Has God Departed From the West?

“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 that the world has yet owned 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?”

― Friedrich Nietzsche

Nietzsche may not have been a christian but his declaration that God is dead was far more of a lament  than a happy assertion as seen in the God’s Not Dead Movies. He was a witness to one of the most pivotal moments in world history and understood how dangerous this shift really was. Some time in the early 17th century satan did something that the kingdom of darkness hadn’t done possibly ever in history. A new sort of tactic. You see, symbolically , God did die in the minds of  many people in the west. Like so many times before, we arrogantly professed that we could do without God But this time is different because we have denied his very existence. 

 In the tower of babel the Babylonians thought themselves gods because of their new found technology, bricks. The toy of choice for the west is Science. It's in many ways the ultimate God killing tool. With it, we can gain a body of knowledge unfathomable from previous generations and we can do it all without even consulting our creator. Nothing in human history has allowed us to succeed more apart from God than Science.

Science just as anything else is a tool that can be used in many ways. I am endlessly fascinated about learning things about our universe and think it's a wonderful tool but it's still incredibly dangerous in the hands of broken humans. It’s quite telling that many christians who are scientists feel the need to prove God’s existence using science. I think it's indicative of the pull that science has over our culture and in how high of a regard we have for it. The problem is our God is supernatural, meaning he transcends any ability we have to measure him. Understanding philosophy and theology using science is like using a banana to hammer nails. The biblical worldview is one steeped in a deep understanding and appreciation of the supernatural and therefore will never be able to be scrutinized and studied using the scientific method. 

For the west though, It wasn’t enough to simply replace God with ourselves, the thing is there is still that pesky little memory that someone bigger than us exists. Charles Darwin may not have set out to kill the memory of God but his theory gave people the tools to forget. 

We can wipe even the memory of this God from our existence and know in our hearts the only God is ourselves. 

We quickly scrambled to fill every single hole with a “theory”. turn every miracle into a natural phenomenon.  What died was not our religion but our belief in the supernatural

Plenty of people in the west still believe in the supernatural and in many ways there is a bit of a spiritual revival happening now. The problem is that we are all affected by this phenomenon. There are doubts that arise in me that would never exist if it weren’t for the culture I live in. I think the west is a very difficult place to do miracles. A very difficult place for God to work.

In a recent podcast when asked why we don’t see miracles today like we do in the bible John Eldredge explained that in the west there is something like an iron curtain that has fallen over us and kept us largely cut off from the supernatural. 

Fundamentally I believe that it's because of a lack of faith only made possible by our new understanding.

Mark 6:4-6 (NIV):

“Jesus said to them, ‘A prophet is not without honor except in his own town, among his relatives and in his own home.’ He could not do any miracles there, except lay his hands on a few sick people and heal them. He was amazed at their lack of faith.”

This is a very puzzling passage , Jesus COULDN’T perform miracles to these people? This passage illustrates a phenomenon I see at work around me a lot. People that refuse to believe almost always get what they ask for, nothing. I think fundamentally, the human will might be the most powerful force in the world. The goal of the kingdom of heaven or of darkness is to bend the human will to their will. It seems to me that at least 7/10 times that God acts, he does so through the will of human or spiritual collaborators. 

Matthew 21:21-22 (NIV):

“Jesus replied, ‘Truly I tell you, if you have faith and do not doubt, not only can you do what was done to the fig tree, but also you can say to this mountain, ‘Go, throw yourself into the sea,’ and it will be done. If you believe, you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer.’”

Matthew 9:20-22 (NIV):

“Just then a woman who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years came up behind him and touched the edge of his cloak. She said to herself, ‘If I only touch his cloak, I will be healed.’ Jesus turned and saw her. ‘Take heart, daughter,’ he said, ‘your faith has healed you.’ And the woman was healed at that moment.”

This is extraordinary, Jesus did not say that he healed her, it was her own faith that healed her. Other versions of the story suggest Jesus didn’t notice her at all until she was already healed.  Clearly our faith is powerful, I believe it might be the most powerful thing. Not that God is not infinitely more powerful but God clearly refuses to act in such a way that violates the personal will of humans. 

If, like me, you are at all interested in the paranormal, you will very rarely find any  physical material evidence that any such supernatural events ever occur. There are few acceptions, but they are never enough to sway very many unbelievers. What I find most fascinating is that you have an endless wealth of people who swear they have experienced something paranormal whether it be UFOs or bigfoot or ghosts. There are so many credible eyewitness accounts that I believe someone with good reason can’t deny that these people are experiencing something they believe to be real. It is the only logical explanation. Yet we remain skeptical. 

Our world is filled with things that go beyond our limited understanding of the material world that we so lovingly cling to.  What are now UFOs and aliens were at one time spirits. We have always experienced these things but in a context of a firm belief in the spiritual realm. These things being anything spiritual is a threat to the status quo here. 

There is a deadness here in the west that doesn’t exist in other parts of the world. If you get news from other places, you will see God working in ways that he always has and always will. Healings and revivals and abundant life. These things don't happen in the west because they aren't real but because of our lack of faith! We have almost stripped the supernatural from every corner of our culture. There is almost nothing left. Even many modern churches deny the supernatural and claim it just doesn't happen any more. What a wicked and faithless conclusion! God just doesn’t work any more. We have this book that he speaks through and that’s it. 

Let me be clear, there is no life outside of the supernatural. 

1 Corinthians 15 29-32

 Now if there is no resurrection, what will those do who are baptized for the dead? If the dead are not raised at all, why are people baptized for them? And as for us, why do we endanger ourselves every hour? I face death every day—yes, just as surely as I boast about you in Christ Jesus our Lord. If I fought wild beasts in Ephesus with no more than human hopes, what have I gained? If the dead are not raised,

“Let us eat and drink,    for tomorrow we die.

There has been a bit of a revival of the place of christianity in the west. Figures like Jordan Peterson have led many to realize that religion was a cornerstone of our society and as a culture we are in turmoil because nothing else fills the void of God in our lives. That was also the concern of Nietzsche. 

Jordan Peterson does these talks where he explains important passages in the bible and their deeper meaning from his perspective as a psychologist. What he has offered is invaluable and very true but it is utterly lacking.  He starts off often by saying for instance the story of Moses means something like____. And goes on to explain the morals of the story. He has a great respect for the Bible but only views the stories as powerful myths that teach fundamental truth. 

I don’t believe that he necessarily doesn’t believe that these things are actual historical events but when pressed, he answers that he is not a theologian and has no right to interpret these stories other than their mythical and psychological meaning. 

I don’t know all of what his struggles are now and where he stands but I consider it very dangerous what is happening here, We know we need the hope of the gospel but still we would rather chock it up to ancient wisdom than take it for what it is at face value. 

If we don't renew our faith in the supernatural we will die via suicide

You can see the seeds of death everywhere. Everything is dying or being killed. I understand he and many others are fighting a culture that is feeding a death cult and they are bravely fighting back but.

There is no other way to have life aside from the power of the resurrection of Christ, period. 

We must renew our belief in the supernatural and the spiritual if we have any chance of reviving our corner of the world from the death that it is welcoming in with open arms. No amount of personal responsibility, morality, conservatism, family values, or anything else can save us. Only the supernatural power of our mysterious and unknowable God. 

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