It's pretty accurate.

Cultural Concepts: Nihilism

What is the universe really about? Why does anything exist? What is our purpose? What is real? What is true? At some point, all humans must come to terms with questions like these. When it all comes down to it, the way in which you answer them will be the biggest defining factor about who you are.

There are many ways of answering the “big questions,” and American culture is certainly an exercise in diversity when it comes to that. There is the natural approach, the supernatural approach, the relativist approach, and the nihilistic approach, to name a few. I want to focus on nihilism for now. According to Dictionary.com, “Nihilism” is:

“Philosophy

a.

an extreme form of skepticism: the denial of all real existence or the possibility of an objective basis for truth.

b.

nothingness or nonexistence.”

Surprisingly, I actually like the definition from Wikipedia better:

“Nihilism…is the philosophical doctrine suggesting the negation of one or more putatively meaningful aspects of life. Most commonly, nihilism is presented in the form of existential nihilism which argues that life is without objective meaning, purpose, or intrinsic value.^[1] Moral nihilists assert that morality does not inherently exist, and that any established moral values are abstractly contrived.”

The Nihilist answers the big questions by saying that nothing really matters, there is no purpose, nothing is real, and nothing is true. This seems pretty far out to most people, and with good reason. Humans have a basic concept that there is more to life than cheerios in the morning, work during the day, and sleep at night. Furthermore, most humans at least want to believe that their lives have, or could have, special meaning. Unfortunately, many of these humans choose not to accept the idea of God, or even the existence of anything supernatural. But with only the natural world to work with, it is easy to see how one could arrive at nihilism.

Nearly all human ideas, no matter how fallen, contain a small nugget of truth. The nugget of truth behind nihilism is that without God, nothing matters. The nihilists do not believe in God, and they reject all the ideas that are inherent with Christian thought. And they are right: without God, there is no purpose. There is no meaning to life. Any attempt to justify a purpose in a world without God is just delaying the inevitable realization of the horrible truths of the nihilistic worldview. Not many want to accept this, because a life with purpose is better than a life without. The ultimate truth that many in our culture reject is that nothing and nobody but Jesus Christ can satisfy in the long run. Many passing pleasures of this life offer temporary happiness, but ultimate purpose, meaning, and joy is found in God alone.

~Steven Hamilton