Tearing Down Buildings to Build Greater Buildings to Self:

 

Good Friday evening I watched a movie I hadn’t watched in a while, Que Vadis. I wrote in a different posting several months ago that I watched the original movie when I was 10. There is a later one but not so good. The 1951 movie was one of the stepping stones to my becoming a Christian. It is about the Christians of Rome during the time of Nero. And yes there are important scenes of the Christian suffering in the arena as well as the burning of Rome. But for those interested it does include a romance.

Something, different struck me as I watched the movie, something I hadn’t noticed before and the reason I noticed was because of President Trump. It was Nero and his character, played extremely well by actor, Peter Ustinov. As the movie jacket puts it “He is Caesar, madman, murderer an imperial ruler of the spectacularly doomed, of the glory that was Rome.” No, Trump isn’t that bad, not yet anyway, but I saw some traits portraited in Nero’s character that reminded me of Trump, the something I hadn’t thought about before.

Of course, there was the egotism, the desire to be seen by all and to be lauded by everyone. That was something I had already observed as most have. And there was the many who catered to those desires including the man who had some nobility yet learned to turn and twist Nero’s desire for praise and adulation into usefulness, preventing him from further evil. The movie portrayed that character as Petronius. He was historically an attendant to Nero concerning fashion and he did kill himself when he realized Nero was going to kill him. Also true to history he sends a letter to Nero defaming him and telling Nero how awful his music and poetry was. [i] However, the movie took some liberties since Seneca also was a role and his historical suicide commanded by Nero was portrayed more as Petronius’. Seneca did not commit suicide in the movie.

That trait that I discovered in Nero’s character and saw some of Trump’s in Nero was Nero’s desire to be a great builder and to tear down everything he saw as useless, buildings and organizations that failed to acknowledge the greatness or importance of Nero. He wanted to rebuild them with his own impotent image. The scenes of Nero showing his associates his newly planned Rome and the horrific scenes of the fire Nero set to destroy the old Rome were, yes, horrific but enlightening. Nero was a coward; he blamed the fire on the Christians. He was also a madman he enjoyed the reality of their deaths. When buildings and organizations were sacrificed to bring Nero glory and attributes of divinity he smiled and sang. He wrote poetry, awful poetry.

Part of my devotional reading for the last several months, have included the history of Israel and the prophets Daniel and Jeremiah; an interesting combination since Jeremiah prophesizes the defeat, the exile, and the return of Israel, while the exiled Daniel, the godly Hebrew wiseman of Babylon, prays in repentance for that time of return to come. One cannot miss the fact that Jeremiah constantly proclaims God’s coming judgement on sinning Israel, that sin which includes the burning of children to the pagan god moloch. There were many idols in Israel. But Babylon had their own idols and one an idol created by Nebuchadnezzar. That one was intended for worship or death. This is not off the subject of Nero or Trump or building memorials to self. Recently Trump posted a video of what would be, he said, was his library only he had decided it would be a hotel. It was extensive and full of aircraft. But in one large room seemingly for speakers was a large golden statue of Trump and that is not the first time that golden statue (idol) has shown up.

What do we as Christians hang onto in the midst of idolatry? First notice that this idolatry is about self. Grasping for human desires and exulting the self; refusing the hard parts of life. And this sin belongs to all of us, to myself greatly. Oh, this isn’t about refusing the goodness that God gives, the joys as Lewis or Tolkien might think of it, good meals, friendships, okay, pipes for some, good books, restful nights, gardens, etc. But it is turning away from glorifying the self. It is seeking and holding onto God’s will in our lives. It is caring about the needy, the broken, the frightened, (there are a lot of frightened people in our world today.) It is remembering that it is the presence of Jesus, it is His word, His strength, His forgiveness—it is all His, cling to that, hold on, not to self but to Him.

 

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[i] Petronius - Wikipedia

The Historical Suffering Church: Its Image, Its Faith Extending Over Our Tomorrows: The White Rose- Passive Resistance

 

Not unlike other tyrant’s obsession with gaining property, wealth and yes nations, President Trump seems bent on conquering other nations’ property, (oil) and lands. Wanting Venezuela’s oil, Greenland’s natural security borders, Canada’s expansiveness is hardly acceptable reasons for invading other lands. But with Venezuela it is beginning and may continue. That wanting and obsession includes demanding extreme loyalty and obedience which involves using what can only be called a private presidential army, ICE, to brutally remove people from the streets of Democratic cities, sending even American citizens to dreadful deportation camps.

Trying to face, before sleeping, all that is happening in our country I thought of a group and a person I have written about before, Sophie Scholl. She and her brother Hans were part of a small resistance group, The White Rose, that began in Munich during the Hitler regime. It began with those attending the university and although support for the group spread it remained small. These young people, mostly in their twenties, wrote pamphlets, sending them at first through the mail to mostly other students and professors, also simply leaving them in various places where they would hopefully be seen by others and read. Their biggest concern was that other citizens either did not know what was happening because of Hitler or they did not care, ignoring the suffering of so many. Of course, many lies were told by the regime and for some it was easier to believe the lies than to face the truth.

