Thoughts on the Holocaust

The last few days, I've been thinking about the Holocaust. It started because I'm in a class on Judaism and that was what the chapter was on, but it's actually come up more than once since then outside of class. Today was the lecture on it. It's really horrific to see what happened, and unbelievable that some people claim it never happened. Since my class is on Judaism and the Gospel, my teacher posed a few questions for us:

*What long-term lessons can we learn from the Holocaust?

*Would you have been one of the non-Jewish people

who risked their lives to save a Jewish family?

*What help does the Gospel of Jesus Christ offer for

people who struggle with such horrific experiences?

I have a few thoughts regarding these questions:

I hope I would have had the courage to do what was right in that situation. But how easy is it to say, "Well, it's not my business, I couldn't do very much, and I have my own problems to deal with, my own family and friends to care for," and turn a blind eye? It's kind of a scary thought. So many people just didn't want to take the risk. And so many people were blinded by an evil dictator, following him just because he told them to.

Yesterday in Sunday School, the teacher had us stand in a circle, then follow her example, clapping, tapping our knees with our hands, tapping our neighbor's knees...then she asked, "Why did you do that? Why did you do everything I told you to?" She pointed out we really have to be aware of who we are following and why. Are we following Christ? Or are we following the adversary? Who am I following?

In the reading for class today, it talked about the problem the Holocaust poses: how could God allow this to happen? The Jews had always been persecuted, but this was far more than anything before. Why wouldn't a loving God intervene? Without the context of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, that question is really hard. It can be hard enough with it! We're blessed with a knowledge of the Plan of Salvation. There's a line in Preach My Gospel that says everything unfair in life will be made right by the atonement of Jesus Christ. The Holocaust was definitely not fair. But it will be made right. We can't even comprehend it, but somehow, our Savior makes everything right. That is such a blessing.

So in keeping with my posts this month, I'm so grateful for the Atonement of Jesus Christ. I'm grateful that through it we can be made whole, physically, emotionally, spiritually. There is no greater blessing.