THE VOID OF ETERNAL NOTHINGNESS

 

 

How does God prepare us for our final eternal destiny? He gives us a mind to contemplate many things. For one thing, His existence! We can tell a lot about the unseen by the things that are seen. We can understand a lot about the unseen laws of science by the ways they impact what is seen.

 

We can also understand a lot about the origin of these universal, immutable, and elegant laws. They stand in contrast to what we know about the universe, where nothing is immutable. We are therefore forced to look beyond the universe to understand the origin and immutability of these laws.

 

Our minds are also the conduit for other thoughts that point to God and our need to think about such a Being. The tormented thoughts of King Solomon inevitably focused on questions of the eternal fate of man:

 

·       “Yet God has made everything beautiful for its own time. He has planted eternity in the human heart, but even so, people cannot see the whole scope of God’s work from beginning to end.” (Ecclesiastes 3:11 NLT)

 

These thoughts of eternity also bring us back to the essential question of God’s existence and character. Scott Christensen cites philosopher Bryan Magee who speaks of the fear of what he calls the void of “eternal nothingness” that awaits those who die:

 

·       “If the void is the permanent destination of all of us, all value and all significance are merely pretended for purposes of carrying on our little game, like children dressing up. It is, of course, a willing pretense: we cannot bring ourselves to face eternal nothingness, so we busy ourselves with our little lives and all their vacuous pursuits, surrounded by institutions that we ourselves have created yet which we pretend are important, and which help us shut out the black and endless night that surrounds us. It is all, in the end, nothing—nothing whatsoever.” (What About Evil)

 

For Magee, since eternity is a void, so too is this life, an empty and meaningless rehearsal for the inescapable eternal void of death.

 

Such concerns are forced upon us as a man gasping for air. To be unconcerned is to be dead.

 

We are given a mind so that we would consider both the temporal and the eternal and to make a choice. This choice should be easy. Just consider the evidence. There is not a single piece of evidence that would lead us to discount the existence of God. Nor is there the slightest bit of evidence that anything is natural or has been caused by natural laws. Even the smallest atom is a marvel of design.

 

If that is not enough, the terror of the Void should cause us to rethink our steps, but often, it doesn’t. Why not? The answer is repeated in many ways in the Bible. The problem is not about any lack of evidence for God, but a lack of desire for Him (John 3:19-20), even a greater terror of God than of the Void. NYU Professor Emeritus of Philosophy, Thomas Nagel, had asserted that no one can be impartial about God (at least, the God of the Bible):

 

·       I am talking of...the fear of religion itself. I speak from experience, being strongly subject to this fear myself: I want atheism to be true...It isn't just that I don't believe in God and, naturally hope there is no God! I don't want there to be a God. I don't want the universe to be like that...I am curious whether there is anyone who is genuinely indifferent as to whether there is a God. (The Last Word, Oxford University Press, 1997, 130)

 

None are indifferent! Even the atheist has built his identity upon the hope that there isn’t a God. Why then the intense opposition to God? Not only do people want to live their own life, but they also correctly sense that if there is a God, He has expectations for all of us and a price to pay for defying them (Romans 1:32).

It doesn’t seem to matter how many times Christians assure them that God is love (Matthew 11:28-30), they remain adamant in their refusal. Why do they remain hellbent in their mad dash towards the Void?

DOES GOD NOT LOVE IF HE DOES NOT SAVE ALL?

 

 

It is often claimed that God is not just, merciful, and loving if He doesn’t ultimately save all. Let’s examine these three charges individually:

 

Is God not just if He does not save all? Not according to Scripture:

 

·       For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 6:23)

 

According to Jesus, only one sin is required to damn us:

 

·       “You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not murder; and whoever murders will be liable to judgment.’ But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment; whoever insults his brother will be liable to the council; and whoever says, ‘You fool!’ will be liable to the hell of fire.” (Matthew 5:21-22)

 

It is the Creator’s right to set the standards for His creation. His creation belongs to Him, and He will not grade on a curve.

 

We might regard God as overly strict, but we need to accept the fact that this is His nature. He hates sin so much that He cannot bear to be around it without destroying its source – us! But we too hate injustice so much that we desire to see the guilty party punished, even for a single crime. How then can we blame God for doing likewise!

 

However, we are not simply guilty of a single sin. Instead, we are serial sinners. Therefore, none of us are damned because of a mere handful of sins:

 

·       as it is written: “None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God. All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one.” (Romans 3:10-12)

 

Consequently, when we demand justice from God we are asking for our own destruction. Therefore, we need to cry out for God’s mercy – our only hope.

