Book Title: The Great Philosophers
Author: Stephen Law
Christian values need to come from somewhere. And if you think the Bible is your answer to the origins, you could be seriously wrong.
Friedrich Nietzsche traced Christianity all the way back to ancient Rome, where Christians were slaves. In those days, morals were the least of concerns and emphasis was placed on attributes such as physical strength, courage and power. Since the Christians were slaves, there is an obvious lack of power, which was deemed as bad which their controlling masters were seen as good.
Thus, the Christians developed their own set of values focusing on compassion, altruism and pity which worked to their advantage in that hopeless situation. Over time, the slaves managed to get their masters to embrace the same moral codes. Slowly, it became difficult for the masters to exert their usual practices, attitudes and control over the slaves.
Today, we use a similar moral code that possibly existed because of Christian’s resentment towards their slavery. We still hold on to compassion and altruism, perhaps with a different purpose. A simple act of helping could boost my reputation in the social church, it directly impacts on my ego and highlights my awesome powers from where God has bestowed upon me.