So, for the past few days I've been trying to think of a really good question to propose to the group.... but since I haven't had anything out of the ordinary come up...I'll go ahead and state the obvious (age-old) question-- why does God allow things like this to happen??
As I was reading through this book, there were times I had to put it down because I felt quite ill. Putting myself in his shoes, I can't imagine how I would have responded-- to God, to my family, to life in general. And I think the question of evil is easier for me to understand or swallow when it's smaller things-- or inevitable things (e.g. death). But, I mean, this huge thing on such a large scale. This book made the Holocaust a hundred times more real to me.
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Good question...I have been wondering this as well. Maybe we can point back to the "fall" and "original sin" of why these things happen. And I know God does/allows things solely for his glory - but it is interesting to think about the reasons why He would allow one man and forces to attempt to kill out the people group of which He sent His son in order to redeem His people.
But, on the other hand, I was also wondering how the world could allow such evil to take place. I know the world was distracted with WWII - but the outsiders looked upon it as if it was normal to destroy the Jews. I do wonder if the Americans/Russians/etc actually knew all along what was happening, but didn't do anything to stop this cruelty (at first). Praise God that they were finally liberated!
I guess God has given Satan a certain amount of rule on this world....and people are without Jesus can be really evil. They (and we who do have Jesus) can make some really, really bad choices. I guess I have to believe that God's desire for us to have free will allows for a lot of bad things to happen. So when a person with so much earthly power (Hitler), makes these horrible horrible decisions, people are going to be hurt in his wake. And since a lot of the Church in Germany joined in and supported Hitler (using Romans 13 as their support), there was no one to stand up and protest or call attention to this or do something, things were allowed to continue to happen.
It's really interesting to read about Hitler's religious beliefs. He grew up Roman Catholic, but rejected that as he grew older. By the time he was killing off everyone but the Aryan race (which included more than just the Jews), he believed in Jesus and kinda thought he was a fighter against the Jews-- and he believed that God was leading him in the fight against the Jews. Which, I mean, isn't totally off base of what a some of our Fathers in the Faith thought-- Martin Luther burned down Jewish synagogues, killing Jews inside.
From Wikipedia:
"Luther advocated an eight-point plan to get rid of the Jews either by religious conversion or by expulsion:
1. "First to set fire to their synagogues or schools and to bury and cover with dirt whatever will not burn, so that no man will ever again see a stone or cinder of them. ..."
2. "Second, I advise that their houses also be razed and destroyed. ..."
3. "Third, I advise that all their prayer books and Talmudic writings, in which such idolatry, lies, cursing and blasphemy are taught, be taken from them. ..."
4. "Fourth, I advise that their rabbis be forbidden to teach henceforth on pain of loss of life and limb. ..."
5. "Fifth, I advise that safe-conduct on the highways be abolished completely for the Jews. ..."
6. "Sixth, I advise that usury be prohibited to them, and that all cash and treasure of silver and gold be taken from them. ... Such money should now be used in ... the following [way]... Whenever a Jew is sincerely converted, he should be handed [a certain amount]..."
7. "Seventh, I commend putting a flail, an ax, a hoe, a spade, a distaff, or a spindle into the hands of young, strong Jews and Jewesses and letting them earn their bread in the sweat of their brow... For it is not fitting that they should let us accursed Goyim toil in the sweat of our faces while they, the holy people, idle away their time behind the stove, feasting and farting, and on top of all, boasting blasphemously of their lordship over the Christians by means of our sweat. No, one should toss out these lazy rogues by the seat of their pants."
8. "If we wish to wash our hands of the Jews' blasphemy and not share in their guilt, we have to part company with them. They must be driven from our country" and "we must drive them out like mad dogs." [20]"
Even though many suggest that Hitler knew nothing of this about Luther, it sure does sound like a lot of the stuff that happened in the book, doesn't it?
So, in conclusion (wow, this is long), I just think that the Church didn't do as much as it could-- and since i'm not much into fighting and killing with swords those who do wrong-- i'm not sure what that would be. Maybe speaking out against it, prayer, etc.??
As it turns out, Hitler DID in fact use some of these comments by Luther to explain some of his actions. Luther tended to go off the deep end and speak harshly against those with whom he disagreed--even many who were professed believers and even church leaders (Zwingli, etc.). In his last sermon and other writings throughout his ministry, he did call Christians to reach out to the Jews and share the Gospel with love. In the end, when someone is already leaning toward an extreme as Hitler was, it is very easy for them to take these types of comments and run with them.
I guess we can let this teach us a couple of lessons:
1) We need to be so careful what we say, especially if it tends to be a bit extreme. You never know who will blow it to an even greater extreme and turn it into something you never intended. Even 400 years down the road.
2) As readers and learners, we need to be careful not to just take someone's word for it. In fact, this is something that Luther was such a proponent of... always testing things against the Word and knowing the Word well enough that we don't just accept another person's opinion/statements as Gospel truth. We could make some pretty big mistakes this way.
3) Just because we like part of what someone says doesn't mean we should automatically accept everything they say. And vice versa... just because we don't like part of what someone says doesn't mean we have to throw out the baby with the bath water and reject everything they say. There is, of course, a fine line between weighing carefully and simply becoming relativistic, so we have to be conscientious as we evaluate.
Ultimately, it's proof that we all need the wisdom of the Lord as we attempt to learn and form opinions. After all, human reasoning, no matter how sound it seems at times, can obviously go awry.
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