In defense of nihilism

If everyone were nihilists, we would all live in constant fear. Anarchy would reign with no enhibitions as to right or wrong. Last century, nearly a hundred million citizens were murdered by their own governments, mostly communistic. Nihilism is essentially what drives secularism. It is brutal with nobody to answer to, no higher power or code of ethics. If all were nihilists, the powerfully brutal would organize to enslave the whole planet to serve their nihilistic co-operative objectives with no regard to justice or civility. Hitler espoused his own version of hihilism. Had he prevailed, he'd have nihilized the whole planet to his own evil design, brutally eliminating all opposition.

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The immeasurable present is forever consuming the eternal future and extending the infinite past. buzsaw

Of course, every nihilist won't have unique objectives. Like all humans, many will think alike to organize and achieve power so as to reach their like minded nihilistic selfish goals with disregard for any moral responsibility, inhibitions or accountability, so long as they have the power. Call it a nihilistic monarchy if you wish.

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The immeasurable present is forever consuming the eternal future and extending the infinite past. buzsaw

The nihilist is free to pick and choose morality calls. Hitler had no objective basis for morality. That was obvious from his conduct. He had one nihilistic goal which was to empower, enrich and please himself, enforcing his personal will on everyone and willing to go to any measure of brutality and suffering on the world to achieve it. The same could be said for Stalin and other likeminded mass murderering tyrants. The only people of power and prosperity in communist nations were those who ruled. If somehow the Biblical golden rule were built into the minds of nihilists, there would be no problem, but alas, humankinds don't come from the womb complete with the rule of "do unto others as you would have them do to you."This is not to say that all nihilists are bad. It's good luck to those around them as to what morality their nihilistic neighbor will choose at any given time or for any given situation. Some, no doubt, either because of good parents, et al, choose good morality and regard for others.

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The immeasurable present is forever consuming the eternal future and extending the infinite past. buzsaw

Edited to delete double post. First attempt showed unable so hit submit again with double post.This message has been edited by buzsaw, 11-30-2005 07:29 PM

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The immeasurable present is forever consuming the eternal future and extending the infinite past. buzsaw

The popes, unlike Hitler and the commies, regardless of their brutality, did use/missuse the Bible for what they considered objective values. For every deviation of scripture, they missused isolated segments of scripture as an excuse, pulling out of context to subjectively justify their evil deeds. Hitler simply abused his power to suit his whims and desires with total disregard of any code of ethics or accountability. He was limited only by his desires and the powers of force that eventually brought him down.On edit:Buz: "The nihilist is free to pick and choose morality calls." No, everybody does not have freedom to pick and choose morality. Regardless of my interpretation of the Bible, as a Biblical fundamentalist Christian, I have subjected myself to the morality of what I regard as God's revelation and moral code for man. I fear the consequences of offending my maker, the majesty of the universe who inspired the writing of the holy scriptures. My desires have been subjected to a higher power. I assume the responsibilities.....I enjoy the blessings. I disregard the responsibilities...... no blessings. It's worked that way for 60 years now.The nihilist is limited only by desire. If he/she desires a moral code to follow, fine. If he/she chooses genocide, theft or whatever, woe to the victims and society becomes subjected to the relative whims of nihilism when encountered by the nihilist.

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The immeasurable present is forever consuming the eternal future and extending the infinite past. buzsaw

As long as I'm a fundie Christian, I am subjected to a code of ethics which Hitler was not. If I change to abandon all inhibitions and ethics, I would consider myself more nihilistic. I might then be a Hitler or a nice guy, depending on my personal whims and desires. Nihilists have personal values void of a code of ethics. Their values were based on no code of ethics as were Hitler's. He murdered whom he hated, and that happened to be homosexuals, ethnic classes, et al. His values were no more objective than the nihilist. If you disagree, please explain the difference.Here's the only mention of nihilism in Adolf Hitler's Mein Kampf: Based on his words, you have a pretty good argument, but did he really practice what he preached? What was his code of ethics? Did he operate within the laws of the land?What about Stalin and communist dictators? How are/were they different than nihilists?

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The immeasurable present is forever consuming the eternal future and extending the infinite past. buzsaw

Communist China has allowed some free enterprise in that nation, relative to how the bourgeoisie cooperates with the whims of the government rulers. Those who don't, including practicing Christians and even their defense lawyers end up in oppressive govt prison sweatshops on rigorous production lines or worse.A national government of likeminded nihilists, if they were oppressive, would be equally inclined to disregard ethics of justice or international law, as in China to impose their nihilistic desires upon the bourgeoisie.What in nihilism inhibits oppression upon others by nihilists in power and authority?

