By Elke Ahlswede
DETMOLD, Germany (Reuters) - A 94-year-old former Auschwitz guard was sentenced to jail in Germany on Friday by a judge who branded him a "willing and efficient henchman" in the Holocaust.
In what is likely to be one of Germany's last trials for World War Two-era atrocities, Reinhold Hanning was convicted of being an accessory to the murder of at least 170,000 people at the concentration camp in Nazi-occupied Poland.
Rejecting the defense argument that the former SS officer had never killed, beaten or abused anyone himself, Judge Anke Grudda said Hanning had chosen to serve in the notorious death camp and had helped it run.
"It is not true that you had no choice; you could have asked to be transferred to the war front," Grudda told Hanning as she read out the verdict.
She said it was impossible that he had been unaware of the murders since he spent two and a half years at the camp and had been promoted twice during that time.
"That shows that you had proven your value as a willing and efficient henchman in the killings," Grudda said.
... Read the original story here.---------------------------------------------
I've found it easy to talk about God in secular settings because of moral absolutes. Believers can (and often do) shy away from conversations about God in academic settings because they believe their position cannot be defended. But the opposite is true. I think this is one of the easiest arguments for the existence of God; namely, moral absolutes and the gift of an operative conscience. Those must be given by God or if you want... an omnipotent supernatural being outside of space and time transcendent and not limited to what our pea brains can comprehend. Let's just call this being "God."
This is an easy subject to breach because EVERYBODY, unless their conscience is seared, believes in moral absolutes. Every husband knows its wrong for another man to break into his house and rape his wife. Every woman knows its wrong for her husband to be looking at porn. Every child knows theres something wrong when mommy or daddy are loosing their minds over spilled milk. All of these deviances are indicators that something has shifted from the "way it was supposed to be."
And that's the point! For the wold to say there is "evil" suggests that there is a "right" or "holy" way that things should be. The best argument that the Atheist has is the "problem of evil," which is self-refuting because to allude to "evil" is to assume "righteousness." One last time: THERE IS NO EVIL WITHOUT A NOTION OF HOLINESS.
Now about this former Nazi. He was convicted because he should have known better. He was convicted based on his willingness to go against what every human being knows is right; that is, to protect human life.
This is the truth: There are moral absolutes. Culture doesn't define what these are; they are intrinsic to our very being. At the core of who we are, we desire relationship, love, and peace.
The world says, "there are no moral absolutes and please don't force your views on me." To which, I respond, "are you absolutely sure there are no moral absolutes?" If they agree, they agree with me. If they disagree with me, they refute their own argument.
Now lets connect this theoretical mumbo jumo with practical application. Why do people argue against moral absolutes????
Answer: Because they love living life apart from their God given conscience. They love being their own Savior.
So how can we break through to these people? I stand by my method of "sharing my faith" by sharing how jacked up and evil I am. In doing that, I share my faith by showing people and telling them just how much I need a Savior. And this has been completely liberating. Because I no longer have to be all righteous and holy in front of people. I can let them in and tell them when I have failed. How I do not love my wife and kids like I should. I can look them in the eye and say, "there's no question you can ask me that I wouldn't answer!" Hit me with your best shot. Go deep. I have no fear to share any past sin(s) or embarrassing event because I have a Savior who has liberated me from shame and guilt.
People who refuse to be vulnerable and honest with others are simply their own Savior. In their minds, they protect, they control, they save themselves from shame and guilt.
I'd rather let God do that and I fall on his mercy...daily.
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