Amerikai Magyar Hírlap, 2002 (14. évfolyam, 4-45. szám)

2002-06-28 / 26. szám

AMERICAN Hungarian Journaí MEDITATIONS Hungarian Premier Admits Spy Work by Dr. Bela Bonis Pastor (562) 430-0876 "Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling." (Phil. 2:12b) Now. that sounds very American, doesn’t it? We are a nation of self-helpers, weekend remodelers, do-it-yourself home­­owners. The old-fashioned lum­beryards and hardware stores have given way to stores that stock everything you need to build, remodel and add on to your home. "Selfmade" is good American, from homegrown tomatoes and one’s own bar­becue sauce to the self-taught gurus in any area. Does St. Paul support that attitude in his Phi­­lippians passage? (2:1-13) He clearly asks the Philippians to do something, not just accept some­thing, and he calls it "salvation." It sounds as if he is subverting what he says in Galatians and else­where about justification being "by grace, without the works of the law." In fact, the word "grace" is absent from philip­pians except for 1:2,7, and 4:23. Is this the "American" Paul? Only if one reads it in isola­tion. Philippi was a Roman military colony. People were proud of their Roman citizen­ship. Their primary language was Latin. In Philippians 1:27- 30, Paul uses the metaphor of military language to urge unity in the face of opposition. He encourages the Philippians to stand fast, fight with one spirit and not be put to flight by their opponents. Their victory is called ’soteria’, which means "salvation", but also denotes military victory. Military lan­guage is out of fashion these days, but here it has some sig­nificant relevance. The soldier whose only concern is personal safety is a useless soldier, un­trustworthy in battles. The great early Christian hymn in Phil. 2:6-11 stresses the thought pattern of Jesus Christ as a model for Christian life. Living our faith is not done in solitary fashion, but as part of the army of God. So there is no self­­made salvation here. Rather, Paul’s command urges us to live in the Christian community in which encouragement, con­solation, compassion and love are shown, to regard other people’s interests before one’s own, to say "NO!" to selfish conceit and self-promotion. Or, as the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church USA said the other day, "Jesus Christ is the only Savior and Lord and all people everywhere are called to place their faith, hope and love in Him. No one is saved by virtue of inheicnt goodness or admirable living. We neither restrict the grace of God to those who profess explicit faith in Christ nor assume that all people are saved regardless of faith. "Grace belongs to God." oasoBooicasoEocsoasoi BUDAPEST (AP) - Hungary's Socialist prime minister con­firmed a published report that he served five years as a counterin­telligence officer during Hungary's communist regime. ■ “I helped in preventing foreign intelligence services from ob­taining Hungarian secrets,”' Peter Medgyessy told parliament. Medgyessy did not, however, respond to subsequent news re­ports that his Socialist Party's junior coalition partner, the Alliance of Free Democrats, planned a no-confidence vote seeking to oust him because of his ties to the communist intelligence service. Medgyessy said his counterintelligence work from 1977 to 1982 was part of his job in the Finance Ministry international department. Hungary was then in secret talks about joining the International Monetary Fund, he said. The country, long one of the most liberal in the Soviet bloc, had tried to join the IMF in the early 1970s, but the move was blocked by Moscow. News reports concerning the move to oust Medgyessy said the Alliance of Free Democrats would propose current Foreign Minister and Socialist Party president László Kovács as the new prime min­ister. In his parliamentary speech on Wednesday, Medgyessy said he would propose a modification of current laws on intelligence to al­low the publication of the names of all police informers who par­ticipated in domestic surveillance activities during communist times. The current government coalition of the Socialist Party and the Alliance of Free Democrats was formed after April elections gave the Socialists a narrow victory. It holds 198 seats in the 386-seat parliament, just 10 more than those held by the members of the pre­vious coalition, the center-right Fidesz-Hungarian Civic Party and the Hungarian Democratic Forum. President Madl Holds Talks With Silvio Berlusconi Rome (MTI) - Hungarian President Ferenc Madl and Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi on Wednesday held talks in Rome on issues related to the enlargement of the European Union, the possibilities for Hungarians to work abroad, and the most important international issues. The two sides agreed that accession talks could be completed by the end of 2002, and the accession contracts would be ready