@griz ? Hitler was very powerful in the spirit of the anti-christ. He was old, from my viewpoint. Idiotic, at times, especially near the end. Otherwise, he was an extremely cunning person. Star Wars terms: the Sith Lord. Far from a child.
You seem to be embracing a worldly viewpoint of children and childhood.
Christians see childhood in a positive, spiritual framework.
@five2one
A common self-protection racket of our flesh is find fault in the leader, but not those who were willingly led. Demonizing a person is a dodgy thing. It too often runs headlong into Matt 7:3
From a behavioral standpoint, Hitler was simply an articulate expression of the darkest aspect of an utterly destroyed people. He was an intelligent and articulate man, gifted with public speaking; but a repeatedly rejected artist and desperate for an affirmation that had been mostly absent in his life. Artists see patterns and he simply noticed reinforcement patterns in the crowd and painted the grisly picture that was there. Add to this the “survival affirmation” that “God set him apart” (all of his buddies being blown up in the trench when he left to attend to private matters) — and there is a very poignant lesson not into “a monster and demon” . . . but into the monster and demon that is in all of us.
Not learning this lesson and trying to blame everything on some flaw in in the leader is inviting this lesson to be repeated. Sobering is the fact that perhaps 95% of the people in this group, had they lived the German experience of the first 1/2 of this century, would have certainly become either Nazis or collaborators-in-silence.
Also poignant was the infamous Stanford Prison Experiment; where it was shown that statistically 30% of people would become a Fascist in less than 3 weeks if given opportunity and motive. (Give it another month and two, and things get even worse.)
Prophecy is valuable. But not if it sends us off hot to find “anti-Christs” and ignores the inner anti-Christ in us all. Turn the bright spotlight away. Shift the focus. Find the scapegoat. So long as none of the blame lands on us!
There is nothing wrong with being faithful stewards of what is here, and learning the lessons as presented. Which could be very diagnostic for you personally. Retreating into hyper-spirituality simply ignores that God allowed this physical reality for more than just a single purpose.
If it were not so, those who learned the one lesson would just move on out of this classroom. If you’re still in it, there are still lessons to be learned.
3 responses to “Peter Pan vs Adolph Hitler: Pan wins.”
It’s hard to say which “refused to grow up”, the best!
@griz ? Hitler was very powerful in the spirit of the anti-christ. He was old, from my viewpoint. Idiotic, at times, especially near the end. Otherwise, he was an extremely cunning person. Star Wars terms: the Sith Lord. Far from a child.
You seem to be embracing a worldly viewpoint of children and childhood.
Christians see childhood in a positive, spiritual framework.
You have to become like a child to be saved.
@five2one
A common self-protection racket of our flesh is find fault in the leader, but not those who were willingly led. Demonizing a person is a dodgy thing. It too often runs headlong into Matt 7:3
From a behavioral standpoint, Hitler was simply an articulate expression of the darkest aspect of an utterly destroyed people. He was an intelligent and articulate man, gifted with public speaking; but a repeatedly rejected artist and desperate for an affirmation that had been mostly absent in his life. Artists see patterns and he simply noticed reinforcement patterns in the crowd and painted the grisly picture that was there. Add to this the “survival affirmation” that “God set him apart” (all of his buddies being blown up in the trench when he left to attend to private matters) — and there is a very poignant lesson not into “a monster and demon” . . . but into the monster and demon that is in all of us.
Not learning this lesson and trying to blame everything on some flaw in in the leader is inviting this lesson to be repeated. Sobering is the fact that perhaps 95% of the people in this group, had they lived the German experience of the first 1/2 of this century, would have certainly become either Nazis or collaborators-in-silence.
Also poignant was the infamous Stanford Prison Experiment; where it was shown that statistically 30% of people would become a Fascist in less than 3 weeks if given opportunity and motive. (Give it another month and two, and things get even worse.)
Prophecy is valuable. But not if it sends us off hot to find “anti-Christs” and ignores the inner anti-Christ in us all. Turn the bright spotlight away. Shift the focus. Find the scapegoat. So long as none of the blame lands on us!
There is nothing wrong with being faithful stewards of what is here, and learning the lessons as presented. Which could be very diagnostic for you personally. Retreating into hyper-spirituality simply ignores that God allowed this physical reality for more than just a single purpose.
If it were not so, those who learned the one lesson would just move on out of this classroom. If you’re still in it, there are still lessons to be learned.