Eu-Thanos-ia and Millenihilism
Minions of the Demon Pirate
If any of you followers are still out there — or if you, the reader, know me at all — you know by now that abortion is the one issue that evokes the most passion in me. Though I try to keep my social media profile politics-free, the legislation of full-term abortion in New York and the ensuing debate finally pushed me too far. I posted on Facebook:
That kicked off a long and spirited discussion in the comments. One old friend of mine, who has become a staunch libertarian and pro-choice, defended the legislation. I responded privately, since my thoughts were too long to fit in a Facebook comment. Even longer versions of those thoughts resulted in my previous post about being pro-life, in which I talked some about how the legislation is only a symptom of a larger conflict raging in American society: to be, or not to be. Digging deeper, I ran across some intriguing connections.
Eu-Thanos-ia
As I stated in the previous post, the recent abortion legislation is actually more about euthanasia. Euthanasia literally means “good death”, and is mostly used in cases of extreme suffering. In some circles, it is referred to as “death with dignity” or “mercy killing”. But such rhetoric consistently reminds me of the Marvel villain Thanos, who intends to wipe out half of the sentient beings in the universe in order to prevent them having to suffer under scarcity of resources. “I call that mercy,” he says in Avengers: Infinity War. But despite his own convictions, Thanos remains the bad guy. Why is that?
Part of it is that he imposes his own will on other sentient beings. Loki asserts that Thanos “will never be a god”, hinting at his true motivation. Thanos believes himself to be, not just a god, but the God. He thinks he is the only being in the universe who knows what is best for every other being in the universe. This makes him uniquely sympathetic, as he views his opponents not necessarily as enemies, but as misguided and ignorant, in need of his help to see the truth. But it also makes him uniquely dangerous, as he will never admit that he could possibly be wrong. His self-worshiping ideology has closed him off from redemption. Everything he does that he could possibly regret, he justifies with “I had to” do it for the greater good. The end justifies the means for him, even when those means are cruel and destructive.
But is his end goal worth any of this? No, that is another thing that makes him a villain. His fundamental attitude is what Dr. Jordan Peterson has described as the mindset of Cain: resentment against the perceived injustice of being, leading to the declaration that non-existence would be better. Since everyone is bound to suffer from the limited nature of the universe, Thanos assumes that a quick death by dissolution would be more merciful. He leaves out the possibility of people rising to the occasion and finding better ways to manage or create resources. He doesn’t even fathom how a life can be meaningful and valuable in spite of the suffering that will inevitably come. He doesn’t just set himself above his fellow beings; he sets himself above and against Being itself, judging it as unworthy and in need of him to correct it.
Millenihilism
I mentioned in my previous post that I see a rising trend toward the answer “not to be”; a lot of people and movements proclaiming or acting out the axiom that death is better than life. In much of the internet, it’s become something of a joke. Dark humor, referencing suicide and such, is common especially among young people. One clever commenter coined the term “millenihilism” to describe the pervasive atmosphere of despair that seems to hang around this generation. While some see the difficulty of their lives and take up arms against it, blaming the system or the oppressor classes, many simply give up hope. Too many become dangerous to themselves and others.
This is in sharp contrast and reaction to the stereotypical “boomer” mentality: “just work hard and believe in your dreams, and you can do anything!” If that were the case, then anyone’s suffering would be completely their own fault. Millenials won’t stand for this victim-blaming or ignorance of the unfairness of life. Their boomer parents inculcated in them a naive optimism, which crumbles in the face of complex real-world problems. Taking it to the other extreme, a pessimism and even anger about life seems to have become the norm. Unlike Thanos, the Nihilist doesn’t want to make the universe a better place, because existence is seen as a hopeless series of unfair tragedies under any possible conditions. Existence itself is declared to be evil.
For some reason, even after facing these attitudes and rejecting them, I couldn’t just let them go. Something about them nagged at me. I had to follow them back to their lair, so to speak. And there I discovered, to my surprise, that they were only minions. There, lurking in the depths, with Thanos and the Nihilist bowing before him, stood my old enemy…
The Demon Pirate.
“The…What Now?”
These layers of metaphor might be a bit confusing, so I’ll try to sum up. I’ve written a couple of posts already explaining the character of the Demon Pirate. The TL;DR version: At the root of every sin is the lie that God is not good. From the beginning, Satan has been telling God’s beloved people that God doesn’t actually love them or want them to be happy; that His sovereign direction of circumstances, His commandments, and His discipline are meant to harm them or hold them back instead of giving them true joy. In this way, Satan steals whatever joy God gives to His people by making them envious, fearful, angry, despairing, lustful, and so on. A dream gave me the image of this foundational lie as a demonic pirate, that I was called upon to fight.
