Could Hitchens be in Heaven?

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HabemusFrancis

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As we all know, Christopher Hitchens has been dead for nearly 5 years.

He was the witty, insightful, implacable enemy of all organized religion, especially Catholocism. You cannot deny that he was an interesting adversary:rolleyes:

He was a proud atheist, basically thought that anyone who believe in God was dumb or pitiable, and that organized religion brings out the worst in mankind.

Yet could he be in heaven despite that?

In some ways… you have to give Hitchens credit. He was a person who thought about religion deeply, and for the life of him much of it did not make sense to him and (in his mind) caused great harm and suffering.

In some ways, doesn’t that attitude show more of an inquistive interest and attention for things of God, than say a lukewarm Catholic who goes to mass weekly “just because?” 🤷

Im not saying Hitchens state is at all preferable, it’s just that I really hope that he wasn’t… lost for good.😊

I actually prayed for him the past week. As I was praying… I got sort of a sense that he was (hopefully not still is) in purgatory. I only thought that because I did sense that my prayers for him were doing good, and I got some strange feeling of gratitude when I finished.

Thoughts?
 
Anything is possible. If Universalism is true, perhaps is he is there by default. If Catholicism is true, perhaps God understands why Hitchens had his criticisms. Maybe, if Christianity in one form or another is true, God used him for a purpose.

All we can do is speculate.

I like to think that he’s in Valhalla, awaiting his moment in the not-oft-discussed verbal debate portion of Götterdämmerung. 😉
 
Mike_from_NJ said:
Anything is possible. If Universalism is true, perhaps is he is there by default. If Catholicism is true, perhaps God understands why Hitchens had his criticisms. Maybe, if Christianity in one form or another is true, God used him for a purpose.

All we can do is speculate.

I like to think that he’s in Valhalla, awaiting his moment in the not-oft-discussed verbal debate portion of Götterdämmerung. 😉
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In Valhalla? Unless he was a secret adherent of Odin, Thor and Co (a recusant Norse pagan if you will) I would not be so certain he is there.

It would be a mighty shame if indeed the Norse pantheon was the one true faith and we Catholics (including priests/religious) never acknowledged them or gave them thanks.

We might have to descend to the realm of Hel then… en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hel_%28being%29
 
Anybody can repent – even after his last words, even while his head is using up his last bodyful of breath.

The Church has never proclaimed anybody to have gone to Hell.

ICXC NIKA
 
I don’t think we can judge a man’s eternal salvation based on our own preferences, likes, or dislikes about them. Only God truly knows a man’s soul. God doesn’t compare us to others because he knows it is not a level playing field. Something s are much harder or easier for others. He is not going to judge us by how successful we were. He just asks us to try.

But, this saying comes to mind.

!
I dreamt death came the other night
And heaven’s gate swung wide;
With kindly grace an angel came
To usher me inside.

Yet there to my astonishment
Stood folks I’d known on earth,
Some I had judged as quite unfit
Or of but little worth.

Indignant words rose to my lips
But never were set free;
For every face showed stunned surprise
NO ONE expected me!
 
I think of him every now and then. I always found him sad, but interesting. I believe he had a brother Peter who is not an atheist.
I am not sure if they had religious upbringing as children. He seemed proud and defiant, but certainly not a happy man. Very angry! I always felt sorry for him.
May he rest in peace.
 
If we pray for souls in Purgatory who are not there, God uses our prayers for those who are, so your prayers were helpful whatever the situation.
 
HabemusFrancis said:
As we all know, Christopher Hitchens has been dead for nearly 5 years.

He was the witty, insightful, implacable enemy of all organized religion, especially Catholocism. You cannot deny that he was an interesting adversary:rolleyes:

He was a proud atheist, basically thought that anyone who believe in God was dumb or pitiable, and that organized religion brings out the worst in mankind.

Yet could he be in heaven despite that?

In some ways… you have to give Hitchens credit. He was a person who thought about religion deeply, and for the life of him much of it did not make sense to him and (in his mind) caused great harm and suffering.

In some ways, doesn’t that attitude show more of an inquistive interest and attention for things of God, than say a lukewarm Catholic who goes to mass weekly “just because?” 🤷

Im not saying Hitchens state is at all preferable, it’s just that I really hope that he wasn’t… lost for good.😊

I actually prayed for him the past week. As I was praying… I got sort of a sense that he was (hopefully not still is) in purgatory. I only thought that because I did sense that my prayers for him were doing good, and I got some strange feeling of gratitude when I finished.

Thoughts?
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Only God Knows and him. God Bless, Memaw
 
GEddie said:
Anybody can repent – even after his last words, even while his head is using up his last bodyful of breath.

The Church has never proclaimed anybody to have gone to Hell.

