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2nd meeting of Polish-Ukrainian Bible Institute in Lublin

On September 17, 2022, the second meeting of the Polish-Ukrainian Bible Institute in Lublin took place. Lectures on the topic “How to read and study the Bible on your own, applying interpretative principles?”, were conducted by Zdzislaw Miara – one of the founders of Financial Education CROWN, Marriage Meetings ALMA, and former National Director of the Mt 28 Christian Movement. To study and teach the Scriptures has been his passion for over 40 years. [Read the article]

In addition to an extensive lecture section devoted to detailed information on the analysis of the biblical text, Zdzislaw Miara and students conducted exercises using difficult passages from the Letter to the Hebrews, which required deeper analysis. In the breaks between lectures, our students had the opportunity to talk about important topics, as well as to strengthen mutual ties.

The Polish-Ukrainian Bible Institute in Lublin is the first project of its kind in Poland. The main goal of the Institute is to integrate biblical Christians from Ukraine and Poland in order to carry out evangelistic and church projects together, as well as to exchange experiences of working for Jesus in the Ukrainian and Polish peoples, learning from each other and praying together for the future of our nations. During the school year, ten sessions will take place – one per month. The lecturers are pastors, professors, and Christian leaders from Poland and Ukraine.

If you are interested in joining the Institute, please contact us: [email protected] and visit the lib.edu.pl website, where we publish current information about the Institute’s activities.

Lectures from the conventions are posted on YouTube channel of the Institute.

WHAT ELSE:

Lieutenant Colonel Philip Bloom on Against the Tide TV

Our guest was Lieutenant Colonel Philip Blom, pastor, military chaplain, lecturer at the United States Air Force Academy, author of training materials, currently involved in humanitarian aid to Ukraine. We talked about why he flew from across the ocean to help Ukraine, we also asked about his impressions from the trip to Lviv and why he decided to visit Poland. Our guest also talked about the support that mutilated Ukrainian children and veterans receive in Minneapolis.

Pastor Blom spoke about what motivates him to support Ukraine [see our talk]

Polish singer wins trial involving Scripture against Poland at the European Court

Dorota “Doda” Rabczewska has won her case against the Polish state at the European Court of Human Rights. The Strasbourg-based court ruled that Poland violated the European Convention on Human Rights, convicting Doda of offending religious feelings when she described the authors of the Bible in a 2009 interview as “drunk with wine and smoking some herbs.” It obliged Poland to pay her 10,000 euros.

The verdict of the European Court of Human Rights was commented on by attorney Michal Wawrykiewicz, co-founder of the Free Courts initiative. We talked about whether the Court’s ruling will affect other cases of this type pending in Polish courts, and whether the appeal hearing in Pastor Pawel Chojecki’s trial for insulting “religious feelings” will end in an acquittal. After more than a year, the Court of Appeals has set the hearing for November 22.

On the Strasbourg Court’s ruling, Wawrykiewicz said: “The European Court of Human Rights came to the conclusion that an overstepping of the limits of freedom of speech in terms of violation of religious feelings would occur when these words incite hatred and attacks on religious grounds. And in this particular case, the Court concluded that there was a violation of religious feelings, we were dealing with so-called blasphemy, while the Convention [Article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights] was violated by the fact that Mrs. Dorota Rabczewska was told that she had committed a crime by uttering those words. In other words, the Court granted her the right to speak in violation of religious feelings, but still within the Convention limit of freedom of expression.”

World War II reparations

Commentary by Dr. Mateusz Piatkowski

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz is rejecting Polish demands to pay reparations for World War II. We spoke with Dr. Mateusz Piatkowski, a lawyer and employee of the Department of International Law and International Relations at the University of Lodz, about whether Poland has a real chance to obtain war reparations from Germany. He asserted the validity of Polish claims and pointed out that Poland has a solid legal basis to demand reparations from Russia as well.

Comments by MP Arkadiusz Mularczyk

We also touched on the issue of war reparations with Arkadiusz Mularczyk, chairman of the Council of the Jan Karski Institute for War Losses and Law and Justice MP. We asked why Law and Justice is demanding war reparations from Germany at a time when Russia is waging war against Ukraine, and whether the reparations issue is relevant to the upcoming elections. We also assessed the report on the war losses Poland suffered during the 1939-1945 German occupation, as well as the government’s international and media activities on the reparations issue.

Mikolaj Rykowski, president of the Free Space Foundation

Our team visited the “Granary” (Spichlerz) in Katowice – a social store where products are sold below market prices. This initiative is aimed at people who, for financial reasons, cannot always afford to shop in a regular store.

We published a report on this unique place. We were told about it by Mikolaj Rykowski, the initiator of the idea and president of the Free Place Foundation, which has been organizing Christmas Eve and Easter gatherings for lonely people for more than 20 years. Employees and volunteers of the Free Place Foundation have also been involved for many months in helping at the Polish-Ukrainian border, cooking warm meals and offering their support to Ukrainians fleeing the war

WHAT WE ARE WORKING ON:

• In October, we are organizing another meeting of the Polish-Ukrainian Bible Institute in Lublin. The main topic is: ” Reformation in Poland – lessons for the modern people.”
• We are also focusing on evangelizing students, especially first-year students. We want to build a separate student ministry on this occasion, as we already have about 10 university students and high school students in Lublin.
• Within this month we are planning to publish two new books:

1. 1. „Jesus Revolution. Discipleship without reservations” by Joe Łosiak
   2. „A Flash in the Pan. From the History of the Polish Reformation” by Piotr Setkowicz.