Dietrich Bonhoeffer was a Lutheran theologian in Germany in the 1930s. As Hitler rose to power, Bonhoeffer moved to America. Once here, he realized he could not stay in the safety of the United States while his countrymen were being persecuted by the third Reich. He returned to Germany and resumed pastoring his congregation. Though a life long pascifist, he became involved with an underground attempt to assassinate Hitler. "It is a sin to murder the fuhrer," he wrote, "but it is a bigger sin to let him live."

The plot was foiled, and Pastor Bonhoeffer was arrested. Days before its liberation by the allies, he was hanged in the Flossburg concentration camp. Yet even if he did not die a martyr's death, he would still no doubt be remembered for his vast collection of theological writings.

In a sermon on second Corinthians 12:9, he wrote: "Christianity stands or falls with its revolutionary protest against violence, arbitrariness, and pride of power, and with its plea for the weak. Christians are doing too little to make these points clear ... Christendom adjusts itself far too easily to the worship of power. Christians should give more offense, shock the world far more, than they are doing now."

Like much of his work, this statement contains a depth of thought, and needs to be looked at very thoroughly: "Christianity stands or falls with its revolutionary protest against violence..." While it is true the Old Testament has many examples of what seems to be God-ordained violence, this trend takes a 180 degree turn with the incarnation of Jesus. If we read the Old Testament more thoroughly, though, we can see an underlying pascifism throughout. Psalm 11:5 says, " The Lord puts the upright and the sinner to the test, but he has hate in his soul for the lover of violent acts." Pretty strong language. Genesis tells us the reason for the great flood, God's biggest act of judgment in history, was "the earth was filled with violence". It is hard to understand these -and many other OT passages that condemn violence- with scenes of bloody warfare and dare-I-say-at-times genocide. It helps to reflect again on Bonhoeffer's famous quote: "It is a sin to murder the fuhrer, but it is a bigger sin to let him live." Regrettably, there are times when the only response to violence might be violence. Perhaps that was why God, at times, called his people to violence against their enemies.

This changes abruptly beginning with that silent night in the little town of Bethlehem. Nowhere in the New Testament does Scripture advocate violence. Nowhere. I have thought about this a lot, and have come to the conclusion that Jesus ushered in a new era not just theologically but politically. In the OT, The Jews were both the 'eklissia' (Congregation of God) and a nation with their own government and military. Warfare is the business of governments. In the NT, Jesus clearly extends the eklissia to include Gentiles, Greeks, Romans, Africans and all. In this new era, the church is not one national government but transcends (or some day will transcends) all tribes and tongues. This means that warfare, perhaps, is no longer the people of God versus the godless; warfare now pits spiritual brother against brother. "A house divided can not stand."

Bonhoeffer adds to his statement the word"arbitrariness" next. This is an interesting inclusion in the quote and it seems out of place. The rest of his statement discusses the abuse of power. At first read, Arbitrariness does not seem to fit. On second thought, I realize most abuse of power stems in part from inconsistent judgments (arbitrariness). For example, a disproportionate number of prisoners on death row are African-American. The wealthy are less likely to be convicted of crimes. Low income mentally ill people are much more likely to end up in prison while the affluent who,suffer from similar conditions often get the medical help they need. Christianity must resist these inconsistencies. The epistle of James teaches, " My brothers and sisters, practice your faith in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ by not favoring one person over another. For example, two men come to your worship service. One man is wearing gold rings and fine clothes; the other man, who is poor, is wearing shabby clothes. Suppose you give special attention to the man wearing fine clothes and say to him, “Please have a seat.” But you say to the poor man, “Stand over there,” or “Sit on the floor at my feet.” Aren’t you discriminating against people and using a corrupt standard to make judgments." Whether it's a question of who has access to health care or who ends up on death row, Christians must stand against arbitrariness.

We will look at the rest of this quotation from Pastor Bonhoeffer in my next blog.