Pot Shot Series: Objection 1: The Holocaust – Argument 2July 26th, 2010 If you have not done so, you might want to read the Introduction to this series. The Holocaust: Argument 2 – Blaming Jesus and Christianity Recently I was on a busy street corner in Toronto, handing out my literature, when a Jewish man came up to me and asked if I believed that 6 million Jews died in the Holocaust. I told him that, as I have family members who died in the camps, I believed in it of course. He then said that I should therefore be ashamed of myself and walked away. I called out to him to offer a response, but of course he didn’t want one. This was what I call a pot-shot: an objection that is thrown into your face and, before you have a chance to respond, the objector runs away, probably thinking that they have done something clever. But they haven’t really. There are really two different ways in which this particular objection is used. One is to use the Holocaust as a proof that God does not exist. The argument goes like this: if there were a loving and good God, he would not have allowed the Holocaust to occur. The other use of this objection is to blame Jesus and Christianity for the event and therefore denigrate both. Both of these arguments are answerable, of course. Argument 1: see Pot Shot Series: Objection 1: The Holocaust – Argument 1 Argument 2: The Holocaust denigrates Jesus and Christianity There are a number of problems with this objection. First of all, the argument infers that Jesus – whose life example and teachings we must remember are the basis of Christian belief – would have supported the agenda and goals of the Holocaust. This is to misunderstand the teachings of Jesus and his heart-felt love and care for his people, Israel. Not the teaching of Jesus Jesus said he came to “seek and save the lost. (Luke 19:10)” The understanding is that many Jewish people had strayed from the faith of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and Jesus came to bring them back to God. He loved the Jewish people (as typified by his love of one young Jewish leader in Mark 10:21) and indeed all of mankind (John 3:16). He wept for the Jewish people (Luke 19:41) and was expectant that one day the Jewish people would recognize him for who he is (Matthew 23:39; Luke 13:35). Although as Christians we do believe that the vast majority of Israel has remained in sin by rejecting Jesus as Messiah and Lord, Jesus himself said, “God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. (John 3:17)” The Messiah will come again at a future time and he will come in judgment of all those who have rejected him, both Jew and Gentile. Until then, however judgment is withheld for both Jew and Gentile. Historically some Christians have blamed the Jews for the death of Jesus and have used that reasoning as an excuse to persecute the Jews. Yet according to Jesus’ own words; “No one takes it [Jesus’ life] from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. (John 10:18)” If he lays his life down, then nobody can be accused of taking it. What sent Jesus to the cross was the sin of mankind, and as Jesus’ disciple Paul says, “We all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23; cf Ecclesiastes 7:20)” The teachings of the disciples, like Paul, support this same notion. Paul proclaimed to the believers in Rome that, “I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart. For I could wish that I myself were accursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my brothers, my kinsmen. [The Israelites] (Romans 9:2-3)” For these reasons we can see that hatred of Jews is not a teaching of Jesus or his disciples and therefore cannot be acceptable to a true believer in Christ. This leads us to the other problem with this argument. The objection assumes that the perpetrators of the Holocaust understood the teachings of Jesus upon which Christianity is based. Perpetrators were not Christ followers The reason for this is understandable. Many of the soldiers in the concentration camp considered themselves to be Christians and even would shout out to the line heading to the gas chamber that they were being slaughtered because they killed Jesus. Clearly, in light of the above, these men and women did not have a true understanding of the Christian teaching about the Jewish people. It must also be understood, that the Nazi perpetrators that masterminded the Holocaust, were not Christians at all and planned to eliminate the Christian church as soon as possible. (for a good article on this click here.) But for the common soldier like the ones mentioned above, even if some of them were Christians in the truest sense of the word, they were still ignorant of the true teaching of Jesus. This does not excuse their actions, but their actions do not reflect on the truth of Christ’s teaching and true Christian belief. It also has to be remembered that true faith in Jesus – true Christianity – is predicated entirely on faith in Him and in the Word of God. As such, believers are compelled by the very Word to love all people, including the Jewish people. And though there are some who consider themselves Christian because they go to church, or give to the church, or obey certain commandments, yet they are not truly Christians if they haven’t entered into a proper relationship with Christ. Conclusion The upshot of all this is that though some horrible things have been done in the name of Jesus, they shouldn’t be a reason for rejecting the Gospel message – the good news that the Messiah has come to Jews and Gentiles. Many horrible things have been done in the name of Peace, Liberty, Love and a myriad of other seemingly good causes. When exploring the Christian message, we must look to Jesus’ teaching and the whole of the Word of God. Jesus would never have condoned the Holocaust or any other horrible act towards the Jewish people (or any people) based