 

However, the Israelites would turn away from their God as soon as their fears and pains passed and would rebel against Him. We prefer to reside in the darkness rather than in the penetrating presence of the Light of God:

 

·       “And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil. For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed.” (John 3:19-20)

 

Why isn’t God merciful to all and save all? He wants to save all (2 Peter 3:9) providing we sincerely come to Him:

 

·       …“Return, faithless Israel, declares the LORD. I will not look on you in anger, for I am merciful, declares the LORD; I will not be angry forever. Only acknowledge your guilt, that you rebelled against the LORD your God and scattered your favors among foreigners under every green tree, and that you have not obeyed my voice, declares the LORD. (Jeremiah 3:12–13)

 

·       For “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” (Romans 10:13)

 

However, no one calls upon God, at least not for long. Normally, we hate Him (Romans 5:8-10; 1 Corinthians 2:14).

 

Therefore, salvation must start with His mercy.

 

·       What shall we say then? Is there injustice on God’s part? By no means! For he says to Moses, “I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.” So then it depends not on human will or exertion, but on God, who has mercy. (Romans 9:14-16)

 

This might seem unjust if we forget that if God responded justly, He would terminate all of us. Instead, His mercy must take charge if any are to be saved. However, mercy does not work as does justice. While justice must be administered impartially, mercy can be partial. There is nothing that requires us to invite everyone to our party. We are free to invite those we choose. God can also be merciful to whom He chooses. Salvation will have to be according to God’s mercy, since we will never come to God on our own. If we did, it would be like the deer looking for the lion. It just will not happen.

 

How then can God be love if He doesn’t choose all? But He does choose to love all:

 

·       The Lord is good to all, and his mercy is over all that he has made...The Lord preserves all who love him, but all the wicked he will destroy. (Psalm 145:10, 20)

 

How can we equate God’s love with the fact that He will destroy “all the wicked?” His love is expressed through His having given us life, food, and family. However, for many, His love does not extend beyond this life (Matthew 6:2, 5, 16):

 

·       Arise, O Lord! Confront him, subdue him! Deliver my soul from the wicked by your sword, from men by your hand, O Lord, from men of the world whose portion is in this life. You fill their womb with treasure; they are satisfied with children, and they leave their abundance to their infants. (Psalm 17:13-14)

 

God’s love is not compromised if it is limited to this life and to those who want His love for all eternity. He will give us all what we ultimately want. For us, eternal life with our Savior is our utmost desire. For others who prefer destruction over the presence of God, what can be more loving than to give them what they desire.

 

Who would prefer destruction? Those who reject the Light here will certainly reject the Light in the next life where it will be more intense and reveal us for who we are. The Bible is filled with warnings that those who hate God will flee from His presence (John 3:17-20; Isaiah 33:14-15; Psalm I:5; Luke 21:36; Deuteronomy 5:25; Malachi 3:2; Revelation 20:11) and will even ask the mountains to fall upon them to hide them from His Light:

 

·       Then the kings of the earth and the great ones and the generals and the rich and the powerful, and everyone, slave and free, hid themselves in the caves and among the rocks of the mountains, calling to the mountains and rocks, “Fall on us and hide us from the face of him who is seated on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb.” (Revelation 6:15–16; Isaiah 2:20-22 Hosea 10:8; Luke 23:30)

 

“Well, if God is love, He should love all His creatures eternally, even if it requires changing them into something else.” God is under no obligation in terms of mercy, justice, or love to do so. Instead, if this is a valid objection, then it would be equally valid to charge:

·       If God is truly of love, He should have created an infinite number of people to love!

 

Of course, this charge is absurd, and if this charge is absurd, so too is the prior charge. There is nothing that requires God to love all for an infinite amount of time or to change them into something they do not want to be. If I feed my neighbor’s family for the duration of their lives, no one is justified to charge that I lack love if I do not feed all their progeny forever.

 

Perhaps instead, God’s love is maximized by teaching us that there are consequences for sin, and that eternal life in heaven is not a human right or an entitlement but a gift, which must be accepted!

 

Nevertheless, many will continue to reject God as a terrible and fearful Being. However, this might be if we are not on His right side. Then it is best to not run away but to find out how to get on His right side.

TOXIC SHAME

 

 

Shame is a universal feeling that characterizes humanity. It can be toxic, chronic, and life controlling, and so we must learn how to properly address it.

 

The psychologist John Bradshaw had written revealingly about the effects of toxic shame:

 

·       The internalized feeling of being flawed and defective as a human being…Shame, which should be a healthy signal of limits, becomes an overwhelming state of being, an identity if you will. Once toxically shamed, a person loses contact with his authentic self. What follows is a chronic mourning for the lost self. (Healing the Shame that Binds You)

 

Shame makes us run from ourselves in terror. We try to relegate shame into the darkness of our subconscious to it no longer can be seen. Therefore, we lose “contact with [our] authentic self.” However, in the subconscious, it can operate freely without any constraints.

