"“God is dead; but given the ways of men, perhaps for millennia to come there will be caves in which his shadow will be shown.” - Friedrich Nietzsche, “The Joyous Science”
I think the argument that Christianity is nihilistic is an oversimplification that ignores many key components of Christianity. Christianity doesn't state that life on Earth is not important, quite the contrary. Christianity states that life on Earth is important beyond the present. What we do in life is what we do in death. The afterlife me be viewed as the most important part of ones existence but only to the affect that what we do now directly correlates with this end. It is meaningful to help others, work for something beyond the self, and to live life as if our actions have some divine consequence. The Christian idea of afterlife doesn't remove meaning from Earth but rather adds to it. Our actions are meaningful to the extent that they align us with a will beyond our own.
I would also argue that secularism inevitable leads to nihilism. As the world has gotten more secular and less community oriented, nihilism hasn't only increased, but by many, it has become embraced almost as if a virtue. I don't think meaningless appeals to almost no one, It is actually the opposite. America and the west is full of people who accept a meaningless existence living by day to day whims. To many the pursuit of meaning has become a fruitless chore that is ignored in favor of endless scrolling, working, etc. If we are to reject God, this may not be a bad thing.
Nietzsche actually has it backwards. While we can apply our own subjective meaning to our lives, this meaning is weightless without God. If there is no God, our lives only have the meaning we give them. Meaning in this sense is superficial. The most tyrannical dictator could find his own subjective meaning in being as cruel as possible. He could justify his existence in his ability to make others suffer, and why shouldn't he? He has absolute moral authority over his own actions. Subjective meaning as well as morality is in itself meaningless. If we are to reject God then we should reject meaning altogether. Perhaps those who are not bothered by a sense of meaninglessness are correct in their rejection in the search for meaning. Without God, we simply have no definition of a life of meaning that itself is meaningful.
I agree, as well as Nietzsche did, with you that secularism is very nihilistic. In fact, the more secular the West has become, the more nihilistic it has become.
However, we've become more secular the more that we've understood science and reason. The decline in Christianity was inevitable.
That is why I title the article, "God is Dead...Now what." Meaning, what comes after we accept the fact that religion and the afterlife aren't real? Either we can try to cope and "scrape the bottom of the barrel" to find a shred of justification to still believe in religion, become more nihilistic, or still try to find meaning in a secular world.
Also, Nietzsche's father was pastor and Nietzsche himself attended University studying theology, in hopes of also becoming a pastor. He was very well-versed in religions, especially Christianity. It was only during his theology studies that he began to read books that questioned religion. So, I don't see how he misunderstood or got backwards religion.
In the end, I respect and appreciate your opinion. At the end of the day, society is becoming more secular, because there is no "putting the genie back in the bottle" when it comes to reason, science and atheism.
Therefore, I support Nietzsche's approach of saying 'Yea' to life, not being nihilistic, and determining our own meaning in life.
His understanding of Christianity and religion as nihilistic is backwards. The idea of an afterlife or eternity does not take away meaning of life on Earth it adds to it. That was my point. I'm sure he was well versed in theology but as you probably know Christian theology can be tricky, hence the many denominations.
I think the main point of what Nietzsche was getting at was that in the end, the main focus of Christianity is the afterlife.
Rhetorical question for you: If I never seek the salvation of Jesus and never acknowledge God or anything, yet I all the nice and charitable works in the world, would I go to heaven according to Christians? No. Salvation and the afterlife are the crux of modern Christianity.
Although, the was never meant to be my main point in the article. At the end of the day, society is becoming less religious and Christian, whether we like it or not. With the void of religion, society is also becoming more nihilistic.
Now what?
I support Nietzsche's idea of not trying to reach back into the past to religion and God who has "died." Yet, we avoid the nihilism that has filled in the vacuum. We could do this by determining our own morals, values and meaning in life.
I would strongly disagree with your idea that the main focus of Christianity is an afterlife. I am not sure of your background and whether or not you have attended a Christian church. While there are most certainly church's that may focus heavily on the afterlife, this was not the core of Jesus teachings. As for your question, many Christians would say no, and many would say yes. This is dependent on theological beliefs on salvation. There are plenty of Christians who grant that those who lived good lives could be saved despite a lack of knowledge or understanding of God. Nietzsche isn't even correct in his assertion that God is dead. Over 80% of the world is religious. You also correlate salvation with an afterlife which is not a sound understanding of salvation. Salvation is more than a promised afterlife. It is the alignment of the self toward the righteous, the overcoming of death within life. Christians who view sin as slavery, whether that be lust, greed, etc. see salvation as the strength to overcome these struggles not just in the afterlife but here on Earth as well. I'm not stating Nietzsche wasn't a great thinker. Merely that his assertion that religion is dead and nihilistic is not accurate. Religion and mythology has provided meaning to every culture. There is a reason the secular west is in decline. Determining our own morals, values and meaning has led to a society that is increasingly fractured, mentally ill, and broken. This is one of my biggest issues with Ayn Rand as well. She assumes reason will replace religion. Reason fails to define objective moral values. The assumption that most men are reasonable as well is very naive. All one needs to scroll through twitter or social media to see this. So I would argue that Reason cannot replace religion when the most people are unreasonable. Regardless, I appreciate your perspective.
