Reply #15: Hitler's salvation [View All]

[Dogmudgeon]

Hitler seems to be the main break Christians cut themselves for hatred and judgementalism. I maintain that it's wrong. Hitler's punishment is not my concern.

It's not for me to judge Hitler or anyone else I don't like. God does that, and it's entirely possible that not a single soul will be lost. The history of the spiritual universe has been, and will be, far more expansive than that of the material universe (or world, or seculum).

Hitler did a lot of evil, and that's self-evident. Yet the Bible tells me that Christ died for all sins, even those of Hitler. Since I have no idea of how God will judge, all I can really do is to leave that decision to God.

I also take it to mean that if I were to come across Hitler in the afterlife, and he was suffering in Hell, that I should witness Christ to him, if possible, as Hitler would then be one of the "least of my brothers".

In the physical world, I had no problem with the Allies working to kill Hitler. But the rules for the physical world are different. Defeating the Nazi war machine (and the Italian Fascisti, and the Japanese Tojoists) was a necessity to prevent the continuation and increase of tremendous human suffering; spiritually, the war against evil has God, and not Churchill or Roosevelt, as its C.O.

Yes, there's the problem of squaring the salvation of Hitler (or any other evil person) with his victims. I have no idea how God will take care of that problem, either, but my faith tells me that it will happen.

I neither excuse Hitler's horrendous crimes, nor do I spend any time figuring out how he should spend his eternity. It saves me a lot of grief to leave the final decisions about the universe to God.

--p!