 

What was Bradshaw’s solution? Positive affirmations:

 

·       Repeated positive messages are emotional nutrients…Here are the loving words you can say to your inner infant:

 

o   “Welcome to the world, I’ve been waiting for you. I’m glad you are here. I’ve prepared a special place for you to live. I like you just the way you are. I will not leave you, no matter what...”

 

 Does this strategy address the problem or simply cover it and lock the lid? I had been so toxically shamed that it was difficult to me to relate to others. There were two girls in my church who had caught my eye. However, I felt too uncomfortable to approach them. Instead, I adopted another strategy. Our church wanted people to audition for their musical. I thought that if I get lead role, even though I couldn’t even read music, I might be able to attract them. I was living in denial on a diet of positive affirmations to compensate for my toxic shame. Fortunately, I was given no role in the musical.

 

Instead, we require an accurate assessment of self if we are to live fruitfully. When turn from truth to a self-confidence built upon positive affirmations, we set ourselves up self-delusion and a massive fall:

 

·       "Cursed is the one who trusts in man, who depends on flesh for his strength and whose heart turns away from the LORD…But blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD, whose confidence is in him.” (Jeremiah 17:5-7)

 

We need confidence, but self-confidence comes at the price of repressing our failings and magnifying our strengths. This is self-delusion and wearing a mask.

 

The remedy is God-confidence. Without the love of the Lord, self-help books advise us how to love, forgive, and to believe in ourselves. Instead of God, self-help books abound teaching us how to love, forgive, and to baby ourselves. They even teach us how to keep a “gratefulness journal” – all God-substitutes. Instead of the relationship for which he we been designed, they offer us various forms of masturbation, self-stimulation.

We need a plumber’s snake to dislodge the shame. We are born with a moral nature and a knowledge of right and wrong. When we violate these engraved norms, an alarm goes off. However, we fail address the fire with a water hose but with denials or with inflammable coverings, like Adam and Eve who covered themselves with fig leaves. Instead, today we use positive affirmations, accomplishments, money, and PHDs, but the shame remains. The evidence? We never have enough attainments, affirmations, or PHD’s. We always need more because these coverings are never adequate. Instead, they serve as a drug requiring ever-increasing dosages. Only the forgiveness and cleansing of God can dislodge the shame:

 

·       Whoever conceals his transgressions will not prosper, but he who confesses and forsakes them will obtain mercy. (Proverbs 28:13; 1 John 1:9)

 

We need to be assured of the love of God, rather than a shallow practice of narcissistic self-love:

 

·       …While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God's wrath through him! For if, when we were God's enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life! (Romans 5:8-10)

 

We were designed to need food, but also the food of our Creator’s love, the ultimate shame remedy. Without His love, we seek it from diverse sources. Even the love of others only temporarily banishes the shame. Instead, this love points to a greater and more fulfilling love.

 

Self-righteousness is another garment used to cover the problem of shame. Bradshaw had observed that:

 

·       The most paradoxical aspect of neurotic shame is that it is the core motivator of the super-achieved and the underachieved, the Star and the Scapegoat, the “Righteous” and the wretched, the powerful and the pathetic. (14)

 

Self-righteous is a stealth assassin. It finds it prey among even the most religious. The Flagellants were a sect that sprang up while the Black Death was ravishing Europe. Convinced that the plague was the result of God’s wrath, the Flagellants whipped their bodies bloody to ward off God’s punishment. As they wandered through the cities of Europe, they earned praise for their sacrificial behavior. However, convinced of their spiritual superiority, they violently installed themselves in place of the priests, whom they beat and tossed out of their parishes. This is the fruit of self-righteousness.

 

Sensing correctly that there is something radically wrong within, others practice self-mutilation to temporarily feel better about themselves. They gladly pay the price to achieve a bit of stress-reduction.

 

The Doors’ Jim Morrison had another shame-reduction solution. He instead believed that it had to be saturated by self-indulgence until it fell apart, like a soggy paper towel. He was convinced that this would result in freedom and spiritual purification:

 

·       “Sensuousness and evil is an attractive image to us now…It’s like a purification ritual in the alchemical sense. First you have to have the period of disorder, chaos, returning to a primeval disaster religion. Out of that you purify the elements and find the new seed of life.” (Hungry for Heaven, Steve Turner, 96)

 

Shame kills when not properly addressed. Jesus implored the hurting to come to Him:

·       Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” (Matthew 11:28–30)

 

It is in Jesus alone where I have found this rest.