True to His Faith

I have always been fascinated with history.

For me, history is not merely a collection of dates to be memorized simply for the sake of memorization.

Neither is it merely a study of the circumstances surrounding those dates.

What fascinates me are the individuals who lived during those times and how they chose to respond to those circumstances.

In the roll call of names from history, there are a few individuals that I truly admire.

Individuals who made a difference in the world, or tried to, in spite of the difficulties they faced.

One such individual that I truly admire is a man named Dietrich Bonhoeffer.

Bonhoeffer was born in the year 1906.

He was an accomplished theologian, pastor, author, musician and more.

What made Bonhoeffer remarkable to me was how he chose to live his life in response to the rise of Nazism in Germany in the Thirties and Forties.

He was ordained in Berlin in 1931.

In a sermon he wrote in 1932, it was evident that Bonhoeffer was aware that the future would be difficult.

In that sermon he stated that "the blood of martyrs might once again be demanded, but this blood, if we really have the courage and loyalty to shed it, will not be innocent, shining like that of the first witnesses for the faith. On our blood lies heavy guilt, the guilt of the unprofitable servant who is cast into outer darkness."

1933 saw the rise of Nazism in Germany and many Protestant ministers there initially welcomed this turn of events.

By the fall of that year, the Deutsche Christen gained control of many Protestant churches and approved the exclusion of those with Jewish ancestry from the ministry.

Bonhoeffer opposed this movement as he deemed it a surrender of Christian ideals to a political ideology.

In 1934, he became a member of the Universal Christian Council for Life and Work.

In 1935, Bonhoeffer established an "underground" seminary.

This seminary was shut down by the Gestapo in 1937.

In 1938, Bonhoeffer made connections with "conspirators" who politically opposed Hitler.

In 1939, he left Germany for New York City but felt compelled to return that same year and subsequently joined the political resistance.

In 1941, he was forbidden to either print or publish.

That same year, he became part of Jewish rescue action.

About this time, Bonhoeffer joined Abwehr which was at the center of resistance to Hitler.

Hans von Dohnanyi, who married Bonhoeffer‘s sister, was already a part of Abwehr and brought Bonhoeffer in because his contacts would be beneficial for Germany.

There were several plots to kill Hitler in 1943 of which Dohnanyi was aware and it is presumed Bonhoeffer was aware of them as well.

In 1943, Bonhoeffer and his sister were arrested.

Bonhoeffer found himself imprisoned at the age of 37.

In February 1945, Bonhoeffer was transferred to Buchenwald Concentration Camp.

In April 1945, an unsuccessful attempt was made on Hitler’s life.

Hitler ordered all conspirators be found and executed.

This included Dietrich Bonhoeffer.

Almost immediately, Bonhoeffer was executed by hanging at the age of 39 even as Allied Forces closed in on Berlin.

Shortly thereafter, Hitler committed suicide in his bunker and Germany surrendered.

One of Bonhoeffer’s quotes that echoes in my mind reads as follows:

"Silence in the face of evil is itself evil; God will not hold us guiltless. Not to speak is to speak. Not to act is to act."

This parallels scripture.

Ezekiel 3:19-20 (NIV) - But if you do warn the wicked man and he does not turn from his wickedness or from his evil ways, he will die for his sin; but you will have saved yourself. "Again, when a righteous man turns from his righteousness and does evil, and I put a stumbling block before him, he will die. Since you did not warn him, he will die for his sin. The righteous things he did will not be remembered, and I will hold you accountable for his blood.

In spite of the difficulties of the times, Bonhoeffer stayed the course and remained true to his faith even at the cost of his own life.

That is why I hold him in such high regard.

One more thing.

There are some who find it disquieting that Bonhoeffer might have been involved in a plot to kill someone.

Even if that someone were as evil as was Hitler.

Bonhoeffer struggled with this himself.

Bonhoeffer wrote the following: "when a man takes guilt upon himself in responsibility, he imputes his guilt to himself and no one else. He answers for it...Before other men he is justified by dire necessity; before himself he is acquitted by his conscience, but before God he hopes only for grace."

I personally do not have a problem with Bonhoeffer’s involvement and offer the following:

Ecclesiastes 3:1-3 (NIV) - There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens: a time to be born and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to uproot, a time to kill and a time to heal, a time to tear down and a time to build,

It is important to remember that the world was being torn apart by a global conflict in which millions had already died.

Had this attempt or another on Hitler‘s life been successful, lives could have been saved and the time for healing would have started sooner.


Blessings,
Jim Pokorny
The Other Brother Jim
Look for me at http://faithfulfeetteam.blogspot.com/ on Friday, April 19, 2013.
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I’ll be back here on Friday, April 26, 2013.
Schedule subject to change.