Over time, the Church developed forms of religious, political,
and economic antisemitism that became entrenched in the
manifold powers of institutional Christianity. These undeniably
helped create the environment that spawned the Holocaust. This
is well understood by the Jewish community, although it is also
recognized that not all European Christians stood idly by while the
Nazis attempted to destroy the Jewish people. There were notable
exceptions, Christians who are remembered and honored, such as
those in Holland and even in Germany that discerned the choice
between good and evil and acted accordingly—often at great cost.
Yet, it remains a sad fact that, generally speaking, the Holocaust
created a formidable obstacle to Jewish receptivity to Jesus.
For many, the suffering of the Jewish people at the hands of
“Christianity” precludes even the faintest possibility that Yeshua
is the Messiah. This objection to the gospel is hard to overcome,
but not impossible. The power of the Holy Spirit and love of
individual Christians can overcome, as many Jewish believers who
came to see the difference between the person of Jesus and the
institution of Christianity will openly confess.
#3—HOW CAN THE GOSPEL BE TRUE IF CHRISTIANS
KILLED SIX MILLION JEWS?
In truth, Christians did not perpetuate the Holocaust—the Nazis
did. One can make a far better case that racist philosophers and
scientists who trumpeted the “survival of the fittest” fueled the
fire that enabled Hitler and his ilk to speak of “inferior races” and
the “Final Solution.” Yet it is equally true that many Christians
were ambivalent, slow to act, or in the worst case, Hitler’s willing
and active accomplices. The memory of Christendom’s dismal
record in the Nazi era has left a lasting legacy in Jewish negativity
toward the gospel.
It is also true that many believing Christians died in the Holocaust
risking their lives to help Jewish people. Yad Vashem, the
40 | Never Again: A Holocast Remembered