Christopher Hitchens – Read to Death

Christianity isn’t voluntary.

Why should I read?

I encourage you to read to death. This isn’t like running yourself to death; it’s more like running to kill something else. By running, I mean reading (yes, this includes listening to audiobooks & podcasts). Read–fiction and nonfiction– until you’ve put to death your false opinions and beliefs. If you keep at it, keep reading widely and deeply, you’ll replace your wrong-headedness with the truth.

I encourage you to take to heart what Mark Twain said: “The man who does not read has no advantage over the man who cannot read.” And, if this doesn’t motivate you to become an avid reader, consider this: “The first to plead his case seems right, until another comes and examines him.” Proverbs 18:17.

Speaking of the Bible and God, here’s one of the main questions this blog attempts to answer: is there credible evidence to believe in the Christian God? To truly find out, you’ll need to read (and not simply, solely, listen to your preacher). And, to do this certainly will require you to be secure and intelligent enough to question your beliefs.

Consider Kafka’s advice: “I think we ought to read only the kind of books that wound and stab us. If the book we’re reading doesn’t wake us up with a blow on the head, what are we reading it for? …. [We] need the books that affect us like a disaster, that grieve us deeply, like the death of someone we loved more than ourselves, like being banished into forests far from everyone, like a suicide. A book must be the axe for the frozen sea inside us.”

Each of us has acres and acres of unknown frozen seas inside us. Break out the axe and start chopping your way to truth.

Tag: Christopher Hitchens

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