Hitchen’s… has cancer
Even though I didn’t agree with him, this is not the way to go.
I have been advised by my physician that I must undergo a course of chemotherapy on my esophagus. This advice seems persuasive to me. I regret having had to cancel so many engagements at such short notice.
There is only a slim chance he could recover. Yeah, he may not believe in God… but it doesn’t hurt to say a prayer for him. I hope he finds peace and makes a recovery.
UPDATE: I turned off the comments as this isn’t about Religon. This is about a man who happens to have cancer in which I don’t agree with everything he has said. If that is a problem for some, then they need not worry about making a remark.
Posted on June 30, 2010, in Uncategorized. Bookmark the permalink. 12 Comments.
The Sage
Steve
E the Wise
DFV the Scribe
hairybeast
Mo K.
Sting the Away
Rudy
Voice of Reason
Anthony Rogers
Vérité
Isaiah's Cry
danagall
Hal Jordan
The Rat
Aquinas Shrugged
jackcurtis
a west texas view
pino
Cultural Limits
Regalo Di Spine
Tokyo Tengu
Short Little Rebel
AWOL Civilization
SeePamBlog
rogueoperator
provider4many
jimmullen1
thomaspaine2nd
badoracle
ljponders
weeicemon
Daniella Nicole
plainansimple
Agreed. I always hoped, as a seeker of truth, he’d find God. This is a tough and painful way to go about it.
Agreed also. Love Love Love thy neighbor.
I made a tentative conclusion about the author of this website being a Christian.If it is the case, would Jesus Christ like a Christian to pray for an enemy of God.In Islam, the greatest unforgivable offences against God are atheism and idolatry. Can a ferevent and sincere lover of God tolerate and co-exist with an individual who is hostile to the Being Whom he loves with all his soul.Doesn’t love of God necessitate intolerance towards atheists. That may not be politically correct in the Judaeo-Christian secular part of the world but it is pre-requisite of love of God in the cosmic perspective of Islam.
neorient@gmail.com
Muhammad;
This is perhaps the greatest difference between our faiths. In Christianity, to the last breath, a man can seriously repent for the evil he did against God and Man. Only God will judge his soul. We live in a fallen, corrupt world, and Man has justice to sort out those who are evil, but in the case of Hitchens, his days are probably numbered. He has his chance to repent. If he fails in this, let God in his infinite wisdom judge him accordingly.
As for the site being “Christian,” perhaps it is. But I’d venture to say that, as in Islam, we are not all of one school. I think some members are Protestant Christians, maybe some Catholics. I’m Eastern Orthodox. Yet we have the same core, Christ, in the end.
I have no idea what others believe here, and I’m not about to pry if they don’t volunteer freely themselves, so I’ll say I’m speaking for myself and no one else on this site.
“This is perhaps the greatest difference between our faiths. In Christianity, to the last breath, a man can seriously repent for the evil he did against God and Man.Only God will judge his soul. ”
In fact, Islam also esteems the prospect of a serious repentance to the last breath as a Hadith mentions that the servant can do Taubah as late as Ghargharah starts. Taubah is the equivalent of repentance is Islamic theology while Ghargharah is the Arabic name of the sound which denotes the last breath. One of the names of Allaah is al-’Adal which signifies Justice as well as The Just One who would do justice specifically on Yaum-ud-Deen or the Day of Recompense. The words of Yaum-ud-Deen constitute the five times a day Salaah liturgy. So, only Allaah will judge everyone.
If he fails in this, let God in his infinite wisdom judge him accordingly.
What you said is very true.Allaah is infinitely wise. One of His names as revealed in Qur’aan-ul-Hakeem is al-Hakeem. al-Hakeem means The Wise One.
I don’t know about the Juadeo-Christian perspective on Abraham, but Abraham as revealed in Qur’aan considers the enmity of the idolaters and their idols as the necessary prerequisite of his devotion and commitment to God. A Hadith emphasizes that for fulfillment of true Belief, it is necessary to love for sake of God as well as to hate for sake of God.
Isn’t the tolerance of atheism and Sodomy one of the reasons Christendom has transformed into the most antireligious and promiscuous parts of the world. Why didn’t the anti-God secularism emerge in the Islamic civilization. Don’t you think that anti-God “Western” secularism specifically Judaeo-Christian in origin and Judaeo-Christian traditon is conducive to this secularism? I casted doubt on the identity label “Western” because I don’t consider myself “Easterner” or beloning to a country or a political party. To me Muslim is an all-encompassing identity. Is the same the case with any Jews and Christians in the world today. I am talking to you because the various problems related to the world peace are related to Judaeo-Christian spiritual tragedy because it is spiritually affecting the Ummah, the spiritual-temporal body of Muslim believers whose identity is being robbed by the global commercialized and sexualized lifestyle which is unfortunately Judaeo-Christian in origin.
