http://www.godstruth.org

For Johnny

 

God's Truth!

A scientist shows why it makes

sense to believe the Bible

圣经-神可信的话语!

一位科学家告诉我们为什么相信圣经合乎情理

作者:Alan Hayward

 

I wish there was space to name all the people who deserve my thanks. But at least I must mention my friends Arthur Gibson, David Godfrey and Harry Whittaker, who went through the first draft with a fine-toothed comb and pointed out all its shortcomings. (Those that remain are not due to their inefficiency, but to my obstinacy!)

Then there is Prof. F. F. Bruce of Manchester University who advised me on the text of chapters 16 to 18, and Mr. Alan W. Fowler of Bridgend General Hospital on the sections dealing with medicine and anthropology.

And I shall never forget how Miss Rita Dyson typed the whole thing twice, and bits of it three or four times, accurately and-believe it or not - cheerfully.

To them and many other willing helpers I owe a great deal. I won't say that I don't know what I should have done without them, because I do know.

I should have failed to produce this book.

A.        H.

我希望能够有地方列出所有值得我感谢的人的名字。但是至少我要提到我的朋友,他们最早看到我的手稿,并且为我指出缺点。这本书依然存在很多缺点,不是因为他们的不仔细,而是因为我的固执!

曼彻斯特大学的F. F. Bruce 教授为本书的16-18章提出了建议,Bridgend General Hospital Alan W. Fowler 先生与我讨论了医疗和人类学方面的问题。

我将永远不会忘记Rita Dyson 小姐为我两次将手稿打字,有些部分三次甚至四次,

我非常感谢其他与愿意帮助我的人,我不会说没有他们也能够写出这本书来,因为我知道没有他们我就不会写出这本书。

Acknowledgements

The author and publishers are grateful for permission to reproduce the following copyright material:

Quotations from the New English Bible, second edition © 1970, by permission of the Oxford and Cambridge University Presses Quotations from the Revised Standard Version Bible used by permis­sion of the Division of Christian Education, National Council of the Churches of Christ in the U.S.A.

Extract from the Introduction by Dr. W. R. Thompson to the Every-man Library edition of Darwin's Origin of Species by permission of J. M. Dent & Sons Ltd.

Passages from Science is God by David Horrobin, by permission of Medical and Technical Publishing Co. Ltd.

Extract from Why I Believe the Bible by A. J. Pollock, by permission of Central Bible Hammond Trust

Line drawing of Zin janthro pus) drawn by Maurice Wilson for Dr. K. P. Oakley, reproduced by kind permission of Dr. Oakley Drawing of Zin janthro pus by Neave Parker, reproduced by per­mission of the London Electrotype Agency (The Illustrated London News & Sketch Ltd.)

Drawing of Brontosaurs by Neave Parker, reproduced by permission of the British Museum (Natural History)

 

Contents目录

PART ONE第一部分

Facts are awkward things

1 Why bother?                                                     2

2 A modern miracle                                              7

3 More history written in advance                        14

4 Preview of Calvary                                          22

5 Jesus foretells twentieth-century problems

6 Who could have invented Jesus?                      42

7 The evidence of the empty tomb

8 A law ahead of its time                                     61

9 The ring of truth                                              69

10 Harmony doesn't just happen                         77

11 It can't all be coincidence                               87

 

PART TWO 第二部分

But what about. ..?

12 Problems? Of course!                                    94

13 Can we trust the experts?                               98

14 All or nothing                                               110

15 Falling between two stools                           122

16 When were the books written?                      132

17 How did the Bible come down to us?           150

18 Bible history-true or false?                            171

19 Does the Bible contradict itself?                    181

20 The nasty objections                                    191

 

21 Is the Bible unscientific?                            201

22 Why some biologists think
Darwin was wrong                                     215

23 How the human race began                           227

24 The problem of suffering                       237

25 The real problems                                      248

 

PART THREE 第三部分

Now what?

26 First steps in Bible study                              256

27 A power in the earth                                     269

Notes and References                                       275

Index                                                                                  296

I

Why Bother?

