The Chosen

For our book this week we read "The Chosen" by Chaim Potock..I haven't turned in my paper yet..but here it is.....
Solomon Radasky was born in Warsaw, Poland. Out of the 78 member of his family, he was the only one to survive the terrors of the holocaust. He was beaten numerous times, forced to watch others die, and he experienced other horrors that only he will remember. His sisters and mother were killed when they had no money to give the German soldiers. His father and brother were killed when they were caught smuggling bread to the ghetto. His other relatives boarded trains, and he never heard from them again. When he found himself surrounded by Germans one day, he ended up at Auschwitz, terrified of what lay ahead, he decided that he wanted to live each day. One day, he was with a group of 50 men and one of them had snuck a cigarette and smoked it, the guards found out and demanded that they tell who had the cigarette. The group wouldn’t tell. So, the guard took 10 of the men and had them line up on the hanging gallows. Each of the men had to place the rope around their neck and were being told to step off their box. Solomon was one of those men. However, at the last moment, another guard came by and demanded to know what was happening and immediately stopped the proceedings. Solomon was then forced to work in the crematoriums that were murdering thousands of his people. He would bury their ashes with sand from a nearby sandbar. Regardless of the atrocities that he witnessed, Solomon lived to see the end of World War II.

The holocaust was a terrible time in recent history. We have heard many stories of survivors and victims surface for the last 60 years—each one more terrible than the last. I have been taught ever since my early childhood that everything has a purpose, that we must accept God’s will. But I have always had a hard time accepting man made tragedies, such as the holocaust, to the will of God.

Reading The Chosen has awakened some trouble that I have had when dealing with “God’s will.” Was it God’s will that two airplanes struck the twin towers and killed thousands of people? Was it God’s will that my uncle died, who was a deeply religious man with 4 young children under the age of seven? Is it God’s will that the economy is a mess? Is it God’s will that I get a job, homeschool my children, or have pancakes for breakfast? When is it God’s will? And when is our agency the cause of our own destruction.

Lorenzo Snow said that “As man is, God once was; and as God is, man may become.” (President Spencer W. Kimball quoting in "Our Great Potential" from the April 1977 Priesthood Session of General Conference) God was once a man like ourselves and has overcome the carnal state. He did this through his own agency. His father did not give him the answers to all of this questions, he had to search them out and learn for himself. In this, agency became such a sacred thing that God was willing to allow 1/3 of his children to be cast out of his presence, knowing that they would never attain their full glory. God would rather allow us to damn ourselves, then to force his agency on us.

Rev Sanders said that the holocaust was God’s will. That it was God’s will for the 6 million Jews to be annihilated. If this was the case then the hate that Hitler had for Jews, and all of those like him that murdered the Jews, must have been God’s Will also. Just because God allows bad things to happen doesn’t mean that it is His will. Bad things have always happened to good people. Other people’s agency has a constant affect on what happens to our lives. It is only up to us to decide how we respond to the situations that we find ourselves. Did Hitler have to choose to wipe out an entire generation of Jews? No. He could have chosen a different life. God gives us laws and guidelines, and then it is up to us to follow them according to our own dictates. Just as we must allow our children to learn and grow with their mistakes, we cannot force them to learn or obey our rules, but they do learn through the mistakes that they make. People make horrible decisions. They choose to surrender their agency to alcohol and drugs, pornography, modern technology, even our own tempers and weakness can affect our decision making abilities. If our children make these mistakes, does that mean that it was our will that it happens?

We must teach, guide and inspire all that we can, but the choices of our children make are still our children’s mistakes. Alma 36:6 says “…behold, thou art in thy youth, and therefore, I beseech of thee that thou wilt hear my words and learn of me; for I do know that whosoever shall put their trust in God shall be supported in their trials, and their troubles, and their afflictions..” God has given us a guide written in the scriptures that we may choose to follow, he sent his Son, Jesus Christ to live as an example for us to follow, and he has promised to answer our prayers and to send the Holy Spirit to be a personal guide whenever we need his help. The teachings are there, it is up to us to choose to follow them. To hold God responsible for the mistakes of Man is unfair. Man’s mistakes are man’s mistakes. Not God’s will.

So, what is God’s will? Surely with God’s power he is able to step in and not allow the drunk driver to strike the other car. Surely God is able to send his angels to safely guard the soldiers in battle. He can and He does. Who knows how many time God has lend his assistance to us, his children, as we stumble and we learn to walk in this mortality. God assists us in love, in feeling peace in trials, and overcoming the challenges that we have. Romans 8: 28 states “And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.” This means that no matter what comes our way, God knows that we will be able to bring good about through it.D&C100:15 “Therefore, let your hearts be comforted; for all things shall work together for good to them that walk uprightly...” Trials, temptations, and tragedies happen to everyone, as nobody is immune to the consequences of ourselves, others and the effect they will have on us. Because of this, God has promised everyone that He will assist us in every way that he can. Just as a loving parent will help their child try again after we fall off a bike, or will patiently help a child learn to read letter by letter, God can comfort and assist us in our trials. Will it still be hard? Of course. God loves us and will strengthen us in our time of need. Deuteronomy 23:5 says . “..but the Lord thy God turned the curse into a blessing unto thee, because the Lord thy God loved thee”

Solomon Radasky had a curse become a blessing in his life because he had the knowledge of gematriya. The same gematriya that Danny and Reuvan enjoyed so much. This simple mathematic concept was the beginning for Solomon Radasky’s will to survive the war. On his arm the number 28232 was tattooed onto his arm. The separate numbers add up to 18. In the Hebrew language since the letters of the alphabet stand for numbers. The letters which stand for the number eighteen spell out the Hebrew word "Chai,"which means life. Solomon chose life and he is one example of understanding that it was not God’s will to have the Jews go through this terrible ordeal. Just as Reuvan and his father knew it was not God’s will. They understood that it is our choice to intervene and make something of ourselves in spite of our problems and trials that come around. God gave us the agency to be a force of good on the earth or bad on the earth. We cannot control God’s will or the will of evil man. All we can do is control how we react to it.