ATHEISM DARWINISM THEORY OF EVOLUTION RACISM NAZISM AND HOLOCAUST
NAZI HOLOCAUST WAS THE END RESULT OF THE ANTI-BIBLE AND ANTI-JEW PHILOSOPHY AND THEOLOGY. The favorable political, philosophical and religious context for the advent of Hitler and holocaust was created over a period of time. The people and establishments were slowly poisoned with anti-Bible and anti-Jew philosophy, theology, teachings and sentiments. Adolph Hitler came to power with the support of the anti-Semitic conservatives and anti-Communists of Germany. Both Mussolini and Hitler put an end to the separation of Church and State that had been well established in their countries. They both appeared in highly religious public platforms.
HATRED TO THE BIBLICAL TRUTH ALWAYS LEADS TO HATRED MURDER AND SUICIDE. The ideology of anti-Semitism has a long history of hatred to the God’s chosen way of salvation, God’s chosen people, the instrument through whom salvation was brought to mankind. Hence throughout the world and world history we find the mysterious hatred to the Jews and the Bible and to the true Christians. One of the most entrenched and academic anti-Semitic enterprise was the anti-supernatural philosophy and theology giving birth to the higher criticism and modern liberal theology. This book traces the ideological history of the connection between anti-Semitism, liberal theology and the Nazi Holocaust. Hatred to the Biblical truth leads to hatred murder and suicide. The Church in the modern days have been weakened and devastated by the Godless, anti-supernatural anti-Semitic higher criticism and liberal theology. This trend has suppressed and brainwashed the church. This has gone to the extent of the Church enjoying and adjusting with the most anti-Christian and anti-Biblical theology within the Church and Bible colleges. It has degraded, polluted and degenerated the theological education to the effect of filling the churches with false doctrines. Only a sober approach to the whole issue can help. According to the ultimate criteria of truth, imaginable by mankind, Jesus Christ stands undeniably proved.
IT IS NECESSASRY TO UNDERSTAND A SHORT HISTORY OF THE IDEOLOGY OF ANTI-SEMITISM. THE ANTI-JEWISM (ANTI-SEMITISM) IS THE KEY TO UNDERESTANDING THE WORLD HISTORY. IT IS HATRED TO GOD, BIBLE AND JEWS AND TRUE CHRISTIANS AND IS CENTRAL TO ALL GLOBAL CONFLICTS. JEWS ARE A SEPARATE, CALLED OUT PEOPLE BY GOD AND THEY KEEP THEIR SEPARTENESS EVERYWHERE. SO ANTISEMITISM REMAINS AND THE WORLD SIMPLY HATES THEM.MOREOVER HATRED TO THE BIBLE CAN EXPRESS ITSELF SO WICKED AS IN THE CASE OF NAZI HOLOCAUST. Anti-Semitism is the hostility aroused against the Jews by irrational thoughts about the Jews. The theological anti-Judaism and racial anti-Jewism are two side of the same coin. Hence opposition to Judaism “in effect became opposition to Jews. Anti-Semitism is a baseless and unreasonable prejudice and hatred against Jews. Anti-Semitism is the antagonistic attitude of the non-Jews to the Jews who wield greatly disproportionate power. It is as old as the Jews. The world has changed a lot but anti-Semitism has remained. It is a major manifestation of the spiritual disease of mankind. It is a major mystery of mankind.
THE ANTI-CHRISTIANISM OF THE JEWS. Since the time of Paul, there was anti-Christian hostility among the orthodox Jews because of the claims of Christianity. As the Church became a real threat to Judaism, fear and hatred of Christianity increased. Hence it is quite possible that the Jews might have aided or instigated the early Roman persecution of the Christians in the first few centuries.
HISTORY OF ANTISEMITISM. Anti-Semitism has its origins even before the existence of Christianity. The roots of Christian anti- Semitism lie in the belief that the Jews killed Christ, the divine Savior. This belief made the Jews the enemy of Christians, causing a hatred that has lasted centuries. From the very beginnings the Jewish people had to confront anti-Jewish behavior from others. In the Bible itself, we find conflict between Esau and Jacob, Pharaoh's or Haman's planned genocides, Amalek's attack in the desert etc. Hence the memories of anti-Semitic experience are deep rooted in the Jewish memory. The virulent anti-Jewish attitudes were directed at major Jewish communities around the world. Judaism was understood as a non-tolerant monotheistic religion.
