Another Holocaust?

I spent this past weekend in Boston along with some other leaders from our ministry as we planned our bi-annual training in Colorado for our U.S. staff. We met and stayed downtown in the historic city and ate some great food and saw some neat historical sites. When walking to dinner on Monday evening, we came across this row of old pubs and quaint little restaurants. Oddly, across the street was this cool-looking glass structure. It was six separate square glass pillars that reached a couple stories high. As we got closer, we asked one of our hosts, Ryan, what it was. Unexpectedly, he shared that it was a holocaust memorial and that the six towers each represented one of the main concentration camps. Etched into each of the glass panels were thousands of numbers, each set representing the number that every person taken to one of the camps was given.

To say that this experience was sobering would be an understatement. I've been to the Vietnam Memorial in Washington, D.C. and the names on that represent just under 60,000 soliders killed in that war. This Holocaust memorial represents an approximated 6,000,000 million that were killed by the Nazi regime during World War II. As I read the quotes of survivors and looked at the numbers, I couldn't help but wonder how many good people, followers of Christ even, stood by while their Jewish neighbors were taken away and murdered. As Edmund Burke said,

"All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing"

Unfortunately, there is still much of the evil that inhabited the Nazis in the world today. The Bible calls this sin and says that all of us inherit this nature to be predisposed towards sin. Lest I think that I am better than someone else, I only need to be reminded of my own proclivity to violate God's holiness.

As I finished walking through and reflecting upon the New England Holocaust Memorial, I came upon this quote at the end of the memorial:

"They came first for the Communists, and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Communist.

Then they came for the Jews, and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Jew.

Then they came for the trade unionists, and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a trade unionist.
Then they came for the Catholics, and I didn't speak up because I was a Protestant.

Then they came for me, and by that time no one was left to speak up."

Sadly, the killing of the innocent still goes on in the world today. Whether it is in Darfur or in the womb of a mother, innocent life is taken while many of us stand by without giving much thought to it. The morning after visiting this memorial, I read this article in the paper about the current situation in Darfur. Admittedly, I don't know a whole lot about this situation, but I was moved by the devotion and passion of this individual who hopes to make a difference in the world. I hope to learn more and see how I might be involved.

Please read the article and check out these websites to learn more about how you can prevent another Holocaust from happening:

Save Darfur - http://www.savedarfur.org

National Right to Life - http://www.nrlc.org

The ONE Campaign - http://www.one.org


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