为什么要打搅?

The next time you scratch your finger and raise a tiny drop of blood, don’t just wipe it off and forget about it. Pause for a moment and reflect. That red blob the size of a pin head is one of the wonders of the world.

如果你下次不小心擦破手指,还流了一滴血,不要擦去就忘了。停下来观察一会儿,针尖大小的一滴血就是一个奇妙的世界。

Floating around in it like a shoal of microscopic jellyfish are some five million red cells. Every one of them is a distinct living creature. It is born, it lives and works for about four months, and then grows old and dies.

这一滴血液中浮动着大约500万只红血球细胞,在显微镜下观察它们就像是一群飘游的水母,每一只红血球都是独特的活着的生命体,它们出生、生活和工作,四个月就老了,然后死亡。

Scattered thinly among the red cells are about ten thousand white cells. There are five different types of these, and their average life span is only a few days. Then there are another quarter of a million float­ing specks called platelets, and hundreds of different chemicals in solution, all mixed up in an apparently hopeless confusion-and all contained in a spot no bigger than a pin’s head.

红细胞周围松散地分布着大约1万只白细胞。白细胞有五种不同的类型,平均寿命只有几天。血液中还有二十五万只游动的血小板,以及数百种不同的化学物质。这些东西都包容在一个比针头还小的范围内。

Yet in the midst of this seeming chaos there is order and purpose. The blood surging ceaselessly round your body provides a better transport system than all the world’s postal services put together. Those red cells are like miniature gas cylinders. They collect oxygen from your lungs and deliver it to practically all your cells - and there are far more cells in your body than there are people on earth.

它看起来有点混乱,其实是有次序、有目的地。血液在你的身体中不停地流动,比世界上所有邮政系统加起来都要优秀。红细胞就像是一个微缩的高压气筒,它们采集你肺部呼入的氧气,然后把氧气传递给所有的细胞——红细胞的数量比地球的人口总数还要多。

Almost every one of the vast array of chemicals in your bloodstream is on its way to one of a myriad destinations. Some of the sugar and glucose derived from your last meal is heading for your muscles, there to be consumed as fuel. If you ate too much of that chocolate cake, the excess sugar is being sent to your liver, to be stored until your muscles need it.

大批化学物质通过血液循环被送往无数个目的地。从食物吸收的糖、葡萄糖被送到肌肉作为燃料,如果你吃了太多的巧克力蛋糕,多余的糖份会被送到肝脏中储存,直到肌肉需要它们为止。

Other kinds of food products are needed for body-building; they are speeding in all directions to the organs that will make use of them. Iodine is destined for the thyroid, phosphorus for the teeth, calcium for the bones, amino acids for the tissues.

还有其它食物为身体结构所需要,它们被送到所需要的各个器官。碘被送到甲状腺,磷被送到牙齿,钙送到骨骼,氨基酸被送到各个组织。

Carbon dioxide is travelling to the lungs to be breathed out. Urea and other waste products are making for the kidneys to be excreted. Millions of red blood cells die every minute, but although their work is finished they are not expelled from the body. They contain an element - iron - that the body does not acquire very easily. It is too precious to be thrown away. So most of these cells are consigned to one of the body’s chemical factories to be broken up.  There the molecules of iron are carefully preserved, to be used again in the manufacture of new red cells.

二氧化碳通过肺部被呼出,尿素和其它废物被送到肾脏排出体外,每一分钟都有数百万只红细胞死亡,尽管它们的工作已经结束,它们的尸体并不是马上就排除出体外,因为它们包含着铁,铁离子对人体是很宝贵的,不应该抛弃。大部分细胞被送到人体的化学工厂去处理,铁离子却被很好地保存,用来制造新的红血球。

A wide variety of hormones travels along the red river carrying messages. Created in one part of the body, they instruct some other part of the body how to behave. A youth’s voice breaks, for instance, and his beard begins to grow, when the hormones from his sex glands tell his throat and his face that it is time for him to sound and to look like a man.

