Night

I also read Elie Wiesel's Night while away. I'd always wanted to read it, even though the subject matter is difficult. I'm always at a loss at the things entire nations support-the genocide of Native Americans, the institution of slavery (in many nations), the systematic elimination of women, homosexuals, Jews, Africans, and Mideastern peoples, and the list goes on.

We tend to make an example of Germany, because we can't believe it happened in the 20th Century! We're supposed to be above this type of thing, after all. What did I come away with after I read Night? I came away sad, because Weisel says quite plainly that the experience took God away from him. I can certainly see how. Reading this as a Christian, though, I look at God in a very different light. We believe in the same God, Jews and Christians, but Christians add Jesus into the mix. And that changes the whole thing.

There are a lot of things I'll never understand, including fatal illnesses and the horrible things we do to each other, but there's a great quote from the recently discovered Gospel of Judas: Jesus says, "For you will sacrifice the man that clothes me."

That's how I feel about all of us. This physical body is just a temporary clothing, meant for this time. But in the next time, it'll be more than we can imagine. So my theory is, if you can keep your spirit in a good place, your body isn't very important, in the long run. This from somebody who let their body be their biggest source of stress and anguish, for, well, 30 years. Scientifically, of course I understand that the body affects the mind, which in turn affects the soul. But the soul, is something more, I think. It's not physical.

I like to hope, speaking only for myself, that my spirit would never falter, no matter what happens to my body. I used to think that I wouldn't be able to handle violence and that I'd probably kill myself if I were tortured, raped, or any number of horrors. But part of being who I am is that I have God in my heart and soul, and if you have Him, you can never really hurt, or die. Isn't death the thing people fear most? In this book, they would kill each other for a piece of bread. To survive. I think this life was meant to be a specific way for each of us, according to The Masterplan, and no matter what happens here, we'll understand more in the next phase. I guess what I'm saying is, I don't find death to be something to fear. I was told as a very young child what death would be, and Paradise has always sounded fab to me.

So my prayer for anyone who endured such as what the Jewish people endured during The Holocaust, would be that they keep God in their heart, because with Him, there is hope. Yes, this life can be Hell, especially when you're confronted with the worst that humanity has to offer, as they were. And things happen that will never make sense. Nailing God up to planks of wood for committing absolutely no crime didn't make sense, either. But His soul survived, and he took the worst in life on His shoulders for us. So there's hope for us all.

What to make of Nazi Germany? The people who thought of the Jews as if they weren't even humans? How many times have we seen that in history? And it still goes on today in Africa and the Middle East. It makes me question the whole notion of Satan. I'm not sure that I believe in him, but I can't deny evil. I think we make most of the evil ourselves, without any help from other forces. But what makes one person look at another and not even count him as human? That, I can't begin to explain or understand, because I was taught to value every life on this planet. And there it is..I was taught. I think environment plays a huge part in it all. But it's still awful and puzzling.


Okay, done philosophizing for now.
In short, Great Book.
Makes you cry.

Have a Blessed day.