HELMET Before picking up his sword
a Roman soldier put on the helmet that would protect his head from rocks
thrown at him by angry crowds, and the arrows and sword cuts of battle.
But even more important for his morale was the eagle that crowned it. As
he looked around him everyone of his comrades wrote the same legion insignia
of their regiment. And he knew he could rely on them to be there to help
him if he was under attack. The whole might of the Roman empire and its
emperor was behind him. That is why Paul said "Take the helmet of salvation"
as an essential part of our spiritual armor (Ephesians 6:17). We
need to be able to say "I know I am saved (and safe)," not because we have
any goodness or achievement of our own doing (Ephesians 2:5), but
because we are totally loved and accepted just as we are. And each of our
comrades has the same assurance. We also have the prayers and the whole
might of the Messiah's church behind us. Even if we are killed in the battle
on earth, the Messiah is there to meet us as we pass through the gates
of glory. That is a great helmet to wear very proudly.
HENOTHEISM Having looked at our
world and decided it must have a Creator (Artist), a person is called a
THEIST.
In the Hebrew Bible the one Creator God is called ELOHIM
(Genesis 1). But it is the same God that the French call Dieu,
in Hindi he is called Parmeshwar, and Urdu he is Khuda. Theists
are always committed to MONOTHEISM(as
opposed to POLYTHEISM among
the early Greeks). It is however possible to believe in one God, but to
describe him by various names that express facets of his character (the
SON
OF GOD is named LORD, Judge,
Shepherd, Lamb, Rock). This appears to have been the Henotheism of the
early Aryans (see INDO-EUROPEAN)
who wrote the Sanskrit Vedas. "They call him Indra, Mitra, Varuna, Agni.
And he is the heavenly noble-winged Garutman. To what is one sages give
many a title. They call it Agni, Varuna, Matarisvan" (Rig Veda 1.164.46,
see God of Many Names).
HESYCHASM The term is derived from
the Greek word ysuchia
meaning quietness, rest, silence, and the
verb ysuchazo is to be quiet, rest, remain silent. It describes
the practice of meditation developed among the monks of MOUNT
ATHOS. The theory is that by ascetic practices it is possible to
attain perfect quiet of body and mind which would result in the vision
of God as uncreated light (compare YOGA).
Perhaps its best known advocate was GREGORY
PALAMAS (c.1296-1359). At first rejected and condemned, the Hesychast
model has become part of the doctrine of the GREEK
ORTHODOX denomination. John WESLEYwas
greatly influenced by this teaching. On this website we teach our transformation
and perfecting in love by the Holy Spirit (see our book
Creative
Love), but we do not agree with the Hesychast teaching that this
needs a long period of ascetic discipline before the Spirit can begin his
work.
HIGH PRIEST, see JESUS,
Sacrifice
HINDUISM About 1200 AD the invading
Muslims called the people of India "Hindu" (the Persian word for
Indian). And in the broadest sense Hinduism is the religion of the people
of India. It can roughly be divided into Shaivism (the worship of
Shiva, the destroyer) and
Vaishnavism (the worship of Vishnu in
his incarnation as Krishna). But both believe in the constant round of
samsara
(reincarnation).
Each of the main groups in Hinduism offers a different way of salvation
(moksha) to escape from this miserable cycle of rebirths (as did
original Buddhism by losing all desire). . In the west some of these ways
have been adopted such as the various ways of meditation to attain oneness
with the Absolute, transcendental meditation using a mantra (TM),
or bhakti (as in the Hari Krishna devotees). Orthodox Hindus all
give allegiance to the same original scriptures (the Vedas) and
later Upanishads and Bhagavadgita, but ordinary people delight
in the two great epics, the
Ramayana and the Mahabharata. In
practice Hinduism was dominated by the caste system, which gave supreme
authority and influence to the Brahmin priests. At the bottom of the pile
were the untouchables (see DALITS).
See under ADVAITA, BHAKTI,
DHARMA,
GITA,
INDUS
VALLEY, KARMA,
MONISM,
REINCARNATION,
TANTRIC
YOGA, UPANISHADS,
VEDAS.
