Yahoo is reporting that one of the world's leading Atheist Christopher Hitchens has been diagnosed with throat cancer. I wonder if God has had enough of his rantings and decided to silence him?

You're celebrating someone getting cancer? Really?

Nah, he's not celebrating it.

He's pointing out the irony of it.

Like if Ron Jeremy got diagnosed with testicular cancer or something.
That would definitely bring about a "Hmmmm....."

no. sh*t happens, even to the best of us.

That is not God's way.. as I am familiar with it.

"God's way" is to give his followers throat cancer and let his critics live long and healthy.

That is the way I am familiar with.

If we're going to give God credit for the events that occur in hell ( this world).. lets be honest about it. The 'righteous" are cut down while the unrighteous prosper.

But there is reason for this.. Satan rules here.

Has anyone looked around lately.. at the world recently? I'd say most of the terrain is under the rulership of Satan.

Also, remember what Christ Himself said about not being " of this world, otherwise his angels would fight for him " ?

It seems a lot of Christian don't even know this primary point. It is central to understanding so many things.

Maybe we could pray for his salvation-that would have a far greater impact on the atheist movement i think. Next stop: Richard Dawkins

Anybody can get cancer at any time. No one is immune, no one is 'too special'. God doesn't cause cancer....but it would seem everything else does.

The rain falls on the just and unjust alike.

Kamerad Ash wrote:

That is not God's way.. as I am familiar with it.

"God's way" is to give his followers throat cancer and let his critics live long and healthy.

That is the way I am familiar with.

That is incorrect.

Kamerad Ash wrote:

If we're going to give God credit for the events that occur in hell ( this world).. lets be honest about it. The 'righteous" are cut down while the unrighteous prosper.

You are quite wrong.

Kamerad Ash wrote:

But there is reason for this.. Satan rules here.

Has anyone looked around lately.. at the world recently? I'd say most of the terrain is under the rulership of Satan.

Once again, that is far from the truth. If you look around and see Satan ruling, I believe you're in the wrong location. (I'm sure you can find Satan easily in those "klubs" though)

It's like being in a little town of 600 people that has a post office, a grocery store and 3 bars... and saying everyone there drinks. That's a blanket statement, and an false one at that.

While "Seek and ye shall find" does apply to Lucifer, he doesn't rule this planet. Powerful force? Yes. Ruler. Hell no.

Is there a lot of evil, wrong doing and negative forces in this world? Yes. Is it that way "everywhere"? No.

Has God punished people like that? I beleive so. It has happened in the bible. Does it mean that cancer or other diseases is always because of sin? Absolutely not. We as humans really can't make that call if it was God or not. I really doubt this situation has anything to do with him being an atheist. It's jsut natural

olias wrote:

no. sh*t happens, even to the best of us.

Biblical, as Sutekh pointed out:

Sutekh wrote:

The rain falls on the just and unjust alike.

If it's God's doing, that's His business. While we may wonder to ourselves, being vocal (cancer pun) about the possibility only feeds the perception that Christians are hateful towards those they disagree with; atheists, homosexuals, pro-choice advocates/abortion doctors, etc.

I'm pretty sure he's a smoker.

Kamerad Ash wrote:

It is not something that can be "correct" or "incorrect". It is based on personal experience(s). You are not going to have the same experience in life as I.. and on and on with everybody else.

Its actually based on perception, not experience. ....and perceptions can be correct and incorrect.

This is true; every other man on my mom's side of the family has their heart explode about 40-50 years of age.

For me to think,
"God must hate them, hate my family and all we've ever done is follow Him."
I feel would be very incorrect.

There are so many EARTHLY external factors as to why these people have these health issues.

God didn't will them to die/suffer - He allowed it.
There's a huge difference between will and allow.

Hguols wrote:

There are so many EARTHLY external factors as to why these people have these health issues.

God didn't will them to die/suffer - He allowed it.
There's a huge difference between will and allow.

+1

God permits the devil to do his dastardly deeds on this planet until the glorious day of our Savior's return.

Quote :

For me to think,
"God must hate them, hate my
family and all we've ever done is follow Him."
I feel would be very
incorrect.

None of my posts are about God hating anyone.

Also, it is up to preference whether or not we give God credit for things that happen to us.. or even for things the devil or forces of darkness are behind. Because, even those thing God allows and it is no sin to give him credit for it.

We see this played out in the book of Job perfectly. Satan was given permission to torment Job and kill his family, by God. Not once does Job give Satan credit for it.. but instead says that God did these things to him. And what is the response from God to this.. God declares that in how he responded to the trial.. he did not sin.

That is one of the great tests of life.. to be able to accept Good and Evil from God.. without Denying Him.

( note - Evil in that usage does mean Wickedness.. it is an old world for "bad luck, tragedy, suffering, destruction comes up someone.. it is said " evil comes upon me" etc. _

Kamerad Ash wrote:

None of my posts are about God hating anyone.

My example wasn't meant to be an exact parallel to yours. Just similar.
Sorry for the misunderstanding.

