Now He Knows For Sure............>?

[dales]

http://www.npr.org/2011/12/16/143830372 ... t=1&f=1001

For Hitchens, In Life And Death, An Unaware Cosmos



by Barbara Bradley Hagerty

December 16, 2011
Writer Christopher Hitchens, who died on Thursday from complications of cancer at the age of 62, leaves behind some 18 books and countless essays on politics and public figures. But his most lasting legacy may be his atheism and his long-running duel with what he considered the world's most dangerous threat: religion.

It was not trauma or disillusion that propelled Christopher Hitchens into a life of unbelief. It was Mrs. Jean Watts, who taught nature class at Hitchens' boarding school when he was 9 years old. The pivotal moment, he recalled, occurred when Mrs. Watts explained that God had made the grass and the leaves green as a gift to mankind.

"She says, 'This is an excellent thing and proof of the glory of God, because he could have made vegetation orange or red, something that would clash with our eyes, whereas green is the most restful color for our eyes!' " Hitchens told C-SPAN. "And I sat there in my little corduroy shorts, and I thought, that's absolute nonsense."[ to be perfectly honest, I would've believed the same thing and dismissed it.]

From that moment, Hitchens began a lifelong battle with a God he did not believe in.

<snip>

[quaddriver]

that would explain the flash in the sky, something hitting the ground with a thud, burrowing insanely deeply. and the sulphur smell.

[Lord Jim]

Hitchens was a true original, who never minced words or suffered fools gladly...

Ideologically, he was impossible to pigeonhole; he despised Bill Clinton, who he described as "a cynical, self-seeking ambitious thug", and he was a stalwart and eloquent supporter of the war in Iraq, (probably the most eloquent) but he also considered Henry Kissinger to be a war criminal, and once characterized Mother Teresa as ""A thieving, fanatical Albanian dwarf" (Hitchens' slashing, no-bullshit prose was very much in the tradition of H.L. Mencken and Hunter S. Thompson)

I very much enjoyed Hitchens' interviews, read a number of his essays, and particularly enjoyed debates I saw him participate in where he was out numbered two or three to one by the participants, roundly booed by the audience, and still, kept his cool, his wit, and came across as easily the cleverest, most articulate and best prepared person in the room.

Obviously i didn't always agree with him, but he was a rare talent; I always found him thought provoking and entertaining and world is poorer for his passing.

[loCAtek]

How to know for sure? We'll just have to hold a seance!

Chris are you there? ...

[BoSoxGal]

I read him faithfully until he fell out with The Nation over the Iraq War; I will have to add some of his books to my 'to be read' list.

I couldn't pay him better tribute than you did, LJ, so I'll just say ditto.

R.I.P., Mr. Hitchens. As the worm food you now are.

[rubato]

Why would he know for sure? According to the christian text the dead are as those who sleep until the second coming; in other words even if he's wrong he knows shit.

Or do you not read your own bible?

yrs,
rubato

[loCAtek]

What if he was reincarnated as a three-toed sloth? ...or toe fungus?

[BoSoxGal]

Worm food.

[dales]

Why would he know for sure? According to the christian text the dead are as those who sleep until the second coming; in other words even if he's wrong he knows shit.

Or do you not read your own bible?

yrs,
rubato

<< 2 Corinthians 5:8 >>


New International Version (©1984)
We are confident, I say, and would prefer to be away from the body and at home with the Lord.
New Living Translation (©2007)

Yes, we are fully confident, and we would rather be away from these earthly bodies, for then we will be at home with the Lord.

English Standard Version (©2001)
Yes, we are of good courage, and we would rather be away from the body and at home with the Lord.

New American Standard Bible (©1995)
we are of good courage, I say, and prefer rather to be absent from the body and to be at home with the Lord.

King James Bible (Cambridge Ed.)
We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord.

International Standard Version (©2008)
We are confident, then, and would prefer to be away from this body and to live with the Lord.

Aramaic Bible in Plain English (©2010)
Because of this we trust and we long to depart from the body and to be with Our Lord.

GOD'S WORD® Translation (©1995)
We are confident and prefer to live away from this body and to live with the Lord.

King James 2000 Bible (©2003)
We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord.

American King James Version
We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord.

American Standard Version
we are of good courage, I say, and are willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be at home with the Lord.

Douay-Rheims Bible
But we are confident, and have a good will to be absent rather from the body, and to be present with the Lord.

Darby Bible Translation
we are confident, I say, and pleased rather to be absent from the body and present with the Lord.

English Revised Version
we are of good courage, I say, and are willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be at home with the Lord.

Webster's Bible Translation
We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord.

Weymouth New Testament
So we have a cheerful confidence, and we anticipate with greater delight being banished from the body and going home to the Lord.

World English Bible
We are courageous, I say, and are willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be at home with the Lord.

Young's Literal Translation
we have courage, and are well pleased rather to be away from the home of the body, and to be at home with the Lord.

Or do you not read your own bible?

Every chance I get.

[rubato]

yawn


1 Thessalonians 4:16 For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first.


yrs,
rubato

[quaddriver]

yawn


1 Thessalonians 4:16 For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first.


yrs,
rubato

AMC, sunday nights, 10pm.

[Crackpot]

you're talking about the resurrection of the believers not what happens right after death Rube.

[Sue U]

If after death your soul joins with God, why ever would you want resurrection in corporeal form on earth?

[Lord Jim]

I love it would rube tries to talk theology....

Almost as funny as when he opines on economics....

[Crackpot]

If after death your soul joins with God, why ever would you want resurrection in corporeal form on earth?

1 what do you mean by join?
2 the resurrection occur s at the point where God establishes his earthy kingdom.
3 this "resurrection" is into perfect bodies akin to Adam and Eve before the fall.

[Sue U]

1 what do you mean by join?

I'm sure I don't know; what is meant by the quotation from Corinthians that dales cited? I was working from that.

2 the resurrection occur s at the point where God establishes his earthy kingdom.
3 this "resurrection" is into perfect bodies akin to Adam and Eve before the fall.

If you have gone from your body to "be with the Lord" or "live with the Lord" or "be at home with the Lord" or "be present with the Lord," why is there any need or desire to come back?

(I"m asking out of curiosity, not attempting to be argumentative, so please consider my questions in the spirit they're asked.)

[loCAtek]

If after death your soul joins with God, why ever would you want resurrection in corporeal form on earth?

Generally, to go back and help others.

[dales]

yawn

yrs,
rubato

[dales]

If after death your soul joins with God, why ever would you want resurrection in corporeal form on earth?

Generally, to go back and help others.

To give glory to the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost.

[Crackpot]

1 what do you mean by join?

I'm sure I don't know; what is meant by the quotation from Corinthians that dales cited? I was working from that.

I was asking because Join can be a loaded question. it can mean be together with/in the presence of with or become one with. Most (myself included) see it as the former but if you take it as the latter it my response would seem gibberish.

If you have gone from your body to "be with the Lord" or "live with the Lord" or "be at home with the Lord" or "be present with the Lord," why is there any need or desire to come back?

(I"m asking out of curiosity, not attempting to be argumentative, so please consider my questions in the spirit they're asked.)

It's not really a desire to come back it is more of a completion of what is promised. It could be said that until the second coming (at which time all believers are given their "glorified bodies" the dead are in a semi-existance without body and not completely whole. Upon receiving the glorified bodies all believers are equal.