Thank you. This is an interesting explanation. But some atrocities are perpetrated by thousands if not millions. So to say an insividual such as a leader is acting badly and using Christianity as an excuse and blinding everyone, but how about people who underdstabd what’s going on? Or who perpetrate bad evil actions directly? Don’t they realize what they’re doing is wrong?
This really interests me. I read a lot about history of wars, and one German soldier who burnt a Ukranian village during WWII with some people in the houses when captured did not feel any remorse. He was a devout Lutheran Christian, carried a pocket NT, prayed every morning etc. He said, I got an order to burn the village fast, so I didn’t waste time to check if there were people inside when burning the houses. He absolutely considered himself to be totally innocent - he said I was simply following orders…. Women, old men, kids were most of his victims…
"but how about people who underdstabd what’s going on?"
Like Bonhoeffer then? --
Dietrich Bonhoeffer - Wikipedia
Answer: we'd each be responsible, individually, in our individual unique ways, since we have individually unique capacities, to do what is right, in unique ways,
since we individually understand different things, and have different situations/places/experiences/opportunities.
So, to do like Bonhoeffer, I would not be able to do precisely what Bonhoeffer did, but I can do what halbhh could do...
Right?
(Yes, and it won't look the same, since I'd be in a different place, with different situations and different opportunities and different resources at my disposal)
Here's a deep question you included:
Don’t they realize what they’re doing is wrong?
That's not an easy one, in that while you could find certainly some that appear to know they are doing evil, there will of course be plenty that don't realize much what is happening wrong, and how they indirectly or even directly contribute to what is happening wrong. So, judging the individual is above our pay grade, in that we just don't have the omniscient capacity to see all their thoughts or know all they do (when no mortal is watching). At best, we can assess (if we are careful) particular actions that are directly visible, which still of course falls short of knowing what all is in that individual's thoughts and views about what they are doing and why and so on.
But your broader question might be: what about people that know on some level they are participating in a wrong?
Here's what:
6 God “will repay each person according to what they have done.”
7 To those who by persistence in doing good seek glory, honor and immortality, he will give eternal life. 8 But for those who are self-seeking and who reject the truth and follow evil, there will be wrath and anger. 9 There will be trouble and distress for every human being who does evil: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile; 10 but glory, honor and peace for everyone who does good: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile.
11 For God does not show favoritism.
12 All who sin apart from the law will also perish apart from the law, and all who sin under the law will be judged by the law. 13 For it is not those who hear the law who are righteous in God’s sight, but it is those who obey the law who will be declared righteous. 14 (Indeed, when Gentiles, who do not have the law, do by nature things required by the law, they are a law for themselves, even though they do not have the law. 15 They show that the requirements of the law are written on their hearts, their consciences also bearing witness, and their thoughts sometimes accusing them and at other times even defending them.) 16 This will take place on the day when God judges people’s secrets through Jesus Christ, as my gospel declares."
Bible Gateway passage: Romans 2:6-16 - New International Version
And this is why, ultimately, that we
all need His help. None of us achieves that true lasting Good on our own without Him.
Look, while I will give you a hint of what you could learn, I hope instead of just asking the next question, you'll start reading to hear more of what He taught:
Matthew 7:16 By their fruit you will recognize them. Are grapes gathered from thornbushes, or figs from thistles?
and then consider:
1“I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener.
2He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes
a so that it will be even more fruitful.
3You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you.
4Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.
5“I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.
6If you do not remain in me, you are like a branch that is thrown away and withers;
such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned."
So, while this answers your question, you might not really get that fully just from this isolated quote, unless
you read through the gospels with full listening, yourself.
