John McCain decided to renounce the endorsement of Rev. John Hagee. Recently, one of Hagee’s older sermons about the holocaust with speculation about why God allowed the event, was dug up and quoted in an attempt to make him the moral equivalent of the racist, Anti-Semitic, Rev. Jeremiah Wright. Now, supposedly, anyone who wants to talk about Obama’s ties to Wright has to explain McCain’s ties to Hagee.
The left loves to find these “moral equivalencies.” They know they can’t defend Obama’s mentor even though they like Obama, so they ignore the issues by trying to find a racist on the other side. In similar manner, they know they can’t defend terrorism, even though they relate to the terroirst’s anti-American ideologies, so they try to make it look like our own American soldiers are also guilty of terrorism for fighting the war against terror. See how it works? Oh, and while they call our GI’s terrorists, they also mutter the obligatory disclaimer, “I’m against the war, but I support the troops.” I guess that means, “I support the troops even though they are terrorists.” Anyway, now Wright and Hagee are viewed as parallel versions of each other. Well, McCain dodged this ball easily. He renounced Hagee, a course of action that seems appropriate on the surface. Only one problem: The judgment against Hagee is misplaced by ignorant people who neither understand Christianity nor the Bible.
Let’s put aside the fact that McCain has once again shot himself in the foot, renouncing yet another conservative leader attempting the uphill battle of defending our conservative candidate who does not always seem so conservative. By placating to the leftists who will not be voting for him anyway, McCain may soon accomplish the impossible: He may hand the presidency over to Obama, who, a few weeks ago, was so damaged, McCain would have had the election in the bag.
Let us also put aside the utter hypocrisy of leftists who will attack “right wing fanatics” like Hagee, accusing them of anti-Semitism, all the while defending the Palestinians who teach their children to hate Jews and openly long for the complete annihilation of Israel. Hagee has been one of the most outspoken supporters Israel ever had. This little fact is usually unmentioned by the left. Much as people continually bring up the holocaust of the past, some of us are concerned about the possibility of a new holocaust in the future and that concern takes zero comfort from the left, because Muslim terrorists are using the left as useful idiots in their cause.
Before I continue, please be aware, I, myself am a Jew. I know real anti-Semitism when I see it and I am quite educated about the holocaust. Believe me, I was taught about the holocaust my entire life. True, I am a Jewish Christian, so I differ from some of my fellow Jews on many theological issues, but believe it or not, there are many Jews (not Jewish-Christians, just Jews) who would actually agree with what Hagee said. What did he say? He articulated a personal belief that God used the holocaust to bring the Jews back to their promised land. Now, do I agree with his comment? No and I can see how such a comment from a lover of Israel would sound confusing, but let’s just use our heads for a moment. If the man is repeatedly, outspokenly, unabashedly pro-Israel, whatever he meant, he did not mean that the holocaust was a good thing. Many Jews, if asked why God allowed the holocaust, will say that God was punishing them for their sin. No, they do not mean that God collaborates with evil Nazis. They merely mean that just as God allowed the Babylonians to conquer a disobedient ancient Israel, He may have had His reasons for allowing the Germans to do what they did. There is a difference between what God wills and what God allows. Again, not all Jews would say this, but even some of the Jews who disagree, still appreciate Hagee. Dennis Prager disagrees with that theology but understands the theology. He defended Hagee vehemently on his radio program this morning, reminded his listeners what a friend Hagee has been to the Jews and lamented that Hagee’s words are being taken out of context. I know. I know, People also claim Wright was taken out of context. Well, Wright was given a chance to explain himself. When he explained, we saw that he meant every word of his racist dribble. Should Hagee be given a chance to explain, we will see something quite different.
There are always two questions when the subject of evil comes up: “Why do people commit evil?” And, “Why does God allow people to commit evil?” The first question is the easier of the two. Evil is an age old human problem. Evil people are selfish, narcissists who will not take responsibility for their own actions. Some commit evil out of a love for power and control. Others go along with evil because they are too cowardly to oppose it. In Nazi Germany, we saw both kinds of evil. Some people really hated the Jews, using them as scapegoats to blame for the pain of their own financial conditions, etc. Others did not hate the Jews but they were unwilling to put their own lives on the line. If it came down to a choice between turning in their Jewish neighbor or going to the concentration camp themselves, they chose survival and they chose it at the cost of compromising basic human decency. There is no excuse for the holocaust and there is nothing the Jews did to deserve a holocaust. The holocaust was evil and it was committed by evil people. It is the worst evil the world has ever seen. Period.
The next question is far more difficult. Why did God allow the holocaust? Here, I believe we need some humility. I think the best answer is that we don’t know. This is where Hagee made his mistake. True, when the Babylonians conquered Israel, some prophets, like Jeremiah, warned Israel ahead of time and related the conquest to Israel’s disobedience, but unless we want to claim that we have a similar prophecy today, we are limited only to our opinions.
