The Last Word

Whoever fights monsters should see to it that in the process he does not become a monster. And if you gaze into an abyss, the abyss also gazes into you.Friedrich Nietzsche

The abyss is not only the dark things in this world; it is the intransigent chaos that so freely abounds in the world. The question is often asked: how could a loving, omnipotent, omnipresent, all-knowing God allow bad things in the world? I believe the answer is because He is loving, omnipotent, omnipresent, and all-knowing.

You see, this fallen world has pockets of abyss due to the fact that every fallen man likewise has pockets of abyss. To not allow suffering in this world would mean He would have to not allow us. We are an amalgamation of chaos and order. He cannot just allow order when we keep choosing chaos. The war in our realm is a direct, perfect reflection of the war within each of us. The world is allowed by God to be broken because we are broken. He is fixing this world through the redemption and salvation offered through Jesus. The solution He is implementing is not the fix that our feeble minds want, though. Yes, there is suffering and pain and chaos — the abyss — but it is being redeemed.

Nietzsche does not say do not battle the monsters. He only says to be careful not to become one. I would say that as you battle the monsters in the world, you are battling the monsters within you. As you become hyper-aware of the abyss, your vision aligns on the chaos within you. There will be terrible darkness in your life. It might make you cynical and bitter, or it might be that you are not looking at it enough — you are not gazing into the abyss to the degree that is required of you.

If you look at it enough and do not shy away, you will find that there is more of God’s order within you than the horror of the abyss. So yes, it will look back, but through that visualization, we become redeemed to the One saving us. Fight monsters and gaze into the chaos, because if you look long enough, all you will see is the One who redeems.

I’m not rejecting Nietzsche’s claim, but I’m attempting to baptize his insight. I accept his diagnosis — that evil changes the person who confronts it — but I reject the conclusion that the abyss has the last word. The last word belongs to Christ. This is a Christian reinterpretation of one of Nietzsche’s most famous quotes.