Once We Were Brothers (Liam Taggart & Catherine Lockhart, #1)

by Ronald H. Balson

Ben closed his eyes. “There we sat on that crisp, clear night, the moon illuminating the Tatra peaks, a thousand stars punching pinholes in the darkness, and the only sound was the wind rushing through the pines. And it struck me—the incongruity of it all—that in the most ungodly of times, I was bearing witness to indisputable evidence of God’s work on the third and fourth days, a world he created in perfect balance.”

“If you want proof of God, Catherine, go to the mountains.”

With such indisputable evidence of God, how did he let the Holocaust happen? Where was God?”

Ben responded straightaway. “That’s a question I’ve pondered all my life, as has every person affected by incomprehensible tragedy. My answer is this: he was there, Catherine, weeping. Many see fit to explain it as free will, God’s gift to mankind, freedom to do as one chooses, and so some choose to pursue evil. It’s an explanation that has its roots in Deuteronomy. When Moses called upon the heads of all the tribes, the elders and the officers, and all the people to stand and receive God’s laws, they learned that God had set before them life and good or death and evil. They were told they had the choice. They were told to choose good and not evil, but they were given the choice. “Evil exists, Catherine, in the dark of Moriah where goodness does not dwell, and in the souls of those that can be seduced. And mankind as a whole must bear the responsibility for following or permitting the evildoers. Those who perpetrated the Holocaust, those who assisted and enabled the perpetration, those who profited, and those who turned their heads must all bear the

responsibility.” Ben pointed his finger...

“The Holocaust was not God’s will. It was the will of those who had become infused of the devil.” “Allegorically?” “Maybe for some. Not for me. It is why we must remain diligent and relentlessly pursue men like Piatek. Evil is contagiou...