Hungarian Church Press, 1968 (20. évfolyam, 2. szám)

1968-06-01 / 2. szám

HOP Vo1 XX Special Number

1968 No 2

(C780.3)

The progress of technology will lead to large-scale aut omatizatioru Y/e already have machines which execute complicated tasks without human energy and far surpass the limits cf human capability* It is in this coni ext that one hears the talk about the advent of technocracy' , the age in which the Machine will rule and eventually displace mans However; we must know that the social and economic structure* like ours, makes it possible that the advanced nethods of production are also pressed into the service of man by relieving him of the burden of backbreaking toil and enabling him to produce more abundantly than now the goods he needsc

So the essence of the matter is the same: Christian faith living by God^s love of man realises the dangers attending the rapid progress of technology but it wards off and sirmounts these dangers by realizing that the modem advantages of technology are God-’s gifts which, in proper hands, are instruments in the effort to subdue the earth and to press the forces of nature linto the service of nrnkind*

The age of the "clever machines': calls for clever and wise peqple6 Common sense and wisdom arc needed to define the relation of man to hja machine so that the large-scale mechanisation and automatisation may indeed serve the good of man by relieving him cf badebr caking exertions and giving him more leisure tlxan he lias at present„

Rest is a precious gift of God, ana we Christions believe that the day of Sabbath is also the day cf standing in silence before God« But the availability of more leisure - the sliortened working day, the fivoday week - cannot be used as a pretext for loafing, laziness, withdrawal from the comxanxtya Therefore- if our age calls for clever and wise man, as we have just said, we must also say that this holds true cf the use cf leisure as well* This opportunity to make a fuller use cf our human faculties also entails the obligation to make good use of our free time, giving thought to what serves us and what may serve tic good of out- community..

In summing up? the theological basis of all these considerations is the truth that our God-giver vocation equally concerns our eternal life and our life on this earth, in tlie sense that our call, to life eternal is to yield its fruits in our life on earth, in tin work which is entrusted to use It is in our everyday werk that our faith, our love and our walk in the newness of life are manif ested5