Mark Tabata’s Weekday Devotionals
Thursday, October 8
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Revelation 2:24-Now to you I say, and to the rest in Thyatira, as many as do not have this doctrine, who have not known the depths of Satan, as they say, I will put on you no other burden.
Some years back, while ministering with the Couchtown church of Christ, I prepared a series of lessons on the Book of Job focusing on the subject of the relationship between God’s existence and the problem of evil, pain, and suffering. As part of my research, I ended up reading a truly horrific account by a man named Elie Wiesel. His book, Night, is one of the most powerful ever written describing the terrible events of the Holocaust. Writing as a witness and survivor of the atrocities perpetrated by Hitler and the Nazi party, Wiesel remains one of the most haunting testimonies that I have ever read of one of the darkest epochs of human history. It is easy to understand why many people would want to forget the terrible reminders of wickedness ever to be experienced in the world of man.
However, there are some in our country who advocate that the Holocaust is a lie.
According to them, it never happened!
Or if it did (we are told), it was greatly exaggerated and not true to reality.
I have been told by some (especially in jail ministry) that the Holocaust was a gigantic lie, created to protect Jewish bankers!
However, these claims do not stand up against scrutiny.
In their book, Debunking Holocaust Denial Theories, James and Lance Morcan examine and debunk many “Holocaust denial” theories. The chapters in their book include the following:
1 The root of every Holocaust denial theory
2 Questioning the confirmed death toll
3 How was the genocide organized?
4 Verifying the gas chamber exterminations
5 The “history is written by the winners” argument
6 The legalities of Holocaust denial
7 The “Joooz control the world” conspiracy theory
8 Variations in death toll statistics
9 The Israeli connection
10 The “Zionists created the Holocaust” claim
11 A montage of the ‘Holocaust by Bullets’
The book itself is a fascinating read, but there is one thing that troubles me about all of these conspiracy theories. The authors point out that, in their extensive research, there always seems to be a strong bias against Jewish people by Holocaust deniers.
We have studied all sides of this so-called debate. We’ve read Holocaust survivors’ books and watched documentary footage of the actual Holocaust; we’ve listened to recordings of Hitler’s speeches and those of other Nazis; we’ve watched footage of talks given by notorious Holocaust deniers including shamed historian David Irving; we’ve studied WW2 history and have met and interviewed Jewish survivors of the concentration camps. And we can assure you of one thing… Holocaust deniers always have anti-Semitic beliefs and sympathies somewhere inside them. Always. We need to point out not everyone would agree with that, however. The great American political activist and linguist Noam Chomsky once stated, “I see no antisemitic implications in denial of the existence of gas chambers, or even denial of the holocaust,” as reported by William Rubinstein in the October 1981 edition of Quadrant. Chomsky later elaborated, in a personal letter to Lawrence K. Kolodney, by saying, “I was asked whether the fact that a person denies the existence of gas chambers does not prove that he is an anti-Semite. I wrote back what every sane person knows: no, of course it does not. A person might believe that Hitler exterminated 6 million Jews in some other way without being an anti-Semite. Since the point is trivial and disputed by no one, I do not know why we are discussing it. In that context, I made a further point: even denial of the Holocaust would not prove that a person is an anti-Semite. I presume that that point too is not subject to contention. Thus if a person ignorant of modern history were told of the Holocaust and refused to believe that humans are capable of such monstrous acts, we would not conclude that he is an anti-Semite.” We would respectfully disagree with Chomsky. Or at least conclude that he is perhaps correct if incidents of denialism are assessed formally in almost an academic fashion, but incorrect if denialism is considered in the wider sense, including what it takes to maintain such a belief system. Yes, in the first instance someone could potentially be a Holocaust denier on the basis of reasons that are not anti-Semitic. For example, an engineer may have no hatred for Jewish people whatsoever and yet may dispute Holocaust reports simply because he or she believes it was not technically possible to kill millions of people in gas chambers over the course of WW2. However – and this is where we would disagree with Chomsky – in the long-term, to hold to the belief that the historicity of the Holocaust is pure fabrication, or has been greatly exaggerated, requires that you also believe that virtually the entire worldwide Jewish community, including Holocaust survivors past and present, are liars and that they collectively make up what deniers callously refer to as the “Holocaust industry”. So, even if the original reason for an individual’s denial of this historical event was not anti-Semitic, in the long-term it always leads down the “Holocaust industry” path the deniers allege is “slyly managed by Jews” who, they insist, are concealing the facts from the public.