The meme attached to today’s thought has been making the rounds on the internet for years and has been used dozens of times in support of and against different politicians and policies and behaviors from all over the world. It is a moving concept, one that I personally agree with. The problem is this: after some research, I could not find anyone who can prove that Dietrich Bonhoeffer actually said or wrote this. One researcher, Warren Throckmorton, found a portion of it in Robert K. Hudnut’s 1971 book, A Sensitive Man and the Christ, where the author makes a case that even a sensitive person must act when the need arises. While I am disappointed that my hero Bonhoeffer did not say this, I am still on board. It is similar to the quote falsely attributed to Edmund Burke (probably reinterpreted from the writing of John Stuart Mill), “The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.”
I have often been accused of getting political with my theology, and while this may, at times, be true, it is also false. What is true is that I am theological with my politics; if a politician is promoting immorality, that is not a political issue – it is a theological issue. The church has erred in both extremes; either the church has taken the side of a political party, like Evangelicals in the last several elections, or it has kept silent, as the Mainline churches have often done for too long. Silence in the face of evil is just as bad as the evil itself. Either way, people of faith have struggled in the service of two gods. Jesus said that that behavior is impossible.
The question is always about how far we should or can go. Bonhoeffer died for working against the Nazis and participating in a plot to assassinate Hitler. I have asked the question before: is there any circumstance that I would consider to be a Bonhoeffer moment? It is impossible for me to wrap my mind around a situation that could lead me to that kind of decision, and yet, Bonhoeffer did. At what point do we decide that someone is no longer just bad, but evil? At what point do we do a Moses and kill an overseer who is abusing or murdering someone? And – this is the toughest one – is there any circumstance that would lead you to kill someone?
I shudder to think of these awful questions and am truly glad that I have never been put into those situations. And yet, this happens thousands of times a day all over the world. Parents who will do anything to save their children and themselves commit crimes regularly. They cross borders illegally – they act in ways they never dreamed of to survive. Soldiers put themselves in front of the innocent and unarmed to protect them from people like Hamas who use children as shields, daring their enemies to shoot. Dreams of pacifism are beautiful, until you are forced to choose one life over another. It is easy for those of us living in safety to make judgments. We need to check our hubris and privilege at the door, because for most people, moral choices are often between bad, terrible, and worse. We need to pause before we judge them.
Prayer – Holy God, Your will is for peace, and we subvert that will every day. We pray that we all might find a way to do things Your way. Amen.