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From: garys@bunker.UUCP (Gary M. Samuelson)
Newsgroups: net.religion
Subject: Re: Hopeful News
Message-ID: <631@bunker.UUCP>
Date: Wed, 12-Dec-84 11:00:24 EST
Article-I.D.: bunker.631
Posted: Wed Dec 12 11:00:24 1984
Date-Received: Thu, 13-Dec-84 05:31:10 EST
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Organization: Bunker Ramo, Trumbull Ct
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> Christianity is a religion for the weak.  The fact that they are running
> scared...

Really?  I hadn't noticed.

> ...seems to me to be an indication that something strong has come
> onto the stage.  Namely, the enemies of Christianity, which Rev. Bloesch
> says includes paganism and nature-mysticism.

> I find this a very hopeful
> statement.  Perhaps Christianity will soon find itself in the place it
> belongs, a second-rate cult whose members are reviled and persecuted by
> the main of society.

Here is someone honest enough to admit that he favors persecution of
Christians.

> Don't you find it strange, that the saints of
> Christianity have always been those who do nothing but stir up trouble
> and attack society's values?

Which "saints of Christianity" do you have in mind?  How did or do they
stir up trouble?  Often, just by asserting that there is such a thing
as right and wrong.

> That their teachings mainly appealed to
> the weak, sick, and the slaves of society?

I suppose, in the same way that medicine appeals to the physically
sick, Christianity can be said to appeal to the spiritually sick.

> What does that make us if we
> embrace these teachings?

I can't resist giving the obvious answer:  Christianity appeals to
the weak, sick, and slaves of society because it promises to make
them strong, well, and free.  And there are many who say that it does so.

> "If one wants to be, in one's own person, 'chosen of God' - or a 'temple
> of God', or a 'judge of angels' - then every OTHER principle of selection,
> for example on the basis of integrity, intellect, manliness and pride,
> beauty and liberality of heart, is simply 'world' - EVIL AS SUCH....
> Moral: every word in the mouth of the 'first Christian' is a lie, every
> act he performs an instinctive falsehood - all his values, all his aims
> are harmful, but WHOMEVER he hates, WHATEVER he hates, HAS VALUE....
> The Christian, the priestly Christian especially, is a CRITERION OF VALUES."
> [emphasis in the original]
> 
> 					- Friedrich Nietzsche
> 					  Chapter 46
> 					  The Anti-Christ
> 
> "Submitted for your approval..."
> --

Approval withheld.  Why do you quote Nietzsche as if his work is
definitive (i.e., defines Christianity) ?  I think Christianity
(the biblical kind) favors things like integrity, intellect, beauty,
and liberality of heart (references on request).  I haven't a clue
what "manliness" means in this context -- should women also
strive for "manliness" ?  "Pride" also has different meanings --
which one do you think Nietzsche means?  If he means the opposite
of humility, then Christianity would disapprove of it; if he means
self-respect, that is another question.

> 				replies to:	Russell Spence
> 						ihnp4!ihlpm!russ
> 						AT&T Technologies
> 						Naperville, IL

Gary Samuelson