PROBLEMS WITH ANNE FRANK

“In spite of everything, I still believe that people are really good at heart. I simply can’t build my hopes on a foundation consisting of confusion, misery, and death.” That was the way Anne Frank ended her diary.

Anne Frank became famous for the diary she kept as she and her family suffered terribly at the hands of the Nazis during WWII. She eventually died in a Nazi concentration camp. There was only one reason for her suffering. Her crime in the eyes of the Nazis was that she was Jewish. 

Those last words she wrote in her diary put on the Seven League Boots and made her famous all over the world after her death and the discovery and publication of her literary efforts. She's been the subject of biographies, plays, and movies which have told her tragic story. And with each telling, that sentence has been told and retold.

But therein lies the problem: the last sentence in her diary is a lie, a lie that has been believed for centuries, just as Anne Frank believed it and that lie has influenced the policies of government, the policies of higher education, the policies of parenting, and the teachings of the social sciences.

Not only is it a lie, but embedded in Anne Frank's words, we see that it's a naive lie in the fact that she began the sentence with, "In spite of everything . . ." That is, in spite of the empirical evidence, in spite of the Nazis, in spite of the evil-soaked record of history inscribed in every textbook, "I believe that people are really good at heart."

Among the many texts in the Bible showing her sentence to be fallacious, one will suffice: "And you were dead in your trespasses and sins, in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience.  Among them we too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were BY NATURE children of wrath, even as the rest." (Eph. 2:1-3)

Cameron Buettel records the results of this ancient lie: "Welfare programs flounder because of beneficiaries who prefer to extort the system rather than behave ethically. Psychologists continue to exclude the possibility of a sinful nature from their study of the human experience. Behavioral experts relentlessly try to solve bad behavior with better education. And society at large is now burdened with a younger generation that identifies as victims rather than perpetrators, refusing to be held accountable for its actions."

Buettel continues to show how the lie has infiltrated churches, citing the following from a sermon:

You’re not born evil. It’s amazing how many teachings and theologies start with that thought. Anytime you start with that you will create a controlling, manipulative environment.Every government, every structure . . . every system fundamentally and theologically must start with the concept and the idea that people are good and they mean to do good. Even if they are not saved, we have to start from that premise. We have to adjust our theology. We have to adjust our fundamental stance when we look at people. . . . We have to adjust our perspective of people. We have to realize that people are good and they mean to do good.

There's another problem with Anne Frank and it roars to the surface when we ask the question, "To whom are we listening and heeding when we believe and implement the lie in her diary? The answer: We're listening to a 15-year-old child. This reveals another lie believed by our society today.

It's another popular lie that children possess wisdom, wisdom beyond adults, a wisdom beyond their parents. The implication of this lie is, "Listen to the children." We see this in the propaganda put out by movies and television and in the press showcasing and the quoting children as authorities on current controversial subjects all the way from climate control to the Second Amendment.

Our touchstone is, once again, as it should be, the Bible: "Foolishness is bound up in the heart of a child . . ."

“The important concept here is that the adolescent brain is still developing and not yet fully mature,” says Andrew Garner, M.D., FAAP, member of the American Academy of Pediatrics Committee on Psychosocial Aspects of Child and Family Health.

“Scans of normal kids have revealed that different parts of the brain mature at different rates,” he says. “In fact, some parts of the brain — such as the prefrontal cortex (PFC) that sits right behind the eyes — do not appear fully mature until 24 years old! Other parts of the brain, like the walnut-shaped amygdala (AMG) that sits deep in the brain, appear to be fully mature much earlier. Many neuroscientists think that this mismatch in brain maturity may explain a lot of adolescent behavior.”

As an example of the medical fact that the adolescent brain is still developing, I cite the following from a high school student's diary: "They all tried to tell me what to be and how to act. Who do they think they are? I've been alive for 16 years! I think I know how the world works. I think I can make my own choices."

Both Proverbs and the above medical findings would have ramifications in more ways than one. Proverbs 22:15 would be an argument against lowering the voting age to 16; an argument against allowing children to enter the office of and scream at a U. S. Senator; an argument against having children hold up signs and march for and against various positions; an argument against giving a platform to and granting interviews with high school students on gun control.

Anne Frank died in a concentration camp the month before Hitler committed suicide and the war in Europe was over. Hers was truly a tragic story. However, her conclusion about human nature is in error.