So how are Thanos and Nihilism related to the Demon Pirate?
Well, if God is not good, there are two possible responses. One is to replace God with someone or something else, an idol that we can hang all our hopes on for happiness, that can make us feel okay in the face of a world of suffering. We moderns don’t often hang our hopes on deities with names and statues, like the ancients; but more abstract concepts are always there to fill the gaps. Success. Wealth. Fame. Liberty. Equality. Et cetera. Failing that, there are other people we might rely on to an extreme degree, heralding our favorite demagogues as those who will “save civilization” or “usher in utopia”. Or there’s the favorite of individualistic moderns: ourselves. If God is not good, then I get to be God. I have to be the one who makes sure everything will be okay. I must find the infinity stones and bring balance to the universe.
The second response is rarer, but getting less rare. If God is not good (says the nihilist minion), then nothing is good. Nothing is worth anything. All is misery and cruelty until we die, so might as well get it over with quickly and take as many people with us as we can. This is the attitude of Cain, or of mass murderers and suicide bombers. Most of us would rightly reject those extremes, but the same attitude shows up in more subtle ways. Radical environmentalists call humanity a cancer on the planet and promote strict population control. Anti-natalists use a utilitarian calculus to justify their pessimism. Spiteful family members, friends, and neighbors use their own suffering as an excuse to be cruel. And increasingly, assisted suicide is being presented as a beautiful, brave thing to do.
Thanos and Cain are closely related. Thanos is mildly more optimistic and can be flexible on who lives or dies, while Cain would rather wipe out the whole universe. But both share essentially the same motto: If existence will not be remade according to my desires, then let it be destroyed.
Ready the Cannons!
There is no denying that life is full of suffering. Often, it seems to happen to the people who least deserve it. To those wrestling with the harsh realities of the broken world, the Demon Pirate and his minions can seem very convincing. How can I claim, in the face of everything, that God is still good?
It would take me far too long to enumerate all the ways I have seen the goodness and faithfulness of the one true God. It has already taken others thousands of years, and millions of pages, to testify to it. Arguments for hope can be found easily if one only takes the time to look. But I have one weapon against the Demon Pirate that has never failed:
The empty cross.
A crucifix, featuring the suffering Christ, may also work. Christ takes on the suffering of the world, and in His case, it is completely unfair. He is completely holy and good, and yet being tortured and slandered, betrayed by His friends, even experiencing the wrath and judgment of God. And yet, in the midst of all of that, He is proclaiming by His actions that God is still good. He is being obedient and willing, as Isaiah 53 describes. And His death is paying the penalty for the sins of all His people, meaning that any suffering we go through is meant to strengthen and mature us rather than punish us.
But there’s more. The cross was soon empty, and so was the grave in which His dead body was laid. God raised Him to life again, as a testimony to the full satisfaction of justice and a reward for His full obedience. And there’s even more: Christ’s resurrection is only the firstfruits of the complete transformation that God has promised. All who are united to Christ’s death will also be united to His resurrection, brought to a more glorious, eternal life in His presence and in perfection, where all tears will be wiped away and death will be swallowed up in victory.
In the old stories, a crucifix or the sign of the cross will scare away demons and even the devil himself. And now I know why. The lie of the devil, since the beginning, is that God is not good, but just wants you to suffer. The cross declares that on the contrary, God suffered for the good of His people. The devil can’t handle that. He doesn’t have an answer or an argument to defeat that. So he flees.
(Now, it is possible for the sign of the cross to be twisted and misinterpreted to mean something else, something cruel. That is one of the devil’s favorite tactics. But its true meaning is the one thing that can defeat him.)
Those who accept nihilism often promote it as a “braver”, more “mature”, or “realistic” way of thinking. Maybe it is that in comparison with a naive optimism. But in poker terms, I see your nihilism and raise you a cruciform faith in a resurrection hope. Which is braver: giving up in the face of suffering, or taking it on deliberately? Which is more mature: demanding that all existence bend itself to your will, or working within the limits of existence toward its redemption? Which is more realistic: thinking that all suffering is meaningless and death would be better, or finding meaning through toil and compassion and gratitude?
The Demon Pirate and his minions will never have the last word. Instead, I present you with the Word of the Suffering God from the last segment of His self-revelation:
He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away. (Revelation 21:4, ESV)