Ordinary people

I haven't posted anything for a few days. The past week or so has been extremely busy. Last Monday I set up for an auction I had Tuesday night. I've been working on a couple of other potential estate auctions this week plus the various events at the church. I've also been trying to finish a fascinating book titled Ordinary Men: Reserve Police Battalion 101 and the Final Solution in Poland.

The author of the book, Christopher Browning, taught history at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. It is a fascinating book that tells the chilling story of Reserve Police Battalion 101, a group of ordinary men, who became responsible for mass shootings of Jewish people and the round up of many others for deportation to Nazi death camps in Poland. These men were considered too old to serve in the German army and were drafted into the Order Police.

The first mass killing occurred in Józefów, a village that included 1,800 Jews. Out of 500 men, only 10 initially refused to participate in the killing. A few others began shooting the innocent victims but soon found it so repulsive that they quit and wandered off into the nearby forest. However, this unit of ordinary men eventually became efficient and calloused executioners.

This disturbing book points out how group pressure can lead persons to do things they would never do as individuals. Although the author shares other possible reasons why these men could commit such terrible crimes against other humans, his final opinion is that they did what they did largely because of the pressure of the group to which they belonged.

I want to point out two observations I gleaned from the book, other bad and the other good. The bad observation is that any of us are capable of commiting more evil than we might imagine. The Scriptures are clear that a sin nature dwells within every individual, and none of us truly knows what we are capable of until put to the test. That is one reason each of us needs Jesus Christ in our lives to help us overcome this evil.

The second observation is much more positive. If ordinary men can commit such horrible atrocities, ordinary men and women can also accomplish wonderful things. Ordinary men and women, filled with the Spirit of God, can transform the lives of entire communities of people by introducing those people to Jesus Christ. Ordinary men and women can bring healing to broken families and hope to those who have lost hope. Ordinary men and women can love the hurting. Just as none of us knows the level of evil we are capable of, none of us knows the level of good we can do if we are committed to living out our Christian faith.

God doesn't depend on super-saints to accomplish His work here in earth. He depends on ordinary men and women, like you and me, for that.