2 Nietzsche Questions?

Question

Can anyone elaborate on what is meant when Nietzsche said, "Prayer to men.-- "Forgive us our virtues" -- thus one should pray to men." And also this one: "Not their love of men but the impotence of their love of men keeps the Christians of today from -- burning us."

I have no idea on the first one. The second one he seems to be saying something about Christians lack of love for people that keeps them from killing us. If that's even close to what he means, he doesn't elaborate as to how he came to this conclusion.There is a footnote in my book about it that says basically that if Christians were concerned for the salvation of others they would still burn those whose heresies lead legions into eternal damnation. I don't get what Nietzsche is getting at here...

Right, that's how I took the whole burning thing. But the reason it made no sense was that the Bible teaches you NOT to act in violence. So why would a Christian do that? What they CAN do is try to convert those who Nietzsche thinks they should burn. That's the reason it made no sense to me. It's against Christian doctrine and there are other things a Christian could do to save those people from being condemned to hell.

Answer 1

For a lot of that what Nietzsche was trying to get at was that many Christians burned or condemned others for their beliefs, pagans, etc, etc, in said doing so for their God. By this they were, I guess in the best possible term, upstanding in fighting for or defending their beliefs but in doing so they destroyed others. "Prayer to men" (beseeching them to have "mercy" or to not challenge others for theirs, "Forgive us our virtues" he believed that men were best punished for their virtues. For example, yes a man is strong and hard but he will never know the glory of intimacy. "Thus one should pray to men", they are the ones that live their lives according to the decisions and actions they take.

Answer 2

Pretty damn dark stuff.

If I read the first correctly, Nietzsche is saying people fear a superior man. Hence you must ask forgiveness for your virtues, rather than being respected for them.

Both 'burning' comments are saying the same thing.

Christians are commanded to love mankind.
But they are also command to save mankind from damnation.
So if an Atheist like Nietzsche is teaching evolution, hundreds of students are being damned by believing in this heresy. Add their children and grandchildren, and Nietzsche could be responsible for the damnation of a legion.

So, reasons Nietzsche, if Christians REALLY loved mankind, they should be able to weigh the love they are supposed to have for Nietzsche, against their love for the thousands Nietzsche will lead astray, and come to the conclusion that, in the name of love, Nietzsche needs to be burnt alive.

"Not their love of men but the impotence of their love of men keeps the Christians of today from -- burning us."

Make sense?

Answer 3

There is a similar quotation to the one you mention, IE. "Prayer to men- Forgive us our Virtues." It reads, "One is best punished for ones virtues." And I think what he means is that virtues often make us more fixated on "sin" than otherwise.

For example, say you swear to be celibate for your entire life. You practice the virtue of celibacy and suddenly your entire life revolves around not having sex. You probably spend more time thinking about sex (and not having it ever) than you would if you gave into your animal urges once in a while and got your rocks off.

And you need to be punished for your virtues because they make you an insufferable prude.

Answer 4

Hmmmmm. Talk, talk, talk. Read *Gnosis of the Cosmic Christ*, do the "practices" diligently, and then you'll actually experience what Der alte Friedrich had in mind.
*Jenseits Gut und Boese*; "beyond good and evil" is all about experiencing the unity behind the duality. At least i hope that he was wise enough to have such in mind :)