Why did God stand back and do nothing during the holocuast?
Alan,
Let me answer a question with a question. Have you ever done anything evil? Evil being a violation of God's law. If you are like the rest of humanity including myself, you would say, yes.
Why did God allow you to do this? God could have wiped you off the map, or never have let you be born. Did God cause you to do evil?? No. But he allowed it to happen.
The whole redemtive process is a plan. God foreknew the evil you would do. Yet he had already appropriated a way to commute your sins, and impute righteousness to you. (Rom 3:23) The acts of the holocaust were terrible. But so is every act of evil perpetrated against a pure and holy God. You may not see your acts of evil as serious as the holocaust, but that doesn't mean they aren't serious. Before you try to say, "I haven't done anything as serious as the holocaust," let me point something out.
God created this world and universe 'good.' It was thrown in tumult when mankind went against the wishes of God. What was this terrible, evil, wicked act that mankind did to throw the entire creation into chaos and suffering? Did he murder someone? Commit atrocious crimes? No. He ate a fruit. HE ATE A FRUIT!! God said, don't eat that, and he ate it. That's it. What does this tell us? That God is infinately more Holy than we can fathom. How many times have my parents said, "don't touch this, or don't do that?" I can't even count. But this is exactly what God saw as reason to cast mankind from paradise. Adam didn't perpetrate a holocaust. But his little discretion led to it, and every evil thing to ever happen since.
So why does God allow terrible things to happen, and allow us to commit our own sins? Because God desires intimate fellowship with us. Huh?? Let me explain. How can God have perfect obedience from a creature that He has given conscience and free will? That can only happen if that being surrenders its free will to Him. The reality is that mankind was on the edge of condemnation from day one. What is God's purpose for creating mankind. We were created to glorify Him. Being created by God, man is lower than God and not a perfect, Holy being. If God had created such perfect, holy beings, then he would have recreated himself, which is a whole other paradox in itself. It must be the way it is. To give up our free will, we must have a free will to surrender. Think about this. Eve could have gone straight to God when approached by the serpent. She could have surrendered her will to God right then and there. But she didn't. Adam, could have gone to God when presented the fruit from Eve. He didn't. The result is that the consequences resulting from the fall must happen. If God were to prevent the consequences of free-will then it wouldn't be free-will at all. To redeem a fallen man, the brutal realities of the fall had to take place, and are still taking place. As ugly as it is, it demonstrates what man is apart from the redemtion of God.
When one comes to Christ, they surrender themselves to God. What is it that causes the holocaust? What is it that causes the sufferings that man brings upon himself. Self-soveriegnty. Isn't that what happened in the garden. Man saying he wants to rule over his own life. In the new heaven and earth, man will not rule himself. Heaven will be filled with redeemed humans who have laid down their lives in surrender, to say, "not my will, but thine be done." If you remove will, you remove sin. If God had made us without will in the first place, then the chance for intimacy could not happen. It is hard for us to fathom, because even as saved people we must continue to live in this fallen world.
This is our hope. Of a life where we will be the righteousness of God, free from sin and temptation, surrendered in perfect obedience to a perfect God.
If God does not allow you to sin, then what value is there in the cross of Christ. And so it is with everyone.
I would also content that we can't say God stood back and did nothing. Had others not intervened, the holocaust would have been a thousand times worse. I would contend that God's hand was instrumental in leading the allies to victory. Who knows how much worse it could have been.
