Today's Scripture Reading (August 7, 2025): Psalm 18
The German Philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche wrote in 1882 that –
"God
is dead. God remains dead. And we have killed him. How shall we comfort
ourselves, the murderers of all murderers? What was holiest and mightiest of
all that the world has yet owned has bled to death under our knives: who will
wipe this blood off us? What water is there for us to clean ourselves (The Gay
Science or The Science of Joy)?
For Nietzsche, the proclamation of the death of God served as a
springboard for him to develop a deeper and more natural moralism. Christian
moralism was a disaster (and by the way, it still is). Not even Christians
would live up to its most basic tenets (and we still don't). And by refusing to
live up to our own description of morality, we were the ones who had killed
God. His blood is on our hands. So, Nietzsche argued that we needed to develop
something that actually works. Nietzsche ultimately argued for nihilism as the "something
that works." Nietzsche believed that nihilism was the ultimate end in
Christianity anyway. Nihilism essentially argues that morality does not exist
and that there is no ultimate purpose to life. And since there is no purpose,
whatever we feel is right must be right. What is right for me might not be what
is right for you, but because morality does not exist, there is no problem with
that.
In 2016, I was shocked by a bomb blast in Medina. How could
anyone, let alone a Muslim, set off a bomb that close to the tomb of Muhammad
the Prophet? It didn't make any sense to me. It would be like a Christian
bombing Bethlehem. Yet nihilism offers the idea that anything can be right if
it is right to the individual performing the action, because, ultimately,
morality does not exist.
I believe that Nietzsche is very wrong. At the most basic level,
anything that hurts someone else is wrong. There is no excuse for bombing anything,
period, let alone the bombing of a historical and religious site such as the
one bombed in Medina. But while I believe that Nietzsche is wrong, he is also
right. If God is dead, then we are the ones who killed him. In 2016, one of the
problems I asked those around me was, "When Muslims bomb Medina, can Mecca
be far behind? And if the holy sites are no longer sacred, can we truly believe
that Allah lives?"
Christians don't have holy sites. But we do believe that people
are essential and the dwelling place of God. And when we disregard or ignore
people, when we criticize and cut people "down to size," can we
really believe that there is a God still reigning on the throne? All people are
holy and of great worth to God. So, if God is alive, would not those same
people be of great worth to us?
David, with one phrase, restores life to God. "I know that
my God lives. He is my rock and my salvation." And, therefore, I will live
my life knowing that truth. My life will conform to that morality. As
Christians, this is the confession that should be on our lips continually. "I
know my God and my Redeemer lives. And because of that knowledge, I declare
that my life will bear testimony to the God who is not dead, but rather, very
much alive." We may have killed God (okay, not really, but functionally
within our lives) with our unbelief, but we also have the power to raise him
back to life.
Tomorrow's Scripture Reading: Psalm 19
See also 2 Samuel 22:47
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