God is Dead... And We Have Killed Him

The Madman. Have you ever heard of the madman who on a bright morning lighted a lantern and ran to the market-place calling out unceasingly: "I seek God! I seek God!" As there were many people standing about who did not believe in God, he caused a great deal of amusement. Why? is he lost? said one. Has he strayed away like a child? said another. Or does he keep himself hidden? Is he afraid of us? Has he taken a sea voyage? Has he emigrated? - the people cried out laughingly, all in a hubbub.

The insane man jumped into their midst and transfixed them with his glances. "Where is God gone?" he called out. "I mean to tell you! We have killed him, you and I! We are all his murderers! But how have we done it? How were we able to drink up the sea? Who gave us the sponge to wipe away the whole horizon? What did we do when we loosened this earth from its sun? Whither does it now move? Whither do we move? Away from all suns? Do we not dash on unceasingly? Backwards, sideways, forwards, in all directions? Is there still an above and below? Do we not stray, as through infinite nothingness? Does not empty space breathe upon us? Has it not become colder? Does not night come on continually, darker and darker? Shall we not have to light lanterns in the morning? Do we not hear the noise of the grave-diggers who are burying God? Do we not smell the divine putrefaction? - for even Gods putrify! God is dead! God remains dead! And we have killed him!

How shall we console ourselves, the most murderous of all murderers? The holiest and the mightiest that the world has hitherto possessed, has bled to death under our knife - who will wipe the blood from us? With what water could we cleanse ourselves? What lustrums, what sacred games shall we have to devise? Is not the magnitude of this deed too great for us? Shall we not ourselves have to become Gods, merely to seem worthy of it? There never was a greater event - and on account of it, all who are born after us belong to a higher history than any history hitherto!" Here the madman was silent and looked again at his hearers; they also were silent and looked at him in surprise.

At last he threw his lantern on the ground, so that it broke in pieces and was extinguished. "I come too early," he then said. "I am not yet at the right time. This prodigious event is still on its way, and is traveling - it has not yet reached men's ears. Lightning and thunder need time, the light of the stars needs time, deeds need time, even after they are done, to be seen and heard. This deed is as yet further from them than the furthest star - and yet they have done it themselves!" It is further stated that the madman made his way into different churches on the same day, and there intoned his Requiem aeternam deo. When led out and called to account, he always gave the reply: "What are these churches now, if they are not the tombs and monuments of God?"

--Friedrich Nietzsche. The Gay Science (1882), section 125

Nietzsche did not mean that God was literally dead. For if that were true then it would've meant that God was alive in the first place. To Nietzsche the belief in God and the social underpinnings that stem from that belief had been replaced by science and rationalism. To Nietzsche we no longer needed a moral code based on religion. Taken one step further, if our morality is not based on religion then it is not based on absolutes. Therefore, morality is relative.

Now, whenever I read Nietzsche's quote I have this tendency to stop right after the statement "God is dead! God remains dead! And we have killed him!" Two things come to mind: morality & religion. I look around and see a world of moral decay. A world where self-interest rules and morality is all relative. It seems as though we are in a spiritual crisis. And when I look at the thought that we have killed God I look to the hearts of men.

How did we get here? The more we think we know the less we really know. We just think that we know everything. And the more knowledge we have, the less wisdom. Knowledge is power and instead of relying on faith we have learned to question everything. Challenge... Question... Rebel... Morality can now be found in shades of gray. There is no black and white, just shades of grey.

Then there is the church. Organized religion is based on traditions and has a tendency not to change with the times. As Marx said, "Religion is the opiate of the masses." How many churches are in a decline? Fewer people are choosing to attend church services. The Bible speaks of fellowship but does it have to be in church on a Sunday morning? Back in the day Jesus went out to the people. He met them where they were at. He even turned water into wine. Now I would like to have that kind of ability.

When I look around society all I see is blindness. I guess the real question is, if God is dead and we have killed him, will he be revived? Or have we turned our back forever?