Heroos

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Called Individuals / Heroes

Examining the driving forces of history raises the following questions: Is world history the product of individual wills, or the aggregate of accidents? Who or what laws stand behind events? Does freedom or necessity prevail in history?

In the study of causes, the historical perspective of past centuries concluded that God's role in history diminished over time, giving way to the independent actions of individuals.

In ancient Christian historiography, a deity subjected peoples to the will of a chosen individual, and the deity directed the will of the chosen individual. They believed in direct intervention by the deity, in fate.

According to the Bible, history unfolds according to God's plan. He determines the course of history, controls everything, intervenes directly in individuals, chosen people, historical events, and alters destinies to achieve His plan.

The actors in history fulfill a task, yet they are not mere subjects of the historical process. Human decisions play a role in shaping events. People live for themselves, for personal goals, but they are invisibly prompted by Providence to pursue them.

The Bible's standpoint is clear: humans are not programmed but responsible beings capable of changing the course of history. Whether their decisions align with the divine plan is another matter. God does not prevent free human choice; He fulfills His plan despite human will.

Without knowledge of the biblical salvation plan, it may seem that people are merely carried along by the currents of events. However, the salvation plan includes decrees regarding the timing, circumstances, and individuals involved in historical events, using individuals to carry out its purpose. People are entrusted with tasks, used as instruments for significant goals, and must consider His plan in all their actions.

For those who believe they have a place in God's work, His intentions are revealed. Those who serve where God has placed them experience no accidents in their lives; they are instruments of God. Humans cannot thwart God's plans.

God orchestrates the complex situation formed by people's various plans and uses it for His purposes, benefiting His chosen ones.

Well-known individuals sent by God include Moses, Daniel, Alexander the Great, Caesar, etc. But every person is God's envoy: everyone is born for a mission, and human life is not purposeless. God is present in everyone's life.

God wants to nurture a sense of calling in every human heart, awaken everyone to the awareness of their life's purpose. Everyone has a designated task, and circumstances are shaped to make them suitable for fulfilling their missions.

Life has meaning when we do what God has designated for us, recognizing that we are God's messengers.

After the Enlightenment era, a new historiography replaced individuals led by God's will with heroes driven by other forces.

According to this view, world history is nothing more than the work of great individuals - heroes. They were leaders, the great ones, shapers and creators in a broader sense of everything that people sought to create or achieve. What we see realized in the world is, in essence, the external result, the practical embodiment, the incarnation of the thoughts that lived in the great individuals sent into the world: the soul of the entire world history, rightly called their story.

What we see around us is the materialization of the thoughts residing in heroes. Therefore, the cult of heroes is, and always has been, a tremendous vital force in human life. Religion is based on this, and the entire society rests on it.

According to Thomas Carlyle, a hero can be a Divinely inspired person, a prophet, poet, priest, writer, or king. In every era of world history, the great person was the indispensable savior of their time. The hero is the great thinker, the inspired divine messenger, the knower of sacred mysteries, the teacher of everyday life, the mediator of eternal things, the guide of practical life.

Seeing the noisy futility of the world, people gladly turn to the realm of silence. Noble, great individuals scattered here and there quietly work in their own realms. They are not mentioned in any newspaper, but they are the salt of the Earth. Every divinely created person is a "manifestation in the flesh" (Novalis). They are the everyday heroes.

Nowadays, the existence of great individuals is denied, calling them small people, creatures of their time, claiming that Time summoned them, and Time did everything, and they did nothing that we could not have done.

Not only is the hero needed, but the world must also be prepared for it, otherwise, the hero comes into the world in vain! If we face the Hero face to face and still do not recognize, what use is it to us?

We must learn to recognize the hero!

Thomas Carlyle: Heroes, N-Press Publisher, Budapest, 2003