“You see, you’re just like me. I hope you’re satisfied.” – Bob Dylan

4 Comments

Erwin Lutzer, the author of When a Nation Forgets God, quotes a German man…

“I lived in Germany during the Nazi Holocaust. I considered myself a Christian.

“We heard stories of what was happening to the Jews, but we tried to distance ourselves from it because what could anyone do to stop it?

“A railroad track ran behind our church, and each Sunday morning we could hear the whistle in the distance and then wheels coming over the tracks. We became disturbed as we heard the cries coming from the train as it passed by.

“We realized that it was carrying Jews like cattle in the cars.

“Week after week the whistle would blow. We dreaded to hear the sound of those wheels because we knew that we could hear the cries of the Jews on route to a death camp.

“Their screams tormented us.

“We knew the time the train was coming and when we heard the whistle blow, we began singing hymns.

“By the time the train came past our church, we were singing at the top of our voices. If we heard the screams, we sang more loudly and soon we heard them no more.

“Years have passed, and no one talks about it anymore. But I still hear that train whistle in my sleep. God forgive me. Forgive all of us who called ourselves Christians and yet did nothing to intervene.”

— When a Nation Forgets God, 7 lessons we must learn from Nazi Germany, by Erwin W. Lutzer.

The title of this post comes from a Dylan Song I learned as a child, “Stuck Inside Of Mobile With The Memphis Blues Again”:

“Now the preacher looked so baffled
When I asked him why he dressed
With twenty pounds of headlines
Stapled to his chest
But he cursed me when I proved it to him
Then I whispered, “Not even you can hide
You see, you’re just like me
I hope you’re satisfied” – Robert Zimmerman

The reason I bring these quotes together is not to shame Christians or anyone else, but to say we are all mere humans who need to stop thinking that our group is somehow superior to all others in the heart of the true God.

4 thoughts on ““You see, you’re just like me. I hope you’re satisfied.” – Bob Dylan”

  1. Gypsy Bev's avatar Gypsy Bev

    I must say it annoys me when people feel their church or religious belief is the only correct one. Yes, some are violent enough to actually eliminate those who oppose them, but even on a local level it hurts when someone will not associate with you because you do not attend their particular church. That doesn’t seem the way of God to me.

    Reply
    • Morrill Talmage Moorehead's avatar Morrill Talmage Moorehead

      Me neither. I’ll have to admit that I fell for the human desire to belong to the “superior group.” In my case it was the “true church” that I joined when I was 14 years old. I would probably still be a member today if I hadn’t read the Bible and realized that every Christian denomination actually does “pick and choose” which versus to take seriously and with ones to explain away or ignore. My break with “the one true church” came after 9/11 when people who believed that God was commanding them to kill the heathen gave Americans the perspective of the “heathen” in the Old Testament whom God supposedly commanded Israel to attack and kill. 9/11 woke me up because I’ve somehow believed since childhood that God would never tell anyone to kill the people that you considers “evil.” I get the impression that Jesus was crucified for trying to get this message across to the religious folk of his time and place. To this day many, if not most Christians don’t want to deal with “Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.” This concept only makes sense if “My kingdom is not of this world.”

      Reply
  2. Unknown's avatar Anonymous

    Everyone believes themselves stronger than they are until they are tested. Remember Peter saying he would never reject Jesus and being told that before the cock crowed, he would reject Jesus three times. An old Viking toast says, “Praise no sword untested.”

    Reply
    • Morrill Talmage Moorehead's avatar Morrill Talmage Moorehead

      Thank you for that wise Viking toast! Yes, I used to imagine that I’d make a good parent until I had two kids. Being “Dad” has been the most meaningful experience of my life, and also the most revealing of how untested and foolish I still am as a parent. And that’s less than trivial compared to someone standing up against a ruling party that exterminates people over their skin color or genetic heritage.

      Reply

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