God is Dead?

God is Dead? My grasp of Nietzsche’s statement “God is dead” fluctuates between an almost enlightened comprehension of what he means to a virtual stupor of confusion. However, during my more lucid moments of understanding(which I like to believe outweigh the moments of stuporhood), I see his point on a variety of levels. Nietzsche’s writings on the subject are loaded with meaning; he purposely leaves his words wide open to interpretation. Just how we absorb Nietzsche’s ideas on the subject of God’s death, however, are directly contingent on who or what we think God really is. Nietzsche seems to approach God as a concept rather than a man. This results in a somewhat paradoxical slur, because concepts generally don’t “live” in a tangible enough sense for them to also “die.” Personally, I see Nietzsche’s God as a personification of a concept. This concept is not easily definable itself; it can be either a somewhat broad religious conception of divinity, or; God can represent religious values and fundamentals themselves. Nietzsche’s defense of his claim that God is dead operates on many planes. It is this that compels me to describe not one, but several of the reasons I extracted as to why, exactly, God

Why should I not trust myself enough to say in all honesty that I have not experienced God close enough to affirm any actual belief in hisherit"tms existence I guess in some sense, God is dead, for all I know; if he were alive, I"tmd imagine that I"tmd know for sure. "What is good," asks Nietszche, "Everything that heightens the feeling of power in man, the will to power, power itself. " Nietzsche recognizes the power to will freely as the most important of all virtues. The regulations imposed by religion are life-defining: religion dictates how we should compose ourselves in life, as well as what in life we perceive as important. Religion, on the other hand, is an institution of the weak: those who do not have the power to will freely let the word of God decide for them. "How can anyone today still submit to the simplicity of Christian theologians to the point of insisting with them that the development of the conception of God from the "God of Israel,"tm the god of a people, to the Christian God, the quintessence of everything "good,"tm represents progress"(584) The Jewish God and the Christian God are too similar to be considered a progression. But our knowledge of the physical world(which Nietzsche regards as much more important) has progressed steadily, moving in directions which are contradictory to religious fundamentals. "tm"(139)Creative will is effectively eradicated by religion"tms "thou shalts;" by the word of this "God," this "conception of divinity. "A new pride my ego taught me," speaks Zarathustra, "and this I teach men : no longer to bury your head in the sands of heavenly things, but to bear it freely, an earthly head, which creates meaning for the earth. This is what he believes we must strive for. To the contrary, however, Nietzsche"tms overman concept serves as a very uplifting and empowering idea. After this initial monotheistic revelation by the Jews, however, creativity completely stagnates. "(579) The omniscient God that once provided absolute truths has since been proved wrong. Religious practice, observance, and faith are facilitated by a set of rules.