Kamerad Ash wrote:

Also, it is up to preference whether or not we give God credit for things that happen to us.. or even for things the devil or forces of darkness are behind. Because, even those thing God allows and it is no sin to give him credit for it.

That's messed up.
Um... Maybe you mean a different word than "preference"?
Because whether we credit God with something, doesn't change if it was from Him or not.

Kamerad Ash wrote:

We see this played out in the book of Job perfectly. Satan was given permission to torment Job and kill his family, by God. Not once does Job give Satan credit for it.. but instead says that God did these things to him. And what is the response from God to this.. God declares that in how he responded to the trial.. he did not sin.

That is one of the great tests of life.. to be able to accept Good and Evil from God.. without Denying Him.

( note - Evil in that usage does mean Wickedness.. it is an old world for "bad luck, tragedy, suffering, destruction comes up someone.. it is said " evil comes upon me" etc. _

....but that "evil" didn't come from God. God allowed it.
He didn't wish or will suffering on Job, or He would have already done it.

Besides, that with Job wasn't even about him. It was about God putting Satan in the seat of failure. Satan lost there. God won, and so did Job.

Quote :

....but that "evil" didn't come from God. God
allowed it.
He didn't wish or will suffering on Job, or He would have
already done it.

yes, it did come "from" God. And God obviously did will the suffering of Job. Does God not know that when he specifically mentions Job to Satan that Satan will ask to test him? Of course He does.

Satan didn't even have an interest in Job.. it was God who brought him up to Satan-


6One day the angels^a came to present themselves before the Lord,
and Satan^balso came with them.

7The Lord said to Satan, “Where have you
come from?” Satan answered the Lord, “From roaming through the earth and
going back and forth in it.”

8Then the Lord said to Satan, “Have you considered my
servant Job? There is no one on earth like him; he is blameless and
upright, a man who fears God and shuns evil.”

Hguols wrote:

....but that "evil" didn't come from God. God allowed it.
He didn't wish or will suffering on Job, or He would have already done it.

Besides, that with Job wasn't even about him. It was about God putting Satan in the seat of failure. Satan lost there. God won, and so did Job.

Not to intrude on the convo or anything, but I'll give off my perspective. For me, "evil" isn't necessarily a bad thing. I think Christians need to realize the great difference between evil and sin. Sin is the problem, not evil. I do agree that God did allow it, but I would also go as far and say (according to Job Ch.1) that God COMMANDED the Demons to go do what they did to Job. You are correct that it never said He wished for Job to suffer, but He did want to test Job and the Demons were the best ones for the Job (no pun intended). In addition, thanks to the Book of Job, God did already do it.

I would disagree with the last paragraph as I see Job gives off a totally different perspective on how God and the demons work. It seems despite being the greatest of enemies, they are also the best of friends, simply because the demons know who God is, and won't fight against Him. (They already did and got their butts kicked out and damned because of it.) So, I won't say that the demons are out to get God or anything, but Job strangely enough paints the Demons as actually some of the most obediant servants of God, despite being against God. By the end of the night though, it was all a test for Job to reveal where His' True Loyalties lied.

I apologize for the thread straying. Just I think it is messed up to be saying God is punishing an atheist by giving Him cancer, and turn around and praise God for doing that to someone. Sounds to much like Westboro Baptist Church fused with Calvinism to me.

I think we need to understand the difference between what God may "will" and what he may "want'.

We have a notion that because God wills something.. that must mean he "wants' it. That is of course.. quite nonsensical.

That is trying to make God fit into the selfish moral ethics of us humans.

we must remember " His ways are not our ways, his thoughts are not our thoughts ". - paraphrasing.

The book of Job, for me.. is well summed up by what Job said in the beginnig of it..

Naked I came from my mother’s womb,
and naked I will depart.^c
The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away;


In other words.. GOd is God.

Hguols wrote:

Besides, that with Job wasn't even about him. It was about God putting Satan in the seat of failure. Satan lost there. God won, and so did Job.

I'm not clear cause of the wording, but it seems like you're saying Job isn't about Job. I would have a hard time going along with that considering the length of the Book of Job and how much God or Satan are in it.

FireProphet wrote:

Hguols wrote:

Besides, that with Job wasn't even about him. It was about God putting Satan in the seat of failure. Satan lost there. God won, and so did Job.

I'm not clear cause of the wording, but it seems like you're saying Job isn't about Job. I would have a hard time going along with that considering the length of the Book of Job and how much God or Satan are in it.

I'm saying that what Job went through wasn't really about Job.
It was about God triumphing over Satan.

i think its cuz he smokes like 7 packs a day
OR NO YEA GOD WAS LIKE HURRR SHUT UP YEA THAT MAKES MORE SENSE GOD IS TOTALLY LIKE THAT

325ad wrote:

Yahoo is reporting that one of the world's leading Atheist Christopher Hitchens has been diagnosed with throat cancer. I wonder if God has had enough of his rantings and decided to silence him?

That would hardly "silence" him. He can still blog and whatnot. I don't think God's behind this. More like a genetic predisposition toward cancer.

Sutekh wrote:

The rain falls on the just and unjust alike.

Quoted For Truth.