for signing in the first half of 2003. President Madl called on Italy to declare that Hungarian workers will be able to have work in Italy under more favourable conditions than at present from the moment Hungary accedes to the EU. Italian Prime Minister Berlusconi was understanding of the re­quest, and promised to respond to it speedily. Experts of the two countries will meet to tackle this issue as early as June 26. Medgyessy Affair; Fidesz Group Calls on PM to Resign Budapest (MTI) - The largest opposition party, the Fidesz- Hungarian Civic Party, believes that the prime minister of the Re­public of Hungary cannot be "Comrade D-209", therefore Peter Medgyessy must resign. (D-209 was the code-name used for Medgyessy in the 1970s.) Fidesz Chairman and parliamentary group leader Zoltán Pokomi, speaking at a press conference held after the Wednesday meeting of the group, said they cannot exclude the possibility that if Medgyessy does not resign, Fidesz would submit a constructive no­­confidence motion to Parliament. He announced Fidesz would be submitting an independent bill aimed at stating that "those who formerly betrayed freedom and their friends in the framework of the (Interior Ministry's) Main Group No. Ill are incompatible with the public life of a democratic law-governed state". Pokomi said Medgyessy had "concealed an important part of his past before the parties that nominated him to the post of prime minister, and before the voters, and had deceived the president of Hungary when he appointed him prime minister". According to the Fidesz politician, Medgyessy has put at risk and endangers Hungary's successful accession to the European Un­ion, and is harmful to ten million Hungarian citizens, or 15 million people who profess themselves to belong to the Hungarian nation". Meet outstanding Hungarian composer LÁSZLÓ DÉS and actor/director/writer ROBERT KOLTAI at the CSARDAS HUNGARIAN RESTAURANT on Saturday, August 10, 2002 at 7 p.m. Reservations: (323) 962-6434 This is just a reminder for our Readers that this is the last issue before our customary annual SUMMER BREAK The HÍRLAP will not be appearing on July 5 and 12, but we will be back with lots of news and cultural information on July 19. Till then, we wish you all a great summer! Susan Jancso, Editor, and the Publishers AFD Votes Confidence for Peter * Medgyessy Budapest (MTI) - Gabor Kuncze, Chairman of the junior coali­tion party, the Alliance of Free Democrats (AFD), speaking at a press conference on Wednesday, said a constructive no-confidence motion is not a possible solution amidst the current circumstances. Kuncze added that in this case the possibility of a minority gov­ernment, which was also raised during the debates, is also not a so­lution. Within this context he noted that the AFD had, in this case, placed the interests of the nation ahead of the party interests. Kuncze said “We do not consider it a possibility to somehow hand over power to the right-wing because of this affair”, and stressed that this issue “could not be further delayed” because of the uncertainty surrounding it. Referring to the publication of documents concerning the past of Prime Minister Peter Medgyessy, Kuncze said: ”We are in the midst of a contemptible political game.” He believed the way the case was made public is simply an effort to distract attention from other is­sues. The AFD chairman said his party insists on making the entire No. Ill main department of the Interior Ministry accessible to re­searchers, and making the data public. He noted that they support Peter Medgyessy's legislation inten­tion to “make everything public in this area”, naturally including his own case. “As regards the case of the prime minister, a problem for us was that neither the public nor the AFD were able to learn about this, although we could see efforts for bringing these to light in various covert forms,” Kuncze said. The AFD chairman said that in this respect they expect the prime minister to apologise to all those who were not sufficiently informed about the case. HJLP Initiates Petition for New Elections (MTI) - The non-parliamentary Hungarian Justice and Life Party (HJLP) and the Movement of "Hungarian Road" Circles will initiate a collection of signatures for a petition to hold new, free and fair elections, party officials told a press conference in Budapest on Wednesday. The HJLP expects other groups and circles dedicated to the national cause to join the action, party spokesman Bela Győri said. The spokesman quoted HJLP Chairman István Csurka as say­ing that “the constitutional crisis caused by the Medgyessy affair, or more exactly, the present shameful situation can only be solved by new and free elections.” CSÁRDÁS Hungarian Restaurant in the heart of Hollywood. Saturday night and Sunday Brunches (323) 962-6434 ■■■MPHIVMI .. amerikai mm tyagyar Hírlap |jj

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