Lessons from History

I have been reading “Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Prophet, Martyr, and Spy: A Righteous Gentile vs. The Third Reich” by Eric Metaxas. Bonhoeffer, a theologian and pastor, foresaw the evil of Hitler, and fought, often alone, against the growing threat of the emerging power, and the indifference of the German church, and greater world powers.

This book has opened my eyes to the reality of the Hitler regime, beyond what I thought I understood. The life of Bonhoeffer has challenged how I face my own faith and growing indifference.

Even though I am only half-way through the book, I realize I only knew the Cliff Notes version of events leading up to World War Two. I knew the psychosis of Hitler. I knew about the treatment of the Jews and physical and mental handicapped. I was thoroughly horrified by what went on in the concentration camps, and was baffled by how the rest of the world could allow this to go on.

What I did not realize was how far reaching Hitler’s plans and propaganda reached. This man was not simply psychotic and evil personified. He was intelligent, and calculating, and patient.

What I did not realize was how his influence reached into the heart of the German church, morphing her into a satanic sanctuary, all right under the noses of the world’s Christian leaders. What makes it all more horrifying is how even the most holy, the most devout Christian leaders allowed it to happen, assuming it would all somehow work itself out.

This man, Bonhoeffer, lost friends and made enemies both within the Nazi regime as well as with leaders of his own church because he alone could see what would come if the church continued to remain disinterested in the political climate of the times. His insistence that the church speak up and fight for the foundation upon which the church was built caused unspeakable unrest, and eventually led to his execution before he ever reached the age of forty.

Only years later could the world and the church see what Bonhoeffer saw before Hitler took full reign of his power. As one of Bonhoeffer’s early colleagues, Martin Niemoller, who adamantly separated church and state, later penned while in a concentration camp as a personal prisoner of Hitler:

“First they came for the Socialists, and I did not speak out—

because I was not a Socialist.

Then they came for the Trade Unionists, and I did not speak out—

because I was not a Trade Unionist.

Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out—

because I was not a Jew.

And then they came for me—

and there was no one left to speak for me.”

(page 192)

Bonhoeffer, addressing his frustrations with the church in a letter to his friend, Henroid, wrote:

“. . . We must shake off our fear of this world—the cause for Christ is at stake, and are we to be found sleeping? . . . Christ is looking down at us and asking whether there is anyone left who confesses faith in him.”  (page 219)

In addressing the lack of action even after the Nuremberg Laws were initiated, which clearly defined where the Hitler regime stood in regards the Jews, Bonhoeffer made his famous declaration:

“Only he who cries out for the Jews may sing Gregorian chants.”

Metaxas interprets this sentiment by saying, “As far as {Bonhoeffer} was concerned, to dare to sing to God when his chosen people were being beaten and murdered meant that one must also speak out against their suffering. If one was unwilling to do this, God was not interested in one’s worship.” (page 281)

Stinging sentiment, isn’t it?

As I read about this, my jaw dropped and my eyes bulged. Not only could I not believe the church of any era could allow this, I realize, to some extent, nothing has changed. Shamefully, I count myself among those indifferent German Christians, fighting to separate the state of the world with the state of the Church.

In better days, I kept up with the news of the world. Now, however, I am so fed up with hearing about Clinton email scandals, and Trump’s latest foot-in-mouth incident. I’m tired of another police shooting, and the idiocy of people protesting by destroying their own neighborhoods. I’m sick of the latest ISIS suicide bombers, and politicians playing politics, blaming one another instead of coming up with workable solutions. I’ve had enough of politics and violence and the juvenile way our society acts out against atrocities.

How do I handle my frustrations? I watch the first minute or so of CBS Evening News or the news in 90 seconds on CBS Mornings, and get my Cliff Notes version for the day. If there is no new news or no feel-good story, I turn it off.

Doesn’t this, in a way, make me just as pacifist as the German Christians of the 1930s? By not paying attention, can I ignore it and hope it all goes away? After all, none of it has touched my life. I can just as easily re-write Niemoller’s words:

First they came for black lives, and I did not speak out—

because I am not black.

Then they came for the police, and I did not speak out—

because I am not a cop.

Then they came for the refugees, and I did not speak out—

because I am not a refugee.

Will the day soon come when I, too, must say:

And then they came for me—

and there was no one left to speak for me.

Of course, more verses could easily be written, with the same refrain, “. . . and I did not speak out—because I am not . . .”

The unborn child . . .

The sanctity of marriage . . .

Sexual purity . . .

These are just a few issues facing our church, issues many of us Christians ignore because . . . but who will fight for the life of the unborn child if we do not? Who will teach our children about how God defines marriage? Who will teach our teens about the importance of abstaining from sex until marriage? If we do not live according to, and teach according to the words of the Bible, the words of God, who will?

Do we not live by, do we not teach because we no longer believe ourselves, even though we call ourselves Christians? I remind myself and others that the Word of God has not changed. We, alone, have changed. We alone bear the responsibility for the Godlessness of our society.

If we will not speak up and speak out, who will? Trump? Clinton?

Do we leave it up to our pastors? Men like Billy Graham?

Or do we simply continue to keep our eyes closed and hope it all works itself out?

The words of Bonhoeffer are scary to read because they are still true in our world today, and even scarier, they bear some truth in my own life.

Father, I pray, help me, and all others who call themselves Christians, to have the courage of Bonhoeffer, and to speak up in the name of Truth, that we may be justified in singing Gregorian chants.