Magyar Egyház, 1966 (45. évfolyam, 1-12. szám)
1966-06-01 / 6-7. szám
MAGYAR EGYHÁZ 7 MAGYAR CHURCH Dr. Aladar Komjáthy: The Second Helvetic Confession—A Plea For Christian Day Schools This year the Christian world celebrated the fourhundredth anniversary of the Second Helvetic Confession. For us Hungarian Reformed people it is a very significant anniversary. The Second Helvetic Confession is our primary statement of faith. Our forefathers for centuries were called Evangelicals of the Helvetic Confession. All Hungarian Reformed ministers are committed by their ordination vows to uphold the teachings of the Second Helvetic and the life of our Hungarian Reformed community must be ina ccordance with the tenets of the same; if it is not so or not completely so, we are bound to reform ourselves. The Second Helvetic Confession is not an old historical document as many may think. (People usually equate “old historical documents” with something boring, dull.) If you read it with an open mind and in the context of our own contemporary situation, all of a sudden an entire program for a church renewal becomes a missionary command. We call ourselves Hungarian Reformed and there is a certain meaning to our heritage. It is the Reformed faith expressed by the Second Helvetic and the Heidelberg Catechism. In the Second Helvetic Confession there is a clear-cut statement concerning the necessity of Christian Day Schools. And where are these Christian Day Schools of the Hungarian Reformed community in North America? Let the Confession speak for itself: The Possessions of the Church and Their Proper Use. The Church of Christ possesses riches through the liberality of the faithful who have given their means to the Church. For the Church has need of such resources and from ancient times has had resources for the maintenance necessary for the Church. So far, I am sure, everybody agrees with the Confession. Our people (who love their Church) take pride and justly so, for the beautiful sanctuaries and other church buildings we have. But it is doubtful whether we know what the Second Helvetic Confession teaches on the “proper use of the possessions of the church”? Now the true use of the Church’s possessions was, and is now, to maintain teaching in schools and in religious meetings, along with all the worship, rites, and buildings of the Church; finally to maintain teachers, scholars, and ministers . . . Remarkable is the order of the “possessions” to be maintained: schools are the first, they precede even the worship services and buildings. But how about us? We have building funds, ambitious building programs, in our church meetings there is an overemphasis on the material things and there is a complete silence on matters which we yet claim to confess as our belief: “the schools are the seed-plot of our church,” as our forefathers used to say it. The disturbing question remains unanswered: where are the Christian Day Schools in the Hungarian Reformed community? The Second Helvetic Confession also teaches that elders should be chosen to administer properly the Church’s possessions. They should be God-fearing and wise men, noted for the management of domestic affairs. The Confession leaves no doubt about it: the proper use of the Church’s financial resources means first of all the maintenance of schools and colleges. The faith of our fathers is expressed here in such a modem way that it challenges to rethink our entire concept of church life. Let us however read the final passage what the Confession has to say about the Church’s possessions: But if through misfortune or through the audacity, ignorance or avarice of some persons the Church’s wealth is abused, it is to be restored to a sacred use by godly and wise men. For neither is an abuse, which is the greatest sacrilege, to be winked at. Therefore, we teach that schools and colleges which have been corrupted in doctrine, worship and morals must be reformed . . . The Confession does not limit the Christian education to Sunday School or Catechism. What we profess as our confession of faith is that schools and colleges should be maintained, teachers should be supported and the entire Church has to back up this endeavor. Through misfortune or through the audacity of some persons . . . the church’s possessions should be abused, that has to be corrected! Mid-twentieth century America, our own society puts all emphasis on education, yet the completely secularized public school education is already in conflict with our baptismal vows we make at the christening of our children. We pledge to educate our children in the fear and admonition of the Lord and yet at the age of five we send them to schools where officially the person of the Creator of heaven and earth has to be ignored, his revealed Word cannot be taught — and we don’t seem to be aroused at all. How often I heard people in our churches saying, “In the old country we had our church schools, here we don’t, that is the reason why we are losing so many of our children . . . ”If you press the .issue, then the required financial sacrifice silences the argument. It is simply not true that we could not have Christian Day Schools and high schools and at least one college. Maybe it had been true for the past, but there is no acceptable excuse for us children of the Second Helvetic Confession to do what we profess to believe in: the statement of our faith declares that Christian School is necessary and an integral part of Reformed church life. Then we have to practice what we preach or to put it mildly, we owe the Christian world an apology for claiming the standards of the noble Second Helvetic for ourselves without bothering to live as we “believe.”
