I just finished Thus Spake Zarathustra by Friedrich Nietzsche. Why did I read this steaming pile? Because so many people (mainly non-Christians of course) consider Nietzsche a first-rate philosopher. My hopes were high that I would find the same sort of satisfaction I find when I read books by the greats. I’ve read many books and articles by atheists and normally find something in them that is compelling, even if I don’t agree with their conclusions or their perspective.

Very abbreviated description as follows (there is MUCH more to this book than this):

This book is a story about a sage called Zarathustra who decides that man is repulsive because man is weak. We want equality, truth, democracy, religion and it disgusts Zarathustra. He wants man to move to the next level – the “ubermensch” (overman or superman). The path to the ubermensch is difficult of course and it requires you to renounce anything he considers weak. He calls you to “will to power” which means he wants you to be your own maker, your own creator, your own moral voice, and to marry only if you are trying to breed an ubermensch. Otherwise – women are pretty much beneath men or might be a plaything.

Essentially – he is a form of anti-Christ. Anything that is good he would call evil. Things that are normally considered evil he determines are good for the ubermensch to embrace. Revenge is good, non-compassion is good, ruling over others is good, etc. Pity is the WORST “sin”. Get rid of pity for it will hold you back.

He takes Bible passages and basically claims the truth is the opposite of what the Bible says. He generally doesn’t announce that these are Bible passages, so if you don’t know your Bible very well, you might not recognize them as such.

Now let me give credit to Nietzsche for something….he OWNS his entire philosophy and realizes the full ramifications of it and is willing to accept the consequences. Very early in the book he announces that God is dead and realizes the absurdity of life without God. The modern day atheists (say…Sam Harris) are not brave enough to carry this to its logical consequence and try to invent objective goodness without God.

Adolf Hitler put Nietzsche’s philosophy into practice in reality. Nietzsche himself was very worried that nationalism in place of God would result in horrific wars. Well Nietzsche….you didn’t get to actually witness it but I guess you weren’t wrong about everything….