Eric Metaxas gave a talk on his book “Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy” on Tuesday night at the John Paul II Center here in Denver. An overflow crowd of over 300 people showed, including Bill Armstrong, the President of CCU, John Andrews, the head of the Centennial Institute, Charles Chaput, the Bishop of the Arch Diocese of Denver, as well as a representation of Orthodox Priests and others.
Metaxas was funny, profound, and made many points that hit home! It is clear to me that the relation of Bonhoeffer to the German church in the 1930s, which accommodated the growing evil of Hitler with rationalizations and willful blindness, is the SAME relationship WE have to our secular society!
Our secular government treats the growing evil of the vicious totalitarian Salafist Islam with the same politically correct rationalizations and willful blindness! Many churches indulge in the same moral relativist reluctance to name and stand up to evil, glossing over everything with the bland “loving forgiving God” that requires nothing of us: what Bonhoeffer called “cheap grace”!
It’s clear to me that we in the Counter Jihad are called to follow in Bonhoeffer’s footsteps in his uncompromising stand against the growing evil and to work to defeat it. Bonhoeffer’s prominent family had many Jewish friends. He was aware of the (then secret) “Final Solution” in progress, and helped Jewish friends and their families escape, as well as participating in the plot to kill Hitler. He was hanged by the Gestapo three weeks before the end of the war.
Interesting: one man stood up and demanded to know how Bonhoeffer, as a Christian, could countenance the killing of Hitler? The answer was superb: “was it right for David to kill Goliath?” The question was a perfect example of the formalist church rationalizing its inaction in the face of evil.
Two books highly recommended: “Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy” by Eric Metaxas. “The Cost of Discipleship” by Bonhoeffer himself
