Comments on The Greatest Problem In The Universe (Part Two)

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Dr D

Yes,  I remember that verse where Jesus said we would do greater works than he did.  I wish more Christians would fulfill that prophecy,  and I am grateful for any that do.

posted by GoldenMean on February 29, 2016 at 12:37 AM | link to this | reply

Re: Nautikos

I disagree with Jesus being the only Christian to ever live, due to the fact that Jesus said when he was here that we would do greater works than him. There are many Christians who do a good job for God.

posted by drdianne on February 26, 2016 at 6:55 PM | link to this | reply

Nautikos

Again we find a common interest.  I have read some of Nietzsche,  and read about him written by others.  My fingers get tangled typing his name,  so I will call him FN. 

Yes,  I realize that FN was just using a clever ploy with "God is dead".  His real target was the morality that the idea of God represents,  specifically the Christian view of God.  He once remarked that there was only one Christian in history,  and he died on the cross.  I strongly disagree.....  I think that every generation has Christians that shine a bright and good and healing light upon our world,  with the best moral value system that is available among the principal religions.

FN was trying to destroy Christian morality,  and replace it with.... what?  You tell me,  but I think it is pretty obvious,  with his central idea of the "WILL TO POWER" and the "ubermensch"  (overman or superman).  He held that strength of will is far more important than morality.  This is summed up in the saying  "might makes right."  He urged us to think "beyond morality",  which I do not think is even possible.  Morality shades and shapes everything we think. Here is my take on this:

Morality directs the will to work toward good (helpful) or evil (predatory) objectives.  Morality is like a road or route or path,  and the will is like the vehicle that takes us along the road. By choosing a particular road to travel, we choose our morality.  The vehicle of our will determines how far and how fast we will travel on that road of morality.  This makes morality and strength of will equal partners in directing all human activity.

So in his denying of morality, FN denies us the choosing of the objective, so his "will to power" is denied a clear destination or a compass to reach it.  The destination of the powerful is wherever they want to go, with no morals, no rules, no constraints.

So the philosophy of FN is extremely dangerous,  for it gives tyrants all the justification they need to kill whoever they want to in their own country, and attack whoever they want in other countries.  That is why Hitler admired FN, and followed his philosophy.  And really,  FN should have seen that his destruction of Christian morality would open the door to such monsters. 

Indeed,  how could FN criticize Hitler?  Hitler used his  "will to power"  to rise to absolute power,  and he charted his own course of morality,  just as FN advocated.  It just so happened that it involved the murder of many millions, and throwing the entire world into war.  FN should have seen that coming, from his own philosophy.  In attacking Christian morality and values,  FN created a moral void,  and Hitler filled it.

Please let me know if I am missing something,  and I greatly appreciate your input.

posted by GoldenMean on February 26, 2016 at 3:48 AM | link to this | reply

Oh, and one more thing...

Hitler TOTALLY misunderstood Nietzsche, and the latter would have turned in his grave had he known that monster admired him...

posted by Nautikos on February 25, 2016 at 9:14 AM | link to this | reply

GM

Well, I gotta tell ya - I know nothing about God, but I do know Nietzsche very well, and I must tell you that, like a lot of people, you misunderstand his statement 'God is dead'. He was certainly not a fool - he did not mean that God had 'died' in an kind of concrete sense of the term - what he did mean, (and he was quite correct (when you look at the span of history since his time) that 'God-as-embodied-in-our-Western-culture had 'died' - which is an entirely different matter! It wasn't as obvious as is the case now, but his discerning eyes recognized it before most people even had an inkling...And he did not welcome that development - and neither am I...

posted by Nautikos on February 25, 2016 at 9:09 AM | link to this | reply