German Christians are given some important responsibility that they will hardly be relieved as disciples to tread the path that Jesus Christ set. When questioned on the subject of paying tribute to Caesar while commissioning the gospel, Jesus admonishes the practice, as a matter of inescapable duty that Christians " Render therefore unto Caesar the things which are Caesar's; and unto God the things that are God's ” (Mathew 22:21). From this verse, Christ recognizes both the authority and area of jurisdiction. He appreciates that Caesar, as the ruler of the Roman Empire, is accorded his respect but also emphasizes the separation of the church from the state. As a teacher of religion, Jesus cannot prescribe the things of state, and neither should the state should not influence how the church operates. Therefore, he sets this principle for his followers to espouse. This is a response to the test set forth by the Jews themselves to determine whether Christ respects the authority of the Roman Empire under which the Jews are in subjection and to find occasion for causing Him to be crucified. Does this command make Deity contemptuous of the natural law? Does not the heart of God boil with the surges of love and tenderness? The decree provided by the pharaoh to have all male children killed at the birth of Moses and the disregard of this command by the midwives brings out a different image of how a man should relate with the subject of state and church, man and state. God prospered the midwives who disregarded the commands of the bloodthirsty pharaoh showing that He relates with natural law: " And it came to pass, because the midwives feared God, that he made them houses " (Exodus 1: 21).
The scriptures are full with such occasions where the Jews are always confronting the authority. Some of these include Joseph falsely accused of attempting to rape Potiphar's wife. Daniel and his three Jew brothers thrown into the fire for not bowing to the image set up by Nebuchadnezzar in the plain of Dura. Another example included Daniel in the lion’s den for not obeying the thirty-day worship decree and Mordecai and Esther facing Haman who wants the entire Jewish Nation killed because Mordecai failed to bow before Haman at the get of the Medo-Persian king among others (Exodus 39; Daniel 3; Daniel 6; Esther 3-10). The Bible attests to the fact that the Jews have been controversial with several nations in which they are persecuted down from the kingdom of Egypt, Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece, and Rome. The German nation followed this line of persecution. Despite the horrendous record of the mistreatment of the Jews, the Christian brethren in the Nazi system are bound by natural laws and their Christian duty to protect their Jew neighbors not to go to the concentration camps.
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Although the Jews were persecuted, many of the ills occurred while they were worshipping. Religious freedom is a widely recognized subject in the present world. Persecution on the ground of faith is unjustified and a rare occasion due to the constitutional and institutional structures placed to grant every human the opportunity to enjoy their inalienable rights and freedoms. Religion is a question of conscience where people should be allowed to choose the directions they want to follow. The nations that extended their mighty hands and striking the Jews for choosing to worship another God and not their recognized gods were determined to control the citizens’ conscience. This was tyrannical. The Jews were persecuted for being different. Such persecutions can only thrive in what Martin Luther identifies as unjust laws. Nazi Germany has repeated the same history. Since the Jews are not Germans, they are cleaned and removed from society as though they were filths.
The activities of Nazi Germany are a violation of the natural law as well. In the preceding paragraphs, the law of state and religion was set forth from the mouth of Christ himself. However, natural law is imprinted in the heart. It is a principle that flows without any coercion. It works in harmony with a pure conscience. Unnatural principles working in opposition to the laws of nature have corrupted and mortified the consciences of some people. For instance, communities agree that to kill is wrong. Even if there was not written on solid rock, inscribed on metal, or pressed on the heart by hot metal, it would be followed, embraced and extended in all realms where mortals with straight conscience abide. Killing is unnatural and causes sadness. It destroys relationships, trusts, and development. Such a principle is chaotic, and few will agree to harbor it in their hearts. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. identifies just and unjust laws. He emphasizes that just laws uphold the rule of equality and equity and further emphasizes that unjust laws are opposed to this principle and that the "unjust law is no law at all" (West, 2011, p.17). If the unjust law is to be considered as no law, of which it is no law, then the Nazi German citizens are exempted from any coercion to deliver their Jewish neighbors to the concentration camps since such a command does not treat all as equal or with equity.
By following natural law, we are bound to the moral reasoning of God. To the great law that cannot be written by a pen. Blackstone, in defense of the natural law and paralleling it with the great law of God, argues that " This law of nature , being co-eval with mankind and dictated by God himself, is, of course, superior in obligation to any other " (Cohen, 2013, p.222). The natural law is here lifted above any law that can be instituted by the government and which men are bound to follow first. For instance, we follow on to do well because it is virtuous, elevating, and ennobling and comes along naturally. We do it not to be paid or praised, but because it is a spring of joy ( Blackstone, 1908) . We seldom desire to cause others trouble and rather flourish in the cause of bringing them prosperity without sacrificing our moral principles. By doing others well we leave to the full end and purpose for human existence; we satisfy the purpose for existence by acting virtuously which is one of St. Thomas' and Aristotle's tenets of morality and the purpose for human existence ( Goyette, Latkovic & Myers, 2004: Hood, 2010 ).
From this principle, people who harm others or acts in inhuman ways do not meet the purpose of their existence. They fail to do their duty just as a knife meant to cut would fail to cut, or a cloth meant for a dress would decline to fulfill that role. Therefore, the Germans who fail to protect the lives of their Jewish neighbors but rather motivate and take part in their destruction are in opposition to the natural law of purpose. Therefore, every man, as a natural being, is bound by the natural law to protect life as men are meant to leave to their fullest and any life willfully and violently terminated is a violation of this law. The Germans whether supporting or against Nazism and the Jews alike are all under the same natural law to fulfill their purpose for existence. It is therefore despicable, and wholly inhuman for the Germans to turn their eyes away from the plight of the suffering Jews because their religion or any other distinction makes them different. The natural law does not distinguish between color, age, height, or creed. Instead, it emphasizes that we are one and should continue to be so. Therefore, the German brother has the duty of perceiving the Jew as though he were his blood brother and sister. He should set aside the rhetoric that raises curtain walls between him and his brother. He should tear down with great joy the ladder that lifts him above his brother and builds with him one that places them at an equal height.
In conclusion, the Germans should protect their Jewish neighbors not to be delivered to the concentration camps. They are bound to follow this law as a first duty. In this, they are not to render unto Caesar but unto God. The natural law is binding and universal. Laws established to violate this principle should be disobeyed and expunged rather enabling them to harm the relationship among good men. Therefore, by fulfilling their purpose and following the just law that is coeval with man, the Nazi Germans should seek to protect their Jewish friends and enemies alike from the reaching iron fist of the maddened Nazism drunkards.
References
Blackstone, W. E., (1908). Jesus Is Coming: God's Hope for a Restless World . Kregel Publications
Cohen, R. S. (Ed.). (2013). The natural sciences and the social sciences: some critical and historical perspectives (Vol. 150). Springer Science & Business Media.
Goyette, J., Latkovic, M. S., & Myers, R. S. (Eds.). (2004). St. Thomas Aquinas and the natural law tradition: Contemporary Perspectives. CUA Press.
Hood J. Y.B. (2010). Aquinas and the Jews. University of Pennsylvania Press. King James Version Bible
West, R., (2011). Normative jurisprudence: an introduction. Cambridge University Press.
