Hungarian Church Press, 1949 (1. évfolyam, 4-13. szám)

1949-10-16 / 13. szám

No 13.- 2 •*

Hungarian Church Press

The Bishop then continues:

The Word of God does not merely shed light for the Church in generalities and great principles.. It has a practical, concrete, actual fresh message, light and power. Do we avail ourselves of it? Do we live on it? 4nd do we live on this only? In other words: Are we really Reformed Christians? We must not forget that our love of comfort, in plain Hungarian, our spiritual sluggishness draws us all the time in a direction where people look for easier solutions.

Recently a Swiss paper dealt in a long article with the attitude of the Hungarian^and Slovakian Protestant Churches and stated that the humility with which we accepted God's judgment upon our people and our Church, with which we have called everybody to repentance and to obedience in faith, is in direct contrast with the attitude of the Roman Church, and that this is natural and a matter of fact. Do we dare to accept this iA faith? It is a fact known throughout the world that the Hungarian Reformed Church and with it the whole Hungarian Protestantism accepted in these times of God's judgment and grace the ministry of peace, and its share of every constructive 7/ork not of political opportunism, but^because of its belief, that means of Biblical conviction. Are we willing to accept this altogether different point of view, the unbroken line of.'which is: service, springing up out of repentance, thanksgiving, love and hope of the Church. The calling of evangelical! Christianity is not to discuss the stand of other Churches, but to state its own in a positive form. Are we doing this? Courageously and humbly are we doing it? Are we doing it faithfully and consistently?

I said, that the 7/ord of God induces us to an altogether different attitude from that of the "ruling” Church, and that the Word of God directs the way in the actual questions of real life. No doubt, among these the new order of religious instruction stands in the center to-day.

The editor of the "Református Élet" /Reformed Life/ in the number of 15 Sept, wrote an article dealing with the very same subject, pointing to the right way. He stated that teaching of religion carried on under the compulsion of the State, is in direct contradiction to Reformed Christian conception. Let us quote from the article the following: ".... there is little doubt that here we are faced with only one of the symptoms, indicating how much we deviated and moved in the direction of the Roman Church from the theological vision inherited from the Reformation. For, it lies in the nature of the Roman Church since ancient times, to call upon the compelling power of the State, and use it for its own purpose. It is natural for the Roman Church to secure by that round-about way of the State the religious education of our children. Moreover it would follow from its attitude based on