Bonhoeffer 1945 AND Today with D. Paul Thomas

Episode 13 of the Church Hurts And podcast, hosted by Dr. John Bash, titled "Bonhoeffer 1945 AND Today with D. Paul Thomas" was published on April 20, 2021 and runs 33 minutes.

April 20, 2021 ·33m · Church Hurts And

0:00 / 0:00

Summary

Bonhoeffer 1945 and Today I don’t know about you, but I know life seems more complicated to me today than it was years ago. What used to be apparent black and white issues have turned into an insane amount of grays and purples and browns. It reminded me of third-grade art class when we were first allowed to play with paints and shown how to mix colors. Blue and yellow could make the loveliest shades of green. Like every other ADD child, of course, I figured if two colors mixed was good, why not three and four and five. You know the result, that ugly shade of mud which was irredeemable. Unfortunately, when I am talking about life being complicated, it isn’t as easy to understand as paint mixing. When what we learned was good ends up being not so good, or even harmful, confusion kicks in. If a right isn’t right, and wrong is what we were told was right, how are we act? When what was cast in stone in front of the courthouse from ten commandments is now forbidden to be on public property, who is making the rules, or maybe more importantly, who has changed the rules, and why? In college, I was taught that there were different views of ethics, the two primary ones being Absolute and Relative. Absolute Ethics emphasized what was always true, no matter what. Relative Ethics emphasized that ethics changed based upon the situation. The classic illustration given was based upon lying being bad. If lying is evil, what do you do when the Gestapo comes to the door and asks if you are hiding Jews in your attic. If you tell the truth, they will surely be shot. If you lie, you have violated God’s prohibition against lying. Today we will talk about a man who actually faced those issues, in that time with the Gestapo and Hitler and churches as messed up as church gets. His name was Dietrich Bonhoeffer. To find out more, let’s ask an actor who has played Bonhoeffer all over the world in the play Bonhoeffer 1945. Welcome actor/playwright D. Paul Thomas to Church, Hurts And. www.ChurchHurtsAnd.org www.bonhoeffer1945.com

Episode Description

Bonhoeffer 1945 and Today

I don’t know about you, but I know life seems more complicated to me today than it was years ago. What used to be apparent black and white issues have turned into an insane amount of grays and purples and browns. It reminded me of third-grade art class when we were first allowed to play with paints and shown how to mix colors. Blue and yellow could make the loveliest shades of green. Like every other ADD child, of course, I figured if two colors mixed was good, why not three and four and five. You know the result, that ugly shade of mud which was irredeemable.

Unfortunately, when I am talking about life being complicated, it isn’t as easy to understand as paint mixing. When what we learned was good ends up being not so good, or even harmful, confusion kicks in. If a right isn’t right, and wrong is what we were told was right, how are we act? When what was cast in stone in front of the courthouse from ten commandments is now forbidden to be on public property, who is making the rules, or maybe more importantly, who has changed the rules, and why?

In college, I was taught that there were different views of ethics, the two primary ones being Absolute and Relative. Absolute Ethics emphasized what was always true, no matter what. Relative Ethics emphasized that ethics changed based upon the situation. The classic illustration given was based upon lying being bad. If lying is evil, what do you do when the Gestapo comes to the door and asks if you are hiding Jews in your attic. If you tell the truth, they will surely be shot. If you lie, you have violated God’s prohibition against lying.

Today we will talk about a man who actually faced those issues, in that time with the Gestapo and Hitler and churches as messed up as church gets. His name was Dietrich Bonhoeffer. To find out more, let’s ask an actor who has played Bonhoeffer all over the world in the play Bonhoeffer 1945.

Welcome actor/playwright D. Paul Thomas to Church, Hurts And.

www.ChurchHurtsAnd.org

www.bonhoeffer1945.com