When a Nation Forgets God:

[Stan]

MARK A. KELLNER

A small, fascinating book by Erwin Lutzer, pastor of the famed Moody Church in Chicago, will surprise many readers before they reach the first page.

When a Nation Forgets God: 7 Lessons We Must Learn From Nazi Germany (Moody Publishers, 2009) is paperbound in a stark, black cover, with the monochrome photo of a hand upraised in the “Hitler salute” adopted in the 1930s, and is an immediate challenge: what could we possibly learn from a regime that was perhaps the zenith of modern-day evil? A criminal enterprise that engineered the murder of 6 million Jews, the murder of millions of other “unfit” people, and a war whose global death tool was in the tens of millions couldn’t have anything to teach us, right?

Lutzer—a gracious man who, when we met a few years ago, had very nice things to say about Adventists and his guest-speaking experience at Andrews University—is no advocate of Hitler’s methods or policies. Instead, he outlines that when a nation forgets its God-centered roots—for example, that citizens “are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights,” as Thomas Jefferson wrote 234 years ago—we risk allowing our freedoms to be subsumed by the state and its control.

It’s worth remembering, in these days of high unemployment and the aftereffects of a real estate market crash, that the wave that swept Hitler’s National Socialists into power was fueled by severe economic discord. Weimar Germany’s legendary hyperinflation is the stuff of old newsreels, photos, and currency collections, but its pain was very real: workers were paid sometimes twice daily, with wives scurrying to shops to buy bread before the morning’s banknotes became worthless. When a dynamic, young orator stepped forth with a plan to restore national pride, millions followed.

Such dangers remain in this present age: our economy and our nation are hurting; and while we hope, pray, and work for recovery, nothing is guaranteed. A further shock to the system could lead to the rise of a “benevolent” leader who promises “economic justice” at the expense of liberty, entrepreneurial freedom, even religious rights. (Could such a leader “suggest” that we all take Sundays off as a national day of rest, under the guise of helping working families? It wouldn’t be that far of a stretch!)

Of the many topics addressed in Lutzer’s book, which is a brisk, quick, and bracing read, one other comes to mind: that parents, not the state, “are responsible for a child’s training.” Before, during, and after the Hitler era, home schooling was outlawed, a prohibition that traces its roots to a nineteenth-century desire for “standardized” education and societal advancement. (In January 2010 a Tennessee immigration judge granted political asylum to a German Christian family that wanted to homeschool their children but were harassed and fined thousands of Euros by German authorities.*)

We Adventists have a great refuge in our educational network. But our believers who do not have such access must have their right to instruct their children preserved.

Those who naively believe a federally guided “village” will raise their children with sympathy for Adventist values or Christian principles may well shed copious tears later when they discover their error. This world is not our home; its values are not the values of the Christian; and our great challenge—and high calling—is to stand athwart modern secularism and say, “No.”

The cost of ignoring this challenge, of assuming that any politician, or party, or platform, will guard our liberties better than we ourselves, could be grave indeed. Read Lutzer’s book—which I believe is as prophetic a warning as you’ll find coming from a contemporary pen—and you’ll see.

_________

*Daniel Nasaw, “U.S. Grants Home Schooling German Family Political Asylum,” The Guardian, Jan. 27, 2010, http://bit.ly/dxjBXm, accessed online Oct. 7, 2010.

_____________

Mark A. Kellner is the news editor for the Adventist Review. This article was published November 11, 2010.

[Stan]

When Mark Kellner writes, I read.

[Stan]

[phkrause]

Looks like an excellent article. And yes Kellner is one of my favorite contributors to the Review, and other magazines.

[Lauralea]

Quote:

It’s worth remembering, in these days of high unemployment and the aftereffects of a real estate market crash, that the wave that swept Hitler’s National Socialists into power was fueled by severe economic discord...

Such dangers remain in this present age: our economy and our nation are hurting; and while we hope, pray, and work for recovery, nothing is guaranteed. A further shock to the system could lead to the rise of a “benevolent” leader who promises “economic justice” at the expense of liberty, entrepreneurial freedom, even religious rights. (Could such a leader “suggest” that we all take Sundays off as a national day of rest, under the guise of helping working families? It wouldn’t be that far of a stretch!)