…An article on the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum (USHMM) website does an excellent job of summarizing the various ways people end up becoming deniers. Titled Origins of Holocaust Denial, the article states that many “deny the Holocaust for more overtly racist, political, or strategic reasons.” The USHMM article continues, “These deniers begin with the premise that the Holocaust did not happen. This premise suits their broader purposes. They deny the Holocaust as an article of faith and no amount of rational argumentation can dissuade them. This denial is irrational, largely unrelated either to the facts of the history or to the enormity of the event. Some people deny the Holocaust because of innate antisemitism, irrational hated of Jews. “In fact, Holocaust denial has been called by some scholars the “new antisemitism” for it recycles many of the elements of pre-1945 antisemitism in a post-World War II context. Holocaust deniers argue that reports of the Holocaust are really part of a vast shadowy plot to make the white, western world feel guilty and to advance the interest of Jews. “Holocaust denial, then, unites a broad range of radical right-wing hate groups in the United States and elsewhere, ranging from Ku Klux Klan segregationists to skinheads seeking to revive Nazism to radical Muslim activists seeking to destroy Israel”. The USHMM article concludes, “Holocaust deniers want to debate the very existence of the Holocaust as a historical event. They want above all to be seen as legitimate scholars arguing a historical point. They crave attention, a public platform to air what they refer to as ‘the other side of the issue’. Because legitimate scholars do not doubt that the Holocaust happened, such assertions play no role in historical debates. Although deniers insist that the idea of the Holocaust as myth is a reasonable topic of debate, it is clear, in light of the overwhelming weight of evidence that the Holocaust happened, that the debate the deniers proffer is more about antisemitism and hate politics than it is about history.” Incidentally, the USHMM makes a perceptive point about Holocaust deniers. It reminds us the very views they perpetuate, accusing Jews of conspiracy and world domination, are the same “hateful charges that were instrumental in laying the groundwork for the Holocaust” in the first place. (James Morcan & Lance Morcan, Debunking Holocaust Denial Theories: Two Non-Jews Affirm the Historicity of the Nazi Genocide, 22-29 (Kindle Edition): Bay Of Plenty, New Zealand)
Now, I am no fan of the government of the modern state of Israel. Following the examples of the Prophets and Apostles of the Bible, I do my best to commend good and speak against evil in whatever sphere such is found. That includes wickedness in human government (2 Timothy 4:1-5). There have been many instances-especially in recent months-where I have spoken against elements and tenants of Israel’s governing authorities.
At the same time, speaking against wickedness in government does not mean that an entire people is wicked or complicit in that wickedness. I am alarmed at the rise of what appears to be a new form of antisemitism in America. As Christians we must always oppose racism. The Jews were chosen to bring the Messiah into the world (Genesis 12:1-3), yet that very act was for the benefit of all mankind (Galatians 3:7). When the nation of Israel rejected Jesus, they were cut off from being the chosen people of God (Romans 11:19-22). Yet they can still be saved-just like Gentiles-through the Gospel (Romans 11:23-25). God wants all persons to be saved, in and through Christ!
Galatians 3:26-29-For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. 27 For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. 28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus. 29 And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.
As the church of Christ, may we always stand against the wickedness of racism, in whatever form such may take.
Father, fill our hearts with love for every human being. Help us to see with the love of Christ. Amen.
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