携带信息的荷尔蒙也在这条红色的河流中旅行。它们由身体的某一器官产生,指示身体其它部位的行为。例如男生都经过变声期,会长胡须,这是因为从性腺中分泌出的荷尔蒙告诉他的脸和喉咙应该这样的时候到了。

Other components of the blood are there just to keep us from harm. It carries its own puncture repair kit. Its watery base, the plasma, contains a protein called fibrinogen. Aided by the suspended platelets this forms a leak-plugging clot whenever it comes into contact with the air. Without fibrinogen we should bleed to death from a cut finger.

血液中的一些成分是为了让我们免受伤害,它们是水基的血浆,携带着外伤急救包,含有一种被称为纤维蛋白原的蛋白质。在血小板的支持下,它们能够在任何血液接触空气的地方起到凝固和修补的作用。没有这种纤维蛋白原,一旦我们割破了手指就会流血直到死亡。

The most common type of white blood cell provides a mobile defence force. When infection strikes one part of the body, millions of these white warriors converge on the scene and slaughter the invading bacteria. Other defenders, the antibodies, have a more limited role. Each antibody spells death to only one kind of deadly organism. Fortunately for us the blood contains many different kinds of antibody, so that between them they protect us from a multitude of diseases.

白细胞是流动的卫士。当身体受到感染的时候,数以百万计的白色勇士就会出来与外来细菌进行战斗。其它卫士,例如抗体,也有该功能。但是一种抗体只能杀死一种致命的有机体。幸运的是,血液中包含多种不同的抗体,帮助我们抵御很多疾病。

 

 

Facts Worth Finding Out值得探讨的事实

 

Just a tiny bloodstain on a handkerchief. Something so common­place that you would not normally give it a second glance. Yet when you examine it more closely, it has a fascinating tale to tell.

仅仅只是在手帕上的一滴血,如此普通,你不愿意多看它一眼。但是当你仔细看它的时候,你会发现它的迷人之处。

The Bible is rather like that. It is so well known that everybody takes it for granted. Yet very few people really know what it is like inside. One purpose of this book is to open up the Bible, and show how interesting it is to those who look beneath its surface.

圣经和它很类似。圣经是如此有名,很多人都理所当然地对待它。很少有人真的知道从内部仔细看它是什么样子。本书的目的之一就是打开圣经,显示这本书内在的吸引人之处。

But there is an even better reason for looking into the Bible. Unlike ordinary books the Bible makes an astonishing claim. “Read me, believe me, and do what I say,” says the Bible, in effect, “and the Creator of this wonderful universe will give you a priceless reward.”

但是有更好的理由让我们来探讨圣经。与任何其它的书不同,圣经发表了一项令人惊奇的声明,实际上是说:“阅读它,相信它,照它所说的去做,宇宙的创造者会给你无价的赏赐”。

In these days of slick salesmen and confidence tricksters, this seems altogether too good to be true. Many people take the easy way out. They dismiss the Bible’s claims out of hand, without giving them a second thought. Others behave more thoughtfully. Perhaps they are motivated by a sense of fair play, and do not wish to condemn anything without first giving it a hearing. Perhaps they are moved by that powerful urge, the spirit of curiosity which lies behind all research and discovery.  Whatever the reason, they are prepared to examine a few facts about the Bible. This book is for people like them.

这个时代人们已经习惯了圆滑的推销员和杂耍的人,太好的事情反而让人不敢相信。很多人轻易把圣经打发掉,不去再看第二眼。另外一些人更富有思考性,可能是他们相信公平竞赛的原则,不喜欢先入为主的判断。他们这样做,有可能是受到某种力量的敦促,也许是为了满足自己的好奇心,不管是什么原因,他们已经准备检查圣经所声明的事实。圣经就是为这样的人而写的。

Discovering facts and weighing their implications is always a worth­while job. But it is not always an easy one. Facts can be such awkward things at times.

发掘事实,找到其中的意义永远是一件有价值的工作,但并不永远是简单的。有时候事实是非常令人尴尬的。

For example, if the postman comes one morning with an electricity bill for thirty pounds and a statement from the bank indicating that you have a credit balance of eleven pounds and fourpence, you naturally feel rather uncomfortable. Here are some unpleasant facts demanding to be faced. What’s to be done about it?

