The Bethlen Home Messenger, 2000-2001 (1-4. szám)
2000-11-01 / 1. szám
from tíje beők of J5tcíjoIaö jBotmk OUR UNUSED POWERS, OUR UNTAPPED RESOURCES Nay, in this article we are not concerned about our financial, political or mental powers. These, and others, we have in abundance and use them in a prolific way for generations by now, keeping these United States first in a fiercely competitive world of the new Century. And resources we have and use them, ever so often in a prodigious manner hardly any other nation can afford today. Indeed, this American affluence, for all its benefits, is also the source of a false sense of security and a grossly over-estimated expectation where the problems of our real well-being are waiting for answers and solutions. A recently published book, with a rather presumptuous title: "The Anatomy of The Spirit" - a New York Times Bestseller! - started my train of thoughts. The study claims to present a wonderful affinity - if not essential unity - of Buddhism, Hinduism and - you guessed it! - Christianity. Great was my disappointment, however, as the chapters disclosed the actual contents. Let the simple statistics be sufficient to maintain: Out of the 294 pages, 291 pages dealt with Buddhism and Hinduism and 2 pages with Christianity! - one of them being the list of the Seven Sacraments of the Roman Catholic Church, and, for good measure, one page quoted a diagram of the Kabbalah, - whatever place it has in the otherwise truly rich tradition of Judaism. In some important, fundamental aspect, the book is correct. God, who created us, gave also physical strength, mental abilities and spiritual powers. More to some, not so much to others — as Jesus said in the Parable of Talents, so long as we remember that even ONE talent represented a small fortune! How many times during His healing ministry He must have said "Go in peace, - your FAITH has made you well". These few, simple words meant not "some", but ALL the difference in the life of those people. The word "peace" was SHALOM in the original language of Israelites. Its meaning is deeper and wider than our words convey for the same concept. If we said, in the form of a greeting, "I wish you good health", or "I wish you a loving, compassionate heart" — all these were there in the word SHALOM. And then He said, "YOUR faith made you well" — as if He did not claim any credit in the healing of those people. Not so, of course, for if we asked, faith — in whom? — the obvious answer is faith in Jesus Christ, our sincere trust and confidence in Him. The apostle Paul, in his first letter to the Corinthians (Chapter 12) — speaks of the many different charismatic gifts God had given to the Christian community. The power of healing is one of them. In other words, we do not need to borrow anything from Buddhism, Hinduism or from any other Eastern religion. When this happens, as it does, not only in America, but also in other Christian countries, we can only blame ourselves. It was well said by the prophet Jeremiah, "My people have committed two evils: they have forsaken me, the fountain of living waters and hewed out cisterns for themselves, broken cisterns, that can hold no water". (Jeremiah 2:13) "By their fruits you shall know them", said Jesus. As American Christians, we have a great responsibility. Any attempt to include Christian principles into our educational system is vehemently rebutted by the doctrine of separation of Church and State, resulting in actual practice, in the hopeless alienation of God and the People. HIS people, we should say, if we really mean the Oath of Allegiance... In the first Thanksgiving Season of this new Century, the task of the Church and the Christian Family Home is greater than it has been ever before. What could be a more fitting celebration than sincere gratitude for the priceless heritage which is our own, and a firm resolve to teach our children its life-giving resources in faith, hope and love.