ALL THE EVIL EMPIRES WERE ANTISEMITIC. Anti-Semitism is basically an expression of the political and cultural opposition to Jewish ideals. All the empires had found the Jews as obstacles to their program of conquest. This was because of the stubborn Jewish belief in the right of national self-determination, and because of the democratic and egalitarian bent of the Jewish culture based in the undeniable values of the Bible. They were primarily motivated by the fear that the Israeli democratic and secular culture will undermine their autocratic regimes. ANTI-SEMITISM WAS AN EXPRESSION OF OPPOSITION TO JEWISH IDEALS. Hence they all sought to defame the Jewish people through an endless series of baseless accusations. The Greco-Romans charged that the Jews hated mankind. The Jews were accused of poisoning the wells, eating little babies, sucking blood etc. Anti-Semitism is basically a political tactic of the motivated opponents directed against the Jews whenever they are seen as their most determined foe.
THE PRE-CHRISTIAN ANTI-SEMITISM. The anti-Jewish acts and attitudes existed before Christianity came into prominence in the ancient world. One such example we can find in the Book of Esther: "There is a certain people scattered abroad and dispersed among the peoples in all the provinces of your realm. Their laws are different from those of every people. They do not observe even the king's laws. . . ." At least from that time until today, anti-Semitism has been the striking characteristic of the non-Jewish attitude to the Jews.
THE IMPACT OF DARWINISM, RACISM, ANTISEMITISM, HIGHER CRITICISM AND LIBERAL THEOLOGY ON NAZI HOLOCAUST. THE CHRISTIANS FOUND THEMSELVES UNDER A DANGEROUS ATTACK FROM CHARLES DARWIN. Darwin came with the idea of evolution saying that all the present life forms had gradually developed from one or a few original forms. The appearance of the various life-forms must have taken millions of years, not a few days. Their appearance was a gradual differentiation and separation of species, not a discrete creation of animals each "according to its kind.” Thus Christians perceived the great conflict between Darwin's account of origins and that presented in Genesis. Many theologians sought to adjust their doctrines to the new biological revolution called Evolution. Evolution forced the recognition that the Bible contained myth and legend. Darwinism became a major source for the radical biblical study called "Higher Criticism.”
DARWIN’S THEORY OF EVOLUTION WAS APPLIED TO THE STUDY OF RELIGIONS. Charles Darwin (1809-1882) is the author of the hypothetical theory of evolution based on natural selection. His theory was an open attack on Christian theism. It undermined belief in the origin, authority and inspiration of the Bible. Darwin degenerated gradually from a belief in complete design to a belief in divinely inspired evolution, to the outright belief in a purely material process that required no divine intervention.
DARWIN’S IMPACT ON THEOLOGY AND HIGHER CRITICISM. Theologians adopted Darwin’s theory and language, and began explaining religion in terms of evolutionary forces. They reasoned that if modern man evolved from more primitive species, then perhaps modern religion evolved from primitive religions. Then, the “primitive” religion should also become extinct and make way for more evolved religion. So they thought Biblical religion must go and liberal theology must enter. Judaism and her Scriptures were considered as mere products of anthropological evolutionary forces.
NEGATIVE IMPACT OF COMPARATIVE RELIGIONS. Over a period of time vast amounts of new knowledge about the world and competing cultures and their native religions became available. The burgeoning science of archaeology opened the past and now allowed for the Bible to be studied against its cultural milieu in a way that had not heretofore been possible. All religions were seen in their most basic form to lead to one truth (God) and to promote a common ethic of love for one’s neighbor. They foolishly concluded that Israelite religion had taken elements of the surrounding pagan beliefs and placed these within a structure of monotheism. For example, Israel’s tradition of creation and the flood were said to have been borrowed from the Babylonian culture.
LINK BETWEEN - AGE OF REASON, DARWIN, HIGHER CRITICISM, HITLER, SECOND WORLD WAR AND HOLOCAUST. During the Enlightenment period or the Age of Reason, or the Age of Rationalism, the philosophers believed reasoning was the best method of learning truth. Thinkers relied heavily on the scientific method to discover truth in all disciplines. Philosophers focused on experimentation and careful observation. These modern thinkers believed that reason could be tested and was therefore reliable, but revelation (which claims to be God given) was beyond testing and therefore unreliable.So many believed that reason must be used to “validate” the claims of the Bible. Thus, reason became the final judge and guide in everything. THUS REASON WAS RAISED TO THE EXTENT OF REJECTING REVELATION UNREASONABLY. THIS LED TO ERROR. THE AGE OF REASON PRODUCED A GENERATION OF BIBLE SCHOLARS KNOWN AS RATIONALISTS. THEY ARGUED THAT WE LEARN ABOUT GOD ONLY THROUGH REASON.