HINDUISM, Original see INDUS
VALLEY, INDO-EUROPEANS,
VEDAS,
HISTORY, Meaning World history
is usually described as a clash of nations moved by impersonal forces and
chance events. The Bible sees history (HIS Story) in the light of the eternal
SON
OF GOD, the MESSIAH, King
of the KINGDOM OF HEAVEN,.
He is, appointed to rule among the
NATIONS,
and he does that as human leaders are open to the
WISDOM
of the HOLY SPIRIT. If they lead their
people into idolatry, oppress the POOR,
WIDOWS,
ORPHANS,
and
ALIENS,
or engage in MILITARISMto attack
other nations, the Messiah intervenes to topple them in his own time (see
DAY
OF THE LORD,
WRATH and
VINDICATION
(see Advent Comings of the
Lord among the Nations). Mary saw this work of Jesus her son in
the Magnificat. "He has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their
hearts. He has brought down the powerful from their thrones, and lifted
up the lowly" (Luke 1:51-52). This means that history is not meaningless.
The ultimate purpose that the Son of God has in mind is for people to be
perfected in love for RESURRECTION
into the perfect love of HEAVEN (seeSHEOL).
The only ones excluded of any age in any country are those who reject his
LIGHT
to prefer the darkness of
HELL (as in John
3:19-21).
HISTORY and Language The three
main language groupings are listed in the Table of Nations (Genesis
10:1-32). One could view history as a sequence of conflicts between
these linguistic groupings. The descendants of Japheth spoke INDO-EUROPEAN
languages like Greek, Latin, French, English, German, Slav, Persian, and
Sanskrit (see also CELTS, GOTHS).
The descendants of Ham included the HAMITES
who came north from Africa under NIMROD
and spoke Assyrian, Babylonian, Canaanite, Egyptian, and Arabic. Then there
is a grouping of agglutinative ALTAICLANGUAGES
perhaps
connected with SHEM, which we list
among the
SUMERIANS,
HUNS,
AVARS,
MAGYARS,
and MONGOLS who kept trying to
move west from Mongolia and China. This model of linguistic conflict is
by no means proved, but it is a plausible way of looking at world history.
HOCKEY A priest was explaining
about the cubicle for confession . One boy asked "Is that like going into
the penalty box?" Obviously there are some similarities. You can't play
a game without rules. And if you shaft or trip or fight another player,
or bad-mouth the referee, there are consequences before you can play again.
The main cost of getting a penalty is that the whole team suffers. A difference
is that CONFESSION requires
admitting that you have done wrong. "If we confess our sins, he who is
faithful and just will forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness
(1 John 1:9). And as opposed to referees who make wrong calls, the
only one who is "faithful and just" is Jesus the Son of God. He is not
interested in making us feel bad about our faults, or making us pay for
our sins, but changing our heart attitudes. The only way we can be cleansed
from being mean spirited, vicious, vengeful, is by the
HOLY
SPIRIT giving us the sweet fruits of LOVE,
JOY,
PEACE,
PATIENCE,
SELF-CONTROL
(Galatians 5:22-23). Does that mean Christians are wimps who could
never play hockey? PAUL was certainly
no wimp (2 Corinthians 11:23-28). And hockey is a good game for
us to enjoy with those who play by the rules.
HOLINESS When we think of a holy
person, we have the image of a saint in a stained glass window. But the
first reference to the word is a piece of desert that was set aside for
God to meet with Moses (Exodus 3:5). Then we find vessels, vestments,
and anointing oils could be set apart from ordinary use for the temple.
