Forgiveness

God says, “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.” It would be very hard for one to forgive someone who has done so much wrong and heaped so much suffering on them. We, as readers about the Holocaust who were not actually there, cannot see the full picture of what all took place in that time period. It is hard to say Jews should forgive just because we cannot fully understand what they went through. Most people believe in order to forgive, the wrongdoer should ask for forgiveness, but if one had any little faith at all, they would know that God’s will is to forgive everyone so we can get away from our misery and not have to dwell on the past because God does not want to see any of his children suffer. It is important that we forgive so that one can move on with their life and have a chance for a happier future. Elie should forgive because God says that everyone should forgive everyone, no matter the circumstances, and so he can find a peace and happiness in his heart.

God on Trial

1. Our God would let that happen, because he is testing us of our faith. God doesn't cause the suffering, but instead he allows it to happen to see how strong our love for him is. We are not puppets on a string that God has to control us, but he gives us the choice to make our own decisions to see how strong our faith is.

2. Yes and No. We do not know exactly how to answer this question, but we will explain from both points of view. We say yes because the Jewish race could have been falling away from God and in order for God to get them back he needed to have a "wake up call" to show just exactly how powerful he is. People have to understand he is just not a loving God but a jealous God and if people start disobeying him and sinning against him, things can happen that not everyone can understand.

We also say no. We say no because all things happen for a reason and God can use very bad situations to help others. We think maybe the Holocaust happened in order to help the Germans who were lost and didn't know God. They may of needed something as dramatic as this to realize how they were living their life was in sin and going against Gods will.

3. In our opinion, what happened, happened for a reason that only God knows so it shouldn't be up to us to say whether the punishment was right or not. We shouldn't question God.

4. Yes, the suffering is a test of faith. We answered this in question one, the stronger their faith was, the better off their afterlife was because they went to heaven, and got away from the "the hell on Earth."

5. He does help his people in ways we will never understand. But we do understand what he does is eventually the best for his people. He can use bad situations to make something better happen, like we explained above. We also explained that God gives us choices including the leaders of the Holocaust who killed many Jews. It was their choice to do what they did.

6. Judaism is both a religion and a race. God was a Jew in race, but a Christian by religion.

7. The Nazis based their selection on what they looked like. If they looked like a Jew, then they were captured. They didn't care if they actually practiced the Jewish religion, they took them anyway.