例如,假如有一天邮递员给你寄来一份账单,告诉你欠费11英镑4便士,很自然你不会感到舒服。这仅仅是我们需要面对的令人不快的事情中的一些。应该怎样对待它们?

People react differently in a situation like that. Some people would push the two letters out of sight, go off to work, and forget all about it. They seem to think that if they ignore the problem it will go away.

在这种情况下,人们的态度是不同的。有人会把账单扔到一边,完全忘记它们。似乎他们忘记了问题,问题就会自己走开。

Others might get hot under the collar about it. Who’s to blame, they wonder. Did that stupid man from the Electricity Board read the meter wrongly? Have the boys secretly been keeping the electric fire in their bedroom burning all night? Or has that computer system at the bank slipped up?

有人会感到愤怒,他们想,到底是谁出了差错,是电力公司的那个抄表员出了错,还是有人在偷自己家的电,或者是银行的计算技术系统坏掉了?

You can only feel sorry for people like that. Their prejudiced out­look sticks out like a television aerial on a minicar. That’s the funny thing about prejudice. The other fellow’s prejudices are always so obvious, but it is often very hard indeed to see our own.

对这样的人你只能感到惋惜。他们带有偏见外观看上去就像客车上的电视天线一样笔直。别人的偏见是容易看到的,通常人们不会看到自己的偏见。

 

 

The Layout of this Book本书的布局

 

That is why this book has been divided into two main parts. There is probably more prejudice about the Bible than about any other subject on earth. So many fantastic untruths have been told about the Bible that it is practically impossible for a newcomer to approach it with an unbiased mind. The Nazi propaganda minister, Dr. Goebbels, knew a thing or two when he declared, “The bigger the lie, the more readily people will swallow it,” If enough mud is thrown, some of it is bound to stick.

本书分为两个主要部分。圣经可能是世界上受到偏见最多的书,对初学者来说,他们已经被知道了很多不真实的东西,不带偏见地学圣经是不可能的。纳粹的宣传部长戈培尔说:“谎言越大,人们相信的程度越深”。谎言重复一千次就会变成真理。

Consequently, the average man starts off with the assumption that the Bible cannot possibly be true. This puts the writer of a book like this in a fix. What should he do? Start on the defensive, and show how weak are the arguments used to attack the Bible? Or plunge straight in with the positive evidence that the Bible is true?

结果是,很多人一开始就假定圣经不可能是真理。这让本书的作者进退两难。他应该怎样做?从防御开始,批驳那些攻击圣经的论点,或者是从正面来证明圣经是正确的?

In making my decision, I have been guided by the advice of a nineteenth-century enthusiast. “Defend the Bible?” he asked indig­nantly. “I’d as soon try to defend a lion! All the Bible needs is a fair chance, and it is well able to defend itself.”

此时我想起十九世纪一位激情者的建议:“捍卫圣经?圣经不需要捍卫!圣经需要的是公平的机会,因为圣经能为自己辩护。”

So I decided to make Part One of this book a statement of some remarkable facts about the Bible. To me there is only one possible ex­planation of these facts: that the Bible is just what it claims to be, a true

and infallible message from God to mankind.  But then I am biased in favour of the Bible, and you, perhaps, are biased against it.

 因此我决定在第一部分谈论与圣经有关的一些值得注意的事实。对我来说,这些事实只有一个解释:圣经的声明是对的,圣经是上帝对人的启示,是没有错误的。

I am not going to ask you to read Part One with an open mind. We all start with convictions of one sort or another, so that there can be no such thing as a truly open mind. As you read Part One, you are likely to find yourself thinking, “Yes, this all sounds very plausible on its own

我没有要求你敞开心怀在阅读第一部分。每个人都有根深蒂固的信仰,真正的敞开心怀是不存在的。在阅读第一部分时你可能想:“是啊,听起来像是那么回事”。

 

-but what about all the damning evidence against the Bible?”

