoundly tragic and we should not rejoice at this. For those of you who might say “you can’t know his heart or if something didn’t change at the last moment” I want you to read some of his last written words (Published in October)

And even if my voice goes before I do, I shall continue to write polemics against religious delusions, at least until it’s hello darkness my old friend. In which case, why not cancer of the brain? As a terrified, half-aware imbecile, I might even scream for a priest at the close of business, though I hereby state while I am still lucid that the entity thus humiliating itself would not in fact be “me.” (Bear this in mind, in case of any later rumors or fabrications.)

Hitchens knew that as the end approached that his Maker would become apparent, and he had hardened his heart so much that he wanted to safe guard against doing something in a moment of weakness and terror… you have to at least respect the integrity of his belief. There was no last moment conversion, no 11th hour decision… although for Hitchens darkness is not a friend. What greeted Hitchens was not the blissful oblivion he sought, rather he has been eternally separated from the loving presence of the Lord and instead will eternally drift toward nothingness without ever reaching it (For more on my understanding of hell, see my article on Theosis and Hell)

I want to say it again, this is profoundly sad and is not a moment for rejoicing. While it is true that ultimately this is God’s eternal justice an we should rejoice at his His good and just will being done, it is not the time yet for that.

I want to leave you with the word of Hitchens (Published in January) that affirm this reality. Hitchens knew that we must draw our identity and existence from somewhere. Christians do so from the only eternal source, and thus we have eternal life. Hitchens however, drew it from his ability to write and speak. Once this began to fade, he feared, so also would his very identity and will to live.

I am typing this having just had an injection to try to reduce the pain in my arms, hands, and fingers. The chief side effect of this pain is numbness in the extremities, filling me with the not irrational fear that I shall lose the ability to write. Without that ability, I feel sure in advance, my “will to live” would be hugely attenuated. I often grandly say that writing is not just my living and my livelihood but my very life, and it’s true. Almost like the threatened loss of my voice, which is currently being alleviated by some temporary injections into my vocal folds, I feel my personality and identity dissolving as I contemplate dead hands and the loss of the transmission belts that connect me to writing and thinking.

 

Related articles

• Christopher Hitchens (tuibguy.com)
• Goodbye Christopher Hitchens (humanistlife.org.uk)
• Christopher Hitchens is Dead (breakingspells.net)
• Christopher Hitchens | RIP (1949-2011) (chrislong.org)
• British writer Christopher Hitchens dies: Vanity Fair (calgaryherald.com)
• Christopher Hitchens Tribute (kestalusrealm.wordpress.com)
• Christopher Hitchens, an atheist in a foxhole (blogs.telegraph.co.uk)