When thinking of the term weak, what is the first thought that comes to mind? Is it a frail animal that has been injured or marked as the runt, or is it someone that can not lift a ton of weight? In the reading the Anti-Christ, Nietzsche describes weakness as going against society’s norm and not willing to preserve the purity of one's life. The notion of what he thinks to be weak, allows for him to conclude that Christianity is weak in its very nature. It is unsettling to see how he makes this broad jump to Christianity being weak, but after sitting back and unpacking the text, it can be seen as a sort of logical jump. Although Christianity is viewed in many societies as preserving the spiritual life of an individual after they die, Nietzsche argues that it is an allusion and is not preserving an individual’s life in the slightest.
One of the main points that Nietzsche brings up in his argument that Christianity is weak is that he believes that the religion is based off pity. He dabbles in the thought of Christianity being pity due to the mindset that Christianity does not focus on preserving life. He states that “pity stands in antithesis to the tonic emotions which enhance the energy of the feeling of life: it has a depressive effect.” and that pity can bring about the “loss of life” (Nietzsche 130). Nietzsche is trying to show the readers that since the religion of Christianity deals with the loss of life, then it is going against what instincts humans have when it comes to surviving. He also offers an example to support his claim of Christianity being based off pity with “the case of the death of the Nazarene” (Nietzsche 130). The death of the Nazarene he is talking about is the crucifiction of Jesus. In Nietzsche case he is stating that Jesus died on the cross for human kind not because he loved them, but because he felt sorry for them. Also in pity dealing with the loss of life, it can be thought of that Jesus did not care about dying. In the realm of the norm in Nietzsche mind, dying for someone for pity is in simple terms stupid. A person should be focused on living off of instincts and not their own emotions of sadness, because in the end it will bring about the end of life for that particular human being.
Another way that Nietzsche describes Christianity as being weak is that Christians have a faith in order to feel better about their own morality. In his mind Christians makeup “God”, “redemption”, “grace”, and heaven in order to give their life a purpose (Nietzsche 137). For example, Christianity makes up heaven, in order to believe that there is a better life beyond the fallen world that they live in. Nietzsche also states that “this entire fictional world has its roots in hatred of the natural” (Nietzsche 137). This also means that Christians makeup heaven, because they are in discontent with actual reality. They do not wish to believe that one day they will die and cease to exist. Christians also makeup “God” in order to have a heavenly being that can redeem them and save them from death. However, this is just a delusion because in Nietzsche world there is not God that exists to save the people below from their tormented faith.
Nietzsche makes a compelling argument as to Christianity being a religion of pity and delusion, however it seems that he misinterprets love for pity. When Jesus died on the cross, he came to earth with the full intent of dying to save us from our sin. However in opposition to Nietzsche beliefs, Jesus did not do this out of pity, he did so out of love. God and Jesus loved humankind so much that they prepared a place for believers to go after their time on this fallen earth is finished. They would not have done this for humans out of pity, because no one would send their son to die for a population out of pity. God would not of done that to Jesus, to just make people feel better. He did it in order to restore the bridge between humanity and God, because he cared for us and loved us. The love that God had to have for humankind in order to have Jesus crucified is incomparable to any love that humans themselves have experienced.
Even though there can be some holes poked into Nietzsche argument about him not understanding the true meaning behind the faith of Christianity, he does make a strong case into the weakness of Christianity. In some aspects, an individual could say that they do not in a sense value the life they have on earth and this can be seen through some apostle. They cared so deeply about sharing the word of God and his teachings that they did not care if they lived when they were captured or thrown in jail and became martyrs of the Christian faith. It can also be said that the Christian faith is delusional, because for one humans have not seen heaven or God and so the question can be raised if they are actually true or not. However in all aspects it is up to the individual to decide if Christianity lines up with their faith or not.
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