Holocaust. It is a word that has the power to haunt us. For
Jewish people, the Holocaust serves as a reminder of the precarious
foothold the Jewish community holds in this world—
and how quickly the world can turn against us.
If there is any event in history that Jewish people point to as
an illustration of why they cannot believe in Jesus, it is the
Holocaust. Here are some of the common Holocaust-related
questions Jewish people might ask, along with some suggested
responses:
Q. If there is a God, where was
He during the Holocaust?
This question may be asked in two ways. The
first assumes that the answer, “nowhere,” is
self-evident. However, this question may also
be asked in a sincere effort to reconcile the
terrible mystery of God’s unfailing goodness
with the horrors of human history.
Where was God? Who has not, at some
time, cried out as the Psalmist did, “Why
do You stand afar off, O Lord? Why do
You hide Yourself in times of trouble”
(Psalm 10:1)?
God permitted the Holocaust to occur.
Where was He? He was in the same
position that He occupied at Calvary
as Jesus suffered on the cross. God was
suffering alongside those who were
mercilessly killed by the enemies of the
God of Israel. It is one of the most compelling
characteristics of the gospel—
our God suffers with us and for us.
Q.Where the was
Church?
History tells us that after the early fourth
century, Christianity became the preeminent
faith of the Western world. The Catholic
Church also became a powerful political force.
As a political power, the Church soon became
immersed in the intrigues common to allpowerful
institutions. Eventually, it became
more concerned with wielding power and its own
survival than in bearing the cross of Messiah. In
many instances, it became corrupt. This corruption,
combined with the entrenched antisemitism
often encouraged by the Church, helped
to create the environment that spawned
the Holocaust. There were notable
exceptions, however, such as those
churches in Holland and even Germany
who clearly saw the choice between good
and evil and acted accordingly—often at great cost.
6 The Chosen People | MAY 2019
Q. How can the gospel be true if
Christians killed six million Jews?
Christians did not perpetuate the Holocaust—the Nazis did.
Many believing Christians died in the Holocaust and many
risked their lives to help the Jewish people. Yad Vashem, the
Holocaust Memorial Museum in Jerusalem, has even dedicated
a part of its site to commemorate non-Jewish “rescuers”
who helped Jewish people avert death at the hands of the
Nazis. It is true that many Christians were ambivalent or slow
to act. However, it is unfair to put the full blame for the Holocaust
upon Christians.
Q. What will happen to the religious Jews
who died during the Holocaust?
We have saved the toughest question for last. If we
say, as the Scriptures proclaim, that salvation
is found only in Jesus the Messiah, our Jewish
seeker will accuse us of condemning the Jewish
millions not only to the ovens, but to eternal
condemnation in hell. Many will ask, “Is this
the act of a righteous God?”
We need not surrender the gospel message in
an attempt to justify God. Jesus said,
“I am the way, and the truth, and the life;
no one comes to the Father but through Me”
(John 14:6). No one is able to know the
destiny of another, nor the lengths to which
God will go to reveal Himself in the final
moments of an earthly life. The Scriptures
also proclaim, “Salvation belongs to the
Lord” (Psalm 3:8). We believe that only
those who consciously trust in Jesus will be
saved. We simply do not know what happens
in the hearts of individuals prior to their death.
Only God knows!
Show them the way
There is no more terrible blight on humanity
than the Holocaust. As easy as it may seem to
place the blame wholly on Hitler and the German
people, we know nothing is that simple. There is
a far darker cause that underlies the attempted
extermination of God’s chosen people. It is Satan’s
wrath poured out on the canvas of human history
and the sin that blights our creation.
Perhaps, for the Jewish seeker and many others,
the awareness of sin can serve as the signpost
pointing to something far greater—the holiness
and goodness of God and the gospel that saves us:
“For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are
My ways higher than your ways and My thoughts
than your thoughts” (Isaiah 55:9).
HARD QUESTIONS ABOUT THE HOLOCAUST