But far more significant was the setting aside of a people to accomplish
God's purpose in the world. "You shall be for me a priestly kingdom, and
a holy nation" (Exodus 19:6). That purpose had been revealed to
Abraham. "In you all the families of the earth shall be blessed" (Genesis
12:3). When the first temple failed to do this, it was destroyed by
the Babylonians, and the leaders of the people were taken off into exile
for seventy years. Five hundred years later Jesus complained that instead
of being a house of prayer for all nations the second temple had become
a den of thieves (Matthew 21:13). He then predicted its destruction
in that generation (the end came in AD 70). In its place the new temples
of the Holy Spirit were set aside as holy for their purpose in every city
of the world (1 Corinthians 3:16, Ephesians 2:21). "Let yourself
be built a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual
sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus the Messiah (1 Peter 2:4-5).
HOLOCAUST The first Christians
and their apostles were all Jews. But after the fall of Jerusalem (AD 70)
the Jewish people were exiled for 1900 years from the promised land (see
ABRAHAM).
As Christian churches were established all over the world Jews began to
be seen as foreigners. To become Christians a Jewish family had to be baptized
and break off their Jewish connections. Those who refused were branded
as Christ killers. In nation after nation Jews were blamed for anything
that went wrong. Many Jews were expelled from the countries they lived
in and thousands were tortured and killed. In Germany Adolph Hitler (1889-1945)
seized power (1933) and taught that only a purified German Aryan race was
fit to rule the world. By 1935 Jews were deprived of citizenship rights.
During the second world war (1939-45) concentration camps were established
(1941). And Hitler's "final solution" (1942) resulted in the extermination
in three years of six million European Jews. Many Jews had already decided
that their only hope was to reestablish themselves in PALESTINE
as a national homeland. They began buying property and establishing kibbutz
colonies.
In 1948 the State of Israel was established, and HEBREW
was adopted as the national language (see MESSIANIC
JEWS).
HOLY CROSS When the Roman emperor
Constantine made Christianity the official religion of the empire his mother
Helena went to supervise the building of a church (335 AD) at the site
of Jesus' crucifixion (now called the Church of the Holy Sepulcher). As
the ground was being cleared a large piece of wood was found, which was
venerated as part of Jesus' cross. Why should the cross be given such importance
among Christians? The love of God was already celebrated in the Old Testament.
There are thirty-six evidences of his "steadfast love" in Psalm 136.
But there was no conclusive evidence that Jesus could absorb in himself
the worst of human sin, and still keep loving and forgiving us (Philippians
2:8). There was also the hope that one day those in sheol, the abode
of the dead, would one day be freed and resurrected. But when Jesus defeated
and terminated sheol, and then appeared in his RESURRECTION
body for the next forty days, death finally lost its sting (1 Corinthians
15:55). That is why Paul could say "I never boast of anything except
the cross of our Lord Jesus the Messiah"
(Galatians 6:14). And he could himself share in the cross of
suffering (Galatians 2:19, Philippians 3:10, Colossians 1:24) fully
assured of his own resurrection (Philippians 3:10).
HOLY SPIRIT The Greeks knew that
you cannot create great music or art or literature without inspiration.
Aboriginal people looked to the Great Spirit for wisdom in difficult decisions.
And for the design of the first Jewish place of worship "The Lord spoke
to Moses: See, I have called by name Bezaleel son of Uri son of Hur, of
the tribe of Judah: and filled him with the Spirit of God, with ability,
intelligence, and knowledge in every kind of craft, to devise artistic
designs" (Exodus 321:1-5). At their best, Jewish political leaders
were filled with the Holy Spirit (Judges 3:9-10, 4:4, 6:34, 11:29, 14:6,
1 Samuel 11:6). As were their great prophets. When he preached in his
hometown synagogue Jesus opened the scroll of the prophet Isaiah and quoted
"The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me;
he has sent to bring good news to the oppressed, to bind up the brokenhearted"
(Isaiah 61:1). The quickest way to improve our world would be to
persuade our artists, politicians, writers, preachers, and all others in
leadership positions to look to the Holy Spirit for wisdom and inspiration.