如何对待那些反对圣经的证据呢?

To this perfectly reasonable question there is a simple answer: that is where Part Two comes in. Part Two attempts to deal with all the most popular objections to the Bible, and you may be surprised to see how unfair and how trivial most of them are.

这是非常好的一个问题,答案非常简单,第二部分将讨论最常见的反对证据,你会惊奇地发现这些证据是不公平的,大部分是微不足道的。

If you are one of those people who can’t stand the suspense of read­ing a “whodunnit” from beginning to end, but have to have a peep at the ending before you get halfway through, you may be tempted to read Part Two first. But this is not a good idea. You would do better to read Part One keeping all your problems in reserve; then read Part Two, to see how many of those problems can be disposed of; and then go back to Part One again, to reconsider the positive evidence with an easier mind.

很多人在看书的时候不喜欢带着悬念从头看到尾,如果你想急切地看到结论,打算从第二部分看起,这不是好的阅读办法。你最好从第一部分开始阅读,并且记下有疑问的地方,然后再来看第二部分,看看有多少疑问已经被打发掉了,回头再来看第一部分,这样就会容易重新思考积极的证据。

And what of Part Three? That is for people whose minds are half made up. If, when you have read Parts One and Two, you think there might be something in the Bible after all, Part Three will tell you how you can settle the matter once and for all.

第三部分呢是为那些还没有下决心的人写的。如果你已经阅读了第一和第二部分,你可能认为在圣经有一些东西值得关注,第三部分告诉你应该怎样下定决心。

 

Not Just for Eggheads 本书不是仅为受过教育的人写的

 

This book is written for ordinary men and women. After all, it was to such folk that Jesus Christ preached. “The common people heard Him gladly,” said Mark, with evident satisfaction.1 Jesus Himself took pleasure in the fact that “to the poor the gospel is preached”.2

这本书是为普通人写的,耶稣传教的对象就是普通老百姓:“众人(普通人)都喜欢听他” (马可福音1237。耶稣为“穷人有福音传给他们”感到快乐。路加福音722

For this reason I shall stick to simple English and try to avoid what might be called “scholarly language”. The only places where language of that kind will occur will be in passages quoted from other authors.

我尽量避免在写作过程中使用“学术语言”,多使用简单语言。学术语言只在引用他人的文章时出现。

In the parts of this book that deal with scientific matters, the kind of language used will probably make my fellow scientists weep. The fact is, you simply cannot talk accurately about science without using the correct, long, scientific terms. But then, as the foreword to an excellent non-technical book3 published by a British Government scientific laboratory says, “it is more important to be nearly right and understandable, than academically accurate and incomprehensible.” 

在诉述科学现象时,使用简单语言只能会叫人难受。不用正确、冗长的科学术语,就不能够准确地表达科学事实。但是,“采取正确易懂的语言要比深奥难懂的学术语言更重要”。

In any case, I am not writing this book from the point of view of a scientist, but as a student of the Bible. Being a scientist might help you to spot the mistakes of other scientists when they condemn the Bible.

不管是什么情况,我写这本书不是从科学家的角度,而是以圣经学生的身份。作为一名科学家有助于我发现其他科学家指责圣经时所犯的错误。

But it would not help you to decide whether the Bible is a message from God. Studying the Bible for ourselves is the only way we can do that. And we can study the Bible without knowing any science, or even any of the more useful subjects like Hebrew and Greek and ancient history. The only essential equipment is a thoughtful, enquiring mind.

但是这不能帮助你断定圣经是否真的是从  神那里来的信息。为了自己而学习圣经是唯一做到这一点的方法。即使我们没有任何科学知识,不知道古希伯莱人、希腊人的文化、语言或历史,我们依然能够研究圣经。尽管这些知识对于学习圣经是有帮助的。学习圣经唯一的重要条件是要有勤于思考和探求的大脑。

Many of the arguments in this book, especially in Parts One and Three, are based on the text of the Bible itself. Because most people are more familiar with the so-called Authorised (or King James) Version of the Bible than with any modern version, the majority of the Bible quotations are from that version. To make the quotations easier to read I have modernised the punctuation in some places. Sometimes I have slipped into the words of the English Revised Version without mentioning it, where this gives the sense of the Scriptures more clearly. Whenever any other translation has been used I have said so.

