Fraternity-Testvériség, 1979 (57. évfolyam, 1-4. szám)
1979-01-01 / 1. szám
REV. LOUIS ILLÉS: “FOR GOD SO LOVED THE WORLD .. ” (John 3:16.) The human heart and mind are the home of many emotions. Philosophers and theologians tried to classify them in lists of virtues and sins, or other definitions. One fact is true of all of our emotions: they come in different degrees. The most important emotion — or virtue in the Easter Season is LOVE. Naturally, love, too, comes in several degrees. When we think of our fellow man, we think of terms such as “I can stand him ... I can tolerate him . . . I like him ... I love him ... I would give my life for him.” A seminary joke brings home the importance of these different degrees: “Loving my fellow man comes easy, it is LIKING him that is hard!” Yet, our Saviour included every degree of this virtue in His teachings and in His life. Can we afford to do less? While we think and meditate on the virtue of love, we must regard hate, also, even if only for the purpose of emphasizing love. Hate is to love what shadow is to light. Unfortunately, though, we have less trouble to practice hate, than act in love. During the week preceding Easter both emotions, hate and love, find their place in our festivities. The three days between Good Friday and Easter embrace every degree of these sentiments in a passionate way. Judas, Peter, Jesus’ mother, John are but a few of the actors in the divine play of redemption. Looking at the Easter Story from a greater distance, we might say that it is the ending to the long FRATERNITY Official Organ of The Hungarian Reformed Fed. of America Edited by Officers of the Federation Published quarterly — four times a year. Subscription for non-members in U.S.A. and Canada $2, elsewhere $3 a year. Office of Publication: Bethlen Press, Inc., Ligonier, Pa. 15668 POSTMASTER:—Send Form 3579 to Editorial Office: P. O. Box 34917, Washington, D. C. 20034. Telephone: (301) 770-1144. Editorial Committee: Editor-in-Chief and Managing Editor— Rt. Rev. Arpad George, President Associate Editors— László L. Eszenyi, Executive Vice-President, Elmer E. Vargo, Secretary, Joseph S. Molnár, Treasurer. Second Class Postage Paid at the Post Office in Ligonier, Pa. 15658. story of “spiritual evolution” beginning with Cain’s murder, and concluding in Christ’s death on the cross. Would it not be for love and its actions, Christianity would be just another religion, benevolent to its followers by teaching them a positive way of thinking, speaking of an invisible, unattainable God who can be approached only by the process of positive thinking. But Christianity is more, the Christian religion teaches of a God, who became visible in the course of history, a God, Who was walking, healing, teaching, performing miracles amongst us, and Who even died in a visible form, suffering the torments of crucifixion to atone for our sins. Our God gave us His Son, our God’s Son gave His life for us! .. . because our God so loved us that He would die for us! There is more to the love of this our God! His Son was not only sacrificed in our behalf, but He was also resurrected from the grave, thus giving us hope, whereby history is being continued, and reaches from the past through the present into the future, from despair to hope! What more can You expect from any deity? ... what more can You expect from any Father? Thanks be to God, this our loving God, His Son left us visible tokens of His love in the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper, that we might partake of the benefits of His visible, touchable, real love. Hopefully, all of us made good use of the opportunity of Lent and Easter, and received the benefits of the Sacred Elements. All that remains now is our attitude, our own actions, our own choice. As the saying goes “we fall the way we lean." Some of us are dedicated to hatred, others to love. Having received the love of God in visible form, or invisible spiritual riches we have the choice to either go away unchanged to live for ourselves alone, or to attempt to imitate Christ, and after celebrating His love, we would show one another what Christlike love is. Would it be, that we could do the latter, we would find solutions to so many problems of the world. After all, God knew what the solution would he, He sent His Son as a sign of His love! There are many emotions dwelling in the human heart. Paul taught us that the most important of them is love. There are different degrees of love. Nothing less than the best, the strongest kind of love is good enough to make it Christlike. The Bible tells us that ALL of our behaviour is a part of our attitude. We cannot change our behaviour depending on the person we are encountering. The legend states, that St. 2