HOLY SPIRIT, Gifts The gifts of
the Spirit are not divided by fixed boundaries, but by the way the Holy
Spirit chooses (1 Corinthians 12:11) to use them in each city (see
BODY,
Church members). Here is one listing given by Paul : the utterance
of wisdom, the utterance of knowledge, faith (mountain moving faith?),
gifts of healing, working of miracles, prophecy, discernment of spirits,
various kinds of tongues, the interpretation of tongues (1 Corinthians
12:7-10). These are arranged by the way Christians speak words of power
(utterance). In the same chapter he has another listing by the functions
that individuals perform in the community : apostles, prophets, teachers,
deeds of power, healing, assistance, leadership (administration), speaking
in tongues, working miracles, interpreting tongues (1 Corinthians 12:27-30).
Another list includes : prophecy, serving (diakonia), teaching,
exhorting (comforting), giving, leadership, exercising compassion (Romans
12:6-8). Writing to the Ephesians Paul reminded them of the gifts needed
for building up the church : apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors (shepherds),
teachers (Ephesians 4:11-12). As opposed to much teaching about
the end times, the definition of prophetic ministry includes the ability
to "speak to other people for their upbuilding and encouragement and consolation"
(1 Corinthians 14:3). For an account of apostolic ministry see
APOSTLE,
and this is illustrated in the life of PAUL.
HOLY SPIRIT, Mission Jesus said
that the wind blows wherever it chooses (John 3:8). And Roland ALLEN
explained how threatening this is likely to be for western missionaries
"We fear it because it is something that we cannot control. We welcome
spontaneous zeal provided there is not too much of it" (The Spontaneous
Expansion of the Church, Grand Rapids, Michigan, 1962, p.12). And he
pointed out that "We instinctively think of something which we cannot control
as tending to disorder" (p.13). But he gave the caution that disorder only
erupts when we attempt to control the spontaneous activity of the Spirit.
"If men feel they are acting in any sense against the will, implied, or
expressed, of authority, they burst all bounds, and then there is danger
of the wildest excesses; for they begin by breaking the only order which
they know" (p.14, see MONTANISM).
HOLY SPIRIT, Power see POWER,
Gospel
HOMER There is much discussion among scholars about the dating (sometime before 700 BC) and historical origins of Homer as a writer. But all agree that the Iliad and the Odyssee are the masterpieces of Greek epic poetry, and they have had a huge influence on European literature.. At the beginning of both books Homer called upon Calliope, the Muse that created epic poetry to give him inspiration (see MUSES). The Iliad focuses on the nine year war between the Athenian Greeks and the Trojans 200 miles (320 km) across the Aegean Sea. The city of Troy (see TROAS) was on the western coast of present-day Turkey. Homer describes how it finally fell when the Athenians sent in a huge wooden horse full of soldiers who poured out with their weapons and cut down the defenders. The Odyssee describes the wanderings of Odysseus around the Mediterranean in the tenth year after the fall of Troy. Though Homer refers to Zeus as the King among the gods, he has no doubt that other lesser gods intervene in every situation as they quarrel and lust and fight for power (see POLYTHEISM)
HOME SCHOOLING One of the impressive
results of being educated at home was in the life of Blaise PASCAL
(1623-62). His mother died when he was four, and he and his two sisters
were educated by his father. From his earliest days he suffered from terrible
convulsions, and had to walk on crutches, but he soon became a mathematical
and scientific genius. By the age of sixteen he had developed a precursor
of the first computers, and written a "Treatise on Conic Sections"
(1639). His other works included books on hydraulics, pure geometry, and
the theory of probability. Regular schooling would have required the learning
of the approved explanatory model in each main area of knowledge. But Pascal
had the freedom to explore a rich variety of alternative models that contrasted
and reacted with each other, and this resulted in his being open to conversion
and faith in God. This appears in the fragments of his writings which were
arranged by topics, and published after his death as his Pensees.
