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HOW I BELIEVE THE FAMILY IS BEING ATTACKED ©2004 by Jonathan Scott
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1. God is Dead 2. Taboos and Darwin 3. The Vietnam War and the Mass Challenging of Taboos 4. Feminism, Women in the Workplace, Inflation, Poverty 5. Abortion 6. Sex 7. Generation Y 8. Same Sex Marriage
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1. God is Dead
The following article is from the January 9, 1966 New York Times (Page 146.)
'God is Dead'
The following ritual was presented during a chapel service at a small denominational college in the South. It was designed to explore in liturgical form the experience of the "death of God." The reaction, according to campus reporter, "ranged from tears to a new enthusiasm for theology."
Reader:
He was our guide and our stay
He walked with us beside still waters
He was our help in ages past Chorus:
The lengthening shadow grows formless
The lengthening shadow grows formless Reader:
Now the day is over
Night is drawing nigh
Shadows of the evening steal across the sky Chorus:
He is gone. He is stolen by darkness
He is gone. He is stolen by darkness Reader:
Now we must wonder
Was He our only dream.
A dream painted across the sky Chorus:
And in the beginning our fear created him
And in the beginning our fear created him Reader:
Did we create Him in our image?
Did we surround Him with hosts because
We were alone? Chorus:
Our imaginations rescued us from the deep
Our imaginations rescued us from the deep Reader:
Space has stretched beyond Him.
It is very cold here
And from time there comes no warmth Chorus:
The universe is too vast for him
The universe is too vast for him Reader:
Beyond the stars, more stars
Beyond the sky, more sky
Above our dreams, more dreams Chorus:
Heaven is empty
Heaven is empty Reader:
Only his footsteps remain
Only stained glass and arched hopes
Only wasted steeples and useless piety Chorus:
There is silence along the forest path
There is silence along the forest path Reader:
Why is there no dawn?
Why do our dead only die?
Why do our living only live? Chorus:
Your God is Dead
He died in the darkness of your image
He died because he grew ill from your dreams of salvation
He died because you held his hand too tightly
God is Dead
New York Times, Jan 9, 1966, pg. 146The "God is Dead" concept was originally published in 1882 by philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche who's argument was that in our successes in science and in our unraveling of earth's mysteries, many have come to deduce that there is no God and, as a result, have removed His spiritual influence from their hearts. Because our society (American and European) is founded on Judeo/Christian morality, the removal of God from our culture will result unavoidably in great changes to the culture.
Here is the quote from Nietzsche's book entitled "The Gay Science (aka Joyous Wisdom)."
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 am looking for God! I am looking for God!"
As many of those who did not believe in God were standing together there, he excited considerable laughter. Have you lost him, then? said one. Did he lose his way like a child? said another. Or is he hiding? Is he afraid of us? Has he gone on a voyage? or emigrated? Thus they shouted and laughed. The madman sprang into their midst and pierced them with his glances.
"Where has God gone?" he cried. "I shall tell you. We have killed him - you and I. We are his murderers. But how have we done this? How were we able to drink up the sea? Who gave us the sponge to wipe away the entire horizon? What did we do when we unchained the earth from its sun? Whither is it moving now? Whither are we moving now? Away from all suns? Are we not perpetually falling? Backward, sideward, forward, in all directions? Is there any up or down left? Are we not straying as through an infinite nothing? Do we not feel the breath of empty space? Has it not become colder? Is it not more and more night coming on all the time? Must not lanterns be lit in the morning? Do we not hear anything yet of the noise of the gravediggers who are burying God? Do we not smell anything yet of God's decomposition? Gods too decompose. God is dead. God remains dead. And we have killed him. How shall we, murderers of all murderers, console ourselves? That which was the holiest and mightiest of all that the world has yet possessed has bled to death under our knives. Who will wipe this blood off us? With what water could we purify ourselves? What festivals of atonement, what sacred games shall we need to invent? Is not the greatness of this deed too great for us? Must we not ourselves become gods simply to be worthy of it? There has never been a greater deed; and whosoever shall be born after us - for the sake of this deed he shall be part of a higher history than all history hitherto."
Here the madman fell silent and again regarded his listeners; and they too were silent and stared at him in astonishment. At last he threw his lantern to the ground, and it broke and went out. "I have come too early," he said then; "my time has not come yet. The tremendous event is still on its way, still travelling - it has not yet reached the ears of men. Lightning and thunder require time, the light of the stars requires time, deeds require time even after they are done, before they can be seen and heard. This deed is still more distant from them than the distant stars - and yet they have done it themselves."
It has been further related that on that same day the madman entered divers churches and there sang a requiem. Led out and quietened, he is said to have retorted each time: "what are these churches now if they are not the tombs and sepulchres of God?"
Nietzsche suggested that values themselves were merely inventions and that life itself was meaningless (nihilism). He also stated that the world was moving from its classical Judeo/Christian value structure towards nihilism and that society as a result would change significantly.
None to date have disproven the existence of God. It is true though that the new morality of nihilism has become a strong influence in our society. How has this movement from classical morality changed us?
How well would a godless society live? How well could an entire population of people get along without a mutual respect or fear of a holy supernatural power?
Whether or not God exists, there is no debate that the world has changed, not only in morality, but also in civility. Are these two changes related?
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Jonathan Scott
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