WHAT IS GOODNESS?
Whoever wants to be first must be the willing slave of all. For even the Son of Man did not come to be served but to serve, and to give up his life as a ransom for many. Mark 10:44, 45, N.E.B.
The noted German philosopher Friedrich Nietzche defined goodness as that which enhances the sense of human power. Something is good if it gives one strength to dominate another. This is what enables one to survive in the evolutionary contest. The weak who are dominated and destroyed by the strong have no right to survive, according to the evolutionary scheme. Thus their destruction, said Nietzche, is good.
Jesus Christ held that goodness is found in serving the weak, in ministering to the struggling, and in nurturing the hurting. Jesus regarded people as of great value--products of His own creative act, not of mindless evolutionary processes. To neglect or downgrade the disadvantaged not only hurts these persons, but also dehumanizes the ones who so treat them, for it shreds our common humanity.
The philosophy of Nietzche laid the foundations for Dachau, Auschwitz, and Ravensbruck. The philosophy of Jesus Christ laid the foundations for hospitals, orphanages, and schools. People like Hitler and Goebbels counted themselves as disciples of Nietzsche. People like Willian Carey and Albert Schweitzer count themselves as disciples of Jesus Christ.
We read our history books, and we find it easy to loathe the spirit of domination when we see its excesses and extremes. No one would defend the extermination of millions of Jews. Yet television violence is based on the same philosophy, and it has millions of devotees during prime time every week night.
What is more, the spirit of competition is one that prizes the domination of the weak by the strong. Rivalry leads one to care far more about the thrill of winning than about the hurt in the heart of the loser. As such, it is alien to the spirit of servanthood.
Jesus was not content just to sound a warning against the spirit of conquest and domination whenever He saw it happening. He spent His lifetime acting out the spirit of servanthood. Knowing full well that He was the King of kings, He knew also the spirit of His kingdom. He knew that He wanted the struggling to be aided, the injured to be healed, and the bashful to be made bold. And so, He came as the servant of all.
Aren't you glad that He did?
Whoever wants to be first must be the willing slave of all. For even the Son of Man did not come to be served but to serve, and to give up his life as a ransom for many. Mark 10:44, 45, N.E.B.
The noted German philosopher Friedrich Nietzche defined goodness as that which enhances the sense of human power. Something is good if it gives one strength to dominate another. This is what enables one to survive in the evolutionary contest. The weak who are dominated and destroyed by the strong have no right to survive, according to the evolutionary scheme. Thus their destruction, said Nietzche, is good.
Jesus Christ held that goodness is found in serving the weak, in ministering to the struggling, and in nurturing the hurting. Jesus regarded people as of great value--products of His own creative act, not of mindless evolutionary processes. To neglect or downgrade the disadvantaged not only hurts these persons, but also dehumanizes the ones who so treat them, for it shreds our common humanity.
The philosophy of Nietzche laid the foundations for Dachau, Auschwitz, and Ravensbruck. The philosophy of Jesus Christ laid the foundations for hospitals, orphanages, and schools. People like Hitler and Goebbels counted themselves as disciples of Nietzsche. People like Willian Carey and Albert Schweitzer count themselves as disciples of Jesus Christ.
We read our history books, and we find it easy to loathe the spirit of domination when we see its excesses and extremes. No one would defend the extermination of millions of Jews. Yet television violence is based on the same philosophy, and it has millions of devotees during prime time every week night.
What is more, the spirit of competition is one that prizes the domination of the weak by the strong. Rivalry leads one to care far more about the thrill of winning than about the hurt in the heart of the loser. As such, it is alien to the spirit of servanthood.
Jesus was not content just to sound a warning against the spirit of conquest and domination whenever He saw it happening. He spent His lifetime acting out the spirit of servanthood. Knowing full well that He was the King of kings, He knew also the spirit of His kingdom. He knew that He wanted the struggling to be aided, the injured to be healed, and the bashful to be made bold. And so, He came as the servant of all.
Aren't you glad that He did?
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