What Would You Do?

We watched the film Die Weiße Rose in German class and were asked to give our reactions to it. The film revolved around a small group of university students in Hitler's Germany. They distributed flyers around campus and throughout the country via written letters as part of the resistance movement against Hitler. I thought it was an interesting exercise to think about what we might have done had we been around in Hitler's Germany. I have included my brief response to the question:

I would like to think that I would have been part of the resistance. If I had had theological training by professors in the Confessing Church, I know I would have been looking for ways to undermine Hitler without resorting to the Nazis' level (read: without resorting to violence against the Nazis).

I think I would most likely would have been involved in helping the student groups like the one shown in White Rose. I'm not as politically enthusiastic now as I was four or five years ago, but I could see myself staying a step or two away from danger. Perhaps I'd get supplies for them but not actually involve myself in their activities.

However, if I had received good theological training, I would hopefully be directly involved in trying to subvert the theology of the Third Reich. For every Bonhoeffer, there were several theologians like Paul Althaus, and the latter were using God's Word to support and promote Hitler's agenda. Hopefully, I would be in a position to -- and trust God enough to -- speak out against Althaus and his theology.

It's always difficult to know what we would do in situations like this, but it is good to think about our responses to such situations sometimes. One of the best books that discusses the "what if" questions is John Howard Yoder's What Would You Do. The most valuable thing about Yoder's book is that it shows there are always more than two options when dealing with those who would be our "enemies" (i.e., there are more options than (a) do nothing and (b) do everything to obliterate one's enemies). It's important that we as Christians train ourselves to bear witness to Jesus in all situations so that, through God's Spirit, we can faithfully and creatively live out God's story in all situations.