Are we all Nazi's at heart?

1 of the 4 Vital Signs of Healing is Virtue. Virtue is the representation of morality. It is the act of doing the right thing. Unfortunately, we often do the wrong thing. One of the reasons that we do the wrong thing is caused by judging others. "Stop judging so that you will not be judged."-Matthew 7:1

The original Greek word used here can and may be best translated 'condemn'. When I first learned this, it brought this quote to life for me. I chose judgment(condemn) as a vital sign of healing because we so often condemn those who we see as unlike us: poorer, thiner, fatter, smarter, stronger, weaker, sicker, cleaner, dirtier...

A friend of mine shared with me a conversation he had with a man who immigrated from Germany in 1945. The man was a Nazi youth member. The story that he chose to tell my friend was of his experience with the Russian soldiers who took over his town at the end of World War 2.

He proceeded to tell my friend how barbaric, stupid, and primitive these Russians were. They had never seen toilets and used them as sinks, and they had never seen showers and took down the nozzle and put it up in a tree to shower outside thinking that the water would still come out. They raped and pillaged the German people.

How ironic, the Nazi, whose country men systematically tortured, mutilated, and annihilated millions of people, telling how stupid, brutal, barbaric the Russian 'mongels' were. The Aryans, the strongest, smartest, most technologically advanced Germans at least knew how to use a toilet. It reminded me of the Romans, the Pharisees, the Stormtroopers vs. the Christians, the Ewalks. In God's economy, up is down and down is up. The weak and stupid so often overcome the the proud, strong, and smart. Let us not forget to walk in the other person's shoes!

It is human nature to point fingers, to condemn, to think and say 'look at those people...' or 'at least 'we' don't do that...'.

I am challenged in my own life to acknowledge that I have a 'Nazi' heart-a heart that can condemn, that can point fingers, that has evil in it in thought and deed.

My 'Nazi' heart continues to slowly 'heal' by constant reminders that, although I am a beloved child of God, I am a loser that has the capacity to think and do bad, corrupt, and stupid thoughts and things.