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Dripping Springs Weekly Bulletins
He Saw It, But Can't Forget It!
Nearly thirty years ago I became acquainted with a man twenty years my senior. We played golf together and had several things in common. One day, while waiting on a passing rain shower, we sat on a bench while he told me of some of his experiences during World War II. I will never forget the look on his face as he revealed his most horrifying experience during that war.
The war in Europe was in its last days, and his 42nd Infantry Division approached Dachau, the prototype of Nazi Concentration camps. My friend and his fellow soldiers began to notice a terrible odor coming from a railroad siding near the camp. As they approached the railroad cars it became obvious that the odor was from thousands of dead human bodies. At this point my friend could not continue telling his story. Even decades later, his sleep was often disturbed by memories of the sight and smell of that terrible discovery.
The weeks following the liberation of Dachau revealed many similar atrocities. In 1985 my family and I visited the remains of Dachau and we saw pictures of daily camp activities that were stunning and frightening. The lack of respect for human life will never be forgotten and could not be denied. Millions died in “the camps,” and history will remind us of these facts over and over in the decades to come.
That these events did take place is as obvious as any historical event can be. Pictures, personal experiences, the testimony of both military and Gestapo papers, survivors of the brutality – they all bear out the truth of these details. My friend showed me pictures he and his comrades took of the railroad cars and their contents. To doubt their existence or the truth of the narrative of these facts would appear to be foolish indeed. Some, however, claim this is all a fabrication of the nation of Israel.
A relatively new viewpoint in today’s culture admits these atrocities did indeed take place, but looks upon them as, “just the way of war.” A news reporter for U. S. News and World Report interviewed University Professor Robert Simon.
In that interview, Simon told the reporter that a student seldom denies the Holocaust occurred, but then the reporter wrote:
“What Simon sees quite often, though, is worse: students who acknowledge the fact of the Holocaust but who can’t bring themselves to say that killing millions of people is wrong. ‘Of course, I dislike the Nazis,’ one student told Simon, ‘but who is to say they were morally wrong?’
Overdosing on non-judgmental attitudes is a growing problem in the schools. Two disturbing articles in the Chronicle of Higher Education say that some students are unwilling to oppose large moral horrors, including human sacrifice, ethnic cleansing and slavery, because they think that no one has the right to criticize the moral views of another group or culture.”
What should we make of this Professor’s comments? Is he merely an alarmist who is exaggerating his own fears? Could the world come to the point at which another Hitler, Stalin or Saddam Hussein could exterminate millions of people without any protest? It did happen in the 20th century, partly because too many “good” people looked the other way, refusing to believe what they saw happening right before their eyes.
What we are seeing now is one result of ignoring the existence of absolute standards of moral and spiritual law. Objective standards come from a source above and outside of man. Such rules of behavior are not liable to the subjective standards of man. Objective moral law does exist, and is found in the Bible, which states that murder is wrong, Romans 13:9. It says that adultery and fornication are wrong, Luke 18:20. It states that lying, theft and dishonesty are wrong, Ephesians 4:24-32. It declares that certain actions are wrong – not because man has decided they are wrong, but because our Creator has so decreed.
God says man will be judged, “according to what he has done, whether it be good or bad,” 2 Corinthians 5:10, and that the Bible will be the standard by which such judgment is to be made, Romans 2:16. God, having created all things, has authority to make that judgment, and He will do so in harmony with His mercy and His justice. Many believe our world is ripe for the rise of another despot who would take us back to the dark days of “ the camps.” Our imperative is to so teach God’s ways to all mankind, then show by our example that His way is the key to a civilized world. It’s a big challenge, and we must be ready for it.
Carl B Garner
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“…It is written, As I live, saith the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall confess to God. So then every one of us shall give account of himself to God,”
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Meet an Old Lady
You are going to meet an old lady someday. Down the road ahead, ten, twenty, thirty years; she’s waiting for you. You will be catching up with her. What kind of old lady are you going to meet? That is a rather significant question.
She may be a seasoned, soft and gracious lady. A lady who has grown old gracefully, surrounded by a host of friends – friends who call her “blessed” because of what her life has meant to them.
She may be a bitter, disillusioned, dried-up, cynical old buzzard, without a good word for anyone or anything – soured, friendless, alone.
The kind of old lady you will meet will depend entirely upon you. She will be exactly what you make of her – nothing more, nothing less. It is up to you. You will have no one else to credit or blame.
Every day, in every way, you are becoming more and more like that old lady. Amazing, but true. You are getting to look more like her, think more like her, and talk more like her. You are becoming her.
If you live only in terms of what you are getting out of life, the old lady gets smaller, drier, harder, crabbier, more self-centered.
Open your life to others, think in terms of what you can give, your contribution to life, and the old lady grows larger, softer, kinder, and gentler.
The point to remember is that these things don’t always show up immediately. But they will – sooner than you think. These little things, seemingly so unimportant now – attitudes, goals, ambitions, desires – are adding up inside, where you cannot see them, crystallizing in your heart and mind. Some day they will harden into that old lady; nothing will be able to soften or change them then.
The time to take care of that old lady is right now, today. Examine your motives, attitudes, goals. Check up on her. Work her over now while she is still pliable, still in a formative condition. Day comes swiftly; soon it is too late. The hardness sets in, worse than paralysis. Character crystallizes, sets, gels. That’s the finish.
Any wise business person takes an inventory regularly. Merchandise is not half as important as the person. You had better take a bit of a personal inventory, too. Then you will be much more likely to meet a lovely, gracious old lady at the proper time.
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