Sunday.....Christianity.....The Appointed Amount Of Years

My wife and I recently attended a surprise birthday party for a friend where the entertainment was professional style gambling tables. Everyone was given 35 thousand dollars of play money to gamble with for a specified period of time. At the end of that time we were to count our money and were given one ticket for every five thousand dollars we had left. Those tickets were to be placed into containers of four very nice prizes for the winning ticket holder. Now if one ran out of money during the allotted time they could go up and sing a karaoke song and receive another seven thousand dollars to gamble with. I never saw a roulette or craps table in operation before and probably drove the dealers crazy with my questions for they were constantly moving my bet for one reason or another and often pointing to the winning chips and saying Yes, that's your money, you can take it or saying yes or no when asked should I roll again. Forgetting momentarily that the money was not real, my wife, at one point, was aghast at my betting four thousand dollars on one hand of Blackjack. She was shaking her head and laughing about that even tonight. I've probably written on the following topic before because I have held to this philosophy for quite some time now. I call it the 70 year philosophy. It's the determining factor, from the human perspective, of my choosing to have faith in Christ. I refer to it as the human perspective for my choice was always rejection of real faith in the true Christ and would have remained so for all of my life, for God chooses, and then compels, out of great mercy, to choose Him, thus giving us a part in His redemptive plan, but a bestowed part nonetheless.  Back to the 70 year philosophy, at one time in the not too distant past the average life span for a male in America was 70 years and I use that as a reference point in my philosophy of life. That life for many may be much shorter and for others it may extend for some time afterwards but the principle is the same. It's 60 years and seven months for me as it stands now and I do not know what a day may bring. I have lived youth, middle age, and whatever this is now. Some of those years were wasted, some trivialized, but none failed to add to the evidence from which a philosophy emerged. That philosophy is twofold; that 70 years is a relatively short period of time in the full scheme of things, and to paraphrase once again that pin-striped philosopher Yogi Berra, if it's over...it's over. The Wall Street Journal this week ran a piece in remembrance of a Formula One race car driver, Stefan Bellof, who was destined to be great before his untimely death on the track. Steve Prefontaine, the marvelous runner, was another whose name would live on after death, and James Dean of film died after only four movies but remains an icon in  our culture. Their memory lives on but they do not.. We all, I believe, tend to think that we live on in someone's memory even after death. Christopher Hitchens' first in a series of articles on his newly diagnosed cancer appeared this week in Vanity Fair and on the web. Its worth reading because of his wit, and his openness in dealing with both prayers and condemnations sent his way since the announcement of this famous atheist's illness. He has not budged one inch in his refusal to not only disbelieve in God (small "g" as he writes) but promises to not only remain defiant to the end but proclaims in advance that if a deathbed conversion occurs, he would have had lost his mind in his illness. Mr. Hitchens may believe that he will fight this "poison" of  "faith in god" even after his death. But this is impossible. Others can fight his fight in his name but his efforts will have ceased  He has effectively sent in a continuous series of absentee ballots through his writings that will be counted by those following him but they will nonetheless be illegal votes for whether he exists in some other state or not, he cannot render his preference from there. Do not many others do the same thing? They may die, they reason, but by golly they will be present with us in spirit!  They will protect the turf of their reputation even though that turf would then only contain bones of a life that once existed. If their spirit exists, it won't be with us, if it doesn't exist, it obviously won't be with us either. The decision is to be made in the here and now, the 70 years as I label it.  Personally, I may wind up having 60 years and seven months in which to have made that decision, and I may have my proverbial 70 years.  This blog or some other cyber writing may remain but even that opinion would be from someone no longer present, a soul who I believe would have had his chips (sins) counted, pronounced justified by grace through faith in Christ and entered into the glory of His Lord; or, as many others believe, would be a soul that no longer exists and therefore has vanished in its entirety, simply a part of the history of mankind. Christopher Hitchens is comfortable with his decision. A mind as capable and analytical methodology as rigorous as his would have at least been consistent if his decision was being made irregardless of any deference to his reputation after death. If, on the other hand,  he is clinging to his continued presence here after the fact, he would have betrayed that which he values greatly, his intellect. Indecision ...is...decision. We all have an aloted amount of time. If you are alarmed about the claim that it is God who chooses, then run to Him and plead to be one of them. He may grant you the choice, and if so will provide your response also. If you are merely outraged that God will do the choosing, then you indeed already have the choice and will provide the answer also. If you in any way base your decision on others opinion of you, either now or in your posterity, then you are striving for something that you will not be here to take pleasure in, or else no longer exist to even contemplate, or...as the Christian would believe, not be present here but present somewhere else and greatly regretting that others here have a memory of your advice that was given.