Assassinating Hitler

[Sojourner]

As you may or may not be aware, Dietrich Bonhoeffer was a German Lutheran pastor, theologian, anti-Nazi dissident, and founding member of the Confessing Church. He was known for his staunch resistance to the Nazi dictatorship, including vocal opposition to Hitler's euthanasia program and genocidal persecution of the Jews, Seventh Day Adventists and others. He was arrested in April 1943 by the Gestapo, imprisoned for one and a half years, and then executed by being hung with piano wire two weeks before the end of WW2. His crime was that he had joined with a group of others to make an attempt to assassinate Hitler which had failed.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer has this to say, - "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".

Do you agree or disagree with him?

[LifeHiscost]

Quote:

Dietrich Bonhoeffer has this to say, - "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".

Do you agree or disagree with him?

Agree, and it seems to be even more pertinent when these two principles apply to those professing Christianity.

"And He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature."Mark 16:15 NKJV

"“Did we not strictly command you not to teach in this name? And look, you have filled Jerusalem with your doctrine, and intend to bring this Man’s blood on us!”

But Peter and the other apostles answered and said: “We ought to obey God rather than men. The God of our fathers raised up Jesus whom you murdered by hanging on a tree."

Acts 5:28-30 NKJV

OTOH, when we take up the sword, as Dietrich Bonhoeffer and the apostle Peter did, perhaps that is the reason what Jesus said to Peter, if heeded by Bonhoeffer, might have allowed God to bring about different results more telling for his and others' good.

"Then said Jesus unto him, Put up again thy sword into his place: for all they that take the sword shall perish with the sword."Matthew 26:52 KJV

"Then said Jesus unto Peter, Put up thy sword into the sheath: the cup which my Father hath given me, shall I not drink it?"John 18:11 KJV

OTOH hindsight is nearly always 20/20 and in the safety of my home I cannot say what should have been done by one willing to sacrifice their life for another.

God cares! Jesus saves!

[joeb]

Dietrich Bonhoeffer has this to say, - "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".

Do you agree or disagree with him?

I agree with a lot of what Bonhoeffer had to say, including this. I'd have to say that I very strongly agree with this as it is a sound Biblical principle. Bonhoeffer is paraphrasing James in James 4:17 Therefore to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin.

Another way to say this is the way Edmund Burke stated this principle: The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.

From the time I was 6 or 7 years old I've never understood why people will stand by silently while evil flourishes. It's always seemed to be the epitome of evil itself to me. Condoning evil through silence is evil. There's no other way to look at it.