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| Goldenbear Registered user Username: Goldenbear Post Number: 115 Registered: 12-2004 |
One thing that has constantly amazed my wife and I is that the church has stayed noticeably away from making statements that might be considered controversial. Abortion, etc. I thought this might be interesting... German and Austrian Adventist churches apologise to Nazi victims Frauke Brauns Bielefeld, Germany (ENI). Leaders of Seventh-day Adventist churches in Germany and Austria have 60 years after the end of the Second World War drafted a declaration saying they "deeply regret" participation in or support of Nazi activities. "The declaration originally published shortly before 8 May has now been translated into English and sent to the Adventist churches in the United States," Holger Teubert, spokesperson of the south German church, told Ecumenical News International. The Adventist churches in the US sent copies of the declaration to Yad Vashem, the Holocaust Martyrs' and Heroes' Remembrance Authority in Israel. Teubert said the declaration apologises to German Jews and to members of the Adventist churches of Jewish origin who were excluded from the congregations during the 12-year Nazi Regime from 1933 to 1945. It notes that six million Jews were exterminated during that period and millions of others were also persecuted. The statement indicates that today's Adventist church "honestly confesses that by our failure we became guilty towards the Jewish people, towards all persons persecuted and all who suffered during the war and also towards Adventists in other countries. For this we humbly ask God and the survivors concerned to forgive us". Teubert said: "We realise we have no right to condemn our ancestors." But the declaration marks the end of a long process of German Adventists examining what happened during the Nazi regime era. "We honestly confess that in those days of distress we as Seventh-day Adventists did not act more courageously and consequently, in spite of our knowledge of the Holy Scriptures and the Prophetic Word, thus failed to follow our Lord. We did not follow enough the ones among our ranks who boldly offered resistance and did not bow to the Nazi dictatorship nor cooperate with it," the declaration said. There had been earlier attempts at making such statements, mainly by individual church members and the earliest confession was made in 1988 on the 50th anniversary of the 9 November "Kristallnacht" or the "night of broken glass", a vicious pogrom (massacre) against Jews on that night in 1938 throughout Germany and Austria. | ||
| Jeremy Registered user Username: Jeremy Post Number: 934 Registered: 10-2004  |
The "Holy Scriptures and the Prophetic Word"?? Does "the Prophetic Word" refer to EGW's writings? The anti-Semitism in her writings may have helped contribute to the SDA's actions! Robert Sanders has some more info about the SDAs and the Nazis on his web site: http://www.truthorfables.com/NL_Feb3_04.htm Jeremy (Message edited by Jeremy on August 26, 2005) | ||
| Jerry Registered user Username: Jerry Post Number: 466 Registered: 6-2002 |
Am I wrong here. It seems to me that the "apology" was a teensy bit weak. Unless I missed the more direct apology, what was said was basically, "we could have been more resistant." Instead, the record I have seen shows a little more than "lack of resistance." It seemed that there was more than a little enthusiastic endorsement of certain truly disgusting policies of the Nazies. This, unfortunately, lines up with the same sort of deny, water down, spin toward more positive techniques I have seen from some Adventists. |
