"I have sworn, upon the Altar of God, eternal hostility toward every form of tyranny over the mind of man." Jefferson
Wednesday, December 05, 2007
The Face of Evil
Okay, this is not exactly more positive! But, this person features in my sermon this Sunday titled "EVIL." (next Sun the sermon is titled "GOOD" - so we do end the series well!) So, here's my question - Who is this person?
His name is Adolf Eichmann, the hi ranking Nazi official in charge of facilitating and managing the mass deportation of Jews into ghettos and extermination camps under Adolf Hitler. He was captured and charged with crimes against humanity and war crimes commited durring WWII.
That's right! Eichmann was the architect of the Holocaust. He tried various methods of "extermination" before deciding that gas was the most cost effective - cheaper than bullets!
I love the internet... it is so full of information. This is what I found.
He claimed, to his death, that he was just a good soldier that followed orders.
His trial sparked a great deal of controvery and discussion on why a person or groups of people would take part in such attrosities.
Not long after the trial, an experiment was conducted at Yale called the "Milgram Experiment." It involved a subject shocking another subject at increasing intensity based on responses to questions and directions from an "authority figure." The result was that over 2/3rds of the subjects inflicted the highest level of shock to the other subject.
The main theory was that most people feel such propensity for authority that they will obey even when it goes against thier concience.
So, how does this apply to us as followers of Christ?
I would suggest that thier are two sides to this; the leader and the follower.
For the leader, I will pick on preachers because they are the most public/visible of leaders in the church. (This is not a discusion on how much leadership power a preacher has, just an acknowledgement that they have influence.) The leader must recognize the power of influence that he yields with the congregation and temper it, use it appropriately.
The second aspect is the follower side. It is easy to blindly follow someone. It takes very little effort. But yet, as Christians, we are told to "Test all things... hold on to the good... avoid the bad."
6 comments:
Since you already told me who it is I'm not going to spoil the mystery. But I will say this: He's a guy who probably used WetWipes way too much.
His name is Adolf Eichmann, the hi ranking Nazi official in charge of facilitating and managing the mass deportation of Jews into ghettos and extermination camps under Adolf Hitler. He was captured and charged with crimes against humanity and war crimes commited durring WWII.
Also durring his days in hiding, cir. 1950, he worked as a proffesional rabbit farmer in Argintina.
That's right! Eichmann was the architect of the Holocaust. He tried various methods of "extermination" before deciding that gas was the most cost effective - cheaper than bullets!
I love the internet... it is so full of information. This is what I found.
He claimed, to his death, that he was just a good soldier that followed orders.
His trial sparked a great deal of controvery and discussion on why a person or groups of people would take part in such attrosities.
Not long after the trial, an experiment was conducted at Yale called the "Milgram Experiment." It involved a subject shocking another subject at increasing intensity based on responses to questions and directions from an "authority figure." The result was that over 2/3rds of the subjects inflicted the highest level of shock to the other subject.
The main theory was that most people feel such propensity for authority that they will obey even when it goes against thier concience.
So, how does this apply to us as followers of Christ?
I would suggest that thier are two sides to this; the leader and the follower.
For the leader, I will pick on preachers because they are the most public/visible of leaders in the church. (This is not a discusion on how much leadership power a preacher has, just an acknowledgement that they have influence.) The leader must recognize the power of influence that he yields with the congregation and temper it, use it appropriately.
The second aspect is the follower side. It is easy to blindly follow someone. It takes very little effort. But yet, as Christians, we are told to "Test all things... hold on to the good... avoid the bad."
Mark - you have outlined my whole sermon, but not the point of my sermon. See the next post.
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