Nothing Matters: How moral absolutism and apocalyptic urgency - both religious and secular - create the meaning crisis
An ode to life in the in-between
This morning, I released my second single as pop-punk solo act, Renegade Sage. The Song is called “Nothing Matters,” and it takes on what I call “Christian Nihilism” as well as secular forms of nihilism. But this is not your grandpappy’s “nihilism”…
The traditional story is that nihilism comes from not believing in God or in moral absolutes. The materialistic universe and moral relativism lead to nihilism; belief in God and in good and evil leads to meaning.
But the most prominent forms of nihilism today are deeply moralistic. They suggest that if you are not perfectly aligned with the good then you are evil, and everything you do is worthless. They often combine this with apocalyptic urgency.
If you listen to the main critiques of today’s meaning crisis, you will think that an Islamist suicide bomber is at the apex of meaning. He sees the world in black and white - in the stark categories of “good” and “evil.”
But I come, electric guitar in hand, bearing a different message: Meaning does not come from believing in good and evil, but in better and worse.
In fact, contemporary nihilism comes from belief in black and white.
But a meaningful life is lived in the various shades of gray.
It’s All Gonna Burn
If you believe, for instance, that the world is ending soon and all we can do is get people saved, then helping to develop underprivileged neighborhoods is no better than leaving them to urban decay. In either case, it’s all going to burn, and all that matters is making pulling converts from the fire. It’s very black and white.
The problem is that a bunch of the things we have just categorized as black are in fact much lighter in shade and various in color. Even if people do not “get saved,” life can be better or worse for them both in purely economic terms and in moral terms, by receiving love and concern from others in their community.
On the flipside, if you believe that climate change has apocalyptic consequences in the near future such that only extreme returns to primitive living will have an effect, then gradually shifting to wind and solar (and nuclear) is no better than reverting to coal. You will be able to live with the moral fervor of Greta Thunberg, but without concern for making the world incrementally better - which is the only kind of better there is.
It’s all gonna burn Right after The rapture Or in the heat death of the… Universe The Sun’s gonna burst So what could be better or worse?
Nothing worse, nothing better ’Cuz nothing matters.
Filthy Rags
There are several versions of what I have called “Christian nihilism” in theology. The one I focused on in my article, “Against Christian Nihilism,” was justification-only theology. Major swaths of contemporary Reformed teaching depart from the Reformation on the necessity of the third use of the law and of obedience for salvation. They in effect teach that we ought to follow the law of God, but we can’t, so Jesus did it for us. As a result, nothing we do will be anything but filthy rags.
All your good acts Are just filthy rags
Several movements have attempted to correct this error - the New Perspective on Paul, the Federal Vision movement, the spiritual disciplines movement, evangelical initiatives on social justice, and the Christian new right. Yet almost all of these have been branded forms of legalism and false gospels by the official spokespeople of Reformed Christianity.
I have had several recent conversations with people from Reformed churches who are basically burnt out on the teaching that there is just nothing to do in the Christian life; Jesus did it all. One referred to it as “ledger theology”; Jesus paid your debt - there’s nothing left for you to do. Sanctification is optional, “if you’re into that sort of thing.”
Another, fellow writer Nicholas McDonald, talked about how the real divide in evangelicalism is not the free will-predestination divide; it’s about whether you think the world and our action in it matters. And I couldn’t agree more:
“The bigger…divide…is this: it’s between Christians who believe Jesus is calling us to escape creation, and Christians who believe Jesus has come to redeem creation.”
-Nicholas McDonald
Don’t Sin, Or Else
In my foray into Side B circles, with my celibate, gay Christian brothers and sisters, I have begun to understand the critique of “purity culture.” The problem wasn’t teaching the Christian view of sex and marriage; it was about identifying that teaching with a black and white view of “saving it for marriage” - in the hopes of mind-blowing heterosexual sex - or failing and losing one’s virginity. Instead of speaking to the messy world about the complexity and “better and worse” with regard to sexual faithfulness, “purity culture” taught a black-and-white of purity v. impurity.
Now, I’m reading tomes that teach that experiencing temptation is sin. If you’re gay, you’re basically already impure. There are no gradations; everything is total sexual depravity.
When combined with the justification-only theology above, you get some serious irony:
All your good acts Are just filthy rags, But pity he who goes and shags ’Cuz if you give in To categorical sin Then no good deed matters.
Christians are teaching that no one can be a “gay Christian,” for instance. Hearing this, a gay person’s conclusion is that, “Well, I guess I can’t be a Christian.”
Even apart from the matter of “gay identity,” why can’t Christians say that being a gay Christian is a lot better than being gay and not a Christian?
The Penultimate
The other place in theology that I find Christian nihilism is the absence of belief in the penultimate. From Dietrich Bonhoeffer, I learned that Christians have a tendency to believe in the ultimate good - salvation and the next life. But we tend to downplay the penultimate goods of this life. Since salvation matters so much, doing good works, showing ordinary kindness, making this mortal world a better place doesn’t matter at all.
