Tomorrow is Holocaust Memorial Day (http://www.hmd.org.uk/). Of all the events in history this is one that you might know quite a bit about. It has been covered in movies, books, history class… but this day of remembrance is not about remembering details of what happened. The reason that you should think about the genocide that took place only around 70 years ago, is so that you question your own actions.
Someone sent this video to me through Twitter. How does it make you feel?
(If you cannot see the video above, click on this link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dCAs_CyopMQ&feature=player_embedded)
If you had grown up in Nazi Germany, would you have got swept away in the gradual propaganda that was printed about Jews? Would you have hidden families in your house? Would you have stood up against the authorities? Would you have given in to the racism, even just a little bit?
In 2012, do you think about the genocides that are happening in countries around the world at the minute? Do you find yourself being suspicious of middle eastern men in airports? How do you really treat the Eastern European people who are now living in Northern Ireland?
The Holocaust might have been the most ‘famous’ atrocity in the last century, but some of the issues that contributed to the Second World War are still problems today.
As Christians, we should be God’s agents on earth. We should be reflecting His love to those around us. Check out this verse from Romans 12:2 (MSG):
“Don’t become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You’ll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognise what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you.”
Challenging, isn’t it?
Sarah 