Very good point Stan. In some places in Florida the inrastructure is eroding from economic and social problems. California has its issues as well.

[cardw]

Nazi Germany was not anti-god at all. In fact Hitler openly criticized atheism. It was easy to take the already present antisemitic attitude of Lutheran Church and direct it toward the Jewish community because it controlled much of the banking and held a lot of wealth.

This attitude was promoted by Martin Luther himself in his book called "On Jews and their Lies"

Here is the complete text with some highlighted passages

On Jews and their Lies

Quote:

What shall we Christians do with this rejected and condemned people, the Jews? Since they live among us, we dare not tolerate their conduct, now that we are aware of their lying and reviling and blaspheming. If we do, we become sharers in their lies, cursing and blasphemy. Thus we cannot extinguish the unquenchable fire of divine wrath, of which the prophets speak, nor can we convert the Jews. With prayer and the fear of God we must practice a sharp mercy to see whether we might save at least a few from the glowing flames. We dare not avenge ourselves. Vengeance a thousand times worse than we could wish them already has them by the throat. I shall give you my sincere advice:

(1) First, to set fire to their synagogues or schools and to bury and cover with dirt whatever will not burn, so that no man will ever again see a stone or cinder of them. This is to be done in honor of our Lord and of Christendom, so that God might see that we are Christians, and do not condone or knowingly tolerate such public lying, cursing, and blaspheming of his Son and of his Christians. For whatever we tolerated in the past unknowingly_and I myself was unaware of it_will be pardoned by God. But if we, now that we are informed, were to protect and shield such a house for the Jews, existing right before our very nose, in which they lie about, blaspheme, curse, vilify, and defame Christ and us (as was heard above), it would be the same as if we were doing all this and even worse ourselves, as we very well know.

(2) Second, I advise that their houses also be razed and destroyed. For they pursue in them the same aims as in their synagogues. Instead they might be lodged under a roof or in a barn, like the gypsies. This will bring home to them the fact that they are not masters in our country, as they boast, but that they are living in exile and in captivity, as they incessantly wail and lament about us before God.

(3) Third, I advise that all their prayer books and Talmudic writings, in which such idolatry, lies, cursing, and blasphemy are taught, be taken from them.

(4) Fourth, I advise that their rabbis be forbidden to teach henceforth on pain of loss of life and limb. For they have justly forfeited the right to such an office by holding the poor Jews captive with the saying of Moses (Deuteronomy 17:10) in which he commands them to obey their teachers on penalty of death, although Moses clearly adds: "what they teach you in accord with the law of the Lord." Those villains ignore that. They wantonly employ the poor people's obedience contrary to the law of the Lord and infuse them with this poison, cursing, and blasphemy. In the same way the pope also held us captive with the declaration in Matthew 16:18, "You are Peter," etc., inducing us to believe all the lies and deceptions that issued from his devilish mind. He did not teach in accord with the word of God, and therefore he forfeited the right to teach.

(5) Fifth, I advise that safe-conduct on the highways be abolished completely for the Jews. For they have no business in the countryside, since they are not lords, officials, tradesmen, or the like. Let them stay at home. I have heard it said that a rich Jew is now traveling across the country with twelve horses his ambition is to become a Kokhba devouring princes, lords, lands, and people with his usury, so that the great lords view it with jealous eyes. If you great lords and princes will not forbid such usurers the highway legally, some day a troop may gather against them, having learned from this booklet the true nature of the Jews and how one should deal with them and not protect their activities. For you, too, must not and cannot protect them unless you wish to become participants in an their abominations in the sight of God. Consider carefully what good could come from this, and prevent it.

(6) Sixth, I advise that usury be prohibited to them, and that all cash and treasure of silver and gold be taken from them and put aside for safekeeping. The reason for such a measure is that, as said above, they have no other means of earning a livelihood than usury, and by it they have stolen and robbed from us an they possess. Such money should now be used in no other way than the following: Whenever a Jew is sincerely converted, he should be handed one hundred, two hundred, or three hundred florins, as personal circumstances may suggest. With this he could set himself up in some occupation for the support of his poor wife and children, and the maintenance of the old or feeble. For such evil gains are cursed if they are not put to use with God's blessing in a good and worthy cause.

