Psalm 14- Foundations for the moral life
Our psalm starts by saying,
“The fool says in his heart, ‘There is no God’”.We have to look at this a bit closer because on the surface it seems to say that atheists are not intelligent, which we know is not the case. There are many intelligent atheists, just as we know there are many intelligent believers. Richard Dawkins is a brilliant biologist and an atheist. Francis Collins led the human genome project and is a Christian.
One such intelligent atheist was the German Fedrick Nietzsche who lived from 1844 to 1900. He was skilled in many areas, but he is primarily remembered as a philosopher. He once wrote a kind of parable called ‘The Madman’ and I would like to read a bit of it for you.
“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 seek God! I seek God!’--As many of those who did not believe in God were standing around just then, he provoked much laughter. Has he got lost? asked one. Did he lose his way like a child? asked another. Or is he hiding? Is he afraid of us? Has he gone on a voyage? emigrated? -- Thus they yelled and laughed.”“The madman jumped into their midst and pierced them with his eyes. ‘Whither is God?’ he cried; ‘I will tell you. We have killed him--you and I. All of us are his murderers. But how did we do this? How could we drink up the sea? Who gave us the sponge to wipe away the entire horizon? What were we doing when we unchained this earth from its sun? Whither is it moving now? Whither are we moving? Away from all suns? Are we not plunging continually? Backward, sideward, forward, in all directions? Is there still any up or down? Are we not straying, as through an infinite nothing? Do we not feel the breath of empty space? Has it not become colder? Is not night continually closing in on us? Do we not need to light lanterns in the morning? Do we hear nothing as yet of the noise of the gravediggers who are burying God? Do we smell nothing as yet of the divine decomposition? Gods, too, decompose. God is dead. God remains dead. And we have killed him.”“How shall we comfort ourselves, the murderers of all murderers? What was holiest and mightiest of all … has bled to death under our knives: who will wipe this blood off us? What water is there for us to clean ourselves? What festivals of atonement, what sacred games shall we have to invent? Is not the greatness of this deed too great for us? Must we ourselves not become gods simply to appear worthy of it?” “Here the madman fell silent and looked again at his listeners; and they, too, were silent and stared at him in astonishment. At last he threw his lantern on the ground, and it broke into pieces and went out. ‘I have come too early,’ he said then; ‘my time is not yet. This tremendous event is still on its way, still wandering; it has not yet reached the ears of men…’” (The Gay Science, Section 125).He is saying something very important. In the parable, the atheists who the madman is talking to are making fun of the man for looking for God. They seem to think life can go on fine without God. The madman thinks they are deluded and don’t realize the full consequences of the death of God.
Nietzsche is an atheist. He believes that modern society has "killed God”. What he seems to be saying is that the idea of God no long holds power in the minds of western humanity as it once did when people shared a relatively common idea about God and what God expects from humanity. So, for him, western humanity has killed the idea of God. …
But, he doesn’t see this as a moment of triumph. He sees this as a moment of terror. What will society do when it loses its foundation? What happens when the anchor that holds society is gone? … He says it is like the earth becoming freed from the gravitational pull of the sun and spinning away from the solar system. He describes the earth as getting darker and colder as it drifts aimlessly into space without a divine plan and without a divine comforter to carry us into the next world after death. It gets darker because we no longer clearly understand right and wrong, and the meaning and purpose of life. … Nietzsche sees the removal of God from society as the removal of a foundational part of society. A foundation supports the building that sits on top of it. If the foundation is removed there are consequences for the building. If your house has a crack in the foundation your house could be in trouble.
If we look back at our psalm we read,
“They are corrupt, they do abominable deeds, there is none who does good. … 3 They have all turned aside; together they have become corrupt; there is none who does good, not even one”(v1, 3).Now, we don’t want to say that atheists are not moral people. Atheists can be very moral people. And sometimes Christians can be capable of doing some very nasty things. … What I want us to think about is that the psalm draws a connection between belief in God and morality. Belief in the existence of God, who creates the universe with an in-built morality makes for a better foundation for moral behavior. There are clearer reasons for morality. Looking at another human being and valuing them because they are made in the image of God is a powerful moral idea. That is a powerful foundation for a belief in Human Rights, for example.
Here is the issue. Is morality like the law of gravity? Or is it like rock and roll? Gravity is true for all cultures all the time. Rock and roll is a musical taste that was created by members of the society and enjoyed by members of the society, but there are people that don’t care for it much and aren’t expected to have to listen to it. No one can ignore gravity without serious consequences.
Unless there is some kind of foundation that gives rise to moral truth that is beyond human beings, then all moral values are mere opinion and social fashion. “That’s true for you but not for me” is the common slogan. … If there is a God, or at least the idea of God, then we at least have the thought that there is something beyond human beings that we should conform to. Nietzsche said that there was a common moral foundation in the West in the idea of God, but when we let go of that foundation we spin away from our center like the earth spinning away from the sun. … Perhaps the society will find a new foundation for morality, but there is no guarantee it will look anything like the morality the West has known in the past.
Our psalm is concerned for faithful people who are taken advantage of. They are people mistreated by people who are powerful "atheists", but not in the sense that they deny God in an intellectual way. In fact, they might be religious people. But, by their actions, they deny that there is a God who will hold them accountable. That person is the fool. The powerful oppressor might claim there is a God, but they don’t act like it. Judging by the way they treat people, especially vulnerable people, they seem to think there are no consequences for mistreating people. In our psalm, these are the
“the evildoers who eat up my people as they eat bread … [who] would shame the plans of the poor” (v4, 6).The idea that we will have to face God when our lives are over and answer for how we treated others can be a powerful idea in the minds of would-be tyrants. Who knows what kind of horrors were averted because a would-be tyrant believed they would be judged by God. … I would say a tyrant without the thought that they will be held accountable for their life is a much more dangerous person. Which tyrant would you rather live under?
The Psalm tells us that it is a foolish assumption that the powerful will not be judged. The psalm says,
“5 There they are in great terror, for God is with the generation of the righteous. 6 You would shame the plans of the poor, but the Lord is his refuge. Oh, that salvation for Israel would come out of Zion! When the Lord restores the fortunes of his people, let Jacob rejoice, let Israel be glad” (v5-7).The Psalm tells us that God takes sides. He is on the side of the vulnerable against the oppressor.
The Ancient Church would see Christ as the oppressed poor, who is crucified by the powerful for doing nothing wrong, but only for speaking truth. But, even from the cross he spoke forgiveness, even on those who were killing him
“Father, forgive them, they know not what they are doing”.
Foolishly, they don’t really know. Their assumptions are all wrong. They are fools who deny God. They don’t realize they will be held accountable. …
And isn’t that all of us sometimes? Don’t we sometimes neglect to think about God’s reality? Don’t we sometimes treat people as if we won’t be held accountable for our mean comments? …
But even in that moment, when Christ is nailed to the cross, we see the profound grace of Christ. He is willing to forgive even without their desire to repent. "Father, forgive them, they don’t know what they are doing". While we were lost fools he sought us out to give us what we didn’t realize we needed. The accusation against him still stands- He “welcomes sinners and eats with them”, and he welcomes us sinners to his table today.
AMEN
Comments
Post a Comment