"We do, however, speak a message of wisdom among the mature, but not the wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age, who are coming to nothing...” (1Corinthians 2: 6...)
“To stand on the rim of the abyss, to despair utterly of ever crossing over, this is the indispensable antechamber of faith.” --John Stott
“Nobody times Nothing equals everything.”--[Naturalism's Pledge of Allegiance] John MacArthur
....
“Drawing Hands “ by M.C. Escher
We are all philosophers to one degree or another. The fact that we exist and think thrusts us into the philosophical arena whether we appreciate it or like it or not. The essential, bottom-line philosophical question with which we all must grapple, is really quite simple:
Did Mind create matter? Or did matter create mind?
Or, as G.K. Chesterton once put it....
Which is more likely true:
In the beginning, God.....(?) or,
Did Nothing turn itself into Everything?
I am reminded of the story of the modern scientist who proclaimed that... (at long last!)... Science had advanced to the stage whereby a human life ...a human being... could actually be created in the laboratory from the earth's elements. This scientific advancement, he said, disproved once and for all those silly myths found in the earliest chapters of the Book of Genesis. And to illustrate his point, the proud scientist challenged God to a “duel” of creation.
God accepted the challenge and went first. Deity reached down, grabbed a handful of clay, fashioned it into the likeness of a man and then breathed the spirit of life into it. The man thus became a living, breathing creature made in the image of God.
Undaunted, the scientist proudly stepped forward to show that Human Reason (through Scientific Humanism) was now able to duplicate this amazing feat, thereby proving beyond a shadow of a doubt that the notion of “God” was simply an unnecessary contrivance and/or a foolish myth. And so, the scientist reached down, as his predecessor had done, and picked up a handful of clay to begin his work. At which point, God placed his hand on the scientist's shoulder and said----
"Whoa! Stop right there, young fella! ... Get your own dirt!"
....
There are many within the post-modern community of Science who having inexorably followed the path of unbending Materialism, Determinism and mindless Reductionism to its natural end, have deposited humanity at the rim of a philosophical abyss.
....
"About the year 1790 no fewer than 28 Hindus were crushed to death at Ishera on the Ganges, under the wheels of Juggernaut." --The Asiatic Journal XXII, 702
Like the Hindu idol/god, “Juggarnaut”, who rode through the streets of India in a massive, rolling temple, the western idol of Post-Modern Scientism also plows ahead paving the way for existential hopelessness while at the same time proudly naming itself “Progress”. The idol rolls along today virtually unchallenged, and as it does so, mankind is bullied into submission by Scientism's Dark Decree. It crushes not only those who may oppose it, but also those who willingly (and foolishly) prostrate themselves before it.
....
The trajectory of the physical sciences, stripped of all transcendent and spiritual considerations, has painted itself into a nasty metaphysical corner. Like the serpent devouring its own tail (the mythical Ouroboros), Idol Scientism continues to gnaw away, unable...and/or unwilling.... to recognize the self-negating and destructive end-game it has embarked upon. Self-annihilating Nothingness, craftily disguised as “wisdom”, hisses temptingly from the darkness.
;)
Mythological serpent Ouroboros devouring its own tail
Indeed, modern Science, chained as it is to unforgiving, self-imposed Materialism and to the unstoppable theoretical “force” of Naturalism, has reached the unsettling conclusion that while there may appear to be some sort of design around us, there is in fact no “Designer”. There may appear to be some sort of “plan”about us, but there can be no “Planner”. Design and Plan (and Purpose) are simply illusions to be dismissed, foolish, pre-Enlightenment “myths” to be shrugged off and forever done away with.
After all, Scientism tells us, facts are facts and that is that. Consequently, there is no “God”.
End of discussion.
No debate allowed.
And so, we, the cudgelled subjects of our post-modern Sovereign, must accept the default position of Idol Scientism's Commandment: that we (and everything else) sprang into existence, quite accidentally, from Nothing at all. We were created, our new and improved “Sovereign” tells us, by Nothing and for Nothing. That metaphysical “bottom line” is conclusively drawn for us simply as a matter of fact. And then,.... just as conclusively and for added emphasis... even that line is “scientifically”, matter-of-factly and magically erased.
This is the tragic lesson and legacy we are leaving our children and grandchildren today. This is the 21st century's version of the “wisdom of the age”. It is a challenge as old and as persistent as that encountered in the shade of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. And just as deadly.
Philosopher and theologian, Francis Schaeffer, put it well when he said that post-modern man has both “feet planted firmly in mid-air.”
The tyrannical presuppositions of post-modernist “Science” have brought us face-to-face with the disquieting specter of ultimate Meaninglessness and her naturally morbid stepchild, Despair.
....
"That Golden Calf? .... It's Nothing"
(...and to Nothing will we bow...)
Scientism's reached consensus...
We know Nothing brought us here!
It's the truth that Science teaches;
We know Nothing's there to fear!
We are smart and getting smarter,
As our wisdom so expands!
Truth's advancing.....fast approaching.
Nothing's what we understand!
Yes, it's all becoming clearer...
Nothing really came alive!
It's so simple!.... Nothing to it!
Knowing Nothing has arrived!
We have stared into the darkness,
Through our Hubble-Eyes we've seen....
There!...No Matter!.....Nothing happens!
And we all know what that means!
In the Church of Scientism,
We've got calculated charts;
We've got measurements to prove it,
And String Theories to impart!
Knowing Nothing's our Foundation!
Knowing Nothing sets us free!
Yes, the only thing with meaning's
Knowing Nothing, don't you see?
We've got proof....It's formulaic!
Nothing was the Primal Cause!
Just get over your objection...
Your I AM? …..Ha!....Never was!
Yes, my friend, we crunched the numbers,
And a Zero's what we got!
Now your Mama's Nuthin' Nowhere,
And your Abba's simply not!
Knowing Nothing's liberating...
Knowing Nothing's all the rage;
So, please, rage along now with us
In this wisdom of the age.
Yes, you see, we've come to Nothing,
So, to Nothing will we bow...
Here we proudly stand proclaiming,
“Golden Calves are Nothing now!”
“Adoration of the Golden Calf” by Nicolas Poussin
....
“It is at the far margins of speculation the, like oil, anxiety is leaking from the great speculative structures., so theory runs, erupted into existence in an explosion. One minute there is nothing, the next, poof....something arises out of nothing, as space and time come into existence and the universe goes on with the business of getting on.” --David Berlinski
[The great question today for the modern west is] “...whether the spiritual twilight that we now experience is the darkness before the dawn or the dark before the deepest night.” --Harold O.J. Brown (theologian)
“The fool says in his heart there is no God...” --(Psalm 14: 1a...)