Fight Club Discussion - Put 'em up!

It started here at Resurgence in a review of the movie Fight Club by James Harleman, pastor of Mars Hill Church in Seattle and contributor to Hollywood Jesus - a Christian movie review site. (Whew, now that I've gotten the credits out of the way, here's his summary.)

Tyler Durden is right - in his assessment of the world.

The only thing wrong is his solution.

Like Nietzsche's madman, wondering why - if God is dead - man still clings to soft, archaic, religion-inspired morals, "Fight Club's" Tyler Durden takes pure, atheist reasoning to its logical conclusion. Though simultaneously appalling, it's refreshing to see someone who - in rejecting God - lives out their worldview consistently. No God; no consequences; no objective morality. No one but me to define my morality; I define the world as I see it. My will makes me right; my might makes right... or in this case, the Fight Club makes right.

Quite honestly, if I didn't believe in God, I would join Tyler Durden in his philosophy. If God didn't exist - if Christ didn't offer salvation - then Tyler would be right... and to live otherwise in this mad world would be hypocritical, and a waste of air.

AJ in KC picked up the theme with his post Smash-Mouth Movie Review:

I found a lot to like in Harleman's approach and his conclusion. This excerpt will be enough to serve notice to those of you who will be interested...

It interested John at Blog Meridian who compares (Tyler Durden vs. The Misfit) Harleman's take with Misfit's view in Flannery O'Connor's "A Good Man Is Hard to Find."

"Jesus was the only One that ever raised the dead," the Misfit continued, "and He shouldn't have done it. He thrown everything off balance. If He did what He said, then it's nothing for you to do but throw away everything and follow Him, and if He didn't, then it's nothing for you to do but enjoy the few minutes you got left the best way you can--by killing somebody or burning down his house or doing some other meanness to him. No pleasure but meanness."

Which in turn inspired Josh of Thoughts from Kansas to take issue with the moral absolutism present in the Harleman quote. Josh writes in his post, Scary, scary people:

These are the people that scare me. These are the people that think that if they evolved from a primate ancestor, then they might as well tear open people's chests and feed on their still warm organs.

Now that seems extreme, so I think I'll keep the discussion alive by responding to Josh with some thoughts of my own, which I hope doesn't scare anybody off. But that will have to wait until tomorrow, as this post is long enough.