God is not great?

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bones_IV

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Newsweek had a very lengthy article about about Christopher Hitchen’s new book called “God is not great”. He blames religion for almost everything. :rolleyes: It was so rediculous. It seems that the examples he cites, are in my opinion, examples of fallen human nature. I’m not denying the evils and horrors that have been done by people throughout the centuries in name of religion. I think he just simply exaggerated.

How much longer are we going to have to put up with this? :mad:

People like this I find the hardest to pray for.
 
carol_marie said:
I agree with you. Unfortunatly they are the ones who need our prayers most.
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Ah ha. He didn’t mention about how St. Maximillian Kolbe rejoiced when he was suffering at a Nazi Concentration camp. Or when Pius XII hid Jews and refugees from the hands of the Nazis inside Castel Gandolfo. For him, that’s not good enough.
 
aimee said:
Hi Bones

I don’t know about this guy Hitchens…he seems angry at God for some reason…Carol Marie is right…he needs our prayers…
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He is just another sad voice to join Comte, Rand, Nietzche, Freud, Marx, and other nimrods who have tried to champion a godless society. Of course, he ignores the fact that godless societies have a tendancy to be much more violent (Soviet Union, China, Cambodia…to name a few)than their religious countreparts.

He looks at the violence done in the name of Christ…and there is much…and comes to the conclusion that religion must be a farce based on the violence. He needs to keep in mind two things: A)At least in Christianity, we could never use our Scriptures to justify the violence and such, and B) Violence and mayhem are not specific to religious cultures; in fact religious cultures, while having violence, seem to better curtail it that non-religious cultures.

Hitchens says religion makes no sense? Has he EVER stopped to consider the fallacy of his own position?
 
bones_IV said:
: A)At least in Christianity, we could never use our Scriptures to justify the violence and such
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welll, that’s not entirely true. It was used to justify slavery.

That being said people can mess up the purity of religion and God would still be great. I think the title is to sell books. 🤷 It should have been called “Here’s how Gods Words Get Twisted. Don;t Blame God, Blame Fools”
 
bones_IV said:
Newsweek had a very lengthy article about about Christopher Hitchen’s new book called “God is not great”. He blames religion for almost everything. :rolleyes: It was so rediculous. It seems that the examples he cites, are in my opinion, examples of fallen human nature. I’m not denying the evils and horrors that have been done by people throughout the centuries in name of religion. I think he just simply exaggerated.

How much longer are we going to have to put up with this? :mad:

People like this I find the hardest to pray for.
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“God is not great” is a metaphor. He’s correct. No one is more dangerous then when they have weapons technology and the fervent belief that the God of the universe (and beyond) is on their side. This is a dangerous combination.

Of course the true God is great and Hitchens knows that conceptually. Let’s give him a little credit.
bones_IV said:
How much longer are we going to have to put up with this? :mad:.
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I see your point. But in another sense, this is like the Princess and the Pea. Babies dying in their mother’s arms because they don’t have access to simple drinking water is something we shouldn’t “put up with”. It’s not about us and our feelings. We should be about our Father’s business and let the world blather on. God’s reputation will do just fine in the long run.

The world will continue to pick on Christians in general and Catholics in particular. Maybe if they saw us actually living out the Gospel their opinions might change a bit. But even if nothing changes, the world is passing away. Their attacks are normal.
 
Saw this author on a couple shows. He doesn’t seem like a very happy or pleasant man. But then again, how could you be happy without God?

Also, someone mentioned Nietzsche in a previous post. His whole idea of people breaking from herd mentality to find out what they stand for and believe in backfired. He wanted people to move away from God, I used his idea to get closer…👍

…now back to your regularly scheduled program

dxu
 
a_priori said:
“God is not great” is a metaphor. He’s correct. No one is more dangerous then when they have weapons technology and the fervent belief that the God of the universe (and beyond) is on their side. This is a dangerous combination.

