Magyar Egyház, 1954 (33. évfolyam, 2-12. szám)
1954-06-01 / 6-7. szám
MAGYAR EGYHÁZ 11 nurture and nourish our brethren in various church bodies, and which according to our conviction is the highest type of Christianity. In addition to this we believe, that every Hungarian Reformed Christian has an inalienable right to preach the Gospel in his mother tongue, has the right to use it in his ministrations and this right should be preserved and maintained as long as it is possible. We do not desire to speak in the name of the Church behind the Iron Curtain even though we might be convinced that the Church cannot freely raise her voice to the extent that it could become the unified voice of our more than three and half million brethren living behind the Iron Curtain. We have, because of this, no contention with their present leaders. Therefore, in the full knowledge of our spiritual responsibility, we are constrained to form the World Federation of the Free Hungarian Reformed Christians. We confess with faith that we are compelled by the Spirit to act and with the hope of preserving that Spirit amongst us, we begin our service, with the plea that the prayers, the dedicated efforts of our people, according to their several ability, will be with us, which we earnestly commend to the Grace and Blessing of the Lord on High. “And the peace of God, which passes all understanding, will keep your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 4:7.) In Cleveland, on the 22nd day of May, in the year of our Lord 1954. LUKEWARM FAITH Part III CHRISTIANITY The Apostle Paul in his letter to the Romans 1:20 wrote: “Ever since the creation of the world His invisible nature, namely, His eternal power and diety, has been clearly perceived in the things that have been made.” To this the evolutionist would probably say, “What are these words you quote me? They are words of authority, an authority which has been based only on acceptance and passed down through each generation merely by tenacity; and adherence which has no factual proof.” Since it’s factual proof that the world cries out for and craves, let me present a few astounding facts which are summarized from the book, Man Does Not Stand Alone. The earth is the only planet on which life, as we know it, could exist. If the earth rotated on it’s axis much faster or much slower, making days and nights much shorter or longer, all life would die either by freezing at night or by burning during the day. The sun is the earth’s heating plant, and our globe is just far enough away to be properly warmed for life to exist. But if the earth traveled much faster or much slower in its orbit around the sun, it would be too far from or too close to the sun for life. The sun’s surface temperature of 12,000 degrees Fahrenheit is just right for heating the earth. If the yearly average of temperature on earth rose or fell fifty degrees, life would roast or freeze. Amongst all the stars and suns in the universe with their wide variations in size and radiation, our sun is just right for the earth’s inhabitants. If our moon were much nearer, the tides would overflow the lowlands, erode the mountains, and with the continents leveled water would cover the entire earth to a depth of a mile and half. If the earth were not tilted twenty-three degrees on it’s axis we would not have seasons, the poles would lie in eternal twilight, water vapor from the oceans would disappear and rainfall cease, and the accumulated weight of ice at the poles would cause the equator to bulge, with fearful results. The mixture of gases in the atmosphere is right, and if much different, if much heavier or lighter, life would cease. The mathematical odds that all of these and other essential conditions happened by chance are astronomical, one in billions. In the light of this astounding summation is it possible to conceive that all we know through our senses and perceive through our experience is the result of a single cell? To aquire that cell there must have been something to being with to create that cell; and that something or Someone was no other than God. Every conception must have a preconception. At this point reread for yourself the following account of the creation in Genesis 1:1,11,21,25-28; 2:7. Herein we find that God had a purpose in creating man. The first pair were commissioned to “be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth” with righteous and perfect offsprings. But before they fulfilled that divine mandate they violated God’s law, were sentenced to death, and were ejected from Eden out into the uncultivated parts of the earth, there to await execution of the death sentence. (Genesis 3:16-24). And so the accoun tgoes; man practiced the physical attributes of his nature resulting in the flood which was to have wiped out all wickedness and evil from the face of the earth. Fortunately for us, we have been absolved from utter extinction by the covenant He made with Noah after the flood. (Genesis 8:20-22). But man has accepted God’s second chance only nominally; Christ’s visit to earth is ample proof of that. It is no small wonder then that man is beginning to turn his face toward the only ultimate source of redemption. To some the realizathion comes slowly at first. Maybe it has taken atom bombs, and hydrogen bombs, and cobalt bombs, and the potentialities of cosmic energy to jar man out of his smug complancency, but today more people are beginning to think more seriously. Perhaps there’ll never be an answer to righting the chaos that man lives in. It might be this very “perhaps”, that causes scientists who worked on the atomic bomb to embrace religion when they were confronted with their awesome creation; that caused our forefathers to recognize God in the founding of our nation; that has created a constant increase in the church membership in the past decade. God is the omnipotent; the Alpha and the Omega. The very plan and organization of our world, our cosmos, should be evidence and proof enough. Christ left us the Golden Rule, the Beatitudes (Matt. 5), but above all He left us with a caution, “Have nothing to do with godless and silly myths.” (Tim. 4:7). Joseph Olah, Jr.
