The End of Time -- The End

In my last post I ended with these words:

I have visited both ends of the line of tension which Schaeffer describes. On one end is a tomb filled with bones and filth. On the other end is an empty tomb.


Choosing between nihilistic fatalism and Christian hope does not alter the truth. The choosing might be a blind leap, or an inability to face nothingness. Fear and wishful thinking might drive a person to accept Christ; after all, why not add an insurance policy to your mental portfolio, just in case. The absurdity of existence without God does not negate the possibility that our existence is indeed absurd. Or worse, absurdity might be an artifact of consciousness itself.

It isn't the horror of nihilism which leads to the truth of Christ's resurrection, except for this: what is it in us which sees both the horror and the hope, and calls them such?

This is Augustine's argument, that God creates in our soul the capacity to know both horror and joy, and to receive His Holy Spirit so that we can live forever. We yearn to be with God, we desire fulfillment and meaning in our lives, we long for something more than sensual stimulation, but if we are only organisms and not souls, then why?

I am free to believe that the "God-shaped" hole in my soul is an artifact of the evolution of consciousness, or a Freudian virtual machine produced by the cumulative trauma of repressed childhood experience, or that it is insidious programming from some Sunday school teacher I don't even remember. The simplest explanation is that God created me for His purpose, to seek Him, to love Him, to worship Him, and to need Him so much that to be separated from Him is truly Hell, both for now and for all eternity.

A few years ago, I wrote this farcical graveside service in an attempt to apply the secular worldview to the context of the death of a loved one:

...strains of Devo playing in the background, the mourners gather beside an urn containing the ashes of what once might have been a disease ridden mass of protoplasm.

"And so my fellow units, we are today gathered to wish farewell to X. Those who were close to X engaged in simian behaviors which one might call friendship, but which we understand are nothing more than biochemical imperatives implanted in our cerebrum. Some of you may exude saline solution from your optical sensors; I urge you to engage in this behavior freely and without fear of social reprisal. You may be experiencing a sense of loss, but alas, you will be reminded that 'You' are only a construct of biochemical and electrical impulses which generate a sense of self which has no grounding in objective reality. Therefore, nothing is lost since nothing really was."

"I have 'known' X for many years. He engaged in socially normative parental behavior and trained his biological offspring to participate in a non-violent manner with the rest of society. He and his mate of 30 years continued to engage in courtship rituals which helped to preserve their relationship and furthered the socioeconomic compact which we call marriage. Each treated the other with 'respect', probably out of a deep rooted and quite unconscious fear of retribution, such that neither unit dominated the other."

"Now that his protoplasm has disintegrated and been rendered into this fine ash with bone fragments, we are reminded that we are all animated and fluid filled collections of ash and to dessicated ash we shall return. No matter, never mind."


If you are outraged at this parody, then thank God, the God who really is there, for instilling in you some small amount of common sense. Just remember that this is exactly what the secularists are selling you. It is altogether plausible, quite logical, and totally absurd. Our society is coming apart because of it. But even the absurdity of the secular worldview is not enough to produce faith in an alternative.

Ultimately, it is revelation which produces faith in Jesus. In Matthew 7:7-11, Jesus says:

"Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened. Which of you, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!"

This is not a blind leap of faith. It is a child asking her father for bread. Eat the bread and there will be no end of time.