Today we read from Jeremiah 2:31-4:18 in the One Year Bible. God says, "Why then do my people say, 'At last we are free from God! We don't need Him anymore!'"
People have been trying to kill God for a long time. Jeremiah was written about 600 years before Jesus was born. And even then, the idea of getting rid of God was a popular one. Nietzsche didn't say "God is dead" to mean "I hereby declare that God is dead," but rather he was pointing out that we had already killed God some time before, and that in Nietzsche's opinion, He remained dead. Nietzsche actually goes on in that part of his writing to bemoan the fact that God is gone and so we are left to our own devices.
Being left to our own devices is a bad thing, which we have repeatedly demonstrated throughout history. Ionesco is realizing the darkness left behind when the light of the world is pushed away, in the quote above. Today there are more and more people, especially in Europe and the US, that think they can get along fine without Him. But when you pretend that the source of all good things - reason, love, kindness, peace, beauty, and so forth - is gone, you are left with the darkness that these good things leave behind. You're left with insanity, hatred, fear, impatience, war, ugliness, pettiness, greed, lust, and empty, broken lives. If you look around the western landscape today, you do find plenty of these attributes.
The good news is that God DID in fact die. The better news is that He was only dead for three days. The best news you'll ever hear is that He came back to life again, and defeated death (along with all of those other nasty things I listed above), and you and I can join Him in eternal life.
So let's share that best news with those who are struggling in the darkness, not realizing that Nietzsche was only half right. God DID die. But we didn't kill Him. And He is alive again.
God, thank You for continuing to be our source of all good things. Help us share Your amazing news with the world.
No comments:
Post a Comment