Paul Poulton examines the principle of reaping what we sow

Paul Poulton

Outspoken atheist Christopher Hitchens died last December (2011) yet is still making news. Christopher is known for his acerbic wit which cuts well-known believers down to size. In 2009 he had a public debate with Nigerian Archbishop Onaiyekan and former politician, novelist and Christian, Ann Widdecombe. The Telegraph stated that "The archbishop in particular was hopeless" and "Even if you didn't agree with him you'd have to concede Hitchens especially was spectacular and hyper-articulate." Ann, it was said, "did well, showed a light touch and took Hitchens to task for exaggerations."

I was talking about 'Hitch' to my friend Andy who is also an atheist. I admitted that, "Christopher Hitchens stuck to his atheism to the last, as far as we know. And yet we see Blake's Fearful Symmetry at work with Christ stuck hard and fast in Christopher's name." To which Andy said, "Err... seriously? You think there's any significance to this?" I can understand people who have no faith not seeing any significance in anything that is purported to have a supernatural quality about it, but if God made the universe then there must be many ways in which we can hear his voice if we have ears that hear.

"God is not mocked" so when people try to outsmart him they find themselves on the losing side. This affects the universe we live in, in a number a ways. Imagine you are playing chess with a great chess player, and you think you have made a good move, but every time you make a good move he makes a better one, and as hard as you try you can't out-manoeuvre him and eventually you find yourself in checkmate. For example Jacob deceived his blind father, Isaac. He told his dad that he was really his brother Esau and stole Esau's inheritance. A few years later Jacob was himself deceived by his uncle and ended up being tricked into marrying a girl he didn't love. Jacob found himself up against a strategically better tactician in the war of good versus evil. If we employ deceit, deceit will be employed against us. He who cheats ends up cheating himself. He who lies ends up believing a lie. Those who live by the sword shall die by the sword. He who digs a pit for others will fall into the pit he has dug; the trouble he has caused recoils on himself. Or put even more succinctly, we reap what we sow. King Saul tried to pierce David through, but ended up piercing himself through by falling on his own sword.

There are many examples of God's symmetry working in the world not just in the Bible. Isaac Newton called it a Cryptogram; we see it working around us and can never overcome it.

GK Chesterton saw the world full of signs and symbols; he taught people to look around them and see what was happening. Good will beat evil; light will always overcome the darkness. The British author and journalist Malcolm Muggeridge called it, The Theatre of Fearful Symmetry, referring to William Blake's poem "Tyger Tyger". Muggeridge was quite an outspoken agnostic but during his life recognised that some force was at work using this fearful symmetry against him. He saw it at work in other people's lives too, and pointed to DH Lawrence whose book Lady Chatterley's Lover went to trial in the UK under the Obscenities Act because it was about promiscuity, yet the author of the book began to suffer from impotence and couldn't perform the act he had legitimised with one person let alone more than one. Muggeridge wrote a lot more about the fearful symmetry he saw in his book "Conversion". He was quite happy with his agnosticism but found himself sitting in the Theatre of Fearful Symmetry watching a play as life rolled by.

The scriptural principle that those who dig a pit for others will fall into the pit they have made, is not a conspiracy theory for those who have noticed it in life. There are those who disregard it or who have not bothered to look at it, but others like Charles Dickens, Dante, John Bunyan and Shakespeare saw it plain enough and wrote about it. Even the stories we tell our children are replete with it. Jack in the Beanstalk story didn't want to walk all the way to the market; he planted laziness and reaped a giant. In Beauty and the Beast the spoiled prince grew bitter and selfish; he lost his humanity and became a beast. He could only get it back if someone truly loved him. Cinderella was put down by her sisters but was later lifted high while her sisters were made low. Sowing and reaping is ingrained within us all, and yet it's only with eyes of faith that people seem to see it.

This symmetrical law we find at work in life shows itself in many ways. If we look at the word 'God' we see the word 'good' closely related although we are told no cognate is involved; the same way 'evil' is related to the word 'devil'. Of course it's not right trying to prove the existence of God by these things, but once we have faith in God these are things we notice in the world around us. We see that God is active and has many ways of showing himself. The Bible puts it like this, "God's invisible qualities-his eternal power and divine nature-have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made."

So how would this relate to Christopher Hitchens? Christopher was an opponent of Christ, and yet every time his name was mentioned he proclaimed Christ. Every knee will bow in one way or another.

Sometimes we have to admit we are up against a better player.

Interestingly only a few days ago new news is coming out about Christopher Hitchens. The Guardian said, "Even Hitchens - his head by now bald from chemotherapy-induced hair loss - is heard insisting that there is no after life."I will never change my mind on that. Never change my mind," he says.

After a pause, he adds, "But I do like surprises."