Calvin Synod Herald, 1998 (98. évfolyam, 1-6. szám)

1998-01-01 / 1. szám

CALVIN SYNOD HERALD

AMERIKAI MAGYAR REFORMÁTUSOK LAPJA- 8 -Our editor was deeply impressed by two editorials in Cleveland’s Plain Dealer and decided to share some of the thoughts with our readers.

The first one, by Dick Feagler, is from December 8, 1997 and is entitled “For Unto Us A Suit is Brought This Season”.

And it came to pass, in the city of Lorain, which was in the county of Lorain, that a decree went out from City Hall that manger scene should be placed across the street in Veteran’s Park, which is public.

But upon hearing of this decree, some of the elders of the city of Lorain took counsel with each other, saying:

“If it comes to pass that we put a manger scene in a public park, what will surely come to pass next is that lawyers from the ACLU will show up and sue us.”

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But there was among them a wise elder with great common sense and some street smarts, too. And he spake unto the rest of them, saying:

“Fear not and neither be ye sore. Let us be as wise as serpents and as harmless as doves. For if we can’t outwit one ACLU lawyer, we don’t deserve to be elders.”

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“The pipecleaner reindeer ye shall place about 10 feet from the manger. But farther than 15 feet from the manger, ye shall not place them.

As to the mechanical toy soldiers, ye shall place them no farther than 15 feet from the manger. But closer than 10 feet, ye shall not place them. Then the maintenance engineer did thus.

OOQ

And lo, he finished just in the nick of

We’re still living on the eve of destruction

The other editorial, by A.O.E. Scruggs, was written on 12/19/97.

There is something about this time of year that makes us yearn for the past. Maybe our holiday wishes for peace on earth deceive us into thinking that there was a time when peace was actually achieved.

Or perhaps, as one year dissolves into the next, it’s simply natural to reflect on the years that have passed.

Whatever the reason, I’ve been thumbing through my memories. Strangely enough at this time of goodwill, my thoughts are about war.

In December, President Clinton announced a new policy that authorizes using nuclear weapons to retaliate against germ and chemical attacks. Earlier this week, the Pentagon announced plans to inoculate all armed forces members against the biological agent anthrax.

Are you beginning to shiver at the recollection of the Cold War?

In the 1950s, just like any other time, global events trickled into individual lives. We began to live under the shadow of the atomic age. Any day could become the first day of the end of the world. So we learned to live with fear.

We studied maps that divided the world into blocs. The good guys were blue: all the European countries that belonged to NATO, all the nations standing under America’s protection.

The bad guys were red: Poland, Hungary, Czechoslovakia, Communist China, North Vietnam and North Korea. These were all the nations that belonged to the Soviet bloc.

One day, our side would win.

And it did, for a metaphorical moment.

When the Berlin Wall fell, the Soviet Union collapsed and the Cold War unofficially ended, it seemed that world war might have been relegated to history.

time. For along came the ACLU lawyer, bearing writs and frankly incensed. And, seeing the elder, he spake sharply unto him, saying:

“You have placed a manger scene in a park that is public. This gives great offense to reliably offended.”

But the elder spake right back to him, saying:

“Manger scene? What manger scene? I see a holiday scene.

OQU

Then the ACLU lawyer interrupted him, saying, “OK, OK. You don’t have to go through all that again. I guess this year I can’t sue you. But I’ll be back next year."

And he departed from thence and went thither, from whence he had come.

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And so it came to pass that the city of Lorain was able to celebrate the season. And proclaim sentiments of peace and good will in Veterans Park, which is public. All because of a loophole.

EDITOR’S ADDITION: Thus it came to pass in the city of Lorain at Christmas time of 1997, where the Rt. Rev. Zoltán D. Szucs is the pastor of our flock.

Not that global peace was at hand. Bosnia and Iraq both killed that hope. But war was something that happened in spots: Eastern Europe, Africa or Central Asia.

This is the time we usually contemplate peace. Instead, we’re again talking about mass destruction, about using one horrible weapon as a deterrent against another horrible weapon.

The threat of a nuclear fireball, the government hopes, will stop an enemy from dropping deadly spores to contaminate the air that we breathe.

Not much has changed in four decades. We’re still searching for peace on earth with weapons that could end our very existence.

EDITORIAL NOTE: Only 2 years away from the end of this century and the beginning of a new millennium, these convictions are worth meditating upon!

_JUU

TRUTHFUL REFLECTIONS