Post: #2444

Origin of Christianity - The Antichrist


Jewish priesthood

Jewish, and subsequently, to a greater degree, Christian, priests survived and attained power by siding with decadents, Nietzsche claimed. They turned against the natural world. Their resentment against those who were well–constituted led them to "... invent another world from which that life–affirmation would appear evil ... ." In order to survive, the Jewish priests made use of the decadents and their large population. The Jews were not decadents, themselves. According to Nietzsche, they have "...the toughest national will to life which has ever existed on earth." However, they pretended to be decadents so they could "... place themselves at the head of all decadence movements (— as the Christianity of Paul —) so as to make of them something stronger than any party that affirms life."

***Note: Does this remind anyone of the democratic party or social justice warriors?***

Five stages of denaturalizing values

1. Israel's Yahweh "...was the expression of their consciousness of power, of their delight in themselves, their hopes of themselves." Because he was their God, they considered him to be the God of justice. The Jews affirmed themselves, realized their own power, and had a good conscience. Even after internal anarchy and Assyrian invasions weakened Israel, it retained its worship of God as a king who is both soldier and judge.

2. Concept of God is falsified. Yahweh became a demanding god of justice who is "... no longer at one with Israel or an expression of national self-confidence...."

3. Concept of morality is falsified. Morality is no longer an expression of life and growth. Instead, morality opposes life by presenting well–being as a dangerous temptation. Priestly agitators "... interpret all good fortune as a reward, all misfortune as punishment for disobedience of God, for 'sin,'...

4. History of Israel is falsified. The great epoch becomes an epoch of decay. The Exile is an "... eternal punishment for the great epoch — an epoch in which the priest was as yet nothing." The past is translated into religious terms. It was a record of guilt, punishment, piety, and reward in relation to Yahweh. A moral world order is established which assigns value to actions that obey the will of God (and which claims that this general will, i.e. the right way of life for everyone, is eternal and unchanging). Priests teach that "... the ruling power of the will of God, expressed as punishment and reward according to the degree of obedience, is demonstrated in the destiny of a nation, of an individual... ."

5. God's will is revealed in the holy scripture. The sacred book formulates the will of God and specifies what is to be given to the priests. Priests become parasites. "... All things of life are so ordered that the priest is everywhere indispensable; at all the natural events of life, at birth, marriage, sickness, death. Not to speak of 'sacrifice' (meal–times)... ." Natural values become utterly valueless. The priest sanctifies and bestows all value. Disobedience of God (the priest) is 'sin.' Subjection to God (the priest) is redemption. Priests use 'sin' to gain and hold power.

***Note: Does not point number 5 eerily remind you of life under communism, only with the rabbi now the commissar? If so, it is because this is the precise spiritual origin.***

Revolt against Jewish priesthood

The Jewish church opposed and negated nature, reality, and the world as being sinful and unholy. Christianity then negated the Jewish church and its holy, chosen people, according to Nietzsche. "... The little rebellious movement which is baptized with the name Jesus of Nazareth represents the Jewish instinct once more—in other words, the priestly instinct which can no longer stand the priest as a reality, the invention of an even more abstract form of existence, an even more unreal vision of the world ... " The Jewish church and the Jewish nation received this rebellion as a threat to its existence. "That holy anarchist who roused up the people at the bottom, the outcasts and 'sinners,' the Chandalas within Judaism, to opposition against the dominant order ... was a political criminal ... . That is what brought him to the cross ... where he died for his own guilt."

***Note: I don't agree with Neitzsche's view on Christ, but I don't want to extrapolate on that now***