SCAPEGOAT THEORY

By Dr. M. R. Dowler

In 1925 a man wrote a terrible book that changed the world. The man was Adolf Hitler; the book was Mein Kampf (My Struggle). Hitler dictated his long rambling fifteen-chapter diatribe during his imprisonment for attempting to overthrow the German government. Interestingly, Hitler coined the German phrase Grob Luge (Big Lie) in his book. Grob Luge isn’t hard to understand---telling a lie so big it must be true (even though it isn’t). But today we focus our attention on another interesting detail about Hitler and his awful book---the Scapegoat Theory.

The Scapegoat Theory AKA Extreme Prejudice is a sociopathic term to describe an individual blaming another person or group for their anger, frustrations and failures. Prejudice is an ugly human condition as old as time, and scapegoating comes in many forms---racial, business, even religious. Because Hitler and the Nazis blamed the Jews for everything bad in the world it was easy for them to justify in their own minds slaughtering six million Jews. Mein Kampf is a literary example of this extreme prejudice.

Central to the Scapegoat Theory is the scapegoat, (“sent goat” in the Hebrew) which originates in the Old Testament; referenced in only one place--Leviticus 16, the scapegoat was part of the yearly Yom Kippur (Day of Atonement). Two goats were selected; one was killed as a sin offering. The priest placed his hands on the other goat, symbolically transferring the sins of the Jewish people to that goat. That goat was sent out to a place in the desert to wander aimlessly never to be sought or found.

Theologically the symbolism of the scapegoat can be seen in the fact that Christ took our sins, (1 Peter 2:24) casting them away never to be remembered again (Hebrews 8:12). Atonement was the prescribed means of dealing with sin until Jesus emerged on the scene (Hebrews 10:4). He is our ransom scapegoat (Mark 10:45); sent by the Father as our substitute (John 3:17). His death was not a lie, or a theory; but rather, the highest form of love (John 3:16). Think about it.