DARWINISM, RACE THEORY, HITLER AND HOLOCAUST. Darwin’s theory heavily influenced Nazi race policies. Thus the central policy of Hitler was the development of the ‘superior race’. This required preventing the ‘inferior races’ from mixing with the superior. The ‘superior race’ belief was based on the theory of group inequality within each species, which was assumed in Darwin’s theory of ‘survival of the fittest’. Darwinism is the belief that evolution proceeds by the differential survival of the superior individuals possessing advantageous features apt to survive. Darwin was responsible for the wrong view of evolutionary progress caused by the elimination of the weak in the struggle for survival. This false view of Darwinism encouraged the Nazi views on race and war. The widespread acceptance of Social Darwinism by the scientific and academic community led to the Second World war and holocaust. IDEAS HAVE CONSEQUENCES.
THE DEMONIC HIGHER CRITIC LIBERAL THEOLOGY SUBSCRIBED TO DARWININSM AND ENCOURAGED THE EVIL PLANS OF HITLER. The eradication of the Judeo-Christian Biblical doctrine of the divine origin of humans, from mainline German liberal theology and replacing it with Darwinism, directly contributed to the acceptance of Social Darwinism leading to the tragedy of the holocaust. If the German theological enterprise and the Nazi party had fully embraced and consistently acted on the belief that all humans were descendants of Adam and Eve and equal before the creator God, as taught in both the Old Testament and New Testament Scriptures, the second world war and the holocaust would never have occurred.
RACE THEORY OF DARWINISM CAPTURED BY HITLER. Hitler and the Nazi party claimed that their goal was to apply this ‘science’ of Darwinism to society. The core idea of Darwinism was selection. Hence Hitler wanted to produce a better society based on the implications of the science of evolution propounded by Darwin. He believed that Aryans with their evolutionary superiority had the right and duty to subjugate all other peoples. The Nazis believed that instead of waiting for the natural forces and chance to control evolution, they themselves must direct the process of artificial selection to advance the human race. The bad blood theory demanded elimination of inferior genetic lines to further the process of evolution. Hitler believed that once the inferior races were exterminated, the future generations would be grateful to him for the improvement that his programs brought to humanity. War was thought as a positive force to eliminate the ‘weaker’ races, and also the weaker members of the ‘superior’ races. Hence Hitler glorified war to ‘upgrade the race’.
COMBINATION OF ANTI-SEMITISM, LIBERAL THEOLOGY, GERMAN RACISM AND DARWINISM LED TO HOLOCAUST.The anti-Semitic attitudes of the German people, the sense of German racial superiority and the explosion of Darwinism encouraged by the liberal theology and higher criticism all contributed to make a lethal combination to produce the holocaust. Firmly convinced that Darwinian evolution was true, Hitler saw himself as the modern savior of mankind. The application of Darwinism to society, called eugenics, produced one of the most tragic scientific blunders of all time.
ANTI-BIBLE, ANTI-GODISM OF HEGEL, NIETZSCHE, HITLER AND THE SECOND WORLD WAR.G.F.W. Hegel was known as the philosopher of the becoming by dialectics. Hegel was a contemporary of Schleiermacher and gave the dominant shape to idealistic philosophy during the nineteenth century. As a philosopher of history and religion Hegel proposed that all of reality is the outworking of Spirit/Mind. History is the objectification of the Spirit/Mind which is working itself out in the historical process. So history carries its own meaning and there is a continual upward progress and evolution in history upward toward its final form by means of the dialectic. In the historical evolution the conflict between the opposite forces (thesis-antithesis) are resolved in a higher position (synthesis). The synthesis then becomes a new thesis confronting another antithesis in the upward pull of the historical process. This philosophy of Hegel influenced Marx in his formulation of dialectical materialism, class struggle etc.