I enjoy your niche focus on modern German philosophy because it is so very practical. So Realpolitik. Perhaps it's the old country still inside me that captivates such a fascination with being simple and practical.
I have to disagree with your summary of Christianity as emphasizing life on Earth as unimportant though. I know that is what the modernist worldview portrays within its narrative.
All you have to do is actually read the New Testament book of James and take what it says at face value to understand this is not the case.
Congratulations on a growing subscriber base. Maybe someday a thousand years from now I will get to experience what that is like.
"I enjoy your niche focus on modern German philosophy because it is so very practical. So Realpolitik." - Thank you. Yes, I agree with you, the German philosophy that I cover is realpolitik.
Nietzsche and to a lesser extent Goethe are who I cover and analyze most, because they accept the people and the world for what they are and not what they want them to be.
Nietzsche was the one who described Christianity as nihilistic, and I agree with him. From my experience in church and reading the Bible, especially the New Testament. Significance is placed upon the afterlife, works on earth are like dirty rags to God, and living one's life in hope and anticipation to dying and going to heaven one day where we'll reach our final transcendence.
Ergo, life and humans on Earth are portrayed as inherently fallen, sinful, and shameful. The only important is, at the end of the day, Salvation. In Christianity and other religions, life is treaty as almost a means to an end.
That's what Nietzsche was referring to regarding religion and nihilism.
I really enjoy your response. Just to be clear, I was quoting and analyzing Nietzsche. I was tying this all into the modern world we live in. If you believe in God's existence, I don't want to come across as trying to dissuade you.
May nahilism be the origin of west decline? and also the reason for such high rate of depression and suicides?
Nihilism, I would say, is the biggest cause of decline in the West.
Right behind it, I would put "equality for all" and other principles from the Age of Enlightenment.
Nietzsche did mention these as being two big causes of the decline in the West, and I whole-heartedly agree with him!
I think the argument that Christianity is nihilistic is an oversimplification that ignores many key components of Christianity. Christianity doesn't state that life on Earth is not important, quite the contrary. Christianity states that life on Earth is important beyond the present. What we do in life is what we do in death. The afterlife me be viewed as the most important part of ones existence but only to the affect that what we do now directly correlates with this end. It is meaningful to help others, work for something beyond the self, and to live life as if our actions have some divine consequence. The Christian idea of afterlife doesn't remove meaning from Earth but rather adds to it. Our actions are meaningful to the extent that they align us with a will beyond our own.
I would also argue that secularism inevitable leads to nihilism. As the world has gotten more secular and less community oriented, nihilism hasn't only increased, but by many, it has become embraced almost as if a virtue. I don't think meaningless appeals to almost no one, It is actually the opposite. America and the west is full of people who accept a meaningless existence living by day to day whims. To many the pursuit of meaning has become a fruitless chore that is ignored in favor of endless scrolling, working, etc. If we are to reject God, this may not be a bad thing.
Nietzsche actually has it backwards. While we can apply our own subjective meaning to our lives, this meaning is weightless without God. If there is no God, our lives only have the meaning we give them. Meaning in this sense is superficial. The most tyrannical dictator could find his own subjective meaning in being as cruel as possible. He could justify his existence in his ability to make others suffer, and why shouldn't he? He has absolute moral authority over his own actions. Subjective meaning as well as morality is in itself meaningless. If we are to reject God then we should reject meaning altogether. Perhaps those who are not bothered by a sense of meaninglessness are correct in their rejection in the search for meaning. Without God, we simply have no definition of a life of meaning that itself is meaningful.
I agree, as well as Nietzsche did, with you that secularism is very nihilistic. In fact, the more secular the West has become, the more nihilistic it has become.
However, we've become more secular the more that we've understood science and reason. The decline in Christianity was inevitable.
That is why I title the article, "God is Dead...Now what." Meaning, what comes after we accept the fact that religion and the afterlife aren't real? Either we can try to cope and "scrape the bottom of the barrel" to find a shred of justification to still believe in religion, become more nihilistic, or still try to find meaning in a secular world.
Also, Nietzsche's father was pastor and Nietzsche himself attended University studying theology, in hopes of also becoming a pastor. He was very well-versed in religions, especially Christianity. It was only during his theology studies that he began to read books that questioned religion. So, I don't see how he misunderstood or got backwards religion.
