If so, is he in heaven?
Valhalla, perhaps. Where he gets cut to pieces every day. Hell to one culture is Heaven to another.
Suicides go to Hel, not Valhalla.
EDIT: not Folkvangr, either.
We’ve done this one a lot.
Hitler in Heaven?:
Anyone who professes to be a Christian is a Christian as far as I am concerned. Whether they are a *good *Christian or not is up to the interpretation of the tenets of their sect, and ultimately, God.
Do you know who else was a Christian?
Hitler & Stalin were, respectively, a heretic & an apostate, violating in the worst way the Second Greatest Commandment of ‘loving’ or even behaving remotely decently to others, and thus are in Hades & headed for Gehenna.
Hitler met the requirements to be called a Christian, which is simply for him to refer to himself as one. In Mein Kampf, Hitler wrote: “I believe that I am acting in accordance with the will of the Almighty Creator: by defending myself against the Jew, I am fighting for the work of the Lord…”
He is not in heaven, since the place is mythical. But according to the particular flavor of the Christian faith that I grew up in, a suicide cannot go to heaven since he or she has committed murder and cannot repent. Other flavors will vary, I’m sure.
He may have considered himself a Christian, and in that case the rest of us may be obliged to, but this passage may well apply - and Hitler can’t even claim having practised supernatural wonders, either.
But - even where Hitler’s concerned - “it’s not up to me”.
I’m not quite certain what the “requirements” are, but he clearly held considerable attempt for Christians during his actual period in power, as did many or most top Nazis. Their personal beliefs are not clear; their statements more so and their actions very blatant.
Hitler’s behavior was that of a Christian.
Did you mean “contempt” instead of “attempt”?
Aren’t those specific names proprietary to other religions than Christianity? Or was it a genteel way of avoiding saying the unpleasant name of the place of perdition?
I always loved the way Dante swiped Hades, Tartarus, Styx, etc. from Greek mythology, but I don’t think any modern theologians take it seriously. In a way, it’s a pity. Dante’s vision was remarkably rich and vivid.
I’d peg him as a bit of an outlier.
Not really. Tyranny, ruthless conquest and killing Jews after blaming them for all your problems are very Christian. Just look at history.
Even assuming tyranny and genocide are common traits, he’d still be an outlier in terms of stunning personal acheivement in those fields.
Better weapons, better organization, and more people alive to be killed. That’s all less about him as it is about when and where he lived. If anything one of his distinguishing personal features is that he was a throwback; I doubt his style of rulership would have stood out that much if he’d been a monarch a century or two earlier.
I swear, this is the last time I waste my A-list Hitler material on this crowd.
Yes. And this is why I should always preview, but I probably still won’t.
Really? Jesus would have approved of Hitler’s behavior? How so?