If you consider the number of people who looked to God because of one person, Hitler wins that challenge hands down… get it? Hands down… not the one arm… never mind… Was this Hitler’s intention? To be one of the greatest evangelists of all time? I think it’s pretty safe to say no. But some things end up having an effect that was never intended like Coca Cola being made to help with morphine addiction, headaches and to relieve anxiety; Play-doh being made to remove wallpaper, and Listerine being made to help with foot problems and dandruff treatment. I’m not saying I approve of Hitler’s methods… hopefully you know I’m not that stupid… but the truth is fear and suffering have a way of making us think about death and God in a powerful way. And by leading to the deaths of millions of people and the fear of death for millions more, Hitler inspired an incredible number of people to look to God for help, and in many cases led to very strong faiths. 70 years later, a lot of us have missed what it really means to suffer with all of our modern conveniences, and therefore, have forgotten about God. Martin Luther King Jr said, “Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.” Hitler was great at bringing darkness, which made the light stand out more. Our society, in general, is no longer shrouded in darkness as it once was. It’s not light enough to be healthy, but it’s not dark enough to care, which means it’s just light enough that we can ignore religion and God. Instead of hate, our society is really just apathetic… distant… tolerable. Sure we have issues, but there’s nothing that’s so big it unites everyone together and/or makes us want to give up what we have. There are many great causes, but there’s nothing that really stirs a majority of us like WW2 or the fight against racism in the 60s-70s. Thus, as a Christian, how do I help people care about God and the afterlife when we’re so worried about paying bills, relaxing and having fun? How do we wake people up from our entertainment, social media, workaholic or hiding, anxiety driven stupor? Especially when I have to fight the same temptations? Some would say “Chad, WWJD it!” (translation: Be like Jesus). To make a really outlandish claim that’s true… something I always enjoy doing… Hitler is a lot like Jesus. How? Both were incredibly hated and had people plot ways to kill them. Both are frequent characters in movies and the butt end of jokes. Both created movements and are still talked about years after their deaths. Both ended up dying for their beliefs and eventually their closest followers were also killed for following them. Both were incredible public speakers who had mass groups of people follow them and want to hear more from them. Of course, their speaking styles were very different. Hitler spoke about hate and revenge while Jesus talked about love and forgiveness. One preached death and the other life. The big difference is Jesus led people to faith by love and healing and Hitler did it through villainy. So if I don’t want to be like Hitler why don’t I just WWJD it? Well, I haven’t had much luck walking on water; I can’t even float. I’ve never rubbed my spit in a blind person’s eyes and gave him or her sight… of course I’ve never tried, but my spit won’t even remove ketchup stains. I can, however, turn water into juice, but I need ingredients; Jesus turned water into wine with just the thought. If I could do that, I’d be super popular, but I can’t and I’m not… for many reasons. I, ultimately, can’t do any of the things that helped Jesus get popular. So, now what?
If I don’t want to be like Hitler and I can’t be like Jesus, how do I help people care about having a relationship with God? Even when I was a youth pastor I wasn’t an “evangelist”; I just did my job that included evangelizing as best I could. I know the basic answers to this question like I should be as loving as possible and role model a happy life, but people tend to be more impressed with extravagance than happiness; failure than love. Plus, a lot of giving people just get taken for granted and used up; that’s not helping either. Thus, this post concludes with the fact that I admit to not only being worse than Hitler at evangelizing, I don’t really even know how to be an evangelist. If we aren’t an extreme like Hitler or Jesus, how do we help people care about God and realize that this life is a prelude to the next, which means we better make sure we’re living to get the next life we want? This is one post, where I admit I have no idea… I’m sorry.
Rev Chad David, chaddavid.ca, learning to love dumb people