HEGEL, LIBERALISM AND THE SECOND WORLD WAR.Hegel held his influence in the world of philosophy till 1914, World War I. His philosophy of history gave the structure and mental cast to the philosophers and various schools of biblical criticism. Hegelian idealism were support for the idea of divine immanence and the fostering of historical and biblical criticism. The optimistic slogan that characterized the era was “Every day in every way we are getting better and better”. This kind of arrogant and ungodly optimism led to the second world war, holocaust etc.
FRIEDRICH NIETZSCHE (1844-1900), HITLER AND SECOND WORLD WAR, carried the critique of religion to a deadly level proclaiming “God is dead.” He was alleging that most people no longer believed in God, or according to him faith in God was no longer relevant. That the system of values based on belief in an absolute truth is dead. But ironically he believed in absolute truth of materialism and physical reality. He put forth the idea of the super human, who through his “will to power” could bring down false ideals and moral codes of his day. HITLER THOUGHT THAT NIETZSCHE WAS PROPHESYING ABOUT HIM IN HIS SUPERMAN.
The Anti-Bible False Church Supported Hitler
THE HISTORICAL ANTI-SEMITISM OF THE CHURCH LED TO HOLOCAUST. By the second century, a consistent theological rationale against Jews and Judaism had been developed. This was the signature of the whole course of Western civilization. When the Church became more politically influential this theory was put into practice. Thus Jews lost their favored status under Roman law, and a pattern of discrimination and harassment was initiated against the Jews. This led to the ghetto, physical expulsions, and pogroms. When the Roman Empire became Christianized, the anti-Semitic attitudes of the Church were reflected in the legal codes. Gradually the Jews were not allowed to hold public office (Synod of Claremont, 535 C.E.); they were forbidden to have Christian servants or slaves (538), they were forced to wear a badge on their clothing (1215); they were forced into ghettos (1267); and they were denied university degrees (1434). In addition to these official decrees of the Church, there were unofficial persecutions, whereby the Jews experienced large scale discrimination, murder and mass expulsions from one country after another.
THE ORGANIZED CHURCH BECAME DEGENERATED AND ANTI-SEMITIC. The teachings of Jesus became a theological system. The spontaneous enthusiasm of the original Biblical Christianity has been replaced with a highly organized Church system with authority, creeds, and dominant theologians. The religion of Jesus has been replaced by a religion of blessings which can be received only through sacraments, which can be given only by the priests. This was primarily because the primitive Christianity which broke from the isolationist Judaism, was immediately exposed to the world of Greek, Persian, and Egyptian cults.
THE ANTI-SEMITISM OF THE CHURCH FATHERS AND THE CHURCH. The battle of the Christian Church against the Jews began with the relentless attacks of the Church Fathers on the Jews who stubbornly rejected Jesus as Messiah. Hence the Church Fathers tended to denounce the Jews as a "condemned race” hated of God. The Church, was projected as the new Israel, and had an anti-Jewish theology. They thought that Judaism having fulfilled its mission of prepared the context for Christianity, had to be out of the scene. Hence laws were passed to the effect that the Jews were discriminated and hated against in every possible way.
BAD THEOLOGY OF THE CHURCH FATHERS. Thus the Church Fathers had sown the seeds of intolerance against the Jews. Hence the Jews became the object of hatred and persecution all over Europe in the following centuries. THUS CHURCH FATHERS WERE RESPONSIBLE FOR THE WRONG THEOLOGY OF ANTI-SEMITISM AND CONSEQUENT HOLOCAUST. THEY FAILED TO READ THE EPISTLES OF PAUL AND UNDERSTAND THE PLAN OF GOD REGARDING THE JEWS. The Church Fathers developed intolerant and cruel theology which required the Jews to abandon Judaism or be seen as advocates of the Devil.
THE WORLD OWES TO THE JEWS BUT OPPOSES THE JEWS. Marx and the Marxists were always fanatic opponents of the concept of Jewish national self-determination, and the anti-Zionist tradition which they founded was accelerated by the global ambitions of the Soviet Union and its Communist supporters. Left wing anti-Semitism in the world today could be understood as a continuation of that policy. But the left wing ideology itself owes to the Jews starting with Marx himself. Christianity, Islam and Marxism all owe spiritually and intellectually to the Jewish heritage. The contributions of the Jews to the world in the fields of science, technology and finance are also remarkable. Thus even though the Jewish contribution to the world is overwhelming, the world is trapped to hate the Jews and the Jews are trapped to be hated. This is one of the most remarkable ironies and mysteries in the history of mankind.
