SemperFiDawg
Political Forum Arbiter of Truth (And Lies Too)
Two medical Interns are on vacation and decide to take a hot air balloon ride across Holland. After a short class on navigation and control of the balloon they take to the sky. Soon after they become engulfed in a fog bank and loose all track of landmarks. They become disoriented and lost and decide to descend low enough to maybe catch sight of a landmark. They descend into a pasture to find a chap taking a morning walk. They are elated at their luck yell out from above, "Hello Sir. We are hopelessly lost in this fog. Can you tell us where we are?" Without a pause the resident citizen answers, "Latitude 52.1326° N, Longitude 5.2913° E." One Internist looks at the other and says "He's a neurologist." The other asks, "How do you know that?" The first replies, "He told us precisely what we asked for, and the information is absolutely useless."
That's pretty much my summation of the majority of content of the posts on this forum. God forbid any lost or troubled soul ever venture into here seeking guidance. Instead of salt and light this place is nothing but exactly what Nietzsche described in THE MADMAN: “What after all are these churches now if they are not the tombs and sepulchers of God?”
THE MADMAN — 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 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? There has never been a greater deed; and whoever is born after us—for the sake of this deed he will belong to a higher history than all history hitherto.”
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. Lightning and thunder require time; the light of the stars requires time; deeds, though done, still require time to be seen and heard. This deed is still more distant from them than most distant stars—and yet they have done it themselves.
It has been related further that on the same day the madman forced his way into several churches and there struck up his requiem aeternam deo. Led out and called to account, he is said always to have replied nothing but: “What after all are these churches now if they are not the tombs and sepulchers of God?”
—Friedrich Nietzsche, The Gay Science (1882, 1887) para. 125; Cambridge University Press (Cambridge, 2001), pp.119-120.
I'm not a theologian. I'm just an average, everyday, working man. I have a strong relationship with God thanks only to Him completely destroying me and building me back piece by piece. I can only relay to others my experience of that and what I have learned from it: my pains and the growth that God nourished in me from it. I'm smart enough to realize my errors are shared in one way, shape, or form by pretty much all of humanity. I try to share my experience and what God has done for me in order to help others relate and maybe offer them some hope for their plight. I know I 'put myself out there' in relaying this. A lot of it is very personal. I don't care. If it helps one person it's worth it. Who am I to keep what God has done for me private when telling others could benefit them. That would be the very definition of selfishness.
Yet, invariably when I start a thread, it's derailed almost immediately by our resident 'theologians'. To say it's very frustrating would be an understatement. It's almost laughable at how quickly supposedly, learned 'christians' (judging by their words and syntax) can't seem to grasp a simpleton's (me) base questions and concepts, and how quickly they deflect the intended context. I don't get it. As Christians we are called to share what God has done for us, our struggles, and how he brought us through. I cant for the life of me understand why other 'christians' would be so he11 bent on shutting any talk of that down. At this point it's apparent it's not accidental, but intentional. What does that say about us that we intentionally stifle and suppress another's testimony of God's power, love, and mercy???????? I know what it says, but even Nietzsche didn't have the foresight to envision that it woud be the 'church' to "have done it themselves."
That's pretty much my summation of the majority of content of the posts on this forum. God forbid any lost or troubled soul ever venture into here seeking guidance. Instead of salt and light this place is nothing but exactly what Nietzsche described in THE MADMAN: “What after all are these churches now if they are not the tombs and sepulchers of God?”
THE MADMAN — 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 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? There has never been a greater deed; and whoever is born after us—for the sake of this deed he will belong to a higher history than all history hitherto.”
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. Lightning and thunder require time; the light of the stars requires time; deeds, though done, still require time to be seen and heard. This deed is still more distant from them than most distant stars—and yet they have done it themselves.
It has been related further that on the same day the madman forced his way into several churches and there struck up his requiem aeternam deo. Led out and called to account, he is said always to have replied nothing but: “What after all are these churches now if they are not the tombs and sepulchers of God?”
—Friedrich Nietzsche, The Gay Science (1882, 1887) para. 125; Cambridge University Press (Cambridge, 2001), pp.119-120.
I'm not a theologian. I'm just an average, everyday, working man. I have a strong relationship with God thanks only to Him completely destroying me and building me back piece by piece. I can only relay to others my experience of that and what I have learned from it: my pains and the growth that God nourished in me from it. I'm smart enough to realize my errors are shared in one way, shape, or form by pretty much all of humanity. I try to share my experience and what God has done for me in order to help others relate and maybe offer them some hope for their plight. I know I 'put myself out there' in relaying this. A lot of it is very personal. I don't care. If it helps one person it's worth it. Who am I to keep what God has done for me private when telling others could benefit them. That would be the very definition of selfishness.
Yet, invariably when I start a thread, it's derailed almost immediately by our resident 'theologians'. To say it's very frustrating would be an understatement. It's almost laughable at how quickly supposedly, learned 'christians' (judging by their words and syntax) can't seem to grasp a simpleton's (me) base questions and concepts, and how quickly they deflect the intended context. I don't get it. As Christians we are called to share what God has done for us, our struggles, and how he brought us through. I cant for the life of me understand why other 'christians' would be so he11 bent on shutting any talk of that down. At this point it's apparent it's not accidental, but intentional. What does that say about us that we intentionally stifle and suppress another's testimony of God's power, love, and mercy???????? I know what it says, but even Nietzsche didn't have the foresight to envision that it woud be the 'church' to "have done it themselves."
: God developing individual relationships with people since day six. Yep, I think that's pretty much established precedent.
