The 70th anniversary of VE Day is a nostalgic event for many of our older readers. After five years of war, hardship, rationing, bombing, destruction and death, a new day had dawned with endless possibilities. But could the past really be left behind?
Most British cities bore the scars of bombing but the whole of Europe had been trampled on by tanks and infantry and its cities left in ruins. Was there any hope of a return to normal? Most people could not even remember what normality was.
Britain was still at war in the Far East; it would be another year and two atomic bombs before the war with Japan ended. The cost in human life was enormous. The Second World War with Europe and Japan cost Germany 7,000,000 lives, France 550,000 lives, Britain 450,900 lives, the USA 420,000 lives, Russia 25,000,000 lives, China 15,000,000 lives and Japan 2,500,000 lives.1
Was it all worth it?
Certainly the scourge of Nazi Fascism had to be cleared out of Europe and the ruthless imperialism of Japan had to be cleared out of the Far East, or between them they would have ruled the world and there would have been no freedom for anyone. But what kind of freedom had been won? The ink was hardly dry on peace treaties with Germany than Europe was plunged into the Cold War with the Soviet Union, and it was not long before hostilities broke out in Korea, followed by war in Vietnam.
The 20th century was the bloodiest in the history of the world and the weapons of mass destruction acquired by many nations (including some of the world's most unstable nations such as North Korea and Pakistan) now make the 21st century highly dangerous too."
Present-day conflict zones in Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya, Yemen and Aden, Nigeria and South Sudan are all claiming lives and appear to have no solution.
Will there ever be peace?
Pacts and treaties do not provide the answer because they can be easily torn up and discarded. The problem lies in human nature. We are born self-centred and aggressive- as anyone can testify who has seen a baby in a temper tantrum, or a group of infants wanting the same toy in a nursery.
The problem of warring nations will not be solved until we deal with the problem of human nature, and there is only one power that can deal with that: the power of God the Creator."
The problem of warring nations will not be solved until we deal with the problem of human nature, and there is only one power that can deal with that: the power of God the Creator. He made our human nature and only he can redeem it. He sent Jesus our Lord and Saviour for this very purpose, but we crucified him and rejected his teaching. But God, who alone can bring good out of the worst human disaster, raised Jesus from the dead and through him new life is available to everyone.
This is the message Christians have to bring to the world. God has not only given us the message, but the power to deliver it through the Holy Spirit. What are we waiting for?
References
1 Conservative estimates derived from multiple sources, see World War II casualties.