THE CHURCH INVOLVELMENT IN THE HOLOCAUST – THE EVIL LIBERAL THEOLOGY WAS AT THE ROOT OF HOLOCAUST. The Holocaust took place only a few decades ago in the Christian Europe. The Christian clergy looked on while millions men, women, and children were murdered. While the Jewish extermination program spread throughout the Europe, the Pope and the Vatican had the policy of neutrality to Hitler and his victims. The mass genocide of millions of Jews all over Europe would not have been possible without the participation by huge numbers of people, both Protestant and Catholic. The horror of Holocaust transcends that of anything known in human history, especially because it happened at a time and part of the world thought to be culturally advanced and "Christian". Mankind has proved to evil enough to have such terrible hatred of every Jewish man, woman, and child that they should be mercilessly killed simply because they are Jews. What made the millions of people who considered themselves to be Christians to participate as perpetrators, collaborators, or silent bystanders, as millions of Jews were slaughtered? How did a clash of two religions based on the Bible lead to such a mass murder? HENCE ONLY 3 OPTIONS WERE OFFERED TO JEWS - CONVERSION, EXPULSION, OR ANNIHILATION. Such theology lead to the persecution of the Jews wherever they went in the centuries that followed. Gradually three progressively severe policies were formed against the Jews: conversion, expulsion, or annihilation.
CHURCH, LUTHER, HITLER, NAZISM AND ANTISEMITISM.The underlying element of anti-Semitism in the church theology endured through the centuries into the modern times. Martin Luther had a very aggressive position against the Jews. Adolf Hitler used Luther’s tips to implement the "final solution" against the Jews, the Holocaust. Hitler thought that the genocide of the Jewish people as a “sacred” mission, in accordance with the will of the Almighty Creator. Many believe that it was not just Hitler’s personal theology that led to the Holocaust. Rather it was a two thousand years old anti-Semitism by the church which laid the foundation for the Holocaust. Though Holocaust was the work of the godless, anti-Christian criminals, it would not have been possible without the prehistory of anti-Jewish theology and sentiments in the Church. The Nazis brought anti-Semitism to a level of unbounded fanaticism, denying the Jews the very right to live and thus condemning them to death purely because they were Jews.
CHURCH FAILED TO OPPOSE HITLER. IT WAS THE HIGHER CRITICISM AND THE LIBERAL THEOLOGY OF THE CHURCH WHICH ENCOURAGED ANTI-SEMITISM. Hitler's "Final Solution” was a radical new step. But the road was in preparation in the church for long. Hence the Church failed to mount any serious resistance to Hitler's Holocaust program. As Christianity was in existence, Judaism had no more reason to exist. The Jews were being punished by God in their homeless, Templeless, wandering condition for the sake of a witness. This theology of displacement thus built contempt for Jews and Judaism. True Christian theology does not advocate murdering Jews. But the heads of the church, the seminary instructors, and theologians in Germany in the 1930s were possessed by a “religion” of liberal theology and higher criticism. And the root of anti-Semitism was firmly grounded in higher criticism and liberal theology.
THE DEEP ROOTS OF ANTI-SEMITISM IN THE EUROPEAN SOCIETY .By the time of Enlightenment, many philosophers and also people at large were prejudiced against the Jews. Since the early centuries after Christ there were three anti-Jewish policies of conversion, expulsion and annihilation. The Holocaust was devoted to the total annihilation of the Jewish people in Europe. The Jews were dehumanized, demonized, were accused as economic manipulators, both capitalist and communist, sexual corrupters, polluting racial bloodlines, traitors to Germany, responsible for the German defeat in the first World War. Anti-Semitism is an extreme form of irrational hate. Jews have been demonized and defined as the source of all evil. The resurgence of European anti-Semitism even after the Holocaust suggests that it has deep roots in the society. So it could be inherent to European culture and a part of the European values. Anti-Zionism is similar to anti-Semitism. Anti-Zionists reject the right of the Jewish people to have its national consciousness expressed in the State of Israel. They publicly call for the destruction of Israel and the Jewish people. They deny the Jewish people's right to self-determination, de-legitimize Israel as a state, and attribute to Israel all the world's evil. The three main Sources of Contemporary European anti-Semitism are the Arab and Islamic communities, extreme Right and neo-Nazis and the extreme Left, developed by the Soviet Union in the years after the 1967 Six Day War, accuses Israel of all the evils perpetrated by colonialist Europe - Nazism, racism, colonialism and imperialism.