Babies dying in their mother’s arms because they don’t have access to simple drinking water is something we shouldn’t “put up with”. It’s not about us and our feelings. We should be about our Father’s business and let the world blather on. God’s reputation will do just fine in the long run.
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Very good points a priori.
 
a_priori said:
“God is not great” is a metaphor. He’s correct. No one is more dangerous then when they have weapons technology and the fervent belief that the God of the universe (and beyond) is on their side. This is a dangerous combination.

Of course the true God is great and Hitchens knows that conceptually. Let’s give him a little credit.

I see your point. But in another sense, this is like the Princess and the Pea. Babies dying in their mother’s arms because they don’t have access to simple drinking water is something we shouldn’t “put up with”. It’s not about us and our feelings. We should be about our Father’s business and let the world blather on. God’s reputation will do just fine in the long run.

The world will continue to pick on Christians in general and Catholics in particular. Maybe if they saw us actually living out the Gospel their opinions might change a bit. But even if nothing changes, the world is passing away. Their attacks are normal.
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A priori, Some 20 years ago, perhaps when the canonization of St. Maximilian Kolbe was underway, Hitchens was writing for The Nation. And it was in The Nation, I believe that he attacked Maximilian Kolbe for some alleged anti-Semitic remarks either from him or a group to which he belonged in the late 1920s or 1930s. Hitchens is an arrogant know-nothing who writes about religion and Christianity in particular with a snide attitude.

Here’s some atheist tyrants that did more damage than the religious extremists do.

Lenin, Stalin, Kruschchev - 67 million people.
Mao Tse-tung - 26.3 million
Communist revolution in China: 63 million people.
 
He is more to be pitied than censured. I would hardly call “God is not great” a metaphor. The statement “God is not great” is blasphemy.
 
God needs to bring back horror death to blasphemers like back in the day i.e. Arian or Voltaire. That would definitely keep a lot of nuts scared.
 
bones_IV said:
A priori, Some 20 years ago, perhaps when the canonization of St. Maximilian Kolbe was underway, Hitchens was writing for The Nation. And it was in The Nation, I believe that he attacked Maximilian Kolbe for some alleged anti-Semitic remarks either from him or a group to which he belonged in the late 1920s or 1930s. Hitchens is an arrogant know-nothing who writes about religion and Christianity in particular with a snide attitude. .
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I’m not crazy about Hitchens either. But as you go through life as a Christian there will be a “Hitchens” under every bush. Of course he misses the point of God’s omnipotence. In his heart of hearts I’m certain he realizes the greatness of the Godhead because scripture says God put it there. (Romans 1)

The problem is that people tend to judge God by how we act. We’re supposed to be salt and light. We’re supposed to die to self and live unto Christ. We’re called to lead the charge against ignorance, hunger, nakedness, poverty and all other manifestations of evil in our society. But guess what? Pound for pound, people who refer to themselves as Christians have the same material priorities as everyone else.

Don’t get mad at Hitchens. He’s nobody. But we aren’t holding up our end of the bargain either.
bones_IV said:
Here’s some atheist tyrants that did more damage than the religious extremists do.

Lenin, Stalin, Kruschchev - 67 million people.
Mao Tse-tung - 26.3 million
Communist revolution in China: 63 million people.
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Who said atheist tyrants don’t do damage?
 
Poor Hitch. He’s a brilliant man and a heavy drinker:( He’s an intense atheist, and I get the feeling he’s not all that happy. I pray for him - it would be wonderful if his passion and his brilliant pen could be turned to the glory of God.
 
MugenOne said:
God needs to bring back horror death to blasphemers like back in the day i.e. Arian or Voltaire. That would definitely keep a lot of nuts scared.
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“When His disciples James and John saw this, they said, ‘Lord, do You want us to command fire to come down from heaven and consume them?’ But He turned and rebuked them, and said, ‘You do not know what kind of spirit you are of; for the Son of Man did not come to destroy men’s lives, but to save them.’ And they went on to another village.” Luke 9:54-56
 
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