"Selection" of Jews from Hungary at Auschwitz II-Birkenau at the end of May/beginning of June 1944. To be sent to the left meant survival; to the right, the gas chamber. The photograph was taken by Ernst Hofmann or Bernhard Walter of the SS. Image courtesy of Yad Vashem.[19]"
(Members of the Sonderkommando burn corpses in the firepits at Auschwitz II-Birkenau. Photographer Alberto Errera, August 1944. Courtesy of the Auschwitz-Birkenau museum, Poland.[24])
Here are a couple quotes about, and from, Elie Weisel, taken from his book 'Night':
"God is not lost to Eliezer entirely. Later, during the hanging of a child, which the camp is forced to watch, he hears someone in the crowd ask: Where is God? Where is he? Not heavy enough for the weight of his body to break his neck, the boy dies slowly and in agony, "struggling between life and death." Wiesel files past him, sees his tongue still pink and his eyes still clear, and weeps.
Behind me, I heard the same man asking: Where is God now?
And I heard a voice within me answer him: ... Here He is – He is hanging here on this gallows."
"Blessed be God's name? Why, but why would I bless Him? Every fiber in me rebelled. Because He caused thousands of children to burn in His mass graves? Because He kept six crematoria working day and night, including Sabbath and the Holy Days? Because in His great might, He had created Auschwitz, Birkenau, Buna, and so many other factories of death? How could I say to Him: Blessed be Thou, Almighty, Master of the Universe, who chose us among all nations to be tortured day and night, to watch as our fathers, our mothers, our brothers end up in the furnaces? ... But now, I no longer pleaded for anything. I was no longer able to lament. On the contrary, I felt very strong. I was the accuser, God the accused. My eyes had opened and I was alone, terribly alone in a world without God, without man."
My son-in-law Mike was sharing how he was reading, "Night" a work by Elie Wiesel, and so I decidied to check into him a little, and found that I have no answer really for why this young boy experienced such horror. I know the Scriptures teach God does judge, and He can judge whom He will. Also that God is incredibly more merciful than all mankind's mercy put together, and displayed his magnificient mercy and love upon Calvary, for all to see.
Is this how one would answer Eli: God is a Judge, and merciful? I don't know.
I do know I will pray for this man, and pray that God will reveal Himself to Mr. Weisel. I pray that He would come to know Jesus Christ, the One sent to die for the sins of His people, Israel. (Matt 1:21)
I'm sure if he read what I have written here, he would probably curse me. But this is my heart, and though I have no answer for him, (for I'm not God), I must never be ashamed of Jesus Christ, and Him crucified.
I respect this man, Elie Weisel, and I think he is a hero in many ways, but I also know that Christ is the truest and purest Hero of all that is. He is God, and He is Man, and He is the truth, life, and way to the Father of mercy and grace.
5 comments:
"Blessed be God's name? Why, but why would I bless Him? Every fiber in me rebelled. Because He caused thousands of children to burn in His mass graves? Because He kept six crematoria working day and night, including Sabbath and the Holy Days? Because in His great might, He had created Auschwitz, Birkenau, Buna, and so many other factories of death?"
I assume you are quoting Eli Weisel here. Although if I didn't know any better I would have thought you were quoting Turretin (or even Turretinfan) or Calvin (or maybe Steve from triablogue). The first thing you must learn in order to share the gospel of grace with a man like Weisel then, is that Calvinism is not the gospel of grace but in fact Calvin's god is the monster that Weisel is shrinking from. Who created Auschwitz? Who kept the fires burning day and night? Who sent the Jews to the gallows? Was it God or was it men whom God gave free will? If your answer is that it is God, you have nothing to say to Weisel that he will hear as anything different from what he already said.
Ego,
Just wondering if you read the whole post?
I was still editing it, and when I came back you had your comment here.
I'd encourage you to read it again and see if you missed some of my thoughts. I think you did.
Thanks. I came back to do some clarification of my own. Certainly, God was in control of Old Testament type situations like the Babylonian exile, where many Jews were killed. But this is very different from the holocaust in that prophets were continually saying unless the nation repents a captivity is coming, Jerusalem will be sacked, the temple will be destroyed, etc. And when it happened prophets showed that indeed God sent this as a punishment for sin. That certainly by no means can be said of the holocaust. God doesn't take specific responsibility for it like he did for the Babylonian exile. I therefore don't think that God caused it to take place in any active sense like he did the Babylonian captivity. He did, however, remove his protection from the ethnic nation of Jews due to their continual breaking of the covenant (per Dueteronomy 28) which finally culminated in killing the Messiah. With that protection gone, whatever crazy men want to do they get to do to them, just as has always happened with any other nation. You see, Weisel's line of argument is "We are God's people. If someone thing happens to us, God did it. Randomness can't happen to Israel." etc. etc. That would have been true in the past when God hedged Israel about on every side, and certainly then in the Biblical narrative all that happened to Israel was ordained of God. But now that he has removed his protection from Israel per Deuteronomy 28, Israel is susceptible to the same unchecked whims of human tyrants as any other nation ever was or is susceptible.
I hope that clarifies my position. It is wrong to say that God "kept six crematoria working day and night," etc. because he didn't. He merely removed his special protection from Israel in 70 AD, so that Israel is now like any other nation.
"With that protection gone, whatever crazy men want to do they get to do to them, just as has always happened with any other nation."
I still believe God is sovereign over all. And each and every man, woman, and child He has created, is sovereignly watched over, for His purposes, whatever they may tirn out to be, whether judgement, which we all deserve at all times, or mercy, which God loves to pour out on people, and He does, when He wills to.
It's not to him who exherts himself, or wills, but it's all about the mercy of God through Jesus Christ, His Son.
But having said all this, I don't believe these same words would be appropriate for Elie. He saw things as a 15 year old that only an incredible few have seen, and I believe "Discretion is the better part of valor" in this honorable man's case.
I'm simply trying to think this whole thing out.
I appreciate your input Ego. Thanks.
Don,
Wow! Tremendous and thought provoking post- brother! Thanks so much. This may be a Sands classic. Certainly reconciling the sweetness of God's sovereignty with the horror of the holocaust is something not even the most "cogent" (Sproul's great word) theologian or philosopher can do. But praise God- He is sovereign and that's something we can cling to when the world seems to be spinning out of control.
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