In the end, I respect and appreciate your opinion. At the end of the day, society is becoming more secular, because there is no "putting the genie back in the bottle" when it comes to reason, science and atheism.
Therefore, I support Nietzsche's approach of saying 'Yea' to life, not being nihilistic, and determining our own meaning in life.
His understanding of Christianity and religion as nihilistic is backwards. The idea of an afterlife or eternity does not take away meaning of life on Earth it adds to it. That was my point. I'm sure he was well versed in theology but as you probably know Christian theology can be tricky, hence the many denominations.
I think the main point of what Nietzsche was getting at was that in the end, the main focus of Christianity is the afterlife.
Rhetorical question for you: If I never seek the salvation of Jesus and never acknowledge God or anything, yet I all the nice and charitable works in the world, would I go to heaven according to Christians? No. Salvation and the afterlife are the crux of modern Christianity.
Although, the was never meant to be my main point in the article. At the end of the day, society is becoming less religious and Christian, whether we like it or not. With the void of religion, society is also becoming more nihilistic.
Now what?
I support Nietzsche's idea of not trying to reach back into the past to religion and God who has "died." Yet, we avoid the nihilism that has filled in the vacuum. We could do this by determining our own morals, values and meaning in life.
I would strongly disagree with your idea that the main focus of Christianity is an afterlife. I am not sure of your background and whether or not you have attended a Christian church. While there are most certainly church's that may focus heavily on the afterlife, this was not the core of Jesus teachings. As for your question, many Christians would say no, and many would say yes. This is dependent on theological beliefs on salvation. There are plenty of Christians who grant that those who lived good lives could be saved despite a lack of knowledge or understanding of God. Nietzsche isn't even correct in his assertion that God is dead. Over 80% of the world is religious. You also correlate salvation with an afterlife which is not a sound understanding of salvation. Salvation is more than a promised afterlife. It is the alignment of the self toward the righteous, the overcoming of death within life. Christians who view sin as slavery, whether that be lust, greed, etc. see salvation as the strength to overcome these struggles not just in the afterlife but here on Earth as well. I'm not stating Nietzsche wasn't a great thinker. Merely that his assertion that religion is dead and nihilistic is not accurate. Religion and mythology has provided meaning to every culture. There is a reason the secular west is in decline. Determining our own morals, values and meaning has led to a society that is increasingly fractured, mentally ill, and broken. This is one of my biggest issues with Ayn Rand as well. She assumes reason will replace religion. Reason fails to define objective moral values. The assumption that most men are reasonable as well is very naive. All one needs to scroll through twitter or social media to see this. So I would argue that Reason cannot replace religion when the most people are unreasonable. Regardless, I appreciate your perspective.
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Here I tend to agree with Karl Marx, religion being the opium of the masses.
Having said that, I think the actual role that religion plays is mass psychology or low-cost psychiatry!
Individuals, though, need to turn inward, introspect, and meditate as to what purpose they want to evolve to.
Life is purposeless; we can choose to live with delight and enchantment or traverse the path endlessly going in cyclical patterns.
My life is my doing and my responsibility alone.
You make a lot of great points, and I don't disagree with any.
I would add, just like Nietzsche mentioned, there will always be "shadows" of God for a long time.
I enjoy your niche focus on modern German philosophy because it is so very practical. So Realpolitik. Perhaps it's the old country still inside me that captivates such a fascination with being simple and practical.
I have to disagree with your summary of Christianity as emphasizing life on Earth as unimportant though. I know that is what the modernist worldview portrays within its narrative.
All you have to do is actually read the New Testament book of James and take what it says at face value to understand this is not the case.
Congratulations on a growing subscriber base. Maybe someday a thousand years from now I will get to experience what that is like.
Stay warm.
Be well.
"I enjoy your niche focus on modern German philosophy because it is so very practical. So Realpolitik." - Thank you. Yes, I agree with you, the German philosophy that I cover is realpolitik.
Nietzsche and to a lesser extent Goethe are who I cover and analyze most, because they accept the people and the world for what they are and not what they want them to be.
Nietzsche was the one who described Christianity as nihilistic, and I agree with him. From my experience in church and reading the Bible, especially the New Testament. Significance is placed upon the afterlife, works on earth are like dirty rags to God, and living one's life in hope and anticipation to dying and going to heaven one day where we'll reach our final transcendence.
Ergo, life and humans on Earth are portrayed as inherently fallen, sinful, and shameful. The only important is, at the end of the day, Salvation. In Christianity and other religions, life is treaty as almost a means to an end.
That's what Nietzsche was referring to regarding religion and nihilism.
I really enjoy your response. Just to be clear, I was quoting and analyzing Nietzsche. I was tying this all into the modern world we live in. If you believe in God's existence, I don't want to come across as trying to dissuade you.
Yes, that's cool.