ICXC NIKA
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Of course the Church doesn’t "proclaim " anyone to be in Hell. We are not God and we do not know who is. But we DO know as Jesus told us, the way to Heaven is narrow and difficult, but the way to Hell is wide and easy to follow and many go there. Best we don’t presume that we’re all going to Heaven. We must follow Christ as HE is the WAY, the TRUTH and the LIFE. God Bless, Memaw
 
7_Sorrows said:
I think of him every now and then. I always found him sad, but interesting. I believe he had a brother Peter who is not an atheist.
I am not sure if they had religious upbringing as children. He seemed proud and defiant, but certainly not a happy man. Very angry! I always felt sorry for him.
May he rest in peace.
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His brother Peter is a former atheist. I often read his newspaper columns and have seen him being interviewed, or appearing on TV debates.
Like Christopher was, he can be insulting, cynical and arrogant, but both share some of the same deeply felt social values and humanitarian concerns.

And though none of us are in a position to say, I think its quite likely that Christopher will be in Heaven.
 
Perhaps in his final moments he repented. We cannot know, but we can pray for him.
 
GEddie said:
Anybody can repent – even after his last words, even while his head is using up his last bodyful of breath.

The Church has never proclaimed anybody to have gone to Hell.

ICXC NIKA
Click to expand...
This is what I have always believed too, I have a feeling that those few seconds right before our bodies death, seem much much longer to the dying person, we have no idea what is going on during that time either.

Ive noticed when people are on the verge of death, they are not scared, and seem to be experiencing/ seeing things that others cannot see. I think a lot of their problems are resolved during this short amount of time.
 
mikekle said:
This is what I have always believed too, I have a feeling that those few seconds right before our bodies death, seem much much longer to the dying person, we have no idea what is going on during that time either.

Ive noticed when people are on the verge of death, they are not scared, and seem to be experiencing/ seeing things that others cannot see. I think a lot of their problems are resolved during this short amount of time.
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Have you seen that much human death?

ICXC NIKA
 
Memaw said:
Of course the Church doesn’t "proclaim " anyone to be in Hell. We are not God and we do not know who is. But we DO know as Jesus told us, the way to Heaven is narrow and difficult, but the way to Hell is wide and easy to follow and many go there. Best we don’t presume that we’re all going to Heaven. We must follow Christ as HE is the WAY, the TRUTH and the LIFE. God Bless, Memaw
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While that is true, HE also said something about planks and motes and eyes.

Like a college buddy of mine once said, “All anybody deserves is to go to HELL!!!”

That’s each of us.

But I believe that mercy is at least wide enough for almost everybody to get Purgatory!

ICXC NIKA.
 
HabemusFrancis said:
As we all know, Christopher Hitchens has been dead for nearly 5 years.

He was the witty, insightful, implacable enemy of all organized religion, especially Catholocism. You cannot deny that he was an interesting adversary:rolleyes:

He was a proud atheist, basically thought that anyone who believe in God was dumb or pitiable, and that organized religion brings out the worst in mankind.

Yet could he be in heaven despite that?

In some ways… you have to give Hitchens credit. He was a person who thought about religion deeply, and for the life of him much of it did not make sense to him and (in his mind) caused great harm and suffering.

In some ways, doesn’t that attitude show more of an inquistive interest and attention for things of God, than say a lukewarm Catholic who goes to mass weekly “just because?” 🤷

Im not saying Hitchens state is at all preferable, it’s just that I really hope that he wasn’t… lost for good.😊

I actually prayed for him the past week. As I was praying… I got sort of a sense that he was (hopefully not still is) in purgatory. I only thought that because I did sense that my prayers for him were doing good, and I got some strange feeling of gratitude when I finished.

Thoughts?
Click to expand...
Mr. Hitchens is dead. Nothing else. To be honest I adore him. The world lost a great man.
 
I like to think he quietly repented at the end, as Pascal thought all men are likely to do.

I like to think some day he will be in heaven waiting at the gates to greet Richard Dawkins with a big fat smile and a hearty “Who’d have thunk it!” 😃 👍
 
memaw said:
of course the church doesn’t "proclaim " anyone to be in hell. We are not god and we do not know who is. But we do know as jesus told us, the way to heaven is narrow and difficult, but the way to hell is wide and easy to follow and many go there. Best we don’t presume that we’re all going to heaven. We must follow christ as he is the way, the truth and the life. God bless, memaw
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exactly!
 
Charlemagne_III said:
I like to think he quietly repented at the end, as Pascal thought all men are likely to do.

I like to think some day he will be in heaven waiting at the gates to greet Richard Dawkins with a big fat smile and a hearty “Who’d have thunk it!” 😃 👍
Click to expand...
👍
 
Charlemagne_III said:
I like to think he quietly repented at the end, as Pascal thought all men are likely to do.

I like to think some day he will be in heaven waiting at the gates to greet Richard Dawkins with a big fat smile and a hearty “Who’d have thunk it!” 😃 👍
Click to expand...
Evidently Jesus doesn’t agree with Pascal, when HE said “Many go there”. We need a little more humility and a lot less presumption. God Bless, Memaw
 
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