THE LIBERAL CHURCH REDUCED ANTI-SEMITISM AFTER THE HOLOCAUST.After the Holocaust, the churches reversed their tradition of anti-Judaism. Church statements, both Protestant and Catholic, European and American, denounced anti-Semitism and repudiated the tradition of contempt for Jews and Judaism.
THE FALSE LIBERAL CHURCH TENDED TO REJECT EVERYTHING JEWISH INCLUDING THE BIBLE. By 1930 the Liberal church leaders in Germany generally believed that the Jewish people and the Jewish roots of Christianity were to be denied.They promoted the view that Christianity did not grow out of Judaism but developed in opposition to Judaism. The Church tried to remove the Jewish influence from the German society both in the political and religious spheres. Thus they tended to explain away or reject the Old Testament as a collection of myths and stories developed by cattle traders.
GERMAN CHRISTIAN MOVEMENT. It was in this context that the Liberal Protestant pastors founded the German Christian Movement in 1932. They wanted to create a state church that all German Protestant Christians would be able to rally around. Their symbol was a Christian cross with a swastika in the middle.They did not hold the right view of the Bible. They did not want Jews to believe in Jesus and discouraged the mission to the Jews as they thought it would be a serious threat to German race. They saw all Jews as a cancer to be excised. The movement’s goal was to create a national German church transcending Protestant and Catholic divisions exemplifying the Nazified Christianity it advocated. The German Christian movement was a faction within the Protestant church of Germany. The movement sought to demonstrate its support for Hitler in many ways. It was willing to alter fundamental Christian doctrines to ally with Nazism. It welcomed the 1933 order of removing Jews from the civil service by demanding that the church do likewise removing the Jews from positions within the church.
ANTI-JEWISH GRUNDMANN INSTITUTE. In 1939, the Institute for the Study and Eradication of Jewish Influence on German Church Life was started. Walter Grundmann was the director. The Institute was the achievement of the German Christian movement. The Institute’s goals were both political and theological. It sought to create a de-Judaized church for a Germany. They demanded the removal of the Old Testament from the Christian Bible on the grounds that the Old Testament was a Jewish book. The Institute promoted the view that Jesus, was no Jew but rather had fought to destroy Judaism, and died as victim in that struggle. The Germans were now asked to be in Jesus’s own struggle against the Jews, who were seeking Germany’s destruction with help from Bolshevism, and striving for world conquest. Hence the war against the Jews was not just military, but spiritual too. The Jewish influence on all areas of German life, including religious-church life, also must be broken.
On the theological level, the Institute achieved remarkable success in redefinition of Christianity as a Germanic, Aryan religion. The Institute’s theology attended directly to caring for the Aryan racial spirit, in opposition to that of the Jews. They tried to eliminate all traces of Jewish influence from contemporary Christian theology and religious practice. Their commitment was to Germanness, to be achieved by eradicating the Jewish from the Christian. The Institute’s goal was The De-Judaization of the Religious Life as the Task of German Theology and Church. Salvation without the Old Testament, and without any Jewish element was their goal. In 1933 Gerhard Kittel, and 1936 Leffler spoke of killing and exterminating the Jews. The lack of outrage to such proposals in the German society was striking. This proves that ridding Germany of Jews had by the time became an acceptable option even by murder.
THE DEMONIC IDEOLOGY OF RACISM AND NAZISM CONQUERED THE CHURCH. HENCE HITLER KILLED JEWS WITH CHURCH SUPPORT. AND THIS WAS POSSIBLE ONLY IF CHURCH HAD SUPPORTED. Hitler’s success on the Jewish question can be credited in large measure to the unrelenting anti-Jewish Christian theological discourse. Anti-Semitism was employed by church leaders to gain credibility with their own adherents. Anti-Semitism was also a tactic in the rhetorical battles among the different Christian factions, with each accusing its opponents of being “Jewish” while positioning itself as the true Nazi believer.
