Calvin Synod Herald, 1985 (85. évfolyam, 1-5. szám)
1985-04-01 / 2. szám
CALVIN SYNOD HERALD — 3 — REFORMÁTUSOK LAPJA What Kind of a Resurrection? (Continued from Page 1) away before my children saw them. I saw them and my children had to rely on my eywitness account that there were deer nearby. In our religion we must also depend on the accounts of the eyewitnesses who saw the risen Lord. Our faith is resting upon the stories of the witnesses who saw Jesus dead and alive again. There are some who try to argue that Jesus did not die on the cross. He only swooned. There is no evidence of this in the Bible. The witnesses tell us that the death of Jesus was a real death, and his resurrection was a real bodily resurrection. The Scripture tells us that after the resurrection Jesus ate with the disciples, which means that He must have had a physical body. We also read that he came into the room, although the doors were shut. This might mean that he also had a spiritual body that defies our knowledge of science. When the disciples of Jesus were eating together on later occasions they felt the presence of the risen Lord in the breaking of the bread. In our Lord’s Supper we are supposed to have this spiritual union also. Whenever or wherever two or three will gather in his name he is in the midst of them. (Matthew 18:20) In the Easter story we read about the people who saw the risen Lord after the crucifixion. At one time he was seen by as many as 500 people. Many of them were still living in the time ol tne Apostle Paul. Christ was also seen by James and all the disciples. He was also met by St. Paul on the road to Damascus. We have many eyewitness accounts whose stories provide us with the Easter faith. It is up to us to take a leap into the unknown and embrace the bodily resurrection of Jesus. Without this faith our religion loses its very foundation. So, what kind of a resurrection do we embrace? In our church we believe in the teaching of the New Testament, which advocates a bodily resurrection. I also believe that in our religious life we can experience many spiritual resurrections, as the Spirit of God renews us regularly into new spiritual beings. Without the actual resurrection of Jesus our major holidays, such as Christmas, Easter and Pentecost would lose their essence, and our Christian faith would be in vain. But in our church we believe in the bodily resurrection of Jesus the Christ. Paul Kantor Church-Goers Found Main Viewers of Religious TV Religious television shows are primarily reaching the committed and not new or unchurched audiences, a just-released nationwide study of religious broadcasting has found. According to the study, “viewers of religious programs are more likely than nonviewers to be Protestants, to say that religion is personally important to them, to hold evangelical views, to be church members and to attend church regularly. ’’ Those who send financial contributions to the television ministries are also regular contributors to their local churches, the data show. The UCC’s Office of Communication and UC Board for Homeland Ministries joined an ad hoc committee of some 30 religious groups to sponsor the study, which was done by the University of Pennsylvania’s Annenberg School of Communication. Fewer than 13.2 million (6.2%) of the American television public said they view the shows even briefly once a month. The most common time for viewing, the study notes, is Sunday before 10 a.m. Some 40% of viewers watch then, while 20% watch during church hours from 10 a.m. to noon. The study shows that over half of both television ministry (electronic church) programs and mainline denominational TV programs contain discussions of political issues. Social and moral issues are dealt with by both groups, while religious and theological issues are not discussed with any great frequency by either. Other content analysis of the programs reveals that minorities, especially minority women and all Hispanics, are underrepresented in religious television relative to their number in the general population. The programs mirror the “fictional world of prime-time drama” in terms of participants in the programs, the study states. For example, men outnumber women by a large margin and women are generally younger than men. According to UCBHM’s Willian McKinney, “the religious television programs are reaching a group of people we as a church do not pay enough attention to. ” The study describes the viewers as more likely to be “older, less educated, southern and disproportionately rural, nonwhite and female. ” Those who do not watch religious programs tend to be “younger and more up-scale, ” the study says. They are “more likely to be disinterested than hostile. ” David Clark of CBN feels that many of the study’s findings about audience size and make-up are due to the time slots allocated to religion, with few religious shows available during prime time. OC director Beverly J. Chain commented that perhaps the most significant finding for those interested in making an impact on the American public is that commercial television may, in the words of the researchers, “supplant some religious satisfactions and thus lessen the importance of religion for its heavy viewers. ” There have been several books and articles noting this fact, Dr. Chain said, “but we have not seriously considered what we as a church might do to fight back.” (Keeping You Posted) Hungarian Hymnals The West Side Hungarian Reformed Church of Cleveland would be willing to submit an order for 500 Hungarian hymnals (Énekeskönyv) and pay for their cost. We need orders from our churches for another 500, since there is a plan for the printing of1,000 hymnals. Please notify Rev. Aaron Elek about the number of hymnals you need. Call: (216) 476-3736.