本书中的很多论点,特别是在第一和第三部分,是根据圣经本身的经文来的。因为大部分的人对钦定本更加熟悉,大部分的引文是来自这个版本。为了帮助读者理解,我在一些地方加上了现代标点符号。有的时候我也使用了别的圣经版本,以便更明确地表达自己视为意思。

In other places I have had to base arguments on facts (and opinions) drawn from many sources. For the sake of any readers who may wish to consult the original sources of information, details of all the more important ones are given in the notes.

还有一些地方,我不得不根据多个来源的事实(和意见)为论据的基础。在角注中我都给出了引文的来源,方便读者找到原始的文件。

Where a book referred to in this way is marked with a star (*), it means that I regard it as particularly helpful-and that it is written in language a layman can understand. Some of these starred books were written a long time ago, and may be out of print now. But they are worth the trouble of tracking them down, if you can manage it.

引文中我在自己认为特别有帮助的地方标注了星号(*),这些地方不需要专业知识就能够看明白。其中很多书是多年以前出版的,现在已经不再印刷了。如果可以的话,我认为还是值得去查找的。

 

2

A Modern Miracle

现代奇迹

Norman is a research physicist who does not believe the Bible and refuses to read it. Whenever I mention Bible prophecy to him, he smiles condescendingly.

罗曼从事物理学研究工作,他不信也不读圣经。每次我提起圣经预言,他都是笑笑而已。

“Of course Bible prophecies have been fulfilled,” he says. “They were bound to be. They remind me of the astrology pages in Old Moore’s Almanac. You know how it goes: in January, ‘Bad weather increases road deaths’; in February, ‘There will be many strikes in the engineering industry’; in March, ‘There will he many crimes of violence and a sensational bank robbery.’

“圣经中的预言当然会实现了”,他说,“有些事情注定是这样的,这让我想起古老的占星术,你也知道该怎么说:1月份,坏天气让更多的人死于交通事故,2月份,机械行业可能有很多罢工,3月份,暴力和抢劫银行的犯罪会有很多。”

“You can’t lose when you prophesy such obvious things in such vague terms. Something is sure to happen that can be made to fit each prophecy, in retrospect. And that’s how it is with the Bible.”

“当你用暧昧的语言来预言这些很明显的事情时,你不可能失败,有些事情是肯定要发生的,随便怎样预言都行。圣经不也是这样吗?”

Poor Norman. He only exposes his own ignorance when he talks like that. The astonishing thing about the Bible is that it has pro­phesied the most unlikely things. And although some prophecies are worded in an obscure way, many others are as clear as crystal.

可怜的罗曼。这些话只能表明他的无知。圣经预言的是那些最不可能发生的事情。尽管有一些预言是用模糊的方式写的,但是有很多预言就像水晶一样清晰。

A good example to begin with is the way the Bible has foretold the entire history of the Jewish people over a period of more than two thousand years.

很好的一个例子是,在2000年以前,圣经就已经预言了犹太人的整个历史。

 

A Strange History独特的历史

 

It is quite possible that you dislike Jews. Many people do. But that is beside the point at the moment. Whatever we may think about the Jews we cannot deny that they exist, and that they have a very long and a very strange history.

很可能你不喜欢犹太人,也有很多人喜欢他们。但这不是此刻的话题。不管我们怎样看待犹太人,我们都不能否认他们的存在,不能否认他们漫长而独特的历史。

In the days of Jesus Christ there was a thriving Jewish nation in the land of Israel. Hundreds of years earlier the nation had been independent, but long before Jesus was born it became a part of the Roman Empire.

在耶稣基督的年代,犹太人生活在自己的土地上。他们曾经是一个独立的民族,然而在耶稣出生之前他们就沦为罗马帝国的一部分。

The Jews did not take kindly to being ruled by foreigners. For many years the country seethed with discontent and rebellion.

