Thursday, March 24, 2016

Nihilism and Pilate and Me and You

John 18:  
36 Jesus said, “My kingdom is not of this world. If it were, my servants would fight to prevent my arrest by the Jewish leaders. But now my kingdom is from another place.”
37 “You are a king, then!” said Pilate.Jesus answered, “You say that I am a king. In fact, the reason I was born and came into the world is to testify to the truth. Everyone on the side of truth listens to me.”
38 “What is truth?” retorted Pilate.

Sometimes we think post-modernism is new.  It obviously is not;  it is part of us.

We like the fog.  We like to do as we please.  We don't need a king besides Ceasar, as we can't avoid him.

But in us is that niggling feeling and thought, that truth actually exists, since we can't actually function without it.  What if we could not trust anybody's words, promises, explanations...  What if we can't trust our own?  What if we can't trust God's words and there is no goodness and mercy at the center of the universe?  What if there is no meaning, not even the one I have manufactured just for myself?
The other day, a young man said to me:  "Among us nihilists there is a saying..." -- I forget the saying.  I just remember he said "ni" as "nye" not "nee".
I would have said "neeheelist".  Whatever.

We both knew what he meant.  Words have meaning.  The saying he quoted (though it be a nihilist saying)  had meaning.  We both knew what he said when he called himself a nihilist.  Obviously, there is a set of doctrine.

Pilate was stressed out that day, torn between his wife, between Ceasar, between the Jews and between Jesus.  "What is truth" was his way out.  The innocent was condemned.

We do it all the time.




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