Scripture

“You stiff-necked people!…You are just like your ancestors: Was there ever a prophet your ancestors did not persecute? They even killed those who predicted the coming of the Righteous One. And now you have betrayed and murdered Him {Jesus}.

~Acts 7:51-52, NIV

Quote

“God is dead… and we have killed him”

~Friedrich Nietzsche

Stay with me. Nietzsche is a very misunderstood philosopher. He was not a proponent of the Enlightenment, he was a critic. The quote comes from a parable that Neitzche used quite often. The quote in its entirety…“God is dead. God remains dead. And we have killed him. Yet his shadow still looms. How shall we comfort ourselves, the murderers of all murderers?” First of all, Nietzsche did not believe that God was actually dead or that we could kill Him. I don’t even think he is alluding to the crucifixion where we killed the Son of God. He is speaking satirically about the evil influence of the enlightenment. Nietzsche wasn’t speaking biologically or theologically—he meant that belief in God, and in absolute truth grounded in Christian faith, was collapsing in Western culture. He was referring to the way that liberalism {enlightenment} was chipping away at bible beliefs: Science replaced miracles, reason replaced revelation, morality was being redefined without God in the mix and the atheism was deeply embedded in the enlightenment and this was eroding traditional values and beliefs.

It is true that Nietzsche abandoned the church. His father was a minister and Freidrich seemed to be heading in that direction before he left the church for philosophy. As a boy he studied the scriptures. His knowledge of God’s word was unquestioned: everyone thought he was going to be a great preacher. Sometimes we throw the baby out with the bath water. I guess that is what I have done with Nietzsche. I was relieved to discover his disdain for the Enlightenment.

What does all this have to do with us? The enlightenment which came from Western Europe is humanistic. They took God out and put man in His place. Thus it is atheistic and essentially evil. It has had a profound effect on America, especially in education. John Dewey was a secular humanist and he is considered the father of modern education.

I can go on and on but I know that this doesn’t interest you like it does me, but let me say this in closing: there are no KARL MARX hospitals, orphanages, missons of mercy. Secular humanism has not saved lives; it has destroyed lives. Do not yield to its evil influence. Secular Humanism is a self-centered godless philosophy that is not capable of good.

Extra

Jim does not have gall stones but his gall bladder is infected and they may take it out. He meets with the surgeon today. I had planned to go this morning but now I am going to wait and see about the surgery.

Good crowd last night and the 6:00 start seemed to cause no problem. Everything went will on Dustin and Hannah Ruth’s first night.

I sure enjoyed the cool weather. I think it is going warm up but nothing extreme I hope. Have a good day and thanks for reading the blog.