Magyar Egyház, 1954 (33. évfolyam, 2-12. szám)
1954-11-01 / 11. szám
10 MAGYAR EGYHÁZ died for us. We crucified Him, but God raised Him from dead. He is risen. He has overcome the powers of sin and death. A new life has begun. And in His risen and ascended power He has sent forth into the world a new community bound together by His Spirit, sharing His divine life, and commissioned to make Him known throughout the World. He will come again as Judge and King to bring all things to their consummation. Then we shall see Him as He is and know as we are known. Together with the whole creation we wait for this with eager hope, knowing that God is faithful and even now He holds all things in His hand. WITH THIS ASSURANCE we can face the powers of evil and the. threat, of death with a good courage. Delivered from fear we are made free to love. For beyond the judgment of men and the judgment of history lies the judgment of the King who died for all men, and who will judge us as the last according to what we have done to the least of his brethren. Thus our Christian hope directs us towards our neighbor. It constrains us to pray daily, “Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven,” and to act as we pray in every area of life. It begets a life of believing prayer and expectant action, looking to Jesus and pressing forward to the day of His return in glory. As we learn more of our unity in Christ, it becomes the more intolerable that we should divide. We therefore ask you: Is your church seriously considering its relation to other churches in the light of our Lord’s prayer that we may be sanctified in the truth and that we may all be one? Is your congregation, in fellowship with sister congregations around you, doing all it can do to insure that your neighbors shall hear the voice of the one Shepherd calling all men into the one flock? The forces that separate men from one another are strong. At our meeting here we have missed the presence of Chinese churches which were with us at Amsterdam. There are other lands and churches unrepresented in our council, and we long ardently for their fellowship. But we are thankful that, separated as we are by the deepest political divisions of our time, here at Evanston we are united in Christ. And we rejoice also that in the bond of prayer and a common hope, we maintain communion with our Christian brethren everywhere. It is from within this communion that we have to speak about the fear and distrust which at present divide our world. Only at the Cross of Christ, where men knoW themselves as forgiven sinners can they be made one. It is there that Christians must pray daily for their enemies. It is there that we must seek deliverance from self-righteousness, impatience and fear. And those who know that Christ is risen should have the courage to expect new power to break through every human barrier. It is not enough that Christians should seek peace for themselves. They must seek justice for others. Great masses of people in many parts of the world are hungry for bread, and are compelled to live in conditions which mock their human worth. Does your church speak and act against such injustice? Millions of men and women are suffering segregation and discrimination on the ground of race. Is your church willing to declare, as this assembly has declared, that this is contrary to the will of God and to act on that declaration? Do you pray regularly for those who suffer unjust discrimination on grounds of race, religion or political conviction? WORLD FELLOWSHIP The church of Christ is today a worldwide fellowship, yet there are countless people to whom He is unknown. How much do you care about this? Does your congregation live for itself, or for the world around it and beyond it? Does its common life, and does the daily work of its members in the world, affirm the Lordship of Christ or deny it? God does not leave any of us to stand alone. In every place He has gathered us together to be His family, in which His gifts and His forgiveness are received. Do you forgive one another as Christ forgave you? Is your congregation a true family of God, where every man can find a home and know that God loves him without limit? We are not sufficient for these things. But Christ is sufficient. We do not know what is coming to us. But we know Who is coming. It is He who meets us every day and Who will meet us at the end—Jesus Christ our Lord. Therefore we say to you: Rejoice in hope. MARY, THE MOTHER OF JESUS by Stephen Benko, Th. D. "The Marian Year" Pope Pius XII. declared the current year, 1954 to be “Marian Year.” The direct motive of this decision was the plan to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the Roman Catholic doctrine of the “Immaculate Conception” of Mary, the mother of Jesus. However, this celebration is connected with the newest Roman Catholic doctrine of the “Assumption of Mary” announced only a few years ago, because these two doctrines are inherently connected with each other. The Roman Catholic Church all over the world already made extensive propaganda for the “Marian Year”. In order to inform the evangelical Christians of this propaganda, which becomes every day more extensive and more intensive, it seems to be quite necessary to give a brief account of our Protestant belief concerning Mary. For easier understanding we shall divide the problem into two groups: 1.) How did the cult of St. Mary develop in the Roman Catholic church during the past centuries? and 2.) What is our opinion about the present Roman Catholic Marydoctrines and Mary-cult? I. The Early Christians We have positive proof that the Early Christian church did not know anything about this cult. The first mention of Mary can be found towards the end of the 2nd century in the form of a fantastic legend about her birth (in the so called “Proto-Evangelium of James”). Justin Martyr (died 165 AD) was the first to compare Mary with Eve, the two prominent women-figures in the Bible. Following him, Irenaeus (died 202 AD) says that the disobedience of the “virgin Eve” has been made good by the obedience of the “virgin Mary”. Behind this statement is the thought that the similarity and difference between Eve and Mary lies in their reaction to the approach of God. Eve was disobedient to the word of God, she ate of the forbidden fruit. Thus, sin entered the