(7) Seventh, I recommend putting a flail, an ax, a hoe, a spade, a distaff, or a spindle into the hands of young, strong Jews and Jewesses and letting them earn their bread in the sweat of their brow, as was imposed on the children of Adam (Gen. 3 [:19]). For it is not fitting that they should let us accursed Goyim toil in the sweat of our faces while they, the holy people, idle away their time behind the stove, feasting and farting., and on top of all, boasting blasphemously of their lordship over the Christians by means of our sweat. No, one should toss out these lazy rogues by the seat of their pants.

Martin Luther is considered the father of the reformation and yet his attitudes toward the Jews set the tone of how they would by treated in Nazi Germany. Hitler greatly admired Martin Luther and quoted him often.

In fact there was a movement called Positive Christianity which helped to promote Hitler's programs.

Here is a link describing that program.

Positive Christianity

In this extensive article it is clear that Hitler was certainly apposed to atheism and believed in a creator god. He saw atheism as one reason to destroy Russia.

Hitler's Religious Beliefs

What bothers me about books like this is that they don't do their research. Books like this imply that if something has the word socialism or some other hot word in it then it must be wrong. There are connections made that are based on fallacies.

We are in far more danger of being too religious in this country. The religious right has openly stated that their goal is to make the US a Christian nation along the order of a theocracy. And the effects of their home schooling has been to bring up a generation of children ignorant of democracy and the beliefs of the founding fathers.

That is why a public education system needs to be maintained and standards of education for private schools need to be maintained. Our democracy won't survive without it.

I think education needs to focus more on HOW to think, not WHAT to think. Children need to be taught how to think clearly and rationally. Methods of finding what is true will safe guard progress and integrity. If this were true we wouldn't see such poorly reasoned books like this.

[John317]

The fact is that Hitler was an evil man who used anyone, including God and Martin Luther and the Bible, in order to gain and increase his power. You must be forgetting that Hitler was also a great admirer of Nietzsche, the father of modern atheism, whose philosophy of the will to power had a great influence not only on Hitler but on the Nazi movement. Despite his claims, virtually everthing he did was opposed to the Bible and the teachings of Christ.

Hitler admired Martin Luther because of Luther's nationalism, his antisemticism and his immense influence on German thinking and the German language. But Hitler himself probably never studied Martin Luther any more than he studied Neitzsche. Hitler got most of his views of these men second- hand through newspapers and from talking with other people about them. He was not known to be a deep student of philosophy or history or religion.

It is well known that Martin Luther was opposed to Jews. So were many great men of that day as well as of the 20th century. Ernest Hemingway wrote anti-Jewish ideas in his great novel, The Sun Also Rises. Hemingway was basically an atheist and his writings are fundamentally anti-God. Stalin was certainly opposed to Jews and killed ten of thousands of them like lice. He was an atheist.

[cardw]

The fact is that Hitler was an evil man who used anyone, including God and Martin Luther and the Bible, in order to gain and increase his power. You must be forgetting that Hitler was also a great admirer of Nietzsche, the father of modern atheism, whose philosophy of the will to power had a great influence not only on Hitler but on the Nazi movement. Despite his claims, virtually everthing he did was opposed to the Bible and the teachings of Christ.

Hitler admired Martin Luther because of Luther's nationalism and his immense influence on German thinking and the German language. But Hitler himself probably never studied Martin Luther any more than he studied Neitzsche. Hitler got most of his views of these men second- hand through newspapers and from talking with other people about them. He was not known to be a deep student of philosophy or history or religion.

John,

I gave you a mountain of evidence that the policies Hitler carried out were the very ones recommended by Martin Luther.

You simply have to actually read the evidence.

[John317]

Did anyone ever say Martin Luther was right in everything he said? The question you ought to be looking at is whether Martin Luther was practicing Christianity according to the teachings of Christ when he taught what he did about the Jews. Martin Luther also got drunk a lot. So he made some terrible mistakes and said things that were wrong. He also persecuted Sabbath keepers.