THUS, IN FACT NAZISM RACISM WERE COLONIZING THE CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY, REDEFINING CHRISTIAN MESSAGE FOR ITS OWN PURPOSES. Nazism appropriated key elements of Christian theology into its own ideology to win Christian adherents. Conversely, German Christians appropriated Nazi rhetoric and symbols into the church to make itself appear modern
THE ANTI-SEMITIC VISION OF LUTHER WAS EXECUTED BY HITLER. Martin Luther (1483-1546) is the father of German Protestantism, and also wider Protestantism itself. Perhaps the most dangerous condemnation of Jews by any Christian, is found in Luther’s “On the Jews and Their Lives,” written in 1543. Luther did not invent anti-semitism or anti-Jewishness. But he promoted it to a level never before seen in Europe. Luther's anti-Jewish rhetoric matches the beliefs held by Hitler and most of the Germans in the 1930s. The Jewish holocaust, may not have occurred without the influence from Luther's book "On the Jews and Their Lies." Luther’s words were cited in support of the anti-Semitic measures in Germany. Luther’s views about the Jews in his book ON THE JEWS AND THEIR LIVES significantly shaped the attitude toward Jews in Germany and increased anti-Semitism. Luther was adopted as the authority for justifying attacks upon Jews. Anti-Jewish publications during the Nazi era quoted Luther’s anti-Semitic views.
THERE IS A LINEAR CONNECTION BETWEEN THE ANTI-JEWISM OF LUTHER AND HITLER. RACIAL ANTI-JEWISM AND RELIGIOUS ANTI-JUDAISM LED TO THE DEMONIZING THE JEWS. CHURCH’S INDIFFERENCE TO THE RELIGIOUS KILLING OF THE JEWS BY THE NAZI STATE IS NOT SECULARISM BUT COMPLICITY. The lack of organized dissent from the organized Church in Germany was the proof of its support to the Nazi state agenda against the Jews. Nationalism, anti-Marxism, etc were the common denominators between the German church and the Nazi regime. The basic reason for this support is the Protestant anti-Semitism articulated by Luther. Most clergymen in Germany had used Luther’s writings for the creation of a “de-Judaized” form of Christianity. All this helped the Nazis to justify, refine, define and execute their final agenda against the Jews.
POPES WERE MORE ANTI-JEWISH THAN LUTHER AND HITLER. Luther and Hitler were not the first two men to face a Jewish problem. Popes have used stronger language. The ghettos and segregation originated in Rome by papal edict. But the extremes to which Luther and Hitler went to spread their beliefs and call upon others for action was unparalleled. HITLER FILFILLED THE VISION OF LUTHER. Hitler used Luther’s original concepts of handling the Jewish problem and put them into action. But Hitler’s plan to exterminate the Jews ultimately failed. Hitler had to commit suicide and Nazi Germany was defeated in 1945.
ANTI-SEMITIC THEOLOGY OF NAZI CHURCH LED TO HOLOCAUST. NAZI HOLOCAUST WAS THE END RESULT OF THE ANTI-BIBLE AND ANTI-JEW LIBERAL THEOLOGY DEVELOPED WITHIN THE CHURCH. The favorable political, philosophical and religious context for the advent of Hitler and holocaust was created gradually over a period of time. The people and establishments had been slowly poisoned with the anti-Bible and anti-Jew philosophy, theology, teachings and sentiments. Adolph Hitler came to power with the support of the anti-Semitic conservatives and anti-Communists of Germany. Both Mussolini and Hitler worked closely with the Church and had put an end to the separation of Church and State that had been well established in their countries. They both appeared in religious public platforms.
ABSURDITY OF THE ANTI-JEWISH HERETICAL GERMAN CHURCH – ELIMINATING EVERYTHING JEWISH.The anti-Jewish German Christians tried to devise a Christianity which is the opposite of Judaism. They tried to present Jesus as an anti-Semite, and the cross as a symbol of war against Jews. To make the German version of Christianity, they had to eliminate everything Jewish in it. Hence they decided the Old Testament must go. In 1939, they founded “the Institute for Research into and Elimination of Jewish Influence in German Church Life.” They considered the whole Old Testament “a cunning Jewish conspiracy.”
THEY QUOTED SCRIPTURES OUT OF CONTEXT AND TWISTED THE MEANING TO SUIT THEIR ANTI-SEMITIC AGENDA. They used John 8:44 to great effect: “You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, and has nothing to do with the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies.” The German Christians always painted Jesus as a non- Jew and often as a cruel anti-Semite.
CONTRIBUTION OF HIGHER CRITICISM AND LIBERAL THEOLOGY.The liberal theological perversions that marked the Modern Era ended with the Holocaust. Higher criticism failed to lead humanity to a higher level but instead brought it to the depths of degradation. Liberal Protestantism, which rejected the foundational beliefs of Christianity embraced Hitler’s ideology, became part of the holocaust machine.
