Living The Worthy Life: Is It Time To Be Looking Back at April 8, 1966 Now?

Living the worthy life- what do we need to know to combat the world of disbelief in the 21st century.  It is through the readings of the writings of Bishop Fulton Sheen, that I have come across some very interesting insight on this very subject.  Bishop Sheen was way ahead of his times in many ways.  

Probably one of the most interesting is Bishop Sheen's discussion of Friedrich Nietzche.  In the mid 1960s, Nietzsche (a mere 60 years after his death) became the leader of a movement of radical non-religious people who look down on organized religion.  Instead of promoting religion they promoted the words of Friedrich Nietzche. 

Which is it, is man one of God's blunders or is God one of man's? Friedrich Nietzsche

In Christianity neither morality nor religion come into contact with reality at any point. Friedrich Nietzsche 

As an atheist, Nietzsche did not believe in God. Thus, he did not believe that God had once existed but was now “dead.”

What Nietzsche was referring to by “God is dead” is the general decline of Christianity that was taking place (and is still taking place, depending on who you ask) in the Western world. He explained,  “God is dead the belief in the Christian God has become unbelievable.”

But here’s where things get tricky. Nietzsche’s exasperation, expressed in the form of the madman, was directed at people’s ignorance at the loss of a ground of morality—indeed, as he says, the “collapse” of “our entire European morality.”

With the “death” of the Christian God, Nietzsche believed that the Western world’s foundation for morality had been destroyed. It’s just that the people in the West hadn’t realized it, yet. The madman who tried to make them realize it had “come too early.”

Maybe we need to relook at the entire concept that Nietzche and his ilk have been feeding us for the past 120 years.  There are ten significant quotes by Bishop Sheen that are appropriate here.

1. It's impossible to lose your footing when you're on your knees. 
2. Simple souls, who are little enough to see the bigness of God in the littleness of a Babe, are therefore the only ones who will ever understand the reason of His visitation. He came to this poor earth of ours to carry on an exchange; to say to us, as only the Good God could say: 'you give me your humanity, and I will give you my Divinity; you give me your time, and I will give you My eternity; you give me your broken heart, and I will give you Love; you give me your nothingness, and I will give you My all. (God reveals Himself through nature)
3. If you do not worship God, you worship something, and nine times out of ten it will be yourself. You have a duty to worship God, not because He will be imperfect and unhappy if you do not, but because you will be imperfect and unhappy.
4. There is no word more "dangerous" than liberalism because to oppose it is the new "unforgivable sin. Very few people believe in the devil these days, which suits the devil very well. He is always helping to circulate the news of his own death. The essence of God is existence, and He defines Himself as: 'I am Who am.' The essence of the devil is the lie, and he defines himself as: 'I am who am not.' Satan has very little trouble with those who do not believe in him; they are already on his side.
5. God has given different gifts to different people. There is no basis for feeling inferior to another who has a different gift. Once it is realized that we shall be judged by the gift we have received, rather than the gift we have not, one is completely delivered from a false sense of inferiority.
6. Satan always tempts the pure - the others are already his.
7. When you are getting kicked from the rear it means you are in front.
8. Evil may have its hour, but God will have His day.
9. The fact the enemies of God must face is that modern civilization has conquered the world, but in doing so has lost its soul. And in losing its soul it will lose the very world it gained.
10. Even our own so-called Liberal culture in these United States which has tried to avoid complete secularization by leaving little zones of individual freedom is in danger of forgetting that these zones were preserved only because religion was in their soul. And as religion fades so will freedom, for only where the spirit of God is, is their liberty.

In an era where it has become commonplace to attack God, separate God from His people, and to make fun of believers, I would like to pose this question: Many atheists deny the very existence of God.  They say it is a simple fact that God does not exist and they base this on the evil, pain, and suffering they observe in the world.

Their simple logic has three main points:

 (1) A good and loving God wouldn’t allow evil, pain, and suffering in His world. 

(2) Evil, pain, and suffering exist in our world. 

(3) Therefore, God doesn’t exist.

Now, Brothers and Sisters, I would like for you to pose them the same question.  You deny the existence of governments. The atheist has begun to worship the fact that government is the answer for what is wrong with humanity.  The government can and will fix it.  

Our logic has three main points:

 (1) A good and loving Government wouldn’t allow evil, pain, and suffering in His world. 

(2) Evil, pain, and suffering exist in our world. 

(3) Therefore, Governments do not exist for the good of their own people.

Nietzsche was right after all- Governments are dead. They do not provide the answers to our problems in the here and now nor the hereafter.  Governments are the problem. Apply principle number three here. If you do not worship God, you worship something, and nine times out of ten it will be yourself. You have a duty to worship God, not because He will be imperfect and unhappy if you do not, but because you will be imperfect and unhappy. Apply this in your daily life- you will be living a worthy life.