Members of The White Rose purposed a kind of resistance called passive resistance. I will write about this and what it was toward the end of this posting; in most cases it would be sufficient for concerned Americans. The pamphlets are all on line; six of them, I will link to them.[1] They are interesting for those interested in using cultural understandings to reach those who seem indifferent to the troubles and sufferings of a people. Such German literary figures as Goethe and Novalis are quoted. And because the group was Christian, mostly Catholic but also Lutheran has been mentioned, the scriptures are quoted in their writings. For instance, “So I returned, and considered all the oppressions that are done under the sun: and behold the tears of such as were oppressed, and they had no comforter; and on the side of their oppressors there was power; but they had no comforter. Wherefore I praised the dead which are already dead than the living which are yet alive. Ecclesiastes 4”

One section of pamphlet 4 offers a Christian perspective on the evil of their day, perhaps of ours:

“Every word that comes from Hitler's mouth is a lie. When he says peace, he means war, and when he blasphemously uses the name of the Almighty, he means the power of evil, the fallen angel, Satan. His mouth is the foul-smelling maw of Hell, and his might is at bottom accursed. True, we must conduct a struggle against the National Socialist terrorist state with rational means; but whoever today still doubts the reality, the existence of demonic powers, has failed by a wide margin to understand the metaphysical background of this war. Behind the concrete, the visible events, behind all objective, logical considerations, we find the irrational element: The struggle against the demon, against the servants of the Antichrist.

Everywhere and at all times demons have been lurking in the dark, waiting for the moment when man is weak; when of his own volition he leaves his place in the order of Creation as founded for him by God in freedom; when he yields to the force of evil, separates himself from the powers of a higher order; and after voluntarily taking the first step, he is driven on to the next and the next at a furiously accelerating rate. Everywhere and at all times of greatest trial men have appeared, prophets and saints who cherished their freedom, who preached the One God and who His help brought the people to a reversal of their downward course. Man is free, to be sure, but without the true God he is defenseless against the principle of evil. He is like rudderless ship, at the mercy of the storm, an infant without his mother, a cloud dissolving into thin air.”

I believe this fits well the evil of any age and any dictatorship.

And writing of evil, after dumping from the balcony, a large number of pamphlets at the Munich university they were purposely locked in and denounced by the janitor. Three were arrested, tried and later guillotined, beheaded.  Others were later arrested.

The director of the movie, Sophie Scholl (2003) Marc Rothemund, wrote this about Sophie:

“I admire her courage. She turned down the ‘golden bridge’ offered to her by the interrogation officer Robert Mohr—thus practically signing her own death sentence, I find this approach to death quire startling; how does such a life-affirming, positive-minded young woman like Sophie Scholl come to terms with the fact that her life is being taken away from her? How does she find meaning in her death? And of course, as an atheist, I ask myself: Is it easier to face death as a believer?”

The White Roses’ understanding of passive resistance is clearly meant for a nation attacking other nations and committing genocide on peoples, particularly Jews, but also imprisoning and killing Romas, LGBTs, and Christians who opposed the regime. One suggestion is sabotaging weapon factories. That is not what I have in mind as I write this. But the acts of writing and for our period filming and posting acts of violence by ICE are important. This is certainly passive resistance.

The use of whistles to warn others is excellent. The White Rose suggested also sabotaging Nazi rallies, and refusing to give to charities that were going into government coffers. In the book The Kingdom, the Power, and the Glory by Tim Alberta he writes of attending a Reawaken American Tour which although it no longer operates had for several years pulled in MAGA, QAnon and various other strange speakers to promote Trump and many of the speakers still influence the far right. Alberta, a reporter for the Atlantic and a Christian, who was gathering information for his book challenged various Christians who were promoting the horrific political positions pushed by the leaders of the Tour. This is challenging the American First rallies. Challenging in fact the philosophical and religious basis of Trump’s administration since most speakers were and are friends and family of Trump. Other reporters and columnists have continued to question and challenge the horrific actions of ICE toward both United States citizens and permanent immigrants.

It should be noted that although it seemed that the White Rose group did not arouse their communities to more truthful opinions of what was happening, nor did their understanding of passive resistance seem to win out, they did become known by the allies fighting for freedom. One article, on The World War II Museum site in New Orleans states:

“While their deaths were only barely mentioned in German newspapers, they received attention abroad. In April, The New York Times wrote about student opposition in Munich. In June 1943, Thomas Mann, in a BBC broadcast aimed at Germans, spoke of the White Rose’s actions. The text of the sixth leaflet was smuggled into the United Kingdom where they were reprinted and dropped over Germany by Allied planes in July of the same year.”

Three other actions of passive resistance I will add, prayer for those being harassed and deported, caring for community, and speaking truth in faithfulness.

 

 

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[1] The Leaflets – Center for White Rose Studies