HOMINIDS In July 2002 a seven million
year old skull was found in the Sahel area of the Sahara. The brain case
of Toumai is about the size and shape of a Chimpanzee, but the face
and jaw bones are hominid. But according to the Bible humans are not defined
by skull and body shape, or by intelligence. Spiders, Bees and Termites
instinctively build astonishing structures which haven't changed in a million
years. Birds have the built in computing power to navigate by the stars
and the earth's magnetic field. We are less skilled than they are, and
we look more like monkeys. But what characterizes us is that God said "
"Let us make humankind (humans) in our image, according to our likeness
. . . so God created humankind in his image, in the image of God he created
them, male and female he created them" (Genesis 1:26-27). We are
able to talk to God, thank him, praise him, choose among alternative models
for living our life, and we discuss what is right and wrong for us and
for others. On this website we assume that the first image of God humans
were suddenly given was the genes to engage in such unexpected activities
about 4000 BC. Within a brief thousand years civilization had begun with
the invention of pictographic scripts to record human language, and the
mathematics needed for astronomy and building
PYRAMIDS.
HOMOSEXUALITY Jewish judges were
given seven categories of sexual behavior for which the death penalty was
assigned (adultery, three kinds of incest, sex with a male "as with a woman,
" and either male or female sex with an animal, Leviticus 20:10-16,
see 18:22). In each case it is sexual penetration by the penis that
defines the criminal act. Between men this is called buggery or sodomy
(used to humiliate foreigners, Genesis 19:5). Intimacy between women
(later called Lesbianism) is never in view because no penis is involved.
What horrified Paul was that behavior, which was assigned the death penalty
by Jewish law, was now openly approved (Romans 1:23-27). Instead
of having sex with their husbands, women were getting their pet dogs to
mount them, and the buggery of students, slaves, and animals was common.
Paul puts malakoi (1 Corinthians 6:9, men who allow themselves to
be buggered) and arsenokoitai (1 Corinthians 6:9, 1 Timothy 1:10,
men who bugger other men) in the same list as pornoi (those who sleep around
or engage in prostitution) and moichoi (adulterers) (1 Corinthians 7:9-10,
see 1 Timothy 1:10). Such sexual sins were the second step down in
the decline of Greek civilization; at the bottom of the pit were covetousness,
maliciousness, envy, strife, gossip, pride, heartlessness (Romans 1:28-32,
see the steps down in 1:21, 24, 26).
HOMOSEXUAL Preference Dozens of
good and bad explanations have been offered as to why a proportion of men
and women have no inclination for intercourse with the opposite sex. We
have no documented proof for this, but a model that makes sense is that
from conception to birth ten or more steps are needed in the developing
ovum for a person to be fully heterosexual by preference. Any of these
steps can be fouled up by chemical, environmental, and psychological traumas.
These are part of the pervasive social SIN
that surrounds us. If this is the case, the individual person can hardly
be faulted. It also seems that same-sex orientation often goes with a high
level of creative activity in music, theater, literature, and all the other
arts. But, as in heterosexual behavior, what makes learning to love impossible
is promiscuity (see PORNEIA),
treating sex as a plaything, and using others as a means of sexual exploitation.
HONEST TO GOD The publication of
John A. T. Robinson, Honest to God (1963) by a
CHURCH
OF ENGLAND Bishop and Theologian was greeted with acclaim by those
who wanted to abandon the model of Christian THEISM
set out in the Apostles' and Nicene
CREEDS.
ROBINSONcaricatured
the idea of God as Creator by saying that what Christians believe in is
a "God up there," obviously "down there" in Australia (see
God
of Many Names
chapters 1-4). In chapter 2 "The End of Theism?"
he then set out a form of Hindu MONISM,
which is as old as the UPANISHADS.
Was he suggesting that he had invented this model, or was he really ignorant
of its source? For a fuller discusssion of the alternatives see the chapter
on "Theism or Monism" in Religion:
Origins and Ideas Chapter 9.
HONORED Paul pointed out that in
a human body the organs that do their work unnoticed behind the scenes
are more essential for life of the body than our hands and our mouth. It
is good to grasp this in any human organization, but especially in a church
or synagogue. "Our less respectable members are treated with greater respect;
whereas our more respectable members do not need this. But God has so arranged
the body, giving greater honor to the inferior member, that there may be
no dissension within the body, but the members may have the same care for
one another (1 Corinthians 12:22-24). We might call this the principle
of caring for those that God honors. That is very hard for the high and
mighty of our world.
