Who Is to Blame for War?
IS God to blame for the wars fought by humankind? “No, God does not want war.” That is how Martin Niemöller, a well-known German Protestant clergyman, answered this question shortly after the end of World War II. His comments were published in 1946 in a book called Ach Gott vom Himmel sieh darein—Sechs Predigten (O God, Look From Heaven—Six Sermons).a The book states:
“Whoever wants to blame God for [wars] does not know, or does not want to know, God’s Word. Of course, it is a different question whether or not we Christians bear a good measure of guilt for the incessant wars. And we cannot escape this question so easily. . . . It can also be accurately recalled that Christian churches have, throughout the ages, repeatedly given themselves to blessing wars, troops, and weapons and that they prayed in a very unchristian way for the destruction of their enemies at war. All this is our fault and the fault of our fathers, but by no means is God to blame. And we Christians of today stand ashamed before a so-called sect like the Earnest Bible Students [Jehovah’s Witnesses], who by the hundreds and thousands went into concentration camps and [even] died because they declined service in war and refused to fire on humans.”
Today, some 50 years after World War II, Niemöller’s words provide peace-loving people with food for thought. No, God is not to blame for the bloodshed of the nations! Indeed, through his true worshipers, who keep out of the conflicts of the world, God is declaring the imminent end of all war.—Psalm 46:9; John 17:16.
[Footnote]
a Martin Niemöller’s sermons were later published in English in the book Of Guilt and Hope. However, the English version differs from the original German text, hence this quotation is translated directly from the German.
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USAF photo