Whatever a person sows, he shall reap;
Freedom to choose cannot save you
In the beginning God taught man truth then allowed Lucifer to give man choice: God or be as gods. Man exchanged the truth of God for transitory fleshly pleasures and the dream of being as gods, apart from God. Sin entered the world. This quickly resulted in violence as man, Cain, made might over right his mantra by killing his weak brother, Abel. Cain then went to the land of Nod, wanderers from God, and established government to control sin and build a society without God. In the end government failed, man became increasingly more violent and God intervened before man destroyed himself, losing his only hope for salvation. With the Cataclysm {Flood} man was confronted with his absolute powerlessness: Noah needed God’s direction to build the ark and all others discovered they were not gods, and died. Welcome to freedom.
The devolution of order became indelibly imprinted on man that long after memory of the Cataclysm disappeared, man feared rule by the many. Nearly 2,000 years after the Cataclysm, Plato taught that rule of the many, democracy, was the last step before tyranny; rule of the one. But, even this became lost in time and as modern man embraced democracy as the best form of government, even by Christians. Truth of God was in danger of being lost just as before the Cataclysm.
Herein is the Quintessential False Dilemma
Morality Masquerades as God, But is Not
Paul summed up man’s position as succinctly as any single passage in the Bible I have read (Ro 1:18-32). Everyone knows God exists. Everyone rejects both the existence and the truth of God. Since nature abhors a vacuum, man substitutes his truth for God’s reality. However, man not only does not present a coherent acceptable truth, man keeps contradicting his truth claims; welcome to philosophy {love of man’s wisdom}. The above graphic illustrates man’s dilemma: choice between morality, a substitute for God, and man’s self-definition of truth, nihilism. Stated in philosophical terms morality is essence and nihilism is existentialism.
Throughout much of man’s history, man’s nature has been defined by something outside himself. Man, made in the image of God, is defined by his rejection or acceptance of God. As man lived in rebellion against God he devolved into greater depths of depravity and violence. As man sought to live in supposed concert with God, he sported a behavior that was deemed acceptable, moral. This morality was copied, culturally massaged, and became the standard for societal accepted behaviors; i.e., necessary for the preservation of one’s culture. The various cultures would battle as to which represented actual truth with successful cultures absorbing gods and goddesses that bolstered one’s understanding of balance. This was introduced into Christianity by Augustine {Plato} and later by Aquinas {Aristotle}. However, once the Reformation occurred man threw off the restraints of biblical morality to develop his own morality: Welcome to the modern era.
Nietzsche Explains Truth Apart from God
Truth of Man Destroys Truth of God
Modern man sought to explain governing truths apart from God’s truth contained in the Bible. However, rebellious man not only could not coherently explain man apart from God; rebellious man could not accept any explanation from man as all were lacking {like blind men describing the elephant}. The Enlightenment developed both Rationalism and Empiricism both of which violated the Law of Non-Contradiction. Neither could account for the non-empirical realities such as good, evil, beauty, etc. Romanticism was an attempt to account for the shortcomings of the Enlightenment; however, it too had shortcomings that were self-evident in the rejection of reason, an integral component limited only to man. At the same time man was seeking absolute truth in nature; but failed. However, his endeavors did spawn various technologies that fundamentally changed the world and this knowledge became known as science when it separated from philosophy. But, science could only deal with the empirical based on rational reasoning; thus, it was limited in its truth statements. Man was not to be thwarted in his efforts to eliminate God and scientism was born. Scientism is the self-contradictory application of science to non-empirical concepts. It quickly gave rise to knowledge that could only be accepted on faith such as evolution. Nietzsche understood and embraced this dilemma of scientism, knowledge and meaningless of man’s morality.
Nihilism is simply the freedom from empty Christendom morality. Those who embraced Christendom morality were considered Slaves while those who rejected this false dichotomy were considered Masters or UberMen {Self-actuating in psychological terms}. When Nietzsche announced, God is dead, we have killed Him, he was simply stating that modern man no longer needed the crutch of God since scientism had replaced God as man’s determinate of good and evil. Nietzsche was not The Antichrist as much as he was the messenger announcing that Modern Man no longer was bound to a religious morality but could define his own morality; i.e., be as gods. But, what would be the basis of morality?
Existentialism States Each One has the
Freedom to Define One’s Own Morality
Arising from the chaos of World War II, Existentialism took Nietzsche’s philosophy to its natural conclusion seeking to fulfill the promise Lucifer first made to Woman: to be as gods (Ge 3:4-5). This belief system claims that each person defines their own meaning of existence by their own choices: freedom to choose. Since each person’s experiences were different in quality if not in scope, this meant that each person’s morality was different. The scientism of psychology developed concomitantly to legitimize Existentialism. However, Existentialism struggled against the reality that societies needed order, a common core of beliefs for stability. But, this approach encouraged national socialism and the world had just fought a horrendous war deciding which form of national socialism would prevail. But, there is a problem with man defining his own morality: Violence.
Mental Health Used to Denounce the
Morality of Self Over Others
Existentialism’s belief that each person could form their own morality coupled with Evolution’s survival of the fittest only brought chaos. In other words, “Each person did what was right in their own eyes,” (Jud 21:25). Scientism again came to the rescue in the form of psychology declaring that those whose moralities were unacceptable were in fact mentally ill. The vague criteria defining mental illness could apply to anyone as necessary. Man becoming as gods did not bring order; it brought ever increasing violence and degradation. The hope of God’s salvation was in danger of being lost. However, in the end all philosophers and their followers were deceived.
In the end another form of socialism was arising that would seek to bringing all national socialistic governments into its fold: international socialism. For this to succeed another type of philosophy was necessary: Postmodernism. In essence, Postmodernism says objective, and even absolute, truth is unique to each person and valid for each person. Yet, at its core lies Critical Theory seeks to undermine all aspects of societies except for globalization. This gestalt seeks to impose international socialism over all nationalities with their consent!
Once the Source of Morality is Dead
What Validates Good and Evil?
In one respect, Nietzsche was correct: most people live in a Slave Mentality. Like Judas Iscariot who traded the life of Christ for a few coins, a paltry sum to spend on dubious pleasures. People willingly enslave themselves to paths of least resistance as long as they can engage in self-indulgent pleasures, paltry experiences compared to eternal truth. They believe they are defining their own morality but like the philosophers and their true believers, they too are being deceived, and with their own consent (2Th 2:9-12; 2Ti 4:3-4). What happens when the cheap babbles of fleeting pleasures are no longer necessary and the stark reality of true enslavement becomes very real? While people are enthralled by wisdom, governments are moved by power as the next post will reveal.