Just Ignore the Contradiction

“As modern men and women—to the degree that we are modern—we believe in nothing. This is not to say, I hasten to add, that we do not believe in anything; I mean, rather, that we hold an unshakable, if often unconscious, faith in the nothing, or in nothingness as such. It is this in which we place our trust, upon which we venture our souls, and onto which we project the values by which we measure the meaningfulness of our lives. Or, to phrase the matter more simply and starkly, our religion is one of very comfortable nihilism.”
—David Bentley Hart

Friedrich Nietzsche

“Many people today seem convinced that the point of life is that there is no point. We face what Nietzsche call “Das Nichte”—or, the nothing. Our public philosophy tells us that we are the result of blind force plus chance and/or necessity. Yet our movies are filled with romantic longings, visions of other worlds, the hunger for transcendence, and love stories between vampires or other worlds where there is a greater unity of life and being. In other words, we face a massive contradiction between what one set of experts tells us is real and what many artists compel us to hope for and reflect on.”
—Stuart McAllister (Ravi Zacharias International Ministries)

Just Ignore the Contradiction

Join the march into the darkness ,
Join the “Hip ‘n’ With-It” crowd…
Shout denial from the rooftop,
Shout it loud, and shout it Proud.

Follow Nietzsche, trust in Darwin,
Glorify the Mind of Man…
Put your faith in Good Intentions
Pave the way to NihiLand.

Trust what Scientism tells you:
Claim there’s really no Design,
There’s no underlying Purpose,
There’s no Reason, there’s no rhyme.

Just pretend there’s no real Meaning,
Make believe you’re only dust…
And then find a way to protest:
“That’s not ‘good’!”….”That isn’t ‘just’!”

Disregard transcendent longings,
Tell yourself, “There’s Nothing there!”…
Keep the Truth, sir, at a distance…
Shake your fist: “God isn’t fair!’

Call your shallow, narrow musing
Somehow wide and very “deep”,
Hide behind the veil of nonsense…
Into darkness…take a leap.

Just ignore the contradiction
You’re embracing every day…..
Tell yourself that “Nothing matters”,
Tell your conscience: “Stay away!”

Cloak yourself in outer darkness...
Trust the blind describing sight,
Never dreaming there is meaning
When the dawning chases night.

Make your point that all is pointless…
Swear there’s no true Moral Core,
Grasp at straw man Nihilisms,
Cling, sir, to that darkened shore!¹

Father, fill these empty vessels
With the True Wine from above².
Turn our foolishness to Wisdom,
May we taste your endless Love.

Take us, Lord, to Mount Moriah,
Soften darkened hearts of stone³,
Shed the Light of Truth upon us,
There reveal we’re not alone.

At the Cross, help us discover
Why your Son there bled and died.
Help us recognize our sin there⁴,
Then your Grace too long denied.

¹ John 3: 19-21

² Matthew 26: 27-29

³ Ezekiel 36: 25-26

⁴ Matthew 5: 3-6