Christians Caused the Holocaust - Vol 1 No 5

Christians are the cause of the Holocaust

Class began with the professor talking about the causes of the Holocaust and how for millennia, Christians were the major fomenters of antisemitism across the globe. The professor talked about how the German Lutherans and Roman Catholics were Christian and led the way in inciting hatred for the Jews into the 1940's. Going back centuries, he placed particular blame for the Christian culpability at the feet of two of Jesus' Apostles.

"We are going to read in our literature how the Apostle Paul was a major catalyst in inflaming ever increasing hatred against the Jews."

The class then watched a forty-five minute video about Hitler's relationship with the Roman Catholic Pope and how influential Hitler's religion of Catholicism was in fomenting his hatred for the Jews. Not only did the movie say that the Roman Catholics as a whole were Christian and anti-Jew, but described how from the Protestant side, Martin Luther spread vitriol among the German Lutherans beginning in the 1500's. His influence primed them by inciting an anti-Jewish position among German Lutherans that continued into the 1940's making them ripe to actively support the carrying out of the Final Solution. Roman Catholics and Protestants were both described as representative of "Christianity" which, in general, was declared to be actively against the Jews. Simply put, "Christians" are responsible for the Holocaust.

The Apostle Paul turned against his own people

The movie went on to portray the Gospel writers of Matthew, Mark and Luke as blaming the Romans for Jesus' death. Then it claims that the Apostle John says it was the Jews who are to blame. This was said to show John's antisemitism. This influential apostle accused the Jews of "deicide," inciting hatred for them among the newfound Christians. However, no one was as influential in stirring hatred for the Jews as the Apostle Paul. He was a self- proclaimed "Jew of Jews" who turned against his own people as a traitor to become Christian. He then made it his life's work to speak against the Jews in favor of Christianity.

When the credits rolled, the class was riled up. "Christians are hypocrites, unloving Jew haters."

"How could they do such a thing?"

"Mike, what do you have to say?"

Then, surprisingly, the professor said, "Class, you may not know that Mike here is ordained clergy. Let's hear what Mike has to say. Mike?"

Grateful for the opportunity to respond, Mike began. "First of all I want you to understand that not everyone who calls themselves Christian are truly Christian. Just like there are biological Jews who don't believe in the tenets of Judaism and religious Jews who do, there are also people who call themselves Christians who do not believe in the tenets of the Bible and true Christians who do. The way you identify a true Jew and true Christian is not by what they call themselves but by what they believe and therefore, practice. In the movie, Roman Catholicism, German Lutherans and Protestantism in general were all treated as the same under the banner of 'Christian.'"

Definition of a true Christian

"Are you saying Roman Catholics are not Christian?" asked a young girl.

Mike clarified. "I think it is important for you to know that in order to be a true Christian, you must believe that you are a sinner in the sight of God and can only be made right with Him by the work of His Son Jesus Christ received by faith alone. If you do not believe this, you are not a Christian, even through you may truly think you are."

"I know a lot of sincere Catholics," said another."Sincerity is not a measure of faith,” said Mike. You can be sincerely wrong, and so any-

one who believes that they can be justified before God apart from Christ's work alone is sincerely wrong."

Mike went on. " A 'Christian' is one who trusts Jesus alone for salvation, and then seeks to follow Jesus and do what He wants. Salvation is by grace through faith in Christ alone-but that faith does not remain alone. The Christian then out of love for God does good. Good works are not done to be saved, but because you are saved. The true Biblical Christian believes this and lives as a follower of Christ."

Roman Catholicism is not truly Christian

"I am not trying to offend, but Roman Catholicism does not teach these doctrines and therefore, those who believe in the actual tenets of Roman Catholicism are not Christian. The German Lutheran church which started out Christian, as a whole became Neo-orthodox and left the faith by the 1920's. As you saw in the movie, it was those two major religions who stood against the Jews in the name of Christ, a Christ Whom they did not know and were notfollowing. You are in error to blame Biblical Christians for what non-Christians may have done in the name of Christianity."

"Go to Hell"

One student spoke up, "Well, what about the Apostle Paul? You're not saying the Apostle Paul is not a Christian, are you?"

“The Apostle Paul was a great Christian!" Mike exclaimed. "And let me tell you what he said with his own mouth about the Jews!"

All those decades of Scripture memory paid off as Mike extemporaneously began quoting Scripture beginning with Romans 1:16. He said: "Paul wrote in Romans, 'For I am not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ, for it is the power or God to salvation for everyone who believes, the Jew first and also for the Greek.'"

"Those are the words of the Apostle Paul himself written in his letter to the Romans. Paul prioritized the Gospel as being for the Jews and wanted them to 'believe.'" Mike continued. "Then in Romans 3:1-2, Paul is talking about the advantage the Jew has when considering the Gospel. He says, 'What advantage then is there in being a Jew, or what value is there in circumcision? Much in every way! First of all, the Jews have been entrusted with the very words of God!'"