For a bit of perspective Muhammad I am the son, grandson, and great-grandson of ministers of the gospel. In Christianity we are taught to hate the sin but love the sinner. It is an important part of Christianity to pray for those who have not yet seen the light and accepted Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior. All of us have fallen short of the glory of God. As Christians we live under the ‘new covenant’ and the atheists, the sodomites, practitioners of witchcraft, blasphemers and the like have been given a period of grace and do not receive the ‘justice’ they do deserve here on earth. But unless they repent of their ways they will have to answer for their actions in the next life. Most of the evil that bothers you so much does not derive from Judeo-Christianity but from secularism which is an avowed enemy itself of Christianity. It might help if you get that straight.
Hidaayah with a Nasraani
“For a bit of perspective Muhammad I am the son, grandson, and great-grandson of ministers of the gospel.”
I stumbled into the right place.
“In Christianity we are taught to hate the sin but love the sinner.”How would you express your harted and denunciation of Sodomy and antiTheism?
“It is an important part of Christianity to pray for those who have not yet seen the light and accepted Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior. ”
In Islam, it’s called Supplication for Guidance(Du’aa for Hidaayah) where Hidaayah is seen as something bestowed by God to whom He wills because He is al-Haadi or The Guide. Seeing the Light is also an allusion used in Qur’aan as Singular an-Noor is juxtaposed with plural Zulumaat or Darknesses which necessarily implies for example both Catholics and Protestants can’t be right. Both Ahlus Sunnah and Rawaafid(a pertinent pejorative used by Ahlus Sunnah scholars) can’t be right or vice versa both so called Shee’ah and Nawaasib(As pejorative term Rawaafid use for Ahlus Sunnah) can’t be right.
In Islam accepting Jesus peace be upon him(‘Eesaa ‘alaihis salaam) as or Messiah(al- Maseeh) is necessary for Salvation(Najaah) because adhering to everything God The Exalted(Allaah Ta’aalaa) said in Qur’aan-ul-Hakeem is necessary for salvation. So, Jesus peace be upon him is a saviour(an-Naaj) , but the actual act of salvation is a prerogative of God or the will of God. Like Jesus peace be upon him says that he follows the will of God in the Heaven. This is similar to the fact that Haadi is a name shared both by Apostle of God, May God bless him and grant him peace(Rasoolu(A)llaah sall Allaahu ‘alaihi wasallam) as well as God. But The Guide al-Haadi is God Himself.
This is precisely the rebellion of God(‘Isyaan) Jews are commiting. But there are other Jews who accept Jesus peace be upon him as Messiah but consider accepting him as Lord tantamount to blasphemy ,idolatry and serious transgression of Tawraat-the pristine Torah. Examples include Abdullaah bin Salaam, Maryam Jameelah formerly Margaret Marcus, Muhammad Asad formerly Leopold Weiss, and many examples throughout history including this one.
http://jews-for-allah.org/
“All of us have fallen short of the glory of God.”
Of course. But should that lead us to an antinomian pessimism. Should that be an alibi for wrong things we do.
“..like have been given a period of grace…”
a Qur’aanic equivalent as mentioned in 86th Soorah is a period of temporary respite.
“But unless they repent of their ways they will have to answer for their actions in the next life.” I don’t know about what the four gospels say about their destiny in the next life(‘Aakhirah), but Qur’aan explicitly mentions it to be Hell in Aayah 6 of Soorah al-Mulk which means Dominion.
http://honorablequran.com/67.htm
“Most of the evil that bothers you so much does not derive from Judeo-Christianity”
You didn’t question the notion of Judaeo-Christianity which I hoped anyone would. There is no historical Judaeo-Christianity. The denial of Messiah obviously is antithetical to the pristine message of Messiah Jesus son of Mary peace be upon him and the pristine Gospel.
“but from secularism which is an avowed enemy itself of Christianity.” This much is known to everyone. But the question remains: why it is specific to historical Christendom?Why didn’t it emerge in the Islamic civilization? And why only Islam has withstood and will continue to withstand this onslaught? Do you see any prospect of a Christian resurgence in Europe (ar-Room as Islam refers to it). I don’t. But I see a global spiritual revolution inside the Islamic humanity as a result of the pervasiveness of the poison of secularism which colonialism injected into Islamic humanity. It may sound strange to you because colonialism apparently was a religious project but perhaps what transpired after that in the Muslim humanity was the worst secular shift in the entire Muslim history. Globalization brought about the commercialization and sexualization of Muslim hearts, and some The Knowers and The Mystics(‘Ulamaa and Soofiyaa) the guardians of the nomian-spiritual tradition of Islam percieve this radical transformation of human history as the harbinger of the advent of antiChrist which can only be resisted by the spiritual-temporal army of Mahdi-The One Guided by God Himslef who would wage spiritual-temporal warfare called Jihad. The establishment of Godless Israel has a remarkable resonance with the Islamic eschatology of antiChrist(Dajjaal). For more on the firm beliefs of all Muslims regarding Islamic eschatology.
