Where Is God?

“Night, is a book by Elie Wiesel about his experience in the German concentration camps. “One day,” writes Wiesel, “as we returned from work, we saw three gallows… The SS [guards] seemed more preoccupied, more worried, than usual. To hang a child in front of thousands of onlookers was not a small matter. The head of the camp read the verdict. All eyes were on the child. He was pale, almost calm, but he was biting his lips as he stood in the shadow of the gallows… ‘Where is merciful God, where is He?’ someone behind me was asking. At the signal, the three chairs were tipped over… Then came the march past the victims. The two men were no longer alive… The child, too light, was still breathing… And so he remained for more than half an hour, lingering between life and death… Behind me, I heard the same man asking: ‘For God’s sake, where is God?’ And from within me, I heard a voice answer; ‘Where is He? This is where – hanging here from this gallows…'

Where is God when a child is shot in Newtown or hung in Auschwitz or killed in an American drone air strike or for that matter dies of cancer? I don’t know. There is no answer.

Talk of God giving humans free will and thus allowing us to face the consequences of our choices solves nothing. If the creator could intervene personally when it came to the magic tricks in the Bible like making the sun stand still for a day in a battle, he could have done something about that child gasping out his young life. He didn’t. Theology that tries to paper this horrible fact over with explanations about why there is evil is nothing but nervous blather.

But I take comfort in the fact that sometimes a person of immense courage follows Christ to a cross. Such acts point to a God that had the empathy to share our fate. Sometimes one person’s example gives me hope that following Christ might be the path that leads us out of the hell we’ve made, even if I’ll never know why we’re here in the first place, let alone why God didn’t just make things simpler, better, faster rather than taking the slow path of gradual ethical evolution."

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If you are Christian, if you deal regularly with the unchurched, sometimes even the churched, you will hear the wail and the anger - because there is no God, because no fair God would allow ...

And how do you answer them?

When I think of my late friend Peter, telling of me of the nun Maria's plight in a Magadan death gulag ...
When I think of the 6.5 million Jews, the 7.5 million Christians executed by my father's Reich ...
When I think of Lenin and his 19 million executions to purify the land ...
When I think of the 30 million Stalin in his paranoia executed ...
When I think of Mao Tse Tung and his 32 million deaths ...
Or Pol Pot ...
Or Rwanda ...
Or Ruby Ridge, Idaho ...
Or Waco, Texas ...
Or the assassination of John F Kennedy ...
Or a record setting typhoon ...

Where is God when the millions, or even the one is crying out in their death rattle?
Where is God in the storm, the waves, the tides, the mass deaths by nature?

How can a fair God ...

And that is the rub, God is not "fair".  If he was you would already be dead, as would I.
God is a "just" God, he does what is right, not what is fair.

When we see with human eyes, we are looking for fairness.
When we see with God's eyes, we are looking for justice.

And when we are judging God, we are judging by human standards, not God's standards.

Where is God?  Allowing man to trash and destroy His creation, even human life.  He has already provided the only standard of measure for life - the ability to stand with Him but acknowledging His son's sacrifice, at human hands.

Where is God in the storm or other natural disaster?  Perhaps judging a perverse culture, perhaps destroying false witnesses, perhaps testing the faith of His people, perhaps calling His people home because it is time.

We are not smart enough to know.  I can look at a culture dedicated to sexual vice and know God will call them to judgement.  I can look at authorities whom are ruthless or corrupt and know that God is going to call them to account for their deeds.  I do not know when, I do not know how, but anyone can read Jeremiah or Isaiah in the Bible and see that God has a standard and He was willing to use it even against His own people - to their own destruction!  How much more so for a just God, to do the same to  _____ (fill in the blank).

We are the creation, not the creator, we can not judge how He uses us, when he uses, where he will use us - we just have to be willing to be used, ready to be used and expect to be used.  The problems arise when we say, "Well, God would never work that way!"  Really?  Maybe you need to study your Bible a little more closely before you side with Western (American) Culture's beliefs about God.

The real God does not cause sin, that does not mean He can not use it to His advantage.  The real God does have control of everything and is more than willing to turn Satan loose upon a world unable to recognize much less fight against it without the Holy Spirit's intervention.

Everyday, in the world around you, in your daily life, God is there, God is working.  Can you see Him?  Can you see His handiwork?  Can you show others?

But, if you are not a Christian, well, there is no requirement that God does anything in your life or around you, other than to continually offer you the chance to make your peace with Him - through you acceptance of His son's death as the payment for your doing things your way and not His.  And then you get to be held accountable for having followed teachers of the truth ...  (hint, we are surrounded by those quite willing to lie to us and mislead us!)

So where is God right now?  Calling the hurting, the desperate to look to Him and not theirselves for the answer to their problems.  Calling you to account - right now, right here ...

That does not mean you are saved from death or punishment, but it does mean there is a better way from what you knew on this Earth.

Testing My Nature

I have not said much about the war within me lately.

