Friday, May 14, 2010

(From "The Sunflower") Imagine you are a prisoner in a concentration camp & a dying Nazi asks forgiveness.

This is a thought provoking question that entails the body of the book "The Sunflower" which I am reading. Can you imagine, being a tortured Jewish prisoner in a concentration camp, watching as your family members and friends are slaughtered, worked to death and starved (among many other atrocities). Imagine you are pulled aside and taken into the room of a dying Nazi soldier. You have never met him, and he has never met you. He tells you of his crimes against humanity (viciously murdering thousands of Jewish people, lighting them on fire, shooting at children) and he truly is repenting before you. Do you, (or can you) forgive? (Also, I encourage anyone who has not had the liberty of reading this incredible book to pick it up and find the answers for yourself.)

(From "The Sunflower") Imagine you are a prisoner in a concentration camp %26amp; a dying Nazi asks forgiveness.
When someone asks a question such as this I think of a Christian, German concentration camp guard at Auschwitz in 1944. He has a loving family who he takes to church every Sunday without fail. On this day, he is leading a family of Jews to their deaths in the gas chamber. Here's where things get confusing for me. According to the bible, all the German guard must do is accept Jesus as his savior and the son of god and ask for forgiveness of this terrible sin of multiple murders of innocent victims, and he will dwell in heaven forever when he dies after living a long and fruitful life. The innocent Jewish family, however, because they don't believe just as the German does, after having their lives cut miserably short and not allowed to bring up children have, grandchildren and enjoy the other niceties of life like the German will enjoy, will burn in hell for eternity. That's just sick man.
Reply:i would have stomp on his face...than i will forgive him
Reply:No, i definitely wouldnt then i dont know if i really ever could
Reply:Since I would be a Jew, I would follow the "eye for an eye" path. I would kill him, then call it even.
Reply:If I never met him then I'm not in any position to forgive him anything. As far as I'm concerned he never did anything to me.... so I'm totally ok with him, no matter what uniform he is wearing.


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