HOREB "Moses was keeping the flock
of his father-in-law Jethro, the priest of Midian; he led his flock beyond
the wilderness, and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. There the angel
of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire out of a bush (Exodus
3:1-2). Moses reminded the people that it was at Mount Horeb that God
gave them the permanent moral law of the TEN
COMMANDMENTS (Deuteronomy 4:10, 5:2). This was less than
a week's journey from where they had crossed the Red Sea. Scholars have
often assumed that Horeb was the same as the Mount SINAI. But the
Exodus people did not get to Mount SINAI
till two or three months later (Exodus 19:1-2), where Moses gave
the detailed ordinances of a COVENANT
(Exodus 21:1-23:23 which was sealed in blood,
Exodus 24:7-8).
Six hundred years later when Elijah was scared and discouraged Horeb is
where he went to be renewed (1 Kings 19:8-9). That would suggest
that Jebel Musa, the location of the monastery dedicated to St.
Catherine of Alexandria, is Mount Horeb, not Mount Sinai.
HOPE People hope they might just
make it through the pearly gates. But Christian hope is very different.
"May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that
you may abound in hope by the power of he Holy Spirit" (Romans 15:13).
Based on previous experiences of the Holy Spirit we will "abound in hope"
knowing that the Holy Spirit will continue working the humanly impossible
in our lives. "If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells
in you, he who raised the Messiah from the dead will give life to your
mortal bodies also through his Spirit that dwells in you" (Romans 7:11).
When we first know that something has happened in us by the power of the
Holy Spirit, we have hope that there is more to come. It is people who
have a deep experience of the Holy Spirit teaching, healing, guiding, empowering
them, who have a certain hope- not only of life after death but of continual
blessing in this life.
HOSPITALITY The NRSV translation
"Extend hospitality to strangers" (Romans 12:13) misses the force
of the Greek participle "keep pursuing (striving for) the practice of hospitality."
As opposed to "How can I keep my castle to myself?" we ask "How can I use
my home to welcome others?" Cicero wrote "A palace only brings dishonor
if solitude reigns in its noble halls" (Moral Duties, Basic Works, 1951,
p.52). If we can't cook, we could take someone out to lunch. Paul wants
an elder (bishop) chosen for his hospitality (1 Timothy 3:2, see
5:10; Titus 1:8, 1 Peter 4:9). Hospitals welcome the sick to be cared
for. By our hospitality people can feel loved, renewed, healed from heartbreak,
loneliness, depression. Paul was obviously grateful for the hospitality
of those who looked after his needs. He mentioned "Gaius, who is host to
me and to the whole church, greets you" (Romans 16:23). And he appreciated
the leading man of Malta "who received us hospitably for three days" (Acts
28:7). When a delegation from a Roman Officer arrived "Peter invited
them in and gave them lodging" (Acts 10:23). But hospitality should
not be with the intent of being asked back (Luke 14:12-13). Nor
should it involve cooking so many dishes that there is no time to listen
to each other (Luke 10:41).
HOSPITALITYdeprivedsee
NOT
EATING WITH
HUGUENOTS As a result of the REFORMATION
a large number of French people adopted CALVINISM,
and
so became Protestants (those who rejected the authority of the Bishop of
Rome). In France they were called Huguenots, and they had formed about
2000 Calvinistic churches in France by 1561. Roman Catholics felt threatened,
and they organized a massacre of 200 Huguenot leaders on Saint Bartholomew's
Day (23-24 August, 1572). Mobs took this as an opportunity to slaughter
3,000 Huguenot Christians in Paris, and thousands more were killed in twelve
other provinces of France. The Huguenots fought back in a civil war, which
ended with the Edict of Nantes (1598), which granted them freedom of religion.
They were again persecuted under Cardinal Richelieu (1585-1642) who was
determined to destroy their power among the merchant and professional classes.
