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Nihilism: The Hopeless Worldview

Life: Utterly Meaningless?

"Meaningless! Meaningless!" says the Teacher. "Utterly meaningless! Everything is meaningless." — Ecclesiastes 1:2 (NIV)

The Old Testament book of Ecclesiastes opens with these words. Fortunately, the Bible doesn't end with them. The emotive utterance, however, captures the essence of nihilism.¹

The word nihilism is derived from "nihil," meaning "not" or "nothing," and "ism," referring to a system of belief. Since true nihilists deny objective value and meaning, they find no meaning in human existence. Not so much a worldview in its own right, but a logical outcome of atheistic naturalism, nihilism denies the reality of objective value and meaning in the universe. It is "more a feeling than a philosophy."² The feeling is primarily despair — hopelessness, really. With no overarching purpose to reality, nihilists are left viewing life as an absurdity.

The Roots of Nihilism

As long as the atheistic worldview has existed — denying the reality of God in favor of a wholly materialistic, closed system — so, too, have some forms of nihilism existed. Atheists who are willing to follow the evidence will at some point come to the unfortunate door of nihilism, perhaps knocking feebly to gain admittance, but knocking nonetheless.

The roots of modern nihilism owe much to German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche (1844-1900), who, in a famous passage called "The Madman," declared the death of God:

Whither is God … I shall tell you. We have killed him — you and I … Is there any up or down left? Are we not straying as through an infinite nothing? Do we not feel the breath of empty space? Has it not become colder? … God is dead. God remains dead.³

If God is Dead, What Remains?

But with God dead is there any hope for humanity? That is the great struggle of atheistic philosophical minds since Nietzsche. The existentialist writings of Albert Camus and Jean Paul Sartre, for instance, are in many respects responses to Nietzsche's proclamation of the death of God. If God is dead, what remains? Do we press on despite the ultimate meaninglessness implicit in a world without God?

Even the famous skeptic, Bertrand Russell, essentially admitted that nihilism is the logical outcome of a naturalistic worldview when he wrote: "Brief and powerless is Man's life; on him and all his race the slow, sure doom falls pitiless and dark. Blind to good and evil, reckless of destruction, omnipotent matter rolls on its relentless way …"⁴

Hope Without God?

With nihilism offering a bleak outlook of despair, some who deny the existence of God remain determined to seek a way out of meaninglessness. But can philosophers logically escape the despair of nihilism?

Christian thinker C.S. Lewis observed that if nature is really all that exists, there are three primary options in response: "1. You might commit suicide … 2. You might decide simply to have as good a time as possible … 3. You may defy the universe."⁵

The first option is repugnant from a biblical perspective. We are not our own, but are created in the image of God, and only God rightly holds the keys to life and death. The second option is based on physical pleasure — the way of the hedonist, also assuming God does not exist.

The third option — defy the universe — is what secular humanists and existentialists must do in order to escape nihilism. But their escape route is irrational given the underpinnings of their respective worldviews. If, in the end, our sun will die, and with it all life on the planet, is there really meaning in a universe without God? Moreover, is there any basis for moral standards? As Christian philosopher William Lane Craig observes, "Thus, it seems to me that atheistic moral realism is not a plausible view but is basically a halfway house for philosophers who don't have the stomach for the moral nihilism or meaninglessness that their own atheism implies."⁶

While the nuances of Craig's statements are beyond the scope of this article, his point about philosophers not having the "stomach" for nihilism is correct. At least the skeptic Bertrand Russell had the sense to acknowledge the meaninglessness of a world without God.

What's Wrong with Nihilism?

But what's wrong with nihilism? A detailed critique is not the purpose of this article, but a few points come to mind.⁷

First, nihilism denies value and meaning, yet nihilistic concepts supposedly have value and meaning for nihilists. To deny meaning and value, one must apparently assume that meaning and value exist.

Second, nihilism has no grounds for moral values. This is not to say that nihilists are amoral — like many atheists, nihilists acknowledge the need for moral standards, but based on their own worldview, nihilists have no grounding for morality.

Third, nihilism as a worldview is unlivable. As James Sire notes, "If the universe is meaningless and a person cannot know and nothing is immoral, any course of action is open."⁸ If nihilism is true, even our thinking is in question. If there is no value and meaning, then the thoughts of nihilists must by definition be meaningless as well.

Fourth, nihilism goes against human nature. Human beings desire meaning and want to believe their lives have value. Nihilism strips away this possibility, replacing it with despair.

Finding a Better Solution

Is there a better solution to the meaning of life beyond the hopeless worldview of nihilism? If God exists and has indeed revealed Himself through the Bible and through Christ, then nihilism crumbles. It's important to note, however, that Christians should not believe in Christian theism simply because they find it more optimistic than the despair of nihilism, but because Christianity offers the best explanation of reality. In short, if Christianity is to be believed, it must offer a compelling and coherent view of reality that is willing and able to stand up against the most rigorous criticisms.

The writer of Ecclesiastes began in despair, crying out, "Meaningless! Meaningless! Everything is meaningless." But the Bible ends not with despair, but with hope (indeed, in Romans 15:13 God is even referred to as "the God of hope"). Within the context of belief in the living God, life has meaning and purpose. But as Christian philosopher C. Stephen Evans observes, "Ultimately, I believe a pathway to hope can be found. However, it may well be that one way of discovering that path is to begin in the valley of despair."⁹ Nihilism is, at best, a "halfway house," as William Craig suggests.

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How do you think someone is able to practically live out a nihilistic worldview?

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As Christians, it is our task to offer hope grounded in the reality provided by the living God, and with it an opportunity to leave behind the bleak prison of nihilistic despair in exchange for the meaning and moral value rooted in the Christian worldview.