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The immeasurable present is forever consuming the eternal future and extending the infinite past. buzsaw

The difference is that the nihilists would be violating no ethics code as they have none, so would be more inclined to do anything pleasing to them. Christians, for an example, who do have a written ethics code would be violating their New Testament Biblical ethics code by being oppressive. Our founders and early governments were most all Christians who established the land of the free and the blessed. Why? Because they went by their code book, the Bible. Any Christians who were oppressive would be in violation of their own ethics book. This was the case in the dark ages of the inquisitions by the popes and bishops of Vatican City. These disregarded their own ethics code as per the New Testamnet. On the other hand, nihilists would have violated nothing. Without ethics and justice codes power becomes very dangerous to society.

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The immeasurable present is forever consuming the eternal future and extending the infinite past. buzsaw

My understanding is that nihilists have no code. Each situation is relative, subject to no code of ethics. At least the Christian has an objective written code to be judged against. The reformation came about to correct the violation of that written code by the popes and bishops of Vatican City. The world became a better place because of the written code the protestants used to end the Dark Ages. You missed my point. You may be a good nihilist. Chances are that in your ancestory there were some ethical codes ingrained into your family. A few generations of nihilism could more easily change that than if you had a set of moral codes for your children and grandchildren to follow. Good Christians are those who have a respectful fear of a higher power. This is an incentive to ethics which have proven to be beneficial to society.Would you agree that Eastern religions such as Buddhism tend towards nihilism than North America? What about North American Christians who have held fairly well to their written code? The US is where most immagrants from the more nihilistic societies have wanted to come. Look at the Asians and Communist refugees who've longed for the land of the free and prosperous. Look at the Mexican Catholics from where they have to bar the gates and windows, who've undermined the Ten Commandments and the Godden Rule of Jesus, for the most part. They're also flocking here. They've become somewhat nihilistic by throwing off the Biblical codes which their own religious system has replaced with religious dogmas, chants and rituals from the popes and bishops. Few of them now a lot about the Bible, having received little study of it in the churches. I'm not claiming that atol. The first three centuries of Christians held close to the Biblical moral codes. They were the persecuted ones by the Roman Empire. Their descendents who resisted the popes and bishops were the persecuted ones of the inquisitions. These were the ones holding to the Golden Rule, et al, being persecuted by the more nihilistic popes and bishops who made up their own ethics from whole cloth. That's right. They nihilized the code, replacing the written word with their own nihilistic selfish rituals, indulgences, deviances and oppressions for their own enrichment and power.Buz:

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Our founders and early governments were most all Christians who established the land of the free and the blessed. Why? Because they went by their code book, the Bible.

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Holmes:

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Lying is against your written code, and yet here you appear to be doing just that. Thanks for providing such a quick and easy example.

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HOLMES, YOU KNOW VERY WELL THAT i'M NOT LYING. YOU CALL ME A LIAR ONCE MORE AND YOU GET NO MORE RESPONSES FROM ME!! IF YOU THINK I'M MISTAKEN, SAY SO, BUT STOP CALLING ME A LIAR!! The Bible advocates freedom of religion and treating others as self, et al. The Biblical ethics as per the Golden Rule of Jesus and general adherance to the Ten Commandments by these men were what produced history's most blessed nation. The Christians nihilized their own rules with total disregard to some and radical interpretations of others to suit their own nihilistic whims and ambitions. . Don't put Biblical Christians in the same lot with Vaticanism of the Dark Ages. I have to agree. Society suffers equally from the bad nihilist as the bad Christina, but you need to understand my point that it was and is the good folks who followed/follow the moral code of the Bible who bless society with freedom, the work ethic, free enterprise and prosperity. No, I've shown that those who subject themselves to be accountable to a higher power and the Biblical moral code, proven to be good for society, benefit society by doing so. But if oppressive folks rule who's who have no code, judging each person and situation relative to each situation as they see fit for their own personal whims and desires, society suffers. Many oppresed people from many nations ruled by these kinds of tyrants long for the land of the free where the majority are still influenced by Biblical precepts. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
holmes
"...what a fool believes he sees, no wise man has the power to reason away.."(D. Bros)--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
This message is a reply to:
Message 141 by buzsaw, posted 12-02-2005 11:04 PM

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The immeasurable present is forever consuming the eternal future and extending the infinite past. buzsaw

Each to his own. The Biblical god, Jehovah, punishes evil and when he does it's very effective for change and erradication of evil when reformation fails. Were it not so, the world would've perished milleniums ago like evidently what what was about to happen the first time before the flood.

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The immeasurable present is forever consuming the eternal future and extending the infinite past. buzsaw

So if there's no good or bad, how does that translate into a code of morality or of ethics?

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The immeasurable present is forever consuming the eternal future and extending the infinite past. buzsaw