HITLER’S THEOLOGIANS GOT IT WRONG. The liberal theological writings of Schleiermacher, Harnacketc were instrumental in pushing the German church into this pathetic condition. Their theology was fatally flawed. They denied the truth of the Hebrew and New Testament Scriptures. They denied that the Jewish people were special to God. They denied that Y’shua the Jew was God’s way of salvation for all people. In their revised Bible, which originally read, “Salvation is from the Jews,” was changed to read, “Jews are our misfortune. Hitler’s theologians denied the very people whom God chose to use to bring redemption.
HITLER MISUSED CHURCH TO BECOME NIETZSCHE’S SUPERMAN. Hitler was influenced by Nietzsche’s philosophy and saw himself as the superman. Nietzsche exalted the idea of strength personified in the Superman who is a cruel and ruthless champion of unbridled power, rampant for spoil and victory. Hitler might have thought that Nietzsche had prophesied his rise to power. Hitler considered himself the superman of Nietzsche’s prophecy. Thus Nietzsche prepared the way for Hitler. Chamberlain also believed that Hitler was the man to lead the Germans to rule the world. Hitler did not follow the biblical teachings of Christianity. Rather he twisted them to suit his own purposes. According to Hitler, Christianity’s chief difficulty was that it advocated meekness. This was simply not useful to the National Socialist ideology, which preached “ruthlessness and strength.” Hitler worshiped power. He did not care about truth. His sworn enemy was not falsehood but weakness.
The True Church Opposed Hitler – Bonhoeffer Phenomenon
BARMEN DECLARATION.Soon after the formation of the German Christian Movement, a group of disapproving Protestant theologians in Germany, including Karl Barth, condemned the German Christian movement as heresy. They issued the famous Barmen Declaration in May 1934. It became the basis of the new movement within the German Protestant church, known as the Confessing Church.
CONFESSING CHURCH.The conservative Protestants maintained that both the Hebrew Scriptures and the New Testament were inspired by God. They contended that there was nothing “Christian” about the German Christian Movement. They saw the movement’s agenda as a collapse of both Christian faith and Judeo-Christian morals. In 1934, theologically conservative pastors and theologians founded the Confessing Church, a movement broad enough to include Lutheran, Reformed and United churches of Germany, to resist the evil tides of the German Christian Movement. Their theology of the movement can be found in the Barmen Declaration written largely by Karl Barth. The declaration affirmed the key doctrines of the Christian faith. It was a protest against the Liberal Protestant Church that embraced the ideology of Hitler. Lutheran leaders such as Martin Niemoller and Dietrich Bonhoeffer also helped the drafting of the Barmen Declaration. Bonhoeffer publicly denounced Hitler. As a result, he and many in the Confessing Church were executed. Others, like Diet Eman, and many men and women risked their own safety and that of their families to oppose the Nazis and save Jewish lives. The German Christian movement had the support of about 40 percent of the pastors. The Confessing Church attracted about twenty percent of Protestant pastors, was thus a minority opposition group. It took its stand in opposition to the German Christian movement for its efforts to undermine Christian doctrine, and its support for Hitler.
The German Catholics were theologically conservative and unwilling to alter their doctrines or their liturgy to accord with Nazism. But they too felt that the Jews were a degenerate influence on German Christians. As the Nazi terror increased there was growing silence in the Church about the Nazi Atrocities against Jews. The Nazi’s terrorizing reprisals against the Church, and particularly against its courageous members had intimidated the people. Gradually even some in the Confessing Church began to be more patriotic than compassionate to the dying Jews. By 1938 the Confessing Church had ceased making statements regarding the Jewish question. Bonhoeffer came to the conviction that resisting the Nazi atrocities against the Jews required a Christian to risk everything in obedience to Jesus. But on April 19, 1945 he was executed.
PROTESTANT DECLARATIONS OF BLAME AND CONFESSIONS OF GUILT AFTER THE WAR.It all went similar to this one. “We succumbed despondently and idly as the members of the people of Israel among us were dishonored, robbed, tormented, and killed. We allowed the exclusion of our fellow Christians who originated from Israel ... from the offices of the church, even permitting the church to deny the baptism of Jews”. “We did not raise our voice loudly enough against the extermination of the Jews and other ostracized people”.
Anti-Bible Theories Will Ultimately
Destroy Human Civilization
