12.10.2011 BONHOEFFER THOTS I

after completing metaxas' 'bonhoeffer' am again in yet another 'birthpang' over abortion. it reminds me of goliath's brash and affronting attitude toward the God of israel...and i a little david without having killed either a bear or a lion and sensing none of his keening faith. they usually don't come so close (second in less than a month) but maybe the more i spout off about it the sooner the acute pain will dissolve and leave me numb once again. following are notes from the book. his name will be denoted by db.

p136 'first of all i will confess quite simply - i believe that the bible alone is the answer to all our questions and that we need only to ask repeatedly and a little humbly, in order to receive this answer. one cannot simply read the bible, like other books. one must be prepared really to enquire of it. only thus will it reveal itself. only if we expect from it the ultimate answer, (note: personally, 'Lord, what am i to DO in response to the genecide of abortion?') , shall we receive it. that is because in the bible God speaks to us. and one cannot simply think about God in one's own strength, one has to enquire of Him. only if we seek Him, will He answer us.' db

p140 to understand what went so wrong in germany and to understand the genius o fdb's speech, one must understand the history of the FUHRER PRINCIPLE. its profoundly misguided concept of leadership is dramatically different from more modern concepts of leadership. it enabled hitler's rise to power and led to the horrors of the death camps. this..principle was at the heart of db's objection to hitler. in his speech that day, db laid out his thots on the subject.

he began by explaining why germany was looking for a fuhrer. the first war and the subsequent depression and turmoil had brought about a crisis in which the younger generation, especially, had lost all confidence in the traditional authority of the kaiser and the church. the german notion of the fuhrer arose out of this generation and its search for meaning and guidance out of its troubles. the difference between real leadership and the false leadership of the Leader was this: real leadership derived its authority from God, the source of all goodness. thus parents have legitimate authority because they are submitted to the legitimate authority of a good God. but the authority of the fuhrer was submitted to nothing. (note: most of history's 'mistakes' seem to come from the ongoing belief that man is good.) it was self-derived and autocratic and therefore had a messianic aspect.

db stated, 'whereas earlier leadership was expressed in the form of the teacher, the statesman, the father...now the Leader has become an independent figure. the Leader is completely divorced from any office; he is essentially and only 'the Leader'. a true leader must know the limitations of his authority...if he understands his function in any other way than as it is rooted in fact, if he does not continually tell his followers quite clearly of the limited nature of his task and of their own responsibility, if he allows himself to surrender to the wishes of his followers, who would always make him their idol - then the image of the Leader will pass over into the image of the mis-leader and he will be acting in a criminal way not only towards those he leads, but also towards himself. the true Leader must always be able to disillusion. it is just this that is his responsibility and his real object. he must lead his following away from the authority of his person to the recognition of the real authority of orders and offices...he must radically refuse to become the appeal, the idol, ie. the ultimate authority of those whom he leads... he serves the order of the state, of the community and his service can be of incomparable value. but only so long as he keeps strictly in his place...he has to lead the individual into his own maturity...now a feature of man's maturity is responsibility towards other people, towards existing orders. (note: he must act in such a way that others are reminded of and helped toward their duty to obey God in their calling in life. at the same time) he must let himself be controlled, ordered, restricted'.

the good leader serves others and leads others to maturity. he puts them above himself, as a good parent does a child, wishing to lead that child to someday be a good parent. another word for this is discipleship.

he continued, 'only when a man sees that office is a penultimate authority in the face of an ultimate, indescribable authority, in the face of the authority of God, has the real situation been reached. and before this Authority the individual knows himself to be completely alone. the individual is responsible before God. and this solitude of man's position before God, this subjection to an ultimate authority, is destroyed when the authority of the Leader or of the office is seen as ultimate authority...alone before God, man becomes what he is , free and committed in responsibility at the same time.

the fearful danger of the present time is that above the cry for authority, be it of a Leader or of an office, we forget that man stands alone before the ultimate authority and that ANYONE WHO LAYS VIOLENT HANDS ON MAN HERE IS INFRINGING ETERNAL LAWS AND TAKING UPON HIMSELF SUPERHUMAN AUTHORITY WHICH WILL EVENTUALLY CRUSH HIM.
(note: and allow those who he is and has crushed to be destroyed with his brand of destruction and all the byproducts which come to the society in general.) the eternal law that the individual stands alone before God takes fearful vengeance where it is attacked and distorted. thus the Leader points to the office, but Leader and office together point to the final authority itself, before which reich or state are penultimate authorities. leaders or offices which set themselves up as gods mock God and the individual who stands alone before Him and must perish.

