Reminders of the Holocaust Uncovered

In December 2014 in the Czech town of Terezin, home owners refinishing their attic uncovered items belonging to Jews forced into a ghetto there during the Nazi regime. According to one report, the find included photos, shoes, and many other possessions, some of which had written on them the names of their former owners.* This recovery, important though it is historically and culturally, is also a sobering reminder of the abandonment of the authority of God’s Word. In the 1930s and 1940s, some six million European Jews—along with large numbers of other so-called “undesirables”—were murdered in concentration camps and in ghettos like the one that previously existed in Terezin.

During its brief existence, the Nazi regime epitomized an anti-biblical disregard for human life. Its actions were largely consistent with evolutionary thinking. After all, if humans just evolved from animal life forms, what difference does it make if “undesirable” population groups are treated like animals? A consistent evolutionary mindset finds no basis for the dignity and value of human life. By contrast, the Scriptures repeatedly state that all people are made in the image of God (Genesis 1:27, 9:6; James 3:9), and thus all human life is to be regarded as precious. It is a worldview grounded in Scripture—starting with Genesis—that provides a basis for the honorable treatment of human beings.

Here at AiG we want to boldly teach, beginning with the Genesis creation account, what it means for man to be made in the image of God. This very important doctrine is foundational for a strong . As much as we desire for people to understand what it means for every person to be made in the image of their Creator, we also seek for them to know what it means to be conformed to the image of the Savior, Jesus Christ (Romans 8:29). The world is broken because of man’s sin, and the reminders of the terrible acts committed under Nazi rule only serve to reinforce just how sinful mankind is. In fact, Scripture tells us that all men have sinned (Ecclesiastes 7:20; Romans 3:23), and thus all men are in need of a Savior, someone able to redeem them from the penalty of their sins (cf. Romans 6:23). The aim of AiG’s international outreach is to reach people everywhere with the message of salvation in Jesus Christ, so that they might reflect Him in a world so deeply entrenched in anti-biblical—and often evolutionary—ideologies about man, his origin, his worth, and his destiny.

AiG’s international outreach is helping the church all over the world to show the light of biblical truth to people living in a skeptical age. Without standing for the true history given in the Word of God, the church is left in a powerless position for answering social issues in the modern world and pointing people to the one true answer in the gospel of Christ. Please continue to pray for the Answers Worldwide ministry as we seek to translate resources for the worldwide church.

* Reuters, “Czech Home Owners Find Jewish Belongings from WWII,” FaithWorld, December 12, 2014, http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/12/11/us-czech-germany-ww-idUSKBN0JP2BM20141211. One of the most significant items uncovered was a tefillin, a small black box containing a handwritten copy of the Great Shema from Deuteronomy 6, which begins, “Hear O Israel: The LORD is our God, the LORD is one.” Pious Jewish men wear tefillin during their morning prayers, one strapped to their forehead and another tied to their wrist—for them a visual reminder of God’s command: “You shall bind [My words] as a sign on your hands, and they shall be frontals between your eyes” (Deuteronomy 6:8).