The way you live always follows the way you think. Jesus attempted to get the crowds to understand that in regards to righteousness (Matthew 5 – 7); and Paul built on that in the realm of sanctification (Romans 12:1 – 2). Too often however we fail to think through the implications of our worldview in regards to what we see in culture. So let’s have some fun and pick a nit.
If you grew up like me in the 80’s & 90’s; then you know that as a generation we should probably be congratulated and apologized to; we had freedom and neglect and everything in between. One of the consistent lessons that I was given was the old garbage in/garbage out; you have to be careful about your: music, television, video game, internet (when it came about), etc. content intake because it steered your thinking.
We laugh at that idea now; we shouldn’t. While perhaps trying to yank metal musicians before Congress was a bit short sighted, what you consume does impact how you think. Likewise the opposite corollary is true as well: what a culture produces, tells you how they think.
My kids were watching a YouTube channel consisting of “domino art”. It is a benign and relatively harmless hobby of arranging dominoes in a pattern and knocking them over in a sequential method. I was watching this and began contemplating the state of art in our culture. Not just weird YouTube art, but film, television, music, etc. There is something inherently broken with a culture that celebrates destruction as art.
Nihilism is the philosophy of nothingness; it is the rejection of all things religious and moral because, in their view, nothing matters and we are all just future worm food anyway. Just imagine that Goth kid (or Emo kid for you Millennials) from high school; nihilism is the way he probably thought. Domino art is intrinsically nihilistic.
No I haven’t bumped my head; I’m serious. The act of spending hours upon hours, arranging and organizing, measuring and checking, designing and laying out; all for the payout of having it come crashing down or falling over is the fruit of an internalized nihilistic mindset. What would you call an author who poured his mind and imagination into a novel; only to complete it and publish it and then burn every copy the same day they are released? How about a film producer who hires actors and a director, writes a screenplay, makes his movie, edits it to perfection; and then deletes every file associated with his creation. You would call these people mad, and you would be right.
You can also think about this from the perspective of church architecture. If a modern church is going to design their building, what are their priorities? Functionality, cost, speed of construction, versatility of space; I’m probably missing a bunch as I’m not an architect or a builder, but why is beauty never seemingly considered? Rewind our culture a few hundred years and that might have been the top of the list; for a church to stand out and be a “great building”.
Now I understand the priorities of our culture and stewardship have changed and that explains the difference; but that is my point, we have flipped the script entirely and that means we need to wrestle with the idea of one of these standards being superior to the other. Part of the reason we live in a world conquered by the idea of utilitarianism is because we have too often surrendered to the idea of soft nihilism and disposable creation.
All of this is not to say that our culture is evil incarnate and back then they were pure as the driven snow. It is to say however that as a culture, we have lost a sense of the eternal and transcendent. We no longer view our lives and creations through the lens of centuries; but instead evaluate everything according to barely 24 hour news cycle. As Christians, we need to examine our motivations and desires. That means even the seemingly silly and trivial needs to be examined.
Now, as with everything; terms and conditions may apply, be sure to check your owner’s manual for any warranty information. But, if you enjoy watching dominoes fall or sand castles crumble; that might say more about your heart than you realize. So be careful in a world that is devoid of devotion to any deity not made in its own image and make sure the desires of your heart are rightly placed (Psalm 37:4).