Jesuswillreturn.com
Awaitedmahdi.com
The longevity of the post will benefit us all in thenext world InshaAllaah(God willing).
Muhammah;
I’ll assume that you did stumble into the right place, if you’re sincerely interested in political debate. What is interesting to me is that we will be talking somewhat past each other quite a bit, as Islam sees no separation between faith and politics, where the Western mind has no trouble keeping the two apart. It is very nice to see that there are actually many common threads good, religious Muslims can find with Christians. The more these threads can be found, the better relations between our belief systems will be. However, you are mixing up a few things, and you should be careful as the schools inside of Islam can be just as confusing to walk through. You say the following:
How well versed are you on Christianity? It seems that you have but a cursory education on the faith. Sad to say, many Christians are in the same boat, so don’t take it as a personal criticism. What differs is HOW we worship God; it has nothing to do with Godhead, the Nicene Creed (which not all Christians are signatories to; for example, in the Oriental Churches, though that will change soon enough), or how we as Christians see the Trinity as a theological fact. We argue over semantics, not over Christ’s divinity. Our religious wars ended hundreds of years ago. It would be nice is Sunnis and Shia would quit spilling each others’ blood.
Now we move on to this quote:
Dave made a good statement, and a very honest one. You answer it well, but I think there is a confusion here. Dave didn’t say it was an alibi for anything. He stated a fact. Not one single sin is an alibi for anything. You can blame Western Civilization for many sins, but I think it best to take a look at extremism, terrorism, ‘weekend marriages’, barbarity toward woman, etc., in other cultures as well. No man stands clean. We hope for mercy while doing the best we can to live a moral life. I’ll assume you feel the same.
Next, something a bit more disturbing:
So you tried to lay a snare. Hmm. The problem with what you are saying is that there is, indeed, a Judaeo-Christianity. It is an American idea, and uniquely so. Europe and the Levant had Christianity pretty much from its outset. Problems came about with making it a state religion rather than a confession one is willing to make individually. As free men, we go to Christianity because we believe. I won’t speak for the others, but in Orthodoxy, any Jew who has studied his history will see a continuity with his worshiping habits. If there are any differences between modern Judaism, which was specifically designed to be counter-Christian due to enmity after the Bar Khokba debacle, and ancient Judaism (which we consider ourselves an outgrowth of) it is that they took a different road and developed their theology into something that wouldn’t be very recognizable to the ancients.
Your final points are a bit disturbing as well. You ask why secularism hasn’t emerged in Islam? It has in Islamic states. It simply gets butchered by fanatics. From Algeria to Iran, secularists, people who wish to convert to Christianity, those who submit to a different school, all get cut down. It’s undeniable. If we obliterated opposition in Christianity, I suppose we could make the same claim. “Love thy neighbor” is given much lip service in Islam, but seems to not be practiced so well. You act as though it was only the fault of the West that commercialization and sexualization entered your culture. That’s pretty rich. Hypocrisy is something you will have to answer to God to as well as the rest of us. Please keep that in mind when you attack our culture, please. As for a godless Israel, who are you to say that all Israelis are so? There are many secularist/atheist Israelis, and there are also very many religious Jews there. They are growing, and will continue to do so. They have to battle a godless Fatah and Satanic Hamas and Hizballah. Israel will not lose. It will be up to her enemies to make peace. Once that happens, it will be proof of inter-religious good will. I hope to see it one day, but I won’t hold my breath.
All of this has little to do with Christopher Hitchens, but to keep this thread on the right track, I pray that he finds God soon.
You know. I don’t care for your religon, but that doesn’t mean I am not going to pray for you. As for Hitchens being one who does not believe in God… well that is his problem, not yours. So with that said, I pray you understand that not everyone thinks as you do and you can Take your God and shove it.
One might also note with some degree of fairness that all the major advances in science over the past millennium came from Christendom, with the exception of Algebra, and thanks loads for that one, guys!
Umm myth. Algebra came from India.
Upinak, I think Hairy said, “with the exception of Algebra.” Just putting it up in case you missed it.