Christopher Hitchens, 1949-2011

What are Christians to make of the death of perhaps God’s most outspoken
critic? What is the Christian attitude to the death of the wicked? I
must confess my first response was undignified, self-righteous and
downright sinful. I could see the headlines in the blogosphere “Does
Christopher Hitchens believe in God NOW?”  On reflection, however, a
more moderate and sober approach to the subject will aid us all in
seeing his passing for its real tragedy. Some random thoughts:

1. God made Christopher Hitchens.
He was “fearfully and wonderfully made” (Ps 139:14), in spite of his
protestations to the contrary.  Hitchens died of pneumonia after a long
and public battle with oesophageal cancer that wracked his God-made
body. There is nothing in the wretched manner of his death which should
bring delight to Christians.  We are soberly reminded that we ought to
“number our days” (Ps 90:12) for we know not the hour or manner of our
death. What God made “good” and “very good” (Gen 1) has been torn
asunder by sin. This death should give us a renewed hatred for sin.

2. God does not delight in the death of the wicked (Ez 18:23).
Rather, His revealed will is that all men should repent and live. That
is what he calls all men to do, by the gospel and through the church. 
Paul tells us in Romans that the kindness of God is meant to lead us to
repentance (Rom 2:4). Hitchens had much good in his life, a privileged
upbringing, and a first rate education (Oxford University). Moreover, he
had close proximity to the gospel through his own believing brother
Peter Hitchens and of late, his association with Douglas Wilson. He was
in no way ignorant of the gospel, but chose to ignore and deride the
claims of Christ. Yes, the kindness of God should have led to Hitchens’
repentance but he disobeyed the call of God.

3. God is a just God (Ps 117:7)
and so cannot leave sin unpunished. It is the Christian’s peculiar sin
to jump to the conclusions that every time a God-denier suffers or dies,
he is getting his comeuppance. Scripture teaches that is not always the
case (remember the tower of Siloam).  Yet Scripture also teaches that
God “opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble” (Jam 4:6; cf Prov
3:34). There were few, who so publicly displayed their pride and
arrogance against God, than Hitchens, perhaps with the exception of his
co-belligerent Richard Dawkins. He described Hitchens as a “valiant
fighter against all tyrants including God.” Nevertheless, “God is not
mocked, and whatever one sows that he will also reap” (Gal 6:7). God has
vowed to overthrow his enemies, by the gospel or by the sword, so to
speak, and Hitchens’s spirit is now confronted with this reality. It
seems to me to be our duty, as Bible-believing Christians, to proclaim
this truth. It is also or duty not to be triumphalistic  while saying
it.  That God has, once again demonstrated his rule over sinful man,
reminds us to be more urgent in the proclamation of the gospel, as we
see the day of his coming approaching.

 4. God is a gracious God, and is slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love (Ex 34:6). Had
Hitchens repented of his God-hating, he would have been a recipient of
that overwhelming and immeasurable grace.  Yet, as we think of Hitchens
life, and how much we disagree with him, how much damage he had done by
leading others astray, how much enmity he exhibited towards God, are we
not reminded, that “there but the grace of God, go I”?  Were it not for
God’s grace and mercy to us, we would be no different from Christopher
Hitchens in life or death. As Paul reminded the Corinthians, so we
remind ourselves “and such were some of you”. As we meditate on the
passing of the wicked (for we can describe him no other way), we are
soberly aware that the “Hitchens gene” is in every one of us. It is the
gene of self-exalting, God denying pride. Sadly, it is all too often
alive and well in us as individual Christians and in the church.  Yet
grace has overcome. Yes, grace and not works. Not by the striving of our
own souls have we achieved a standing before God that Hitchens did not
have. Take grace out of the equation and we are just like Hitchens –
“guilty, vile and helpless” as Philip Bliss once wrote.

As you
think on the death of Christopher Hitchens, rejoice in the goodness of
God that led you to repentance. Give thanks that “though you were
separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and
strangers to the covenant of promise, having no hope and without God in
the world”, Christ “came and preached peace” to you (Eph 2:12, 17).
Thanks be to God.

Our guest blogger is Matthew Holst, pastor of Geneva Orthodox Presbyterian Church in Woodstock, Georgia.