Unlike these microtremors, earthquake stories about the brutal murders in Aurora and the years of depravity and cover up at Penn State have shaken many Americans out of their blissful unawareness of the daily tragedies that surround us. Once people recover from the initial aftershocks of stories like these, they begin to ask questions. "How could this have happened?" "Why did this tragedy occur?" "Where was God?" People are searching for answers, but secular answers leave people wanting, at least for a season. Eventually though, the stories fade from the limelight, people stop asking why, and they slowly fade back into their blissful slumbers.
As I thought about these events, Friedrich Nietzsche's Parable of the Madman came to mind. He begins,
"Have you not
heard of that madman who lit a lantern in the bright
morning hours, ran to the market place, and cried
incessantly: 'I seek God! I seek God!' -- As
many of those who did not believe in God were standing
around just then, he provoked much laughter. Has he got
lost? asked one. Did he lose his way like a child? asked
another. Or is he hiding? Is he afraid of us? Has he gone
on a voyage? emigrated? -- Thus they yelled and laughed.
"The
madman jumped into their midst and pierced them with his
eyes. 'Whither is God?' he cried; 'I will
tell you. We have killed him -- you and I. All of
us are his murderers. But how did we do this? How could
we drink up the sea? Who gave us the sponge to wipe away
the entire horizon? What were we doing when we unchained
this earth from its sun? Whither is it moving now?
Whither are we moving? Away from all suns? Are we not
plunging continually? Backward, sideward, forward, in all
directions? Is there still any up or down? Are we not
straying, as through an infinite nothing? Do we not feel
the breath of empty space? Has it not become colder? Is
not night continually closing in on us? Do we not need to
light lanterns in the morning? Do we hear nothing as yet
of the noise of the gravediggers who are burying God? Do
we smell nothing as yet of the divine decomposition?
Gods, too, decompose. God is dead. God remains dead. And
we have killed him"
The atheist philosopher understood that to "kill God" would lead to nihilism, relativism, and amorality. Though he welcomed the death of God, he would not have been surprised at these tragedies occurring today.
When you seek to kill God and rely solely upon naturalism, morality is no longer grounded in a moral law giver. When relativism prevails and there is no objective morality, people can no longer claim that something is morally right or wrong in any objective sense. For the relativist, the outrage over tragedies like this merely represents personal preference. Nineteenth century philosophers understood the consequences of killing God, but most people today do not. Indeed, many are on a conquest to do so.
The next time a tragedy like this occurs (and it will), stop and ask why you are morally outraged. The next time you find yourself asking "whither is God?", let your answer be "We have killed him--you and I." Rejecting God not only has grave salvific consequences for the individual; on a societal level, rejecting him destroys cultural morality and goodness. If you don't believe it, turn on the news.
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