Week 3 - Post 7

1. Death of God
Nietzsche believes that God no longer have a place in the hearts of modern men, the place for God has been taken over by modern science and rationalism. Through advancement of technology, humans have disproved many aspect of God; for example, the Earth is no longer a flat surface but a giant sphere; heaven and hell do not exist above or below us, instead there are atmosphere and molten lavas. Nietzsche thinks that even Christianity does not worship God; it is merely a system that sets moral guidelines for a certain group of people.

2. Truth
Nietzsche believe that humans are too simple and naïve to understand the real truth. With truth, comes consequences; he thinks that human would go to the extent of lying to avoid some of the consequences. Since human permits themselves to lie, the urge for truth seems skeptical. He also thinks that human are oblivious about the things around us, and human are also too arrogant to really care anything that does not relate to human. He brings up the example of mosquito, and how the mosquito may have the same emotion but humans never cared anything about it.

3. Morality as Anti-nature
Nietzsche shows his opposition towards Christianity when he discuss about morality. Passion is natural among all emotional beings, and when Christianity wishes to set rules of morality by oppressing this natural passion, it is viewed as anti-nature. Nietzsche brings up the example "If thy eye offend thee, pluck it out," and claim that it is immoral.

4. Jesus
Nietzsche considers Jesus to be the only true Christian. Nietzsche praises Jesus not for his sacrifice he made, but his way of living. In order to live up to the Christian values, one must be free of sin and hatred; Jesus showed mankind how to live up to Christian standards. Jesus rejected Jewish doctrine of praying. What Nietzsche most admire about Jesus is his way of conducting Christianity, Jesus did not connect to God through praying, but rather through his actions and his love.

5. Paul
Nietzsche believes that Paul changed the meaning of Jesus' death. Paul shifted center of attention to Jesus’ death instead of Jesus’ way of life. Paul used Jesus’ resurrection in the aid of his personal glory. Paul claim that Jesus’ crucifixion was a sacrifice for people’s sins and wrong doing; Jesus death freed everyone from sins. Nietzsche believes Paul altered Christianity and altered history.

6. Myth of Eternal Recurrence
Nietzsche say if human live life over and over again, similar to reincarnation in Buddhism, every pain, pleasure, hatred, suffering will be pointless. People will focus on the happiness and quality of life, and not live the regrets and painful memories over again. This idea encourages people to live better life and not be held back by unfortunate events that may have happened in the past.

7. Free Spirit
The “God is dead” idea spawns through Europe and left many wandering aimlessly; people are lost when many old ideas are over thrown. But Nietzsche said that those old ideas are far too distant to affect current society, there are many new variables that make old ideas obsolete. Philosophers and “Free Spirits” feel that one should keep an open mind for new possibilities and not dwell on the old ideas.