Bonhoeffer

Bonhoeffer could have easily remained in America, where he was relatively safe from Nazi power. Instead, he returned to his native Germany to save his country from the secular influences of Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party. Even before Bonhoeffer got on board with the operation to assassinate Hitler, he saw the dangers of the Nazis’ rise to political power and urged his people to not blindly follow them. Bonhoeffer knew that the Nazi Party would bring many Germans away from God, and as such the Nazi Party should not have the great authority that they did. Bonhoeffer sought God to help him find a way to stop the destruction the Nazi Party was bringing to Germany and the rest of the world. He always looked to God, even when he was imprisoned, even when he was put to death. Ultimately, overthrowing Adolf Hitler was preaching the Gospel, considering that the only good news Hitler believed in was the mass-murdering of Jews. However, despite the many hardships Bonhoeffer faced in attempt to stop Hitler and the Nazis, Bonhoeffer furthermost advanced God’s Kingdom when he faced danger with God beside him. Bonhoeffer did great things, but the important thing to remember is that he did great things in God’s name. “It is better to do evil than to be evil.” Technically, this is true. An evil being cannot perform good works, but a person who commits evil deeds can also bring good to the world. However, Bonhoeffer came up with this statement to justify the assassination of Adolf Hitler. With this statement, Bonhoeffer may or may not have been directly naming Hitler as an evil person, but it certainly carries a sense that Bonhoeffer was referring to Hitler as an evil person, not as a person who does evil things, which brings about the idea that Hitler himself was worse than committing murder. Even if that is not what Bonhoeffer meant, he alluded to the fact that there is a difference between evil and those who commit it. Again, he did not clearly state that people can be evil, just that they are capable of evil; but if people themselves can be evil, then it must be assumed that either people are born evil, or they become evil. Genesis 1:27 states, “So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.” Because God is not evil, no man or woman could ever be born evil. Therefore, one must become evil. If doing evil is the first step to becoming evil, how much evil can a person commit before that person is evil' In this light, Bonhoeffer’s statement is false, because doing evil inevitably leads to being evil.