Reclining in the Shadow of the Reich

“The foundation of totalitarianism is an ideology made of lies.” (Solzhenitsyn)

“The problem with people is that they will do anything which serves their own best interests, whether out of fear or greed.” For example, in the years preceding the rise of Nazism in Germany one thing was certain, the Church of Luther had become but a shadow of its former self, with the true message of the gospel replaced by a tepid acquiescence–the salt having lost is Savior if you will! In the process, the cost of discipleship had been replaced by what Diedrik Bonhoeffer called cheap grace. As he described it, placing an emphasis on God’s abounding love and forgiveness to Christians specifically, at the expense of Christian charity and a collective conscience which called upon believers to hold the line when confronting. Interestingly, this was something that the vast majority of German congregants at that time had forgotten. Promoting the absolutism of God’s direct and perfect will in human affairs gave believers not only a false sense of security, but a cultivation disposition that no longer comprehended what it meant to be responsible for the very thing the purported to believe in–The Christian Faith. Consequently, that river of faith which had once flowed so abundantly through Germany had now slowed to only a trickle, easily diverted and now dammed to become a backwater of religious pollution.

“First they came for the socialists, and I didn’t speak out–Because I was not a socialist.”

“Then they came for the Trade Unionists, and I didn’t speak out–Because I didn’t belong.”

“Then they came for the Jews, and I didn’t speak out–Because I wasn’t a Jew.”

“Then they came for the Christians, and I didn’t speak out–Because I wasn’t a Christian.”

“Finally they came for me, and I was silent–Because there was no one left to speak for me.”

Niemoller, a Lutheran conservative, who at the beginning of the Reich was a supporter of Adolf Hitler, did an about-face to become one of the founding members of the Confessing Church, along with Bonhoeffer. Yet Bonhoeffer was convinced from the beginning that they would eventually be be left with little choice but to resist. And they did, with Bonhoeffer paying the ultimate price. A lesson from history that we can apply today, as we may soon find ourselves drawn into a similar set of circumstances, one where faith is incrementally eroded until the flame of freedom is extinguished. In any event, faith is not only the currency that can determine not only how things play out, but the litmus-paper that can serve to test the truth of our own salvation. And, as we still have time to mount an appropriate offense, we need to stand up and stretch before exercising our ethical muscle. We’ll need that strength, as our personal conviction can accrue a compound interest, motivating others to join The faith. And, if history tell us anything, it’s that resistance helps strengthen the backbone of society. As Christians, we need to rediscover that fact, even as those of Bonhoeffer’s time, becoming “salt and light” rather than simply bushel-baskets taking up space, hiding the fact that faith demands service, even as the gospel has the power to transform the lives of turtle-doves into that of shrikes.