What Does This Mean?

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Originally Posted by berserk

I think the "God" Nietzsche was referring to is metaphorical. At least in this specific quote. In any event, we haven't necessarily established that "God" and "good" are synonymous. That may be a belief that you hold deeply, but there are others who disagree.

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Could we say that in a more general sense most people would equate God with good? Or at least expect that Christians who believe in the Bible to have good behavior even though they may know that is often not the case? Another example would be to expect Buddhists to be generally good, mild-mannered, calm, etc, even though there may be Buddhists that may not fit that description.

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I don't have a hard time answering those questions at all. It seems plainly obvious to me where the good and evil are in those pictures.

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Same here. I bet we agree.

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But my answer may be different from yours, and from the next person's. And many people who disagree with each other will be basing their ideas of good and evil on what they each believe God wants them to do.

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Understood.

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Good and evil are both subjective concepts, and hotly contested. Even when we agree on what they are, they are both found in all sorts of people and situations. Good and evil are hardly suggestive of the existence or nonexistence of a literal God, although they might be the same as the metaphorical God that I think Nietzsche was referring to.

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My personal belief is that there is good in the world because people have a belief in God (and others) and/or a belief that, for them, it is more profitable to do good than evil.

Ran across a CSpan Book TV discussion of "American Nietzsche" last night, caught the last few min & watched the web replay at [American Nietzsche] - C-SPAN Video Library (It cuts off the last few seconds)

General introduction and history of Fred and his influences on the left and right in America, some Q&A after.

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Originally Posted by cwtlady

Could we say that in a more general sense most people would equate God with good? Or at least expect that Christians who believe in the Bible to have good behavior even though they may know that is often not the case? Another example would be to expect Buddhists to be generally good, mild-mannered, calm, etc, even though there may be Buddhists that may not fit that description.

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We could say that most religious people equate God with good. As far as expectations go, though, I don't really expect Christians to behave any better or worse than anyone else. I think that the way people see themselves and their experiences is affected by their spirituality, but I don't really think that it changes their fundamental nature. People are both good and bad, but they justify it differently.

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Same here. I bet we agree.
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My personal belief is that there is good in the world because people have a belief in God (and others) and/or a belief that, for them, it is more profitable to do good than evil.

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I bet we do agree on the pictures. I think the point was that if the evil in those pictures is being done in the name of God, then it's complicated to point to God as the source of goodness.

I respect that you believe as you do. I think that good (however it may be defined) exists because people have an intrinsic drive to do good things, independent of any external forces or questions of profit. But people also have an intrinsic drive to do bad things, and that voice is usually easier to listen to.