Adolf Hitler, Proclamation to the German Nation

After reading this proclamation presented by Adolf Hitler in 1933, I was very surprised. There are a few reasons why this really surprised me. I will go into more detail about that a little later. After reading this, I have come to the conclusion that this proclamation was made because Germany was in a lot economic trouble. Germany had been on the downfall for the last fourteen years and they were desperate to find a way out of all of the turmoil. The nation as a whole was looking the kind of government that was going to help accomplish the goal of relieving the nation of this so called depression. They were looking for a leader who was ambitious and was able to lead them out of the turmoil and into a state of prosperity. That leader they were looking for was the made who presented this proclamation, Adolf Hitler.

One line that really stuck out to me while I was reading this was, "And as leaders of the nation and the national government we vow to God, to our conscience, and to our people that we will faithfully and resolutely fulfill the task conferred upon us." Another line that really stood out to me as well was, "Mat God almighty give our work His blessing, strengthen our purpose, and endow us with wisdom and the trust of our people, for we are fighting not for ourselves but for Germany." 

The reason these two lines really stuck out to me was because of the irony between the actual results of this campaign and what they were originally setting out to accomplish. It is very shocking to me that Hitler referenced God in his proclamation knowing that so many people would lose their lives for no apparent reason at all. 

If I were to go about persecuting people as Hitler did, I would not even mention God's name in the process. However, Hitler did win the trust of millions of people with this speech. I'm not sure he could have done that successfully without mentioning God's name. 

It is also very shocking to me how easy it is to put your trust in someone who could inherently be so evil. It reminds me of the verse, Matthew 24:24 which states, "For false Christs and false prophets will appear and perform great signs and miracles to deceive even the elect--if that were possible."

The reason this verse comes to mind is because I believe this is exactly what Hitler was trying to do. He was basically stating that he was going to make everyone's problems better and he was going to save the nation of Germany. He literally deceived millions of people with his cunning words and his confident stature. It is important that as Christians we are always digging into the world of God and searching for the truth. If we don't know the truth of God, then we be easily deceived by people just as evil as Hitler.

One thing that this reminds me of is the state in which the economy in the United States is in right now. We have been in a recession lately and so many people are looking for some great leader to bring us out into a time of prosperity. That is what happened in the last election with Obama. He promised he would bring change to the nation and make things a lot better. However, the United States as a whole is arguably the same if not worse than when he came into office. I don't think as Christians living in the United States that we need to look towards a human to fix the problems we have, but we need to look to God, our savior. Ultimately He is the only one who can make the situations better. If we were to just put our trust in Him, I believe that He would find the right people to lead this nation and we would see a huge difference. 

Conspicuous Consumption

After reading the article, Thorstein Veblen Conspicuous Consumption I was able have a greater understanding of the different social classes and the way society ran in the earlier twentieth century. The theme of this article was based off of the term coined by sociologist and economist Thorstein Veblen. The term he introduced was conspicuous consumption. Conspicuous consumption is the spending on goods and services acquired mainly for the purpose of displaying income or wealth.

In the early twentieth century there was a social class called the leisure class. The leisure class was the upper class of the early twentieth century. People in the leisure class often bought very expensive items. One phrase in the reading that really stood out to me stated, "During the earlier stages of economic development, consumption of goods without stint, especially the consumption of the better grades of goods,-- ideally all consumption in excess of the subsistence minimum,-- pertains normally to the leisure class." The reason this line really stood out to me is because it proves the people in the upper class of society always have the nicer items and along with having all of the nicer items, more wealth equals more power. 

There are many ways that I can see how conspicuous consumption ties in with todays society. Many people of todays upper class often buy items in order to "show off" just how much money they have. For example, if you happened to google image search most of the big famous athletes houses or cars, you would notice that most of them have million dollar houses and very expensive cars. They want to show off just how much money they really have. I think another great example would be the United States as a country. The U.S. is undoubtably the most powerful nation in the world. We have no problem showing off just how wealthy we really are. We have the best road systems, the newest and biggest buildings. We spend billions on entertainment venues every year. 

I think Matthew 6:24 tackles the issue of conspicuous consumption very well. This verse states, "No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money." 

I think as christians we have a duty to really watch how we handle the way we gain and spend our money. It is very important to make sure that in everything we do that we are able to hold God higher than our job or the money we make. After all, He did give us the ability to have that job and make that money. I'm not saying it is wrong to have and buy nice things, but it is important that as christians we know our intentions when we buy nice things. 

Ultimately buying and having nice things should be used for God in some way. For example, if you are wealthy enough to purchase a large house, then maybe you could hold a large Bible study in that house. I think as christians, we sometimes get wrapped up in the way society uses their money and don't realize our intentions when using our money. This can be a very dangerous thing. The good thing is that God forgives and it's not too late to turn what you have bought around and use it for God's purpose.