When twin natures raised its ugly head, I fought it for all I was worth.  And I lost some of the battles but did finally succeed in killing that new second nature.  But, it wrestled complete control away from me, just in time for Edvard's death, my old nature was gone for good it seems.

So my mind of course, is working through this, how do you change a genetic anomaly without changing the underlying base DNA?  Was my DNA modified somehow?  Well that is an easy one actually to test on me because apart from the four genes which compose the sociopath anomaly, I also carry one for passing on manic depression (bi-polar for you you younger folks).  Luckily I have never had to have suffered from that one, but as recently as 2008 I had taken six weeks off and disappeared into the hills of Colorado because I had to have steroids for my lungs.  Self confined to a hotel in the middle of nowhere, I worked my way through by not talking with or to anyone and remaining extremely isolated as the rage steroids cause those with this disorder, flowed through me.

However, it is now three weeks since the last course of steroids and I think everyone would agree I am very much the same.  The has been NO reaction what so ever!  So, it would appear that indeed, Kris' DNA is no longer what I have known.  It makes one wonder what else has happened to me on the base level.

I have tested food allergies and yup, at least jalapenos and parsnip both have their effect on me still.  bleeeech!

So, I have decided to play with movies and see how those affect me.

First movie was After Life.  Weird would be a word.  It brought no real emotional response at all.  And I have to admit I do not really know by the end if the characters really were dead or not.  You would hope so, but then again the movie was so creepy that maybe they really were buried alive.  As I said, little in the way of an emotional response.

I found Hero, to be confusing when I first saw it.  Yesterday, I was stunned by the visual beauty of the movie and the story brought me to tears.  Probably not at the points at which a normal person would have cried but then again, I know I am still not totally normal.  It was when the Emperor decides Jet Lee needs to die in order to save China.  Everyone else would have been emotional when Jet Lee's character dies moments later, however, I could understand the Emperor's struggle and had empathy for him.

So, second one was a movie I knew, what about one I did know about but not seen the movie?

The Hunting Party, a story I knew personally and had directly impacted my life.  I just was not ready for the movie to to move on to the topic Polij, where the only other male Plattner was executed.  So, lets us just say that the story was so unreal, that it had to be real, the actors did a very good job.  And they did not show the horror of Polij.  My cousin was one of seven NATO medics executed for rendering aid, but over 1,100 were executed that day there, mostly women, children and the elderly.  This was not a good movie for me to have seen, too many memories.  And so, my mind returned to the concept of murder.  I had personally empowered a small Croat army to destroy Radic's ability to wage an uncontested war.  Had I broken my vow against violence?  Deep in prayer and thought, I could not find condemnation for myself.  I found a very deep peace in stead.  Would but that one of my snipers had found Radic.....  God is waiting for you.  And, yeah, though it personally disgusts me, I honestly do hope his heart can make peace with is Creator before he receives the execution he deserves.

It has been a hard weekend.  I am not impressed with the results of the tests.  Honestly, I had hoped there was some vestige of the old me left, it would have given me comfort.  But, it seems that whatever God is working in my life, it is a new Kris the future gets to see.  And yes, that does frighten me.

Politically Correct Bonhoeffer

Welcome to the 21st century, this is the century were - due to political correctness - history is constantly being revised in order to make events palatable to those too lazy to read primary sources for themselves.  Yes, so we now have another biography on Dietrich Bonhoeffer for me to grouse about.

I will probably end my life as the modern German apologist for Bonhoeffer but by the time you have read this you will wonder if I am an apologist.  Unlike so many, I KNOW he was not a martyr, I KNOW he did not resist the Nazi's, I KNOW he later regretted exactly not resisting them when he had the chance.  Please note that unlike the author of the recent work, I have researched far enough into Bonhoeffer's own writings to KNOW whom and what Bonhoeffer was and did.  Not legend, reality.

Whom was Dietrich Bonhoeffer?  Someone from whose life you need to learn many Christian Lessons from.  What did he do?  Exactly the opposite of what you, as a mature Christian, must do - in taking your stand for God in a godless culture and society!

Bonhoeffer, rather than face the plight of the German people during the depression, founded what was for all intents and purposes a Christian Community, dedicated to teaching self subsistence - physically and spiritually.  He made the choice between having a small impact on a large group of people (Germany) and having a large impact on a small group of people.  Both are admirable.  But, we can look back and see that the larger group was what needed attention.  Many have commented that statement is hindsight and 20/20 - completely forgetting that God does not deal in hindsight.  God was to raise Bonhoeffer up to the National Church level at a crucial time (more on this later).  Hey, He even removed Karl Barth in the process of doing so!  (Don't even ask what I thought of Barth!)

Bonhoeffer's inner pull away from the German church was a lack of attention which allowed a despot to seize control of Germany, uncontested.  When the general population could have been trained on a national level, in spite of Barth, Bonhoeffer had moved out of the country.  Yes, he was to return, but he had a choice and he knew he was taking the easy way out (per his letters).  His reason for return the final time - to have a witness amongst his people once the war was over - "....to share in their sufferings.....".  He was correct on that score, if you want to have a mission and witness within a culture, even your own, you can not be an outside observer.  A lesson many a missionary needs to learn!

