Nietzche

Nietzsche

For thousands of years the Bible has represented the foundation for one of the largest religions in existence, Christianity. "The Book" affects millions of people's lives. The creation of morals makes the biggest impacts on individuals and society. Morals are hinted at throughout "The Book", but are clearly stated in Matthew's gospel. These morals are written in a series called the Beatitudes. Through morals, laws are created and society is given guidelines, most people see this in a positive manner. Friederich Nietzsche, a philosopher from the late 1800's, views religion as a cult made for weak minded simpletons who need something to carry them through life. Nietzsche is often viewed as an antichrist; in fact he even wrote "The Antichrist," an essay that seems to be his boarding pass and a ticket to hell. But there is some merit in his satanic ideas about religion one need only to view them from faithless eyes. Nietzsche's ideas dismiss those of Matthew and how religion is a con to suppress the strong and make the weak feel important.

Nietzsche sees religious people as weak people who hate the strong and independent. In essay one he calls all priests "the great haters of historyÐ'...likewise the most ingenious haters. (p. 33)" They are not able to go out into the world and naturally live without supernatural excuses and reasons for both their failures and successes. They cannot account for their own actions. In order to stop their feelings of weakness they must convince others that they are right and to follow them, giving them acceptance to in group. (p. 34) Through convincing sermons Christianity began to grow.

This con of the weak people can be traced back to two words - good and bad. Before Christianity good and bad represented social status (p. 25) Nietzsche claims that the concept of good was originally a synonym for nobility. At the same time anyone who was poor or simple was referred to as bad. The words had no moral value and were not part of some "higher" judgment. It was priests that transformed these words so that good refers to the poor and lower class members of society, and the privileged are now seen as evil. This reversal of good and bad is seen in the Beatitudes. It is not the rich and powerful who are favored by God but the weak and poor.

In Nietzsche's mind nothing can compare to the unrealistic lies of the gospel. How can the weak inherit the earth? They cannot! For someone to be able to gain such a covet prize as the earth they cannot be weak. Even if they were weak before gaining the earth would change them from a weak person to one with power. In the minds of most people the strongest and smartest always become leaders and through these leaders the world is run. The meek and poor look at the powerful with jealous eyes, hating what they stand for but at the same time wanting to be them. They think that they would act differently if they were rich and powerful, which is not the case when thought about. If you give a poor man lots of money he is not going to act like a poor beggar. His "noble" instincts would take over and his guilt would fade away. This guilt was created by Christians to keep people from fully using their power.

Why would God not want us to be powerful? The Christian fear of power is if someone gains power he will also gain the understanding of his power and use it on others. This is best said in a sermon by Rev. Charles Irvin who writes, " Life, for Nietzsche, is for the strong, the dominant, the ruthless; it is for those who understand power and its uses. Abundance, wealth and the ability to control and manipulate others come only to the fittest of our species. All the rest of us resort to religion, to Christ, along with all of the weaklings who need Him. For Nietzsche, self-justification is the only justification worth anything at all. The only fulfillment, which is at all fulfilling is self-fulfillment. Life belongs to those who help themselves