The Holocaust: The Problem Of Evil In The Holocaust

Introduction

The problem of evil has been a major concern in the human race with various attempts being made to reconcile the belief in God with the existence of evil in this world. The Christian conception of God as supremely good and powerful has made the problem of evil to be very difficult simply because such a being will make the world a better place than it is by preventing evil from causing pain and suffering to humanity. Both Christianity and Judaism face a great challenge to solve the issue of evil and its existence because of the impact of evil that the holocaust caused on millions of people. Scholars have devoted their time to account for the horrifying events that took place during the holocaust by examining different theodicy

The impact of the evil of the holocaust on millions of people has raised eternal concern of faith in a loving God with the most pressing issue being whether God exists. This has made some to argue that if indeed He exists then His power and or goodness to control evil is somehow diminished. For example, David Wolf Silverman argues from the Judaism perspective that, after the holocaust it became more evident that God is not omnipotent. This has resulted to reduced use of omnipotence as one of the attributes of God because this horrifying event shows the extent to which humanity had sunk and the degree to which God withdrew. From a theological point of view the holocaust raises the question of the nature of evil and the existence of God. This era has become the central barrier to the contemporary Jewish belief. Many have raised issues whether the all powerful and good God was unable to prevent the execution of innocent children, men and women of Jewish origin from 1933 to 1945 on n account that they were born to a Jewish parent. This dilemma of evil has led to the following proposals of various ways to try and solve the problem of

Therefore God’s presence in horrifying historical eras should be seen as hidden and His secrecy should be sensed as an indication of His presence. His powerful nature is revealed to humanity by limiting His might in order to allow mankind to be powerful also. In the case of the holocaust all attributes of God can be seen. This terrible era strongly proofs that God exists regardless of His disguise during this event because the Jewish people continue to exist despite their long suffering during this era when the Nazi Germans were determined to execute the completely. Israel has demonstrated the presence of God through space and time. The Nazi Germans under the leadership of Adolf Hitler were very much aware of this fact and therefore the Jews should understand that the holocaust was an attempt that was targeted to slaughter the God of the Jews. The masterminds of the holocaust were aware of God’s presence among the Jews even when the Jews themselves failed to detect