The Nazi's had it in for the Jews from the beginning.  Bonhoeffer's sister was in love with a Jewish man.  When it came time for the marriage - Bonhoeffer bowed to the political correctness of the Nazi movement and did not perform that ceremony.  There was no law he would have been violating, it was not even direct pressure put on him, and he willingly bowed to that perceived pressure.  Just as the Christian Church does today!  He was later to rethink this in prison and lamented his poor choices in this matter (per his letters).

When Bonhoeffer was head of the National Church of Germany, he was approached on the subject of executing Adolf Hitler.  He, like a great many German believers, personally felt Hitler was the physical presence of Satan and therefore a perfect target for killing.  Unfortunately, being a Christian whose views had become one of a Social Gospel, he failed to consider that murder is still murder, no matter how evil the target is. 

God does not appreciate murder and will hold you accountable.  We know this part the best; the bomb failed to kill Hitler.  Hitler's men through diligent research were able to round up almost the entire group involved - including Bonhoeffer - whom had given his blessing on the attempt.  Along with Bonhoeffer, his father brother-in-law and family friends, were all convicted for their part and executed as  well.  Hitler already had problems with stubborn Christians and many do not understand that he turned his wrath upon the Lutheran Church - executing close to 7,000,000 believers before the closing of the war.

Although claimed by the recent book, Bonhoeffer was not sent to a concentration camp, he was sent to a prison.  Yes, it was a grouping of political prisoners but do not think in terms of Auschwitz here.  He was allow visitors, books, papers, allowed to conduct services for the other prisoners, etc (per his letters).

Lastly, Bonhoeffer's tome, The Cost of Discipleship, I have read probably a dozen times - each reading taking about a year to accomplish and digest.  Personally, I believe this book to be one of the highlights of the 20th century Church writings.  Bonhoeffer, in his letters from prison, analyzes this work and laments that what he found was in his attempt to get German believers to understand that "Cheap Grace" is wrong and there is a cost for belief in Jesus, the Church came to embrace empty piety - and so still were not with any real understanding of their belief.

Bonhoeffer was a Christian minister offered a central place in German and what was to become world history.  And he avoided that task at all cost - even to the point of forgetting his calling.  Had he of stood his ground early in the 1930's, perhaps nothing would have changed other than we would now have the writings of a martyr to consider - rather than someone condemn for the attempted assassination of a national leader.  Until recent history, even the United States executed those wishing to assassinate their leaders.  I can not condemn the German Courts or executioner for doing their jobs; murders are deserving of State sponsored death - no matter how politically correct that assassination attempt was to be in history.

But, he was a man, just like anyone of us.  We may not be in the same place in history, facing a nation gone mad with evil, but we are still called to serve, to witness, to disciple, to baptize - where God has placed us.

When we allow a nation, a group or even a single man to hinder our call and duties as Christians - we will have made the same mistake as Bonhoeffer and compromised our witness.  When we step out into the ways of the world, to behave as the world behaves, to solve our solutions not with prayers but with weapons - we can expect God to withdraw His protection and support in order for our actions to run their full course and man's right to justice will prevail over us......

(Now your really did not expect any other kind of review from a German Hutterite, did you?)

Valkyrie

I finally got around to watching this movie.  I was in no hurry, since I really dislike Tom Cruise, as an actor, and think even less of him as a person.  Because I know in-depth about the various 1943 and 1944 plots against Hitler, I figured Hollywood would not get it right.

I was mostly right.  It was like seeing a replica of the Mona Lisa and noting the complete loss of the character of the painting - she is now grinning instead of that mysterious vague smile.

Although, there was only the slightest of illusions to Von Stauffenberg being a Christian, the entirety of the role played by faith in his life and that of the role Dietrich Bonhoeffer, as the head of the National Church, was completely left out.  To the movie Von Stauffengerg was driven by national pride, to save his country so to speak.  In life, Adolf Hitler was thought to be Satan incarnate, a man whom must be removed at all cost to save mankind.  He falsely believed God called him to kill the Fuhrer, but it was not entirely his fault.  Dietrich Bonhoeffer and his brother-in-law had been trying for two years to do the same.

The failure of the assassination attempt, the almost instant connection of the plot to Von Stauffenberg, and the complete collapse of the general staff's uprising, was actually done rather well.  Left out of course, the executions of all of the male heads of Bonhoeffer's family and extended family, the further witch-hunt which brought up to another 1,000 to death  - went completely unaddressed.  After all, in Cruise's world - the Christian faith is a form of mental illness.....

As my failing thesis in Theology so well laid out - murder by those called by God's name, will not be tolerated by God, and they will not succeed.  God reserves for Himself the right to take human life.  For those whom think otherwise - I strongly caution, to think otherwise..... 

Scripture is very plain on the subject, it is only ambitious men whom see otherwise.