I 'spect y'all read Christopher Hitchens died a day ago. RIP.
Of course, Hitch an Aunty disagreed on most matters of "reality"--mine girded by faith in God, Hitchens a vituperative anti-God figure, one of the world's most vocal atheists. Lots of faithful folks read Hitchens--made us'uns think deeply about how a better explanation of all things God-centered might be presented to a tone deaf, secularized world. I always wish't we could have lunch--'cept he wuz prone to vulgarisms, an' y'all know of mah tender ears.
Near his end Hitchens vowed he would not suddenly convert--I always wondered how he could know that unless he counted on stubborn pride to fend off all actions of grace. He'd warned his many readers "If I profess a deathbed conversion, it is the medication speaking, not me." (paraphrased).
In the end, Aunty suspects Hitch DID know that God was there waiting for him. The fella was jes' too God obsessed. Everything took as its reference the non-God position. Some say he had made a bidness outa the God stuff, so he kept up the chatter-- an' mebbe so.
But seems to me he had more passion than jes the bidness of it all. Rather like a 10 year ole kid that says, "Naw I doan wanna shiny red bike fer Christmas, thas' jes' fer babies" when inside they are simply steelin' theyselves against the expected disappointment in case the bike doan show up under the tree.
The give away, to mah mind, wuz Hitch's lack of joy--wherever thar's an absence of joy --over even the wee thangs of miraculous beauty--thar's a soul fearin' goodness, fearin' that goodness can, an' should, be walkin' abreast us in this world. Instead they cultivate cynicism as armor against the human condition: made fer good, but too often doin' evil thangs.
But good thangs DO happen--an' thas' the wonderment that precedes joy.
As announced heah months ago, I planned to do a post on atheism. An' I will git to it --but not durin'Advent an' Christmas. I'll let Hitchens' stand in as my token comment on atheism 'til then.
Lemme close wif' a clip from another blog that also noted Christopher Hitchens' death:
" Now that his death has come, I am a bit surprised at how moved I am at his passing. As my friend Nathan said this morning: "Let us not, in the wake of the passing of such a virulent atheist, mockingly question the post-mortem fate he has met, but hope that, as we do for all souls, he has been surprised by the magnanimity of the Father, by Divine Justice, the true nature of which is known not to us, but only to HIM." Requiescat in pace, Christopher. "
To which Aunty replies, AMEN! I reckon Hitchens is whoopin' wif' joy, ridin' that shiny red bike from cloud to cloud.
