FOR CHRISTIANS ONLY: Why did God permit the Holocaust to happen?

Question

I know God has a purpose for everything that happens and I know that He permits tragedy to happen, but I'm puzzled as to why He did not prevent the Holocaust from happening. :-/

Answer 1

Life is not about what happens. Life is about the choices you make.

Why did God allow people the ability to choose to do horrible things? Why did God give people the ability to choose at all?

Why not make slaves out of every man, woman and child in the world so that nothing bad would ever happen. Why not give us all the food we could want. Why not make the weather always perfect.

Why not make everything as it was in Eden, except, do not give us the ability to choose to do wrong.

Make us all slaves to the will of God for eternity instead of putting us on Earth for a very, very short time where we can choose to do right or wrong and then give those who choose wisely all these things in Heaven for all eternity.

I don't think I want to be a slave for all eternity.

I believe I want the ability to choose wisely.

PS: A lot of them did try and escape and they were shot, some did escape. It is not as if the Germans told them all "Come on we don't want to kill you here we have a much better way to kill you!" The people thought they would be imprisoned for a while and eventually be released. If the cops came to throw you in jail, would you go or run or kill the police?

Answer 2

God is waiting for people to comes to terms with the idea that man cannot rule themselves. The holocaust was terrible, but only in the fact that it was concentrate in one small area during a specific time period. There are far more people killed, of many different ethnics, in highly terrible ways, all over the planet. We put importance on the holocaust only because it involves the Jews, who were at one time were the blessed people of God. That distinction was lost at the time of the death of Christ, when the great curtain covering the Most Holy of the Temple tore open for all to see that God's Holy Spirit no longer resided in Israel. Prior to that time, only the high priest could see what was in that room. Anyone else would have died instantly.

When Israel was wandering, only the High Priests could pack up and transport the Ark of the Covenant. They had to carry it on their shoulders. The job could not be handed off to underlings or anyone else.

Answer 3

There is an antichrist spirit looming in this world that hates anything God loves. For whatever reason, God allowed it and we have to trust that decision even if it does not make sense to us at the present time. We need to ask ourselves what good came from this horrible experience? For one, it helped Soviet Jews to gain backing, and it also became a potent educational weapon to combat anti-Semitism in hopes that a Holocaust will never happen again. Jews were scattered and return to Israel and it became an independent nation. The thought of a Holocaust is not new to the Jews. Remember in the Book of Esther when Haman sought to kill all the Jews? Remember under Alexander the Great that 100,000 Jews were deported due to unsettled conditions in Palestine, the cruel anti-Semitic crucifixion of 2,000 Jews by Varus and Tiberius deporting 4,000 Jews? The Masada battle?. I mean historically and biblically speaking Jews have been made the scapegoat . People choose to be evil. Here is where free will comes in. Evil things will continue to happen in this life because man is exceedingly wicked in his heart, but he can be redeemed if he choses to do so. Keep in mind, that God is on the throne and soon justice will prevail.

Answer 4

I know that it is easier to see the good that comes out of smaller scale tragedy, but I have to assume that there was good that came as a result of this horrendous event. I wasn't there, I don't know, but think about maybe the people that did try to help like Mr. Schindler.

Tragedy often inspires others to commit selfless acts. That brings about more good in the world. After 911 there was a lot of this stuff seen in America, people stepped back and looked at their lives for awhile and reached out to help wherever they could. Same with Hurricane Katrina. I know those are smaller scale, but I'm young, that's all I've seen.

Another good that comes from tragedy is that people seek out God. If our lives are rosy, we often don't see our need for Him and we go about business ignoring Him. It's when we're in trouble that we cry out to Him and receive His love and sometimes salvation comes when we have nothing left to try in ourselves. Tragedy can be God's saving grace for us. Temporary suffering, no matter how extreme here on earth is nothing in comparison to eternal suffering in hell. If that is what it takes to get our attention, God does it. He sent His own people into slavery / captivity a few times in the OT, for 400 years in Egypt. That probably seemed mean, but in the end, the people repented and turned back to God.

To the answerer that says that the Jews killed God's Son so He allowed it..... That was the plan. Why would He punish people for carrying out His plan? That would not be Just. As a Christian, I have no hatred toward the Jews, they are God's chosen people. That didn't change. I don't understand where "Christians" get this idea that Jews are to be hated. It's not a Christian idea if you read the Bible.

Answer 5

Because God has given us free will, and it was by free will that the Holocaust happened. If God were to have stopped the Holocaust, he would have not allowed for free will. There is a reason for everything that happens whether it makes sense to us or not.

Answer 6

I have a hard time understanding the "allowing" of the Holocaust, too. When I watch Schindler's List, I cry like a baby due to torment of the Jews.

However, in my understanding , I put the Holocaust in with all the other stuff like the Romans defeating Israel or Babylon defeating the Jews..............because you see, MOSES for told all this. Moses said that God told him that IF the Jews turned from God then God would turn from them, keep in mind they were his chosen people. I can not give you verse and number but I know I read that God , through Moses, said He would actually BUILD and CREATE enemies if they turned from him. God's whole idea with this is that he might get the Jews to turn back to him.

I have been to Israel in 1991 and believe you me, they are as sinful as any other USA city or town, with the exception of the Orthodox Jews, and then even them, at the Great Wall, just go through the motions such as praying on street corners or great wall which is plainly stated in the bible as detestable by God, since God said to pray in secret and in your closet. God answers prayers done in secret and not from some people who like to brag out loud.

Answer 7

i know the concept of 'free will' drives some folks crazy, usually the same folks who claim that people only become Christians to avoid taking personal responsibility, but we as humans have the choice of choosing to do evil or choosing to do good. in the end, it is up to us...i can't claim to know the mind of God, but i am confident that one day i will understand Him a lot better than i do now...btw, i'm not including you in the category of those who have a problem with the concept of free will...i respect the fact that you are sincerely trying to understand...i wish i had the wisdom to give you an answer that would bring you peace, but i just don't...sometimes life is like that

Answer 8

No doubt God wanted the culprits to restrain themselves and to refrain from committing the Holocaust.

It's not His fault that they ignored Him.

We can ask the same question about the killing fields in Cambodia, the Soviet Union killing 50 million of its own people, a young child getting cancer ... the list goes on and on.

The answer just isn't there for us to see. We can only remember that God, in the person of the Son Jesus, became at one with our suffering.

He became human like us, and He saw suffering -- and of course, He experienced it Himself.

.

Answer 9

While the Jews are still known as God's chosen people, they no longer enjoy any particular status, in these new covenant times.

As such, God owes them nothing more than he owes anyone else, which is salvation in Jesus Christ, through his church.

Answer 10

He would not interfere with the free will of the German people.

Some people see it as a punishment for not having accepted Jesus... but actually Jesus' prosecution did not have widespread support form the Jews, it was undertaken by a few ones.

If "prosecuting" Jesus was deemed necessary, it was because a great part of the community was actually receptive the message of Christ.