Seeing a bigger picture

Well it has taken most of the week to think of something to blog about, but today I have been inspired!

I have done a couple of things this week, which have lead me to reflect again on how the world perceives Christians. First, I read a book! Now I know I'm meant to read books, but this is a book I sat and read from cover to cover in the space of about a day, which really is an achievement for me. The book was entitled 'The Auschwitz Violin', which was a novel, not a textbook, and it's subject as you can most probably guess was the Holocaust. I don't want to give too much away, just incase people want to read it (I do recommend it), but in one of the opening chapters, the main character emphases that the religion of the SS officers was Christianity.

Secondly, I visited the Imperial War Museum. This is a museum that I have wanted to go to for a long time, but never actually got to till this week, when I dragged a friend along under the pretense that we need to do some research in preparation for our trip to Flanders in early September. But as well as visiting the trenches, we also took a look around the Holocaust exhibition. And here the roots of antisemitism were clearly stated to be within the Church. But interestingly, though it stated this fact, it then said that this wasn't the root of the racial hatred under Hitler.

Now, I'm not denying that Christians over the centuries have mis-treated Jews. But how easy it is to make throw away statements, because of knowing a little history?

About five years ago now I visited Israel and Palestine and one of things I went to see was the Holocaust Memorial in Jerusalem. This is a huge exhibition dedicated to the Holocaust. It was amazing in the fact that it really expressed the pain that was felt by Israel and the Jewish people, but it also spelt out who they blamed. Yes, they blamed Hilter and the Nazis, but they also blamed the Church.

Did the Church speak out against Hilter's ghettos and concentration camps? Well if you were a German Christian and you did, you ended up there yourself. Were there SS officers who saw themselves as Christian? Possibly. Did history repeat itself in the Holocaust? Not really, the Church has got it wrong in the past over its relationship with the Jewish nation, but my impression is that Hilter perspective was very different.

The Holocaust was an event in history that caused the end of millions of lives, both Jew and Gentile. It needs to remembered, but also considered with respect the point it history it happened as well as the history that happened before. The whole picture needs to be considered not just bits.

And there is a defining point that both sides of the Christian-Jewish debate must remember:
Jesus was a Jew, and he died a Jew.