Mike pressed. "See! Paul is not putting down the Jews; he is reasoning with them to understand that Jesus is the fulfillment of all they have been taught as Jews."

Then Mike reached into his bag and pulled out his Bible. "But most conclusively of all," Mike opened to Romans 9:1-5, "Paul says he loves the Jews so much, he would be willing to GO TO HELL himself if the Jews would be saved. Listen to his own words. Mike then confidently read from the Word of God:

'I speak the truth in Christ—I am not lying, my conscience confirms it through the Holy Spirit—I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart. For I could wish that I myself were cursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my people, those of my own race, the people of Israel. Theirs is the adoption to sonship; theirs the divine glory, the covenants, the receiving of the law, the temple worship and the promises. Theirs are the patriarchs, and from them is traced the human ancestry of the Messiah, who is God over all, forever praised! Amen.'"

Mike stressed, "Paul was not declaring a doctrine; he was declaring a passion! He loves the Jews so much that he is saying he would be willing to go to hell if it would result in the Jews being saved. Be careful here, Paul is not claiming to be a Messiah, but he is declaring his love for the Jews. 'I tell the truth.... I wish I could be accursed myself...' Does this sound like a Jew-hating Christian?"

But Paul and John blamed the Jews!

A student countered passionately, "But Paul blamed the Jews for the death of Jesus, like John did!"

Mike insisted, "Because they were guilty! A specific group of Jews at the time of Christ did not believe He was the Messiah, saw Him as a threat, put a hit out on Him, and brought Him up on false charges before the Roman and Jewish judges. The Roman representative, Pontius Pilate, judged that he found no fault with Jesus, but the crowd of Jews led by the High Priest, Scribes and Pharisees, Jewish leaders at the time, called for His crucifixion. Pilate even offered to let either Jesus or Barabbas, a known criminal, go free. The Jews called for Jesus to be crucified and Barabbas to be released! So you see, those Jews were responsible for the death of Jesus. That is what Paul and John were saying. And, those were the Jews for whom Paul was having compassion and desiring that they repent, those very ones who had killed Jesus, the very Jesus Whom Paul now loved more than his own life. Paul had compassion on them because he had been one of them. He very likely may have been there crying, "Crucify Him, crucify Him."

What could be worse than killing God?

One sweet young girl seemed genuinely disturbed. "So, the Jews committed deicide. What could be worse than killing God?"

Mike clarified, “What we have to understand here is that though they killed Jesus, only his humanity died that day. He is 100 % God and 100% man. Humanly, His body died and was separated from His soul which is what happens at death. His soul went to Paradise, but His body was in a tomb for three days. On the third day, He conquered death and rose from the dead. His soul and body were reunited. He walked again on the earth among men for forty days, then ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of God and is coming again. So, while he died in his humanity, he never died in his deity. He never ceased to be God and was always and ever will be the living and true God."

Who are you to say...

A young man could barely stay seated and angrily railed, “You Christians identify with Christianity when it’s convenient, and then you disassociate yourselves when it suits you. Everybody knows Roman Catholicism represents Christianity. Who are you to say they and the Lutherans are not Christians?”

Mike gently responded. "I do not say it of my own authority, but from the authority of God's Word. I believe there are people in Roman Catholicism and in Lutheran churches who are true Christians, but only if they believe the Gospel as defined in the Bible. The codified doctrines of the Roman Catholic Church and the German Lutheran church do not teach the Gospel as defined in the Bible. Any denomination that gets away from the Bible errs and eventually embraces a false Gospel. You have to measure the definition of Christian by what God says in the Bible, and they, by their own documents, do not believe the true Gospel."

Christians did NOT bring about the Holocaust

Mike concluded, "Biblical Christians did not bring about the Holocaust, but that doesn't mean Christians don't do bad things. It's not just non-Christians who do horrible things. The Bible tells us we all fell and are prone to sin, and therefore, we all do bad things that need forgiveness from God. There are true Christians who have done horrible things. Some true Christians raised their hands and did horrible things against the Jews, and they needed to repent of that. Those are the ones for whom Jesus died and washed away their sin. But that is not what the pattern of true Christianity demonstrated during the Holocaust. To say the Christian religion as taught in the Bible is responsible for the Holocaust is a serious error theologically and historically. I can name people like Corrie Ten Boom who because of their true Christian faith, risked their lives and protected the Jews.

The Professor spoke up and named other people who were Christians and had risked their lives defending the Jews.

Mike said, "And what about the people of Le Chambon that we learned about."

"Yes!" said the professor enthusiastically, and he accurately rehearsed the truth of those wonderful people who created the "safest place for Jews" during WWII.

The young man, still angry, spit out, “You can't have it both ways! You can’t say you’re a Christian and do bad things.”

Mike gently replied, "Christ did not come for good people. He came for sinners who seek to have their sins forgiven by what He did for them."

Lunch

Class ended and a group of students came over and asked Mike to join them for lunch where the conversation continued...

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