At the same time, just because we don’t understand why God allowed the holocaust, that doesn’t mean He didn’t allow it. This is not only a mystery regarding World War Two, it is a mystery with evil altogether: Why does a loving God allow evil? Philosophers and theologians have been wrestling with that question for years. The question is not limited to the holocaust and the question is not limited to Judaism/Christianity.
My dad disowned me for becoming a Christian. Not long after my conversion, Dad’s brother, my Uncle Norman, took me out to lunch and broke down in tears. He could not understand why I had turned my back on my heritage. He then proceeded to confront Christianity.
“Where was Jesus,” my uncle asked, “when six million Jews were destroyed by the Nazis?”
“Uncle Norman, do you believe in God?”
“Of course I believe in God.”
“Then I’ll ask you the same question. Where was God when six million Jews were destroyed by the Nazis? Never mind Jesus. Where was the God YOU believe in? Where was the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob?”
After a moment’s pause, he said. “Maybe I don’t believe in God.”
“Well, maybe you don’t,” I replied. “But let’s be clear. The mystery of evil is not an exclusive problem with Christianity. Judaism must wrestle with the same question.”
Whatever concept of God you accept, be it religious or be it philosophical, you must believe your God has reasons for allowing evil. Why do I say that? Because evil exists. This is rather obvious!
The Bible teaches three different levels of interaction where human beings and human evil are concerned. On the surface, there is the all-human level. Humans do awful things but humans have free will and are one hundred percent responsible for their actions. On the next level, we have the spiritual theater. You may not believe in the existence of good angels and evil spirits. Other articles of mine defend their existence. For now, let’s stipulate that whatever your opinion of the Bible, this is just exactly what the Bible teaches. Demonic beings seek to keep people from the love of God and these beings especially hate the Jews. They hate the Jews, because through the Jews, the Messiah came into the world. They hate the Jews because through the Jews we received the Bible, both Old and New Testaments. So on one level, we can blame people for the holocaust. On another level, the holocaust was inspired by Satan. Humanity’s own evil spark was already there, but Satan fanned the flame.
On the third level, we have God Himself. His will is made clear but He sometimes allows humans to go against His will. He sometimes permits wicked things without interfering and He sometimes allows Satan to raise havoc without stopping him. This does not mean God will never interfere. There will be a day of judgment where all souls resurrect from the dead and stand before His throne. At that time, everyone will be punished or rewarded accordingly.
In the meantime, there are books like Job that discuss this three-level conflict. A series of mishaps happened to Job, including attacks against his family from evil people. We learn in this ancient document that Satan was involved in the evil, but we also learn that Satan could not do anything God did not allow.
We know that people are responsible for the holocaust. We also know that Satan was responsible for the holocaust. Finally, we know God had some reason for allowing Satan to do what he did. That does not mean God approved. It means there is a mystery. In Job, the mystery is revealed to us, the readers, but interestingly enough, it was never revealed to Job. We learn that Job’s faith in God was being tested. God wanted to see if Job would follow him, even when blessings were withheld. But God did not explain Himself to Job. All he said to Job was, “I am God and you are man. I owe you no answer.”
This did not keep Job’s friends from coming to his bedside and trying to explain exactly why he suffered. Job needed the comforting explanations of his friends the way a bleeding ulcer needs a martini. And perhaps this is the greatest lesson for Christians today. We are a little too quick to explain why God is doing this or God is doing that. If your friends are going through a trial, life is already bad enough. Why make things worse by trying to figure out why God allowed it.? All this does is add an extra burden.
Again, it is true that God warned the ancient Jews of calamities that would come their way should they turn from Him. In the case of the Babylonians, we know this to be the reason because the scripture specifically says so. But after the Babylonians conquered Israel, God sent a prophet to them saying, “How dare you conquer my people Israel?” This was all the Babylonians needed to understand. Whatever reason God may have had for allowing the conquest, the conquest was evil and the Babylonians would pay as they did years later when the Persians conquered them.
I am addressing this topic today only because the sore subject has come up in the news. In general conversation, when people ask me why the holocaust happened, I do not attempt to explain the three levels of human/spiritual interaction. I give the simplest answer, an answer they can relate to and an answer that is absolutely true: The holocaust happened because people are sinful and some of these sinful people became evil. If we want to interpret the holocaust from the Bible’s point of view, let’s just read what the Bible says about human nature. That is the best answer and that is all Hagee needed to say. But if he went beyond, and speculated about how God in His sovereignty may have been forcing the Jews to be less assimilated into the German culture and more willing to return to the roots of Israel, well, all I can say is, I at least understand where the man is coming from and he should not be compared to Rev. Jeremiah Wright.
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