History Has Its Eyes on You: Reflections on Bonhoeffer, Christian Witness, and the United States Today

     

    

    In 1933, German Lutheran pastor Dietrich Bonhoeffer released his essay "The Church and the Jewish Question" in response to the implementation of the Aryan paragraph, which excluded Jews and Slovaks from being members of organizations and professions that adopted the law. Bonhoeffer observed that God has divinely mandated the state (aka government) to maintain law and order. The church is not responsible in questioning how the state maintains law and order UNLESS the state ceases being the state; this happens when there is too little law and order or too much law and order. Too little law/order occurs when a group of people are deprived of their rights while too much law/order occurs when the state robs the church and Christians from their right to proclaim the message of the gospel. In the case of either, the church is called to action in three possibilities: question the state and its actions and hold it responsible; serve the victims of the state's actions because of an unconditional obligation towards the victim (Gal. 6:10); and "seize the wheel" itself by taking direct political action. Bonhoeffer and pastoral colleagues within the "Confessing Church" focused on the first two actions for a majority of Hitler's regime. Eventually, believing that the death of Hitler was essential for Germany's salvation, Bonhoeffer took direct political action and joined the anti-Nazi league and helped orchestrate several assassination attempts--which he would eventually be executed for in 1945.


    What can we learn from WWII martyrs like Bonhoeffer? The church is called to proclaim the good news to all people while allowing the state to act according to their divine mandate (this is when Romans 13 comes into play). It is our responsibility as Christians though to question the state when groups of people are being oppressed (despite legal status) and when the state begins controlling the function and calling of the church. When the church allows the state to function in a way that creates too little or too much law and order, it compromises the church's witness and proclamation of the good news of Jesus to all nations. Although the US Christian church is not currently experiencing the latter (arguable), the US Christian church is certainly watching the former happen right now as immigrants are treated without due process and as American citizens who live in Democrat-leaning cities are treated like insurrectionists because of their opposition to ICE presence in their communities. When we see people who are created in the image of God treated horribly, assaulted, and executed by those who have been given power by the state, the church cannot remain silent. Theology that supports oppression, violence, and execution because of a person's immigration status or difference in ideology/worldview is not rooted in God's Word; it is rooted in the powers of evil and death. Just like history had its eyes on the Christian church in Germany before and during WWII, history has it eyes on the Christian church in the US right now. What side of history will you find yourself and your witness on?

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