forty eight hours had passed since hitler's election, (jan. 30, 1933) but with db's speech the battle lines were drawn. according to db, the God of the bible stood behind true authority and benevolent leadership, but opposed the fuhrer principle and its advocate adolf hitler. of course hitler never publicly denounced God. he knew well that there were many churchgoers in germany who had some vague idea that real authority should come from their God, but unlike db, they had no idea what this actually meant. to embody the kind of leadership that rejected this idea of submission to God's authority, one must at least give lip service to that God, else one would not last very long. hitler was ultimately a practical man and as all truly practical men, he was a cynical (cynic is a man who believes only selfishness motivates human behavior) man.

in the first months of nazi rule, the speed and scope of what they intended and had begun executing throughout german society were staggering. under what was called the gleischaltung (synchronization), the country would be thoroughly reordered along national socialist lines..the ARYAN PARAGRAPH would take effect april 7.

this would result in a series of ..laws that were called the restoration of the civil service. government officials must be of aryan stock; anyone of jewish descent would lose his job.. ie. german church was a state church so this would move non-aryans out of church positions.

the church was in turmoil. some church leaders felt the church should make peace with the nazis, who were strongly opposed to communism and 'godlessness'...and believed the church should conform to the..racial laws and the fuhrer principle. they thot that by wedding the church to the state, they would restore the church and germany to her former glory, before the humilliating treaty of versailles after world war I. the moral degeneration of weimar germany was self-evident. hadn't hitler spoken of restoring moral order to the nation?

a certain group within the church wanted a strong, unified reich church and a 'christianity' that was strong and masculine, that would stand up to and defeat the godless and degenerate forces of bolshevism. they boldly called themselves deutsche christen (german christians) and referred to their brand..as 'positive christianity'. they were very aggressive in attacking those who didn't agree with them and generally caused much confusion and division in the church...they reasoned that jews who were baptized christians could form their own church and had no particular business expecting to be part of a distinctly german church...the races should be separate but equal as in jim crow south.

db's response was that the church plays a vital role for the state. ..

1.the church must continually ask the state whether its action can be justified as legitimate action of the state ie. action such as leads to a balance somewhere between excessive law and order and lawlessness and disorder....to help the state to work 'for your good' as 'servants of God'. (romans 13.4,6)
2.the church must' aid the victims of state action', actually state mis-action, 'even if they do not belong to the christian community' (galatians 6.10)
3.the church must 'not just ..bandage the victims under the wheel, but to put a spoke in the wheel itself'. the translation is awkward, but he meant that a stick must be jammed into the spokes of the wheel to stop the vehicle.
the church would be 'in status confessionis and here the state would be in the act of negating itself'. this latin phrase, which means 'in a state of confession', was originally used in the 16th century lutheran context. in the current context it had come to mean a state of crisis in which the 'confession' (ie. simply to speak forth the good news of Jesus Christ) of the gospel was at stake. 'a state which includes within itself a terrorized church has lost its most faithful servant'.

the ARYAN PARAGRAPH was the nose of the proverbial camel in the tent (ie. the church) which is the first prelude to the tent's destruction. db went on to assert that confession of the good news needs to be made to all, jews included. therefore the church should not only do this but the logical conclusion is that the church includes jews as well as gentiles. (galatians 3.28)

db concluded with the words of luther's commentary on psalm 110.3: 'there is no other rule or test for who is a member of the people of God or the church of Christ than this: where there is a little band of those who accept this word of the Lord, teach it purely and confess against those who persecute it and for that reason suffers what is their due'.

..nazis spoke of the disabled as 'useless eaters' and life unworthy of life'..

to those who encouraged db to work within the german church (as opposed to the confessing church) he said..'if you board the wrong train it is no use running along the corridor in the opposite direction'..

while barth was counseling patience and 'unity' until the confessing church would be thrown out.
db was thinking about the deep call of Christ, which was not about winning, but about submission to God wherever that might lead...'simply suffering -that is what will be needed then - not parries, blows or thrusts such as may still be possible or admissible in the preliminary fight; the real struggle that perhaps lies ahead must simply be to suffer faithfully..if you do not believe, you will not be established..the believer however means to decide'...

birth of the confessing church- the barman confession may, 1934

I. an appeal to the evangelical congregations and christians in germany

8.01 the confessional synod of the german evangelical church met in barmen, may 29-31, 1934. here representatives from all the german confessional churches met with one accord in a confession of the one Lord of the one, holy, apostolic church. in fidelity to their confession of faith, members of lutheran, reformed and united churches sought a common message for the need and temptation of the church in our day...it was not their intention to found a new church or to form a union...their intention was, rather, to withstand in faith and unanimity the destruction of the confession of faith and thus of the evangelical church in germany. in oppositin to attempts to establish the unity of the german evangelical church by means of false doctrine, by the use of force and insincere practices, the confessional synod insists that the unity of the evangelical churches in germany can come only from the word of God in faith through the Holy Sprit. thus alone is the church renewed.

8.03 be not deceived by loose talk, as if we meant to oppose the unity of the german nation! do not listen to the seducers who pervert our intentions, as if we wanted to break up the unity of the german evangelical church or to forsake the confessions of the fathers!

