What Vessels Like Hitchens Show Us...

 I stumbled along this piece tonight as I was going through my old "sent" emails that were directed at professors at Georgetown College.  I had written and shared this piece with one of my professors on January 5, 2010.  The following is mostly intact the same as I had originally written it in Jan of 2010.  I have implemented some minor changes as a way to slightly clean it up as well as making some changes for the sake of annotation.   

 

What Vessels Like Hitchens Show Us...

Christopher Hitchens is staunchly opposed to God. I have heard him in
debates and believe me when I say that he truly hates God with contempt.

This is not, however, to say that the man is not intelligent. You had better be on your game if you go against him in a debate. He makes some very astute observations and provides unsettling and daunting insight in regards to the truth vs. the worldview battlefield that we are called to fight the same as it is mentioned in the article that I have listed below (1);

"More to the point, though, you soon discover that many of those attending
are not so sure about all the doctrines, either, just as you very swiftly
find out that a vast number of Catholics don't truly believe more than
about half of what their church instructs them to think."

I'm not trying to cherry pick this and imply that Catholics are the only ones that Hitchens correctly observes as to being vulnerable to criticism per weak apologetics.  Prior to that statement, for example, he truthfully describes the way Calvinists cringe and hesitate to own up to being a Calvinist when asked in the sense that he (Hitchens) is going to hell.

Men like Hitchens, Bill Maher and Richard Dawkins or any other name that would be right at home as being listed as a guest speaker on an Atheist Alliance International Convention event (2) are instrumental, however, in serving a purpose. I discovered the Hitchens' article through reading an article about how Christians need to man up instead of being embarrassed or afraid to defend what we believe (3). The Hitchens' article also addresses men that he debates like Doug Wilson.  Hitchens states that he respects men that actually hold to doctrine and truly believe that biblical stories really happened and are not just metaphors.  Hitchens respects men like Wilson, for example, more than he respects the ecumenicals that have equated church as to being a "community organizing" effort.

Without men or vessels like Hitchens, we may become complacent in our understanding of God and loose our zeal to fight for the truth and to carry on "the good fight" by going out into the world to deliver the gospel so that lost men may be saved. As Paul would ask, however ala Romans, should we go on sinning so that God may be glorified more? 

Surely not! 

In other words, the accusations from men like Hitchens, Maher and Dawkins force men of faith to man up and deliver the truth.  Through a vigilant adherence to delivering the gospel and adhering to the Great Commission, God is given glory.  Men like Hitchens, Maher and Dawkins are serving a purpose in the Kingdom of God that they may never be aware of accordingly.  In spite of the purpose that men of this nature may serve, however, we should never forget that these men are lost and are in dire need of our prayers so that they may be saved.  Although they hate God with all of their hearts, they are no different than we were before we were born again with a new nature; a nature that is not at enmity with God; a nature that is not a God hater; a nature that is a result from having a heart of flesh as opposed to a heart of stone. By ministering to men of this caliber (along with any other lost soul) per the Great Commission, we continue to give God glory by being obedient to His will.

As it stands now, the aforementioned men are vessels of wrath according to Romans and even in that God will receive glory when His justice is rightly distributed according to His divine will that is after His own council.

May everything continue to act in accordance to God's will to give Him glory and may we be pleasing to our Heavenly Father by having a heart for the lost and to minister unto them so that they may be saved.

May it all be for his glory!

W.



(1) What I've learned from debating religious people around the world.
By Christopher Hitchens
Posted Monday, Oct. 26, 2009, at 11:21 AM ET
http://www.slate.com/id/2233586/pagenum/all

(2) Atheist Alliance convention featuring Richard Dawkins and Bill Maher coming soon July 6th, 2009 11:46 am ET

http://www.examiner.com/x-2044-Atheism-Examiner~y2009m7d6-Atheist-Alliance-convention-featuring-Richard-Dawkins-and-Bill-Maher-coming-soon


(3) Hitchens to believers: Man up! 

By Jake

http://wisertime.wordpress.com/2009/10/30/hitchens-to-believers-man-up/

Image Credit

Your Worldview Dictates Your Evidential Interpretation

What does the following say?