Bonhoeffer opposed this, and from a Nazi prison. It’s as if he said, “Hey guys, that whole ‘just get people saved’ theory - turns out it didn’t work.… Apparently, it’s also good to make sure that your society doesn’t get completely destroyed and turned into tyranny.”
Nothing first, nothing latter ’Cuz nothing matters
This is actually why I believe in cultural Christianity. And I don’t mean one particular form of it.
Kellerites who want to pursue social justice out of Christian motivation are attempting to live out their faith in public. So-called “Christian nationalists” who want to implement socially conservative policy are trying to live out their faith in public.
You may notice that the attempt to live out Christian faith in public is inherently contentious. It isn’t the simple “gospel center” on which all people can agree.
It’s why I don’t resent the emphasis of Jordan Peterson, Ayaan Hirsi Ali, Tom Holland, and others who are focused on the utility of Christianity more than its truth. (Ali also believes in its truth.) A society which more closely approximates - and approximates is the key word - the natural law is a better society. A society which better fulfills Christ’s new commandment of love is a better society - and we need both.
(The political debate within Christendom and without it is really a debate between the natural law and the new commandment.)
Virtue-Signaling
Finally, there’s a kind of nihilism that is found in virtue-signalling both from the left and the right. Both are about appearances, appearing good or evil. Someone can be “canceled” for sounding evil even if they do immense good, i.e., make the world better.
We need to get over this focus on appearance in both Christian conservative circles and politically left-wing circles. Liberal journalist Ezra Klein recently made this case to Democrats in the New York Times.
You’re good-looking, Just gotta do the right thing When the right people are looking. Don’t matter whatcha do. Say what’s cool, not what’s true, And just remember to signal your virtue…
What You Do Matters
Life is not a Manichaen struggle between good and evil. It is a struggle between better and worse.
In fact, a lot of people have rejected Christianity because they felt it ignored the value of better and worse in this life. People will reject Christianity only to go create culture, start businesses, produce art and find meaning in this life.
Of course, this is to succumb to a false dichotomy, but it’s not the Exvangelicals who created the false dichotomy. It’s we evangelicals who did.
But there is a way out:
Believe that what we do here and now matter. Though our actions are not the ultimate good, they are the penultimate good.
Embrace that God is revealed in the things that have been made.
Don’t tell non-Christians that they have no meaning in life. Recognize that they do have meaning in life and encourage them to give thanks to the Creator for that reason.
The philosophy of nihilism is, “Nothing you do matters.”
My message is, “What you do matters,” and you don’t have to believe in God to believe it.
“Nothing Matters,” by Renegade Sage
It’s all gonna burn Right after the rapture or in the heat death of the… Universe! The sun’s gonna burst So what could be better or worse? We’re all going to drown ’Cuz it’s going down When the ice caps melt or A biblical flood, Unrequited blood, So what could be bad? What could be good? Nothing first, nothing latter 'Cuz nothing matters Nothing worse, nothing better 'Cuz nothing matters Don’t matter what we do If we’ve Believed, Oh, all the right things, Unless what we do Is adjacent to Something unforgivable All your good acts Are just filthy rags But pity he who goes and shags, 'Cuz if you give in To categorical sin Then no good deed matters! Nothing first, nothing latter 'Cuz nothing matters Nothing worse, nothing better 'Cuz nothing matters You’re good looking Just gotta do the right thing When the right people are looking Don’t matter whatcha do Say what’s cool, not what’s true And just remember to signal your virtue... Nothing first, nothing latter 'Cuz nothing matters! Nothing worse, nothing better 'Cuz nothing matters!
“Nothing Matters” is my second attempt to put my ideas into popular music. The first was “Common Ground,” a song about our tendency to demonize those with whom we disagree. Give it a listen here:
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Love the post! To your point about gospel-centeredness as “justification is the gospel”, one of the things I’ve noticed is that this gospel doesn’t lead to the sanctification of dark triad traits, it even seems to attract certain dark triad types, who are more interested in being treated, labeled, and seen as a good person, rather than actually being transformed into a good person. I am not suggesting that this crowd is a majority of dark triad types or that the message has no positive effect, only that the message doesn’t seem to be beneficial for dark triad types.
I appreciate that you think deeply and "outside the box", willing to challenge both the conscious and un-conscious presuppositions of culture, Christendom, and even your own. But if I had heard the song before reading your explanation of it, I wouldn't have figured out your intended conclusion. Maybe punk listeners are better attuned to thinking abstractly between the lines to draw out your intended meaning. But for me, I was left with nothing more than Bohemian Rapsody, with no clear inclination of anything leading toward "better". I understand you don't want to come off as blatantly preachy, but (maybe it's just my own failure to see deeper) it seems to me the lyrics would just reinforce classical nihilism, which isn't your goal.
If I may be so bold (I don't know you, and I'm new to Substack) as to suggest you consider rewriting some of the lyrics to point to more obvious motivation of finding meaning in pursuing the better and avoiding the worse.
Sorry, I don't mean to offend your artistic ownership of your composition.