I came across this account of the work of Henry F Gerecke with Nazi war criminals. It is a fascinating and moving story. It is also a deeply humbling one of how these men guilty of such heinous crimes turned to Christ. A reminder that here may I as vile as they find all my sins forgiven.
You can read it at
www.faithtacoma.org/content/2006-04-16-pm.aspx
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Tags: Nazis
July 15, 2007 at 5:59 am |
It is astonishing what happens when we humans are confronted with the all-too-often shabby truth of our lives. Conversion under these circumstances, when the lies with which we have surrounded ourselves, are exposed. Yet a question remains. All of these top Nazi leaders expressed some form of church background. All were exposed, to some extent, to the Jesus of the Gospels, who refused violence, and rejected hatred. How could the church fail these men, or how did they fail in any kind of proto-faith they might have held at some point in their lives?
How could the christian community have become so inneffectual
as to experience this?
I ask not in order to slag any kind of faith or church, but out of sheer horror of what was done – a crime against humanity christians are continually accused of today.
July 15, 2007 at 7:50 am |
I think in order to answer your question Feargal you need to look at the kind of christianity that was being embraced in Germany by th the 1930’s. It was one which eulogised the culture rather than one which challenged it. Here we see the effects of Cultural Protestantism as it was known. Thankfully there were also some notable exceptions where Christians opposed the rise of Nazism e.g. see the Barmen Declaration