"Godisnowhere"


The atheist comes along and says; "It clearly says 'God is nowhere'."

The Christian comes along and says; "It clearly says 'God is now here'."

Worldviews

The previous demonstration is to illustrate the influence of a worldview. Dr. Jason Lisle in his book, "Ultimate Proof of Creation - Resolving the Origins Debate", defines a worldview as "a network of our most basic beliefs about reality in light of which all observations are interpreted." Dr. Lisle points out that most people believe that in order to have validity, knowledge has to be acquired through evidence that is obtained through unbiased observation. He goes on, however, to point out that this "belief" is in of itself a worldview called "empiricism". We all have beliefs and it's our individual experiences that we collect in life that helps us form the worldview that we hold today. Worldviews, however, are responsible for the reason why both a Creationist and Evolutionist can both look at the same piece of evidence and come to vastly different conclusions. Our worldview is like a pair of glasses, it "filters" the way we view our surroundings and observations accordingly. Dr. Lisle points out that it is common for people to deny that they are interpreting evidence "in light of prior belief - a faith commitment of some kind" but also points out that in order for these same people to "observe" the evidence in an unbiased fashion that they first have to hold to the presupposition or prior belief that our senses are reliable.

We All Have Worldviews

In spite to how distasteful it may be to some to know we all have a worldview, never forget that we can't be divorced from our worldview. If someone, for example, is asking for you to suspend or give up your worldview, remember that they themselves are also holding on to a worldview of their own. A common worldview that I personally have witnessed is the belief that a truth must be believed in order to be "truth". A very common objection that people have concerning hell, for example, is that it doesn't exist because they don't believe in it as if the orient would no longer exist if I didn't believe in it's existence. For all I know, it doesn't exist. I've never been there and all of those old Kung-Fu movies I watched when I was a kid could have been staged the same as those fake Moon landing films. I am, however, puzzled as to how Chinese restaurants came about - for right now I'm chalking it up to a conspiracy theory.

Rescuing Devices

The method I just used as a means to deny the existence of the orient per my worldview is called a "rescuing device". Dr. Lisle roughly defines a rescuing device as a conjecture designed to protect a worldview from what appears to be contrary evidence. The reason that rescuing devices work is because someone can always use the unknown as a means to refute our arguments. If you, for example, try to assure me that there is not an organized conspiracy to convince the world that the orient exists when it really doesn't, the burden of proof falls on you to produce evidence to show that an organized effort doesn't exist. It is extremely difficult to "prove" that something doesn't exist the same as it is difficult to prove that the Spaghetti Monster doesn't live on the outskirts of our detectable universe.

Keep In Mind

Always keep in mind, however, that everyone has a worldview and that we can't be divorced from our worldview. Keep this in mind when you run into skeptics, debaters and atheists that want you to abandon scripture when you proclaim the glory of God to them when you minister the gospel or when you defend the faith with men that trade the truth for a lie when you offer up your apologia for the hope you have in Christ. While they may think that they are truly the only open minded one in your exchange, they too have a worldview that influences their interpretation of the evidence and they too are coming to the table with presuppositions for the arguments that they present. Scripture is not invalidated just because someone doesn't "believe" in the inerrancy of the Bible. When someone does, for example, want you to abandon scripture - remember in essence what they are doing is asking you to abandon your faith so that you can accept theirs. The Evolutionist or zealot for science, for example, has faith; it's just not the right kind of faith; it's faith in the "force" of nature or faith in the scientific method and or faith in scientific discoveries. The zealot of science is engaged in a religion also, instead of priests however, he looks to the scientist for guidance; instead of looking to the Bible for truth, he looks to the latest scientific discovery headlines in the news, etc.

Below is a YouTube play list for the "Ultimate Proof of Creation". The videos are broken down into six - 10 minute video segments.



Keep up the good fight!

Keep up the good fight and always have a reason for the hope you have in Christ Jesus (1 Peter 3:15). Stay grounded in the truth and keep the sword of the word, the sword of truth in your hand at all times.

Praise the Lord God Almighty always!

Grace & Peace,
WCD