Opus 2012-9, Discernment Watch: The Pagans Among Us

I was listening to a podcast from Ricochet.  The Celebrity voices were discussing the death of Christopher Hitchens and of course all of them had been great friends of his and, although they disagreed with most of his positions, had the warmest regard for him.  These love-fests make me want to gag but since I am usually driving when I hear them I must control myself.  I often wonder just how these people have so many “good friends” when I have hardly enough time to get to work and back and spend time with my family.  But that is a topic for another day.

I can live with all this warm, fuzzy nonsense.  It is part of life.  It is part of common courtesy.  What really got to me was the way in which our post-modern paganism jumped in to trump the teachings of the Bible.

In their praise for what a wonderful, insightful, honest, etc, person Hitchens was they drifted into the topic of eternal destiny.  You know, the afterlife.  Hitchens was an unabashed atheist.  He made it a habit to mock God and the people of God.  He has a lot of company and he was very consistent and open about it.  What got me was the devout Catholic and the two cultural Christians on the program threw out everything they had ever been taught about salvation and eternity and also ignored everything Hitchens ever said about the same.

One of them, I think the Catholic, said that when Hitchens showed up before the pearly gates that Saint Peter would give him a special pass because of his warmth and sincerity.  This warmth and sincerity ignore his hatred for God and the things of God and his deliberate misquoting of sources to make his point.  I actually heard him quoting some Christian authority to prove a point.  The problem was that the program host also had on a scholar who knew what had actually been said.  When confronted with his deceit, Hitchens just changed the subject and plowed ahead. 

I don’t listen to the Ricochet Podcast for spiritual advice, so I am not devastated.  I am used to this kind of hypocrisy by people who should know better.  I would simply urge those of us in the trenches, who do not have celebrity status, to remain true to the teachings of the Bible.  Don’t jump on your high-horse, point your finger and yell, “You’re going to burn in Hell!”  That was generally not the approach of Jesus or the Apostles.   But don’t retreat from the truth because you want to feel comfortable and blend in with the culture.  Remember the words of Peter,

(1 Peter 3:15 KJV)  But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts: and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear:

It is too late to change the destiny of Christopher Hitchens.  He will stand before God.  As much as he was on the side of the enemy, I would still be glad to hear someone share how he had a deathbed conversion.  That would give me some hope.  But for the love of all those around us who listen to what we say in our daily conversation, don’t make it look like there is a special “pass” given out to those we like just because we like them.

That is cruel and unusual punishment, forbidden in the Constitution.

homo unius libri