He besieged and took (1627-28) the stronghold of La Rochelle where many
Huguenots tried to defend themselves. When the Edict of Nantes was revoked
(1685), thousands of Huguenots fled and prospered in England, Holland,
Switzerland, South Africa, and North America.
HUMBLE Already three thousand years
ago people knew that "pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit
before a fall (Proverbs 16:18). We are not thinking of the pride
of a craftsman doing good work. The racial, or social, or professional
PRIDE
we hate involves cutting down others and humiliating them to bolster our
self-importance. When an arrogant person is toppled from a pedestal we
call it poetic justice. "Pride comes before a fall." But the Bible is quite
clear that it is God who has a hand in it. "Uzziah was marvellously helped
until he became strong. But when he had become strong he grew proud to
his destruction" (2 Chronicles 26:15-16). If God works against pride
and arrogance obviously HUMILITY before
God is the only safe position to take. Which is why James, the Lord's step-brother
(and so knew him personally), made the astonishing statement: "Humble yourselves
before the Lord, and he will exalt you" (James 4:10).
HUMILITY When people were asked
what scared them, it turned out that women were afraid of being killed.
Men dreaded the thought of being humiliated. Better go into certain death
than be called a coward. Japanese men commit hara-kiri rather than
lose their honor. But no woman would ever think of killing herself with
a knife in the gut. Some claim that if there were enough women generals
we would never have war. But if you must have a war to defend yourself,
put men in the front line of battle, and give them medals on their chest.
What is the difference between humble and being humiliated? Humiliation
is being toppled from one's pedestal. The HUMBLEview
the lives and petty pedestals of others as important as their own. If a
humble woman does have to fight she will be as worried about the other
dying as the fear of dying herself. A humble soldier will never humiliate
a defeated enemy. Which is why Jesus could say "love your ENEMIES
and pray for those who persecute you" (Matthew 5:44). In either
case humility is the best antidote for war among nations, in an office,
or in our own family.
HUNS Perhaps connected with the
Hsiung-nu
of China, the Huns came out of Mongolia. They spoke one of the ALTAIC
LANGUAGES, as did the AVARS and MONGOLS who followed
them. They were fierce horsemen and deadly archers. The Huns came into
the Ukraine and then terrified and pillaged across eastern Europe. Atilla
, King of the Huns (c.434-453) defeated the Roman colonies in the Balkans
and invaded Gaul where he was defeated near Orleans (451). He recovered
and attacked northern Italy (452) where he sacked Aquileia, Padua, Verona,
and Milan. He died the next year After the death of Attila his sons quarreled
with one another, and their forces were decimated probably in Hungary (455).
Their distant cousins survived in Mongolia and China.
HURRY An Old Testament prophet
said "in quietness and trust shall be your strength." He also explained
that "The effect of righteousness will be peace, and the result of righteousness,
quietness and trust for ever (Isaiah 30:15, 32:17). J. B. Phillips
captured this perfectly when he wrote "If there is one thing which should
be quite plain to those who accept the revelation of God in Nature and
the Bible is that he is never in a hurry. Long preparation, careful planning,
and slow growth, would seem to be the leading characteristics of spiritual
life" (see
RESPONSIBILITY).
And Phillips added that "It is refreshing, and salutary, to study the poise
and quietness of Christ. His task and responsibility might well have driven
a man out of his mind. But he was never in a hurry, never impressed by
numbers, never a slave of the clock. He was acting, he said, as he observed
God to act - never in a hurry" (Your God is Too Small, London: Epworth
Press, 1952, p.56). I must have read that fifty years ago, but I regret
I still haven't learned to live that way.
HUSS, John (c.1372-1415) John Huss
studied at the University of PRAGUE
(M.A. 1396), and at the age of 29 was elected head of the University (1402).