But what you don't take into account is the fact that Martin Luther was still a great man who had a great impact for good on the world. He was without question one of the most important men in the history of Europe.

Read the evidence? You haven't said anything I didn't know years ago, Richard.

[Bravus]

Original article = Godwin's Law writ large

[fccool]

It really bothers me when Hitler is made the epitemy of all evil on this planet. Hitler was an imperialist... and used all resources at his disposal to achieve his imperialistic aspirations. He was likewise a nationalist who was loved by Germans, and he rode on love of Germany.

I'm talking to my parents today, and they still defend Stalin and say that he did what was right for his time, and he died with 2 pairs of suits in his closed.

The point being... all of the above-described people did both good and terrible things. Yet, given certain sets of circumstances and direction, any of us would do just that.

So, let's not play the pretentious games "this guy is not like Hitler", in light that he might as well could be given certain time and place.

[rudywoofs (Pam)]

The point being... all of the above-described people did both good and terrible things. Yet, given certain sets of circumstances and direction, any of us would do just that.

You really believe you would do the same evil things Hitler did, given the same circumstances???????

I don't like the idea of minimizing the Holocaust. Too many today are forgetting how bad it really was....kind of like 9/11...as time passes, so does the outrage dwindle, till it becomes but a fleeting memory to be filed away and forgotten.

[Tom Wetmore]

Original article = Godwin's Law writ large

In verity!! Argumentum Reductio ad Hitlerum...

And the commentary here confirms it.

[cardw]

Did anyone ever say Martin Luther was right in everything he said? The question you ought to be looking at is whether Martin Luther was practicing Christianity according to the teachings of Christ when he taught what he did about the Jews. Martin Luther also got drunk a lot. So he made some terrible mistakes and said things that were wrong. He also persecuted Sabbath keepers.

[fccool]

You really believe you would do the same evil things Hitler did, given the same circumstances???????

If you really think about it, given the circumstances... education, influences and environment... I probably would.

It's easy to look at it as a fly on the wall, pointing finger saying "I would never"... but if you really understand how people work, all of us are in the same boat. If we pushed in a certain direction we are capable of both horrible and noble acts.

[doug yowell]

Originally Posted By: John317

The fact is that Hitler was an evil man who used anyone, including God and Martin Luther and the Bible, in order to gain and increase his power. You must be forgetting that Hitler was also a great admirer of Nietzsche, the father of modern atheism, whose philosophy of the will to power had a great influence not only on Hitler but on the Nazi movement. Despite his claims, virtually everthing he did was opposed to the Bible and the teachings of Christ.

Hitler admired Martin Luther because of Luther's nationalism and his immense influence on German thinking and the German language. But Hitler himself probably never studied Martin Luther any more than he studied Neitzsche. Hitler got most of his views of these men second- hand through newspapers and from talking with other people about them. He was not known to be a deep student of philosophy or history or religion.

John,

I gave you a mountain of evidence that the policies Hitler carried out were the very ones recommended by Martin Luther.

You simply have to actually read the evidence.

John is right,Rich. Hitler was no friend of Christianity or God.Baptized a Roman Catholic,his public pronouncements were designed to consolidate his own power. He often made contradictory statements concerning religion and killed any Christians who opposed his policies. His form of socialism was in fact practical atheism as the propaganda of the allies so often noted.And he only tolerated those who kept silent when confronted by his evil.Read Table Talk by Heinrich Heim.

[Bravus]

The point is fairly clear from this thread's discussion: it's possible for *anyone* to claim Hitler as an example of the views of their opponents. Given that, it's a pointless and vain comparison to make.

How about looking at the policies and their effects directly, and leaving Adolf to moulder in his grave?

[doug yowell]

The point is fairly clear from this thread's discussion: it's possible for *anyone* to claim Hitler as an example of the views of their opponents. Given that, it's a pointless and vain comparison to make.

How about looking at the policies and their effects directly, and leaving Adolf to moulder in his grave?

Are you asking us to stoop to common sense here,Bravus? I think Adolf and Eva mouldered,somewhat prematurely, already.