Truth versus Tyrants

This past week I have been reading the challenging biography of Dietrich Bonhoeffer by Eric Metaxas. Bonhoeffer lived in Germany during the years after the First World War and those years leading up to the Second.

This past week I have been reading the challenging biography of Dietrich Bonhoeffer by Eric Metaxas. Bonhoeffer lived in Germany during the years after the First World War and those years leading up to the Second.

Bonhoeffer trained in the German schools of Theology which were very critical of the bible’s authority. Yet he remained firm in his commitment to the God and His word. Because of this he seriously questioned the developing persecution of the Jews in Germany and was convinced that something was amiss with Hitler and his programs. Even though German nationalism was popular, Bonhoeffer called the church to speak out against the growing avarice toward the Jews.

His experience reminds me of a friend of mine who lived as a youth in Hitler’s Germany. My friend, Peter, wanted to join the Hitler’s Youth program, but his mother, a committed believer in the bible, would not allow him to do so. She also was convinced that any institution that denigrated the Jewish people was going against God and His word.

The scriptures provided these believers early insight into what became one of the greatest tragedies of modern times, the holocaust. Bonhoeffer, himself, was arrested and spent years in prison. He was executed three days before the Allies defeated Germany.

To both Bonhoeffer and my friend, Peter’s, Mother the Bible made all the difference. To quote Bonhoeffer’s words to his seminary students, “Do not try to make the Bible relevant. Its relevance is axiomatic…Do not defend God’s Word, but testify to it…Trust to the Word.”

Would I, would you, today be able from our knowledge of God and His word to discern truth from error though our whole nation enthusiastically heads in a different direction. This biography challenges me to evaluate that question and to take courage should that situation arise. Would I be able to take a stand for truth against a tyrant?