Miraculous According To Corrie Betsie Ten Boom example essay topic

801 words
THE HIDING PLACE " We must tell people that no pit is so deep. That He is not deeper still. They will believe us, because we were here". Miraculous According to Corrie & Betsie Ten Boom, life was a faith-building experience. Those two women were faced with one of the toughest experiences of their lives. Each day, Corrie and Betsie had to persuade each other that everything was going to be okay, once they were free from the "hell", or the concentration camp they were placed in.

And, yet, Corrie and Betsie somehow managed to keep in mind that God was with them. Corrie Ten Boom's astonishing novel, "The Hiding Place", is an extraordinary adventure of one courageous Christian woman who had been sent to a concentration camp, along with her sister, for helping the Jews. Both the girls depended heavily on Christ's power and words to guide them through the tough times. They were not praying for themselves, but instead they were praying for the souls and the actions of the brutal Nazi guards. It was the year 1937. It was going to be a beautiful day for the 100th anniversary of the Ten Boom's watch shop.

Both Corrie and Betsie worked there, along with Hans -- the apprentice, Too - the sour faced and ill-tempered little woman, Christolfels, a tiny little repair man with a big heart and who could forget father. Corrie describes father as the most loved man in all of Haarlem, Holland. Anyone who worked in the watch shop was treated very well. Life was simple.

There were no cars or TVs. Everyone in Haarlem lived their lives day by day and didn't care too much about the future, until that day when it was taken from them. Corrie's only brother, Willem, was married to Tine and had three kids. Willem cared very much for people of all religions and races. He was a minister of the Dutch Reformed Church and organized many homes - mainly for elderly Jews (although he welcomed all).

His lifestyle caught many people's attention, especially Corrie's and their sis, Betsie. The more they got into his line of work, the more danger they were putting themselves into. They were hiding Jews in the Be je (the large house of the Ten Booms) and they eventually got caught. The whole Ten Boom family - father, Corrie and Betsie - had put their own lives on the line and because of this, they were placed in a concentration camp along with all the hundreds of Jews they had helped along the way.

During the years they spent there, they watched many die and others get beaten. They, too, were abused and persecuted for all the good of helping others. The main theme of this story was to show the miraculous and courageous struggle of one loving and devoted family, who put their own lives at stake to protect the lives of many others. Every night, before they were placed in the concentration camp, the tiny family of three read a scripture from the Bible. While in the "hell", they prayed that God would forgive the retched and brutal souls of the Nazi guards who beat and killed many people. They put their Christian beliefs above all else.

It was more important to them that they gave up their lives to rescue others because it was the Christian thing to do and it was right in their minds, no matter what it was doing to them, both physically and mentally. After finishing this book, Corrie Ten Boom traveled all over the world to preach her triumphant success. Corrie Ten Boom had a way with words that, to me, was indescribable. This book, along with the powerful words she preached, touched and changed the lives of many people of all races and religions. She was ninety-one years old when she passed away in 1983. This exasperating novel, as written by Corrie Ten Boom, truly opened my eves to a part of life which I will never completely understand because I did not actually live through it.

She includes in her novel every factor and detail which would have made life in the concentration camp so unbelievably scary. I personally think that Corrie Ten Boom conveyed every possible fear that ran through the minds of all that were placed in that "hell". I probably would not have enjoyed this novel as much if it was not written by her, because she brought to the novel the actual experience, rather than just facts. Anyone could do that.