8.04 try the spirits whether they are of God! prove also the words of the confessional synod of the german evangelical church to see whether they agree with holy scripture and with the confessions of the fathers. if you find that we are speaking contrary to scripture, then do not listen to us! but if you find that we are taking our stand upon scripture, then let no fear or temptation keep you from treading with us the path of faith and obedience to the word of God, in order that God's people be of one mind upon earth and that we in faith experience what he himself has said: 'I will never leave you nor forsake you'.

II theological declaration concerning the present situation of the german evangelical church

8.05 according to the opening words of its constitution of july 11, 1933, the german evangelical church is a federation of confessional churches that grew out of the reformation and that enjoy equal rights. the theological basis for the unification of these churches is laid down in article 1 and article 2 of the constitution of the german evangelical church (that was recognized by the reich government on july 14, 1933) (note: the church does not need governmental recognition, does it?): article 1. the inviolable foundation of the german evangelical church is the gospel of Jesus Christ as it is attested for us in holy scripture and brought to light again in the confessions of the reformation. the full powers that the church needs for its mission are hereby determined and limited.

8.07 we publicly declare before all evangelical churches in germany that what they hold in common in this confession is grievously imperiled and with it the unity of the german evangelical church. it is threatened by the teaching methods and actions of the ruling church party of the 'german christians' and of the church administration carried on by them. these have become more and more apparent during the first year of the existence of the german evangelical church. this threat consists in the fact that the theological basis, in which the gec is united, has been continually and systematically thwarted and rendered ineffective by alien principles, on the part of the leaders and spolesmen of the 'german christians' as well as on the part of the church administration. when these principles are held to be valid, then, according to all the confessions in force among us, the church ceases to be the church and the gec, as a federation of confessional churches. becomes intrinsically impossible.

8.09 in view of the errors of the 'german christians' of the present reich church government which are devastating the church and also therefore breaking up the unity of the gec, we confess the following evangelical truths:

8.10 'I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father, but by me." (john 14.6) 'truly, truly, i say to you, he who does not enter the sheepfold by the door, but climbs in by another way, that man is a thief and a robber...I am the door; if anyone enters by Me, he will be saved'. (john 10,1,9)

8.11 Jesus Christ, as He is attested for us in holy scripture, is the one word of God which we have to hear and which we have to trust and obey in life and in death.

8.12 we reject the false doctrine, as though the church could and would have to acknowledge as a source of its proclamation, apart from and becides this one word of God, still other events and powers, figures and truths, as God's revelation.

8.15 we reject the false doctrine, as though there were areas of our life in which we would not belong to Jesus Christ, but to other lords - areas in which we would not need justification and sanctification through Him.

8.17 the christian church is the congregation of the brethren in which Jesus Christ acts presently as the Lord in word and sacrament thru the Holy spirit. as the church of pardoned sinners, it has to testify in the midst of a sinful world, with its faith as with its obedience, with its message as with its order, that it is solely His property, and that it lives and wants to live solely from His comfort and from His direction in the expectation of His appearance.

8.18 we refect the false doctrine, as though the church were permitted to abandon the form of its message and order to its own pleasure or to changes in prevailing ideological and political convictions.

8.19 'you know that the rulers of the gentiles lord it over them and their great men exercise authority over them. it shall not be so among you; but whoever would be great among you must be your servant'. matt. 20.25-6

8.20 the various offices in the church do not establish a dominion of some over the others; on the contrary, they are for the exercise of the ministry entrusted to and enjoined upon the whole congregation.

8.21 we reject the false doctrine, as though the church, apart from this ministry, could and were permitted to give itself or allow to be given to it, special leaders vested with ruling powers.

8.122-5 'fear God. honor the emporer'. (I peter 2.17) scripture tells us that, in the as yet unredeemed world in which the church also exists, the state has by divine appointment the task of providing for justice and peace. (it fulfills this task) by means of the treat and exercise of force, according to the measure of human judgment and human ability. the church acknowledges the benefit of this divine appointment in gratitude and reverence before Him. it calls to mind the kingdom of God, God's commandment and righteousness and thereby the responsibility both of rulers and of the ruled. it trusts and obeys the power of the word by which God upholds all things.

8.23 we reject the false doctrine, as though the state, over and beyond its special commission, shold and could become the single and totalitarian order of human life, thus fulfilling the church's vocation as well.

8.24 we reject the false doctrine, as though the church, over and beyond its special commission, should and could appropriate the characteristics, the tasks and the dignity of the state, thus itslf becoming an organ of the state.

8.26 the church's commission, upon which its freedom is founded consists in delivering the message of the free grace of God to all people in Christ's stead and therefore in the ministry of his own word and work through sermon and sacrament.

8.27 we reject the false doctrine, as though the church in human arrogance could place the word and work of the Lord in the service of any arbitrarily chosen desires, purposes and plans.