He was also a Roman Catholic priest (1400). But influenced by John WYCLIFFE(c.1329-84)
of Oxford University he preached in the national language (Czech) on Sundays
at the Bethlehem chapel. Pope Innocent VII ordered Huss to stop preaching
(1407) but he refused to submit and continued to teach, and he translated
Wycliffe's Trialogus into Czech. Pope Alexander ordered Wycliffe's
writings to be burned (1410) and the next year John Huss was excommunicated
by the antipope John XXIII. But his popular influence continued. Four years
later, invited to defend his views, he was tried and condemned at the Council
of Florence (1415). He remained full of faith as he was burned at the stake
(July 6, 1415). This made him a national hero, and his influence continued
among the Bohemian Brethren, who were continually persecuted. They eventually
emigrated to Herrnhut in Germany, where they were received by Count ZINZENDORF,
and had a world-wide influence through the MORAVIANS.
The HUSSITES of PRAGUE
were later received as a reform movement under the Pope (1457). But when
a group of Roman Catholic priests (1919) asked for the liturgy in the Czech
language, the right to marry, and for the laity to share in church government,
these demands were rejected, and a Czechoslovak PRESBYTERIANdenomination
was formed.
HUSSITES After the martyrdom of
John HUSS (1415) there was a six year
Hussite Revolution against the authority of the Pope. They drove out immoral
priests, destroyed most of the monasteries, many monks were killed, and
the estates of the monasteries were confiscated. The Hussites formulated
the "Four Articles of Prague" (1420): the freedom to preach the Word of
God in the Czech language, the use of wine together with the bread at communion,
the abolition of church properties, and the public punishment of moral
offenses. Unfortunately the movement was soon taken over by fanatical preachers
who said that Christ was about to return and begin the
MILLENIUM.
Expecting the imminent SECOND COMING
of Christ, many quit work, sold their lands, and formed cities of refuge
where they awaited the end of the age. In the face of this break-down of
order the more moderate followers of John Huss in PRAGUE
later reunited with the Roman Catholics (1457).
HYPERBOLE is an exaggeration for
effect, not meant to be taken literally. It is very common in Middle Eastern
language, not least in Jesus' teaching. "If your right eye causes you to
sin, tear it out and throw it away. And if your right hand causes you to
sin, cut it off" (Matthew 5:29-30). Concerning money he said "It
is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone
who is rich to enter the kingdom of God" (Matthew 19:24). So we
have an obvious hyperbole in the shocking words "Whoever comes to me and
does not hate his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters,
yes, even life itself, cannot be my disciple" (Luke 14:26)? Our
Lord did not hate his own mother. He said we were to love our neighbor
as ourself, and surely that does not exclude love for one's close family.
It was Jesus who said "but I say to you, love your enemies" (Matthew
5:44). But having guarded ourselves from extremism on the one hand
we should not empty the words of their very strong content. When Peter
became an apostle, sent out in missionary service, he had to leave his
family behind. His parents and his wife (1 Corinthians 9:5) and
children must have wondered if he hated them.
HYPOCRITES The most common complaint
against church goers is that we are hypocrites, and. we admit that we often
are. Hypocrisy is the temptation of politicians, civil servants, social
workers, donors and charitable organizations, parents, and every business
that offers us something good when they have other purposes in mind. Religious
hypocrisy is particularly nauseating because it pretends to be serving
God. "Whenever you fast, do not look dismal, like the hypocrites, for they
disfigure their faces to show others that they are fasting" (Matthew
6:16). Jesus certainly warned us of the danger: "Beware of practicing
your piety before others in order to be seen by them" (Matthew 6:1).
Though he said next to nothing about ordinary sins, he was ruthless in
condemning the Pharisees of his day. Five times he said "woe to you scribes
and Pharisees, hypocrites" (Matthew 23:13, 23, 25, 27, 29). And
he picked up exactly the modern equivalent "They do all their deeds to
be seen by others . . . they clean the outside of the cup and plate, but
inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence" (Matthew 23:5, 25).
The Pharisees would be decimated when Jerusalem fell in that generation
(Matthew 23:36, as happened in AD 70). But hypocrisy is a perennial
weed that is sown every year in the wheatfields of the Kingdom (Matthew
13:25, 37-42).