on hatred and prejudice. Jesus would not condone it, nor should any Christian. The Holocaust was a terrible event, as were the Inquisition. During both, there was suffering by both Jews and Chrsitians. But in the end, they have nothing to do with Jesus and his claims. Check it out for yourself! Contributed by Daniel Muller, General Director of New Covenant Forum. Posted in Blog, Evangelism, Jesus and Jews, Jewish Objections to Jesus, Jews and Jesus, Pot-shot Objections, This, That, The Other Thing, Uncategorized | 3 Comments » Pot Shot Series: Objection 1: The Holocaust – Argument 1July 22nd, 2010 If you have not done so, you might want to read the Introduction to this series. The Holocaust Recently I was on a busy street corner in Toronto, handing out my literature, when a Jewish man came up to me and asked if I believed that 6 million Jews died in the Holocaust. I told him that, as I have family members who died in the camps, I believed in it of course. He then said that I should therefore be ashamed of myself and walked away. I called out to him to offer a response, but of course he didn’t want one. This was what I call a pot-shot: an objection that is thrown into your face and, before you have a chance to respond, the objector runs away, probably thinking that they have done something clever. But they haven’t really. There are really two different ways in which this particular objection is used. One is to use the Holocaust as a proof that God does not exist. The argument goes like this: if there were a loving and good God, he would not have allowed the Holocaust to occur. The other use of this objection is to blame Jesus and Christianity for the event and therefore denigrate both. Both of these arguments are answerable, of course. Argument 1: There is no God This argument forgets the nature of God’s relationship with humankind and our relationship with Him. God created man in His own image and gave us free will. We know this because Adam had the choice to obey God or not to obey God. (See Genesis 1-3) God had the option, of course, not to give us free will, but then we have to ask ourselves the question: what is the consequence of that? If we were created so that we had to love and obey God, then what kind of love and obedience would that be? We would be more like automatons then lovers of God. We can create a robot that is programmed to do only what we tell it to do, but can it love us? More importantly, can we love it in any meaningful way? So God, in his sovereign wisdom, determined that it was better for us to have free will than not. The consequence of that decision is that we can and do sin (Ecclesiastes 7:20; Isaiah 53:6: Romans 3:23). All of us who are honest with ourselves would have to admit that we cannot always live up to our own standards, let alone God’s. Where there is sin, there is consequence; not only to ourselves but often to others as well. To stop it, God would have to take away our free will. To maintain our free will, God must allow the consequences of evil to take place. Considering that we live in a world that has by and large dismissed God and has made individuals the real decider of right and wrong, is it any wonder that things like the Holocaust, or the genocides in Rwanda, or the former Yugoslav states occur. The Holocaust is not a reason to disbelieve God, but a reason to recognize our need for God to save us from ourselves. That is where Yeshua (Jesus) comes in. Through his example we can see how to live a godly life. More importantly, through our faith in him we are enabled to live a godly life – perhaps not perfectly – but certainly more and more as we grow in him. You can go to Argument 2, blaming Jesus and Christianity for the Holocaust. Contributed by Daniel Muller, General Director of New Covenant Forum. Posted in Blog, Evangelism, Jewish Objections to Jesus, Jews and Jesus, Pot-shot Objections, This, That, The Other Thing, Uncategorized | No Comments » Pot-shot Series: IntroductionJuly 2nd, 2010 I have been sharing the Gospel for several years, and it has been a long time since I have heard an objection to it that is new. It has been a joy to receive these objections, when they are sincere, knowing that there is a biblical response to every one of them. There are some people, however, who are not sincere. While sharing the Gospel on the streets, they will come up to you and express their objection and then scurry away. It might be some comment made before the door is slammed in your face, or the phone is hung up. No doubt these people feel that they have scored some point, but in reality they have acted quite cowardly and missed the opportunity to know that there is a reasonable and biblical response to their objection. In most cases, if the opportunity arises to ask why they believe these objections they cannot tell you. The reason is that they don’t know themselves. They are not able enough to give a response, nor are they honest enough to stick around for a response. It is for this reason (and because of a recent encouter of this kind) that I have decided to do a series on these pot-shot objections and give my response. Perhaps you are one of the perpetrators of such an attack. Then I hope you will be honest enough in this anonymous setting to now hear the response. Perhaps you are someone who has had the same concern and honestly wondered about the answer. Or perhaps you have had someone bring up such an objection to and you didn’t know how to reply to them. Whatever the reason, I hope this series, which will be added to over a period of time, will bless you and inform you. If you have any questions or concerns, please respond to the appropriate blog article or contact us.
Posted in Evangelism, Jesus and Jews, Jewish Tradition, Jews and Jesus, Pot-shot Objections, This, That, The Other Thing | 1 Comment » |
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