Magyar Egyház, 1965 (44. évfolyam, 2-12. szám)
1965-10-01 / 10. szám
12 MAGYAR EGYHÁZ VATICAN COUNCIL GIVES INITIAL APPROVAL TO RELIGIOUS LIBERTY TEXT (Rome) — The Vatican Council has endorsed by an overwhelming vote of 1,997 to 224 a draft declaration on religious liberty. The draft statement holds that no man may be coerced to act against his conscience or prevented from following its dictates, except where his action would infringe upon the public morality, order, or the rights of others. The text will now be re-submitted to the Secretarial for Christian Unity, headed by Augustin Cardinal Bea. The Secretariat is expected to make revisions in the text in the light of Council discussions before it is returned for final action by the full Council. The action followed vigorous and often sharp debate by the more than 2,000 Council Fathers. Opponents termed the draft, among other things, ambiguous and lacking in Scriptural justification. However, their chief fear seemed to be that it would compromise the Roman Catholic Church’s claim to be the one true church. Several prominent Protestant leaders have hailed the action, but in Geneva Dr. W. A. Visser ’t Hooft, general secretary of the World Council of Churches, cautioned against too early optimism noting that the vote was only indicative and the context of the final text is not yet known. There has been substantial discussion and rather strong attacks have been made against the proposed text”, he said. “The Secretariat for the Promotion of Christian Unity must re-work it in the light of the reactions of the Council Fathers. “All that can be said at the present is that we hope that the key affirmations contained in the present declaration will not be weakened.” (EPS) ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY ASKS NEW RC RULINGS ON MIXED MARRIAGES (London) — The Archbishop of Canterbury said here that better relations between the Church of England and the Roman Catholic Church must be sought first “in terms of practical Christian brotherhood”, and that a solution towards the question of mixed marriages “would immensely help our practical problems”. Speaking in an interview made for Radio Televisione Italiane, the Archbishop said that “the members of our two churches must get away from any habit of regarding one another with hostiity as a sort of enemy. We must find ourselves to be fully brother Christians . . . That must be expressed in the way we treat each other ... It is important that we should take steps to remove things which cause bitterness”. One of these steps, he said, would be an attempt to solve “the very vexing question” of mixed marriages and “we are hoping that there may be some modification of the policy of the Roman Catholic Church in that matter”. (EPS) Gyula Illyés who wrote the poem printed on the preceeding page has been called the greatest living Hungarian poet. One Sentence on Tyranny was written in 1950 yet never published until the revolution in 1956 when it appeared in the November 2 issue of Irodalmi Újság. This translation into English was done by Paul Tábori, a Hungarian writer who lives in England. It first appeared in the Hungarian Quarterly, then under the editorship of Imre Kovács. THE SECOND HELVETIC CONFESSION RENDERED IN QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS SECTION XII The law of God. 1. What do we teach of the law of God? We teach that God in his good and holy law reveals to us his will as to what He wants or does not want from us, what is good and true and what is evil and unjust. 2. In what manner did God reveal his law? God revealed his law partly by writing it “on the hearts of men” and carving it with his own hand on the two stone tablets of Moses. 3. How can we classify all the laws of God? We can classify them as moral, ceremonial and civil laws. The moral laws regulate our human conduct, the ceremonial laws teach us the true worship of God and the civil laws instruct us to handle the administrative and material matters of society. 4. What is our duty concerning the law of God? Our duty is to preserve it intact as He demands it through Moses: “You shall not add to the word which I command you, nor take from it.” Furthermore, we are not allowed to deviate from the law of God ever. 5. Is there any one who can fulfill all the laws of God constantly? No. None of us can fulfill all the laws of God constantly because of our sinful nature which stays with us till death. 6. Then, for what purpose did God give his law if we cannot fulfill it perfectly all the times? a. God gave his law to convince us of our sins and our inability to go to heaven by our own goodness. b. God makes us feel through his law that we need the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ who made it possible for us to go to heaven in spite of our lawbreakings. 7. How did Jesus Christ make it possible for us to go to heaven in spite of our lawbreakings? Jesus Christ had fulfilled all the laws of God perfectly in our stead and reconciled God toward us through his sufferings and death on the cross, paying the punishment for our lawbreakings. 8. What do these words of the Bible mean: “we are not under law but under grace?” These words mean that if we believe in Jesus Christ as our Savior, God regards the perfect obedience of Jesus andhis sacrifice on the cross as our own obedience and sacrifice. That is, we are not in danger of damnation anymore because of our sinfulness. 9. Does this mean that from now on we should not strive to fulfill the laws of God? No. As long as we live on earth we should strive to fulfill the laws of God, for only this way we may prove ourselves to be true believers of our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. 10. Are there some laws in the Bible which Jesus abolished? Jesus abolished all those ceremonial laws which symbolized Him and his works as Savior, before He arrived. Stephen Kovács
