Gazing Into the Abyss

For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. (2 Corinthians 10:2–4, NIV 1984).

My Musings – “Whoever fights monsters should see to it that in the process he does not become a monster. And if you gaze long enough into an abyss, the abyss will gaze back into you.” (Friedrich Nietzsche).

Friedrich Nietzsche was an atheist, famous for writing “God is dead. God remains dead. And we have killed him.” That is to say, God never existed. We created him before we were enlightened to explain things we did not understand. Once enlightened we no longer needed him to explain things we think we now understand. So, we killed him. He remains dead.

This is, of course, the antithesis of Christianity and Judaism. Consequently, there is little to nothing for me to recommend in Nietzsche’s writings or philosophy. I do, however, like the quote above about fighting monsters and gazing into the abyss. For I see some alignment with Paul’s quote above. Not intentional on the part of Nietzsche, I am sure.

We live in a fallen and evil world. If we fight evil with the weapons of the world, we are gazing too intently into the abyss. We should not do that at all, but if we do it long enough, the reflection we see gazing back is evil personified in us. We become no better than the evil we fight.

I fear that this we as Christians are doing just that more and more as of late. In so doing, we are abandoning “divine power to demolish strongholds…[to] demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God.” (2 Corinthians 10:4–5, NIV 1984). The power of God within us is dead, and we have killed it. It will remain dead until we stop gazing into the abyss.

My Advice – “Be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Therefore, put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints.” (Ephesians 6:10–18, NIV 1984).

To this advice, I cannot add (or subtract) anything.