Existential ‘Faith’

Existentialism preaches that the experience of the moment is the only reality and the values of the present are the only ones that count. Jean-Paul Sartre, a Frenchman, was a major 20th century existentialist voice. A magazine photo showed Sartre standing on an ice floe, the only solid thing adrift in a cold sea. But the ice floe itself is tiny and melting away. In existentialism, the bare moment is all there is and is vanishing into meaninglessness.

This is the heart of the cultural conflict rending western society. The mantra of existential faith is, “My faith is a personal matter not any of your business… you believe what you desire and I’ll believe what I wish because it all leads to the same place.”

Jeremiah’s culture was awash existential faith centering on personal wooden idols. One idol was as good as another. But it’s all insecure delusion, said Jeremiah. Existential faith is as unsafe a resting place for the heart as is a melting ice floe for a human body.

TODAY’S FOCUS
Worship God as the Absolute One, whose reality is objective and eternal, not a mere fantasy of deluded human hearts.