犹太人不愿意被外来民族统治。多年以来这个国家一直充满着不满和反叛。

Between A.D. 66 and A.D. 135  the Jews fought three fierce wars of independence. But each time they were defeated, and by A.D. 135 the Romans had had enough trouble. They were determined to stop these revolts once and for all.

在公元66年到公元135年之间,犹太人为了独立而进行激烈地抗争,但是他们每次都被打垮。公元135年,罗马人感受到太多的麻烦以后,他们决定一劳永逸地解决这个问题。

 

With typical Roman thoroughness they utterly destroyed Jerusalem and ploughed up its site. Then they erased its name from their maps, and sent all the inhabitants of Judaea (the main part of the land of Israel) into exile.

罗马人典型的完全彻底精神在摧毁耶路撒冷时体现出来。整个城市就像被犁耕过一遍,他们让耶路撒冷的名字从地图上消失,将在犹大(以色列的主要部分)的所有居民流放到其它国家。

And that, thought the Romans, was that.

这些都是罗马人干的事情。

 

But they were wrong. For century after century the Jews survived as a nation without a country. Wherever they went they were hated, treated as an inferior race, made to live in ghettos.

但是罗马人想错了。犹太人不再成为一个国家,但是作为一个民族,犹太人一代又一代生存下来。不管犹太人走到哪里,他们被仇恨,被当成一个劣等民族,被安置在隔离区。

Take for example their history in just one country - England. We first hear of Jews coming to England in the reign of William the Con­queror. They were never made very welcome, and in 1190 a fearful wave of massacres spread from city to city, wiping out Jewish men, women and children.

我们以英国为例。犹太人最早来到英国是在征服者威廉统治时代。一开始他们就不怎么受欢迎。公元1190年,一场可怕的集体大屠杀从一个城市席卷另一个城市,犹太人不分男女老少被杀害。

For another hundred years the survivors lived an uneasy existence. Then, in 1290, Edward I expelled all the Jews from Britain.

在接下来的几百年里,犹太幸存者过着艰难的生活。接着在1290年,爱德华一世将所有犹太人赶出英国。

In 1492 all Jews were expelled from Spain, and some of them came to live secretly in England, living in fear of their lives if they should be found out. It was not until 1656 that Jews were officially readmitted to England, by Oliver Cromwell.

1492年所有的犹太人被赶出西班牙,其中的一些人又偷偷来到英格兰,他们生活在恐惧中,因为害怕被别人发现,直到1656年克伦威尔-奥利弗正式宣布允许犹太人在英格兰居住。

Even then they were forced to accept the role of second-class citizens, somewhat like the coloured people in South Africa today. After many years of trying to obtain political freedom, it was only in 1858 that Jews were first allowed to sit in Britain’s parliament.

即使在那个时候,犹太人被迫接受二等公民的角色,就像南非种族隔离时期的有色人种一样。在经过漫长的要求政治自由以后,1858年犹太人才被允许在英国议会拥有席位。

In other countries they often fared worse. As recently as the 1880s Jews had to flee for their lives from Russia; in the 1930s (if they were wise) from Germany.

在其它国家,通常他们的待遇更糟。发生在近代的事件就有:1880—1890年犹太人不得不逃离俄罗斯,在20世纪30年代逃离德国(如果他们聪明的话)。

In short, for seventeen centuries, on and off, the exiled Jews were persecuted, massacred, or made to flee for their lives from one country to another. Yet somehow they survived it all.

总之,在漫长的十七个世纪中,流浪的犹太人被迫害、被屠杀,或者是从一个国家逃往另一个国家。然而他们生存下来了。

Then, at the end of the last century, nearly eighteen hundred years after their ancestors were exiled from it, a few Jews began to trickle back to their homeland. Within the twentieth century the Jewish population of the land of Israel has risen from a few thousand to more than two million. By 1948 the Jews there felt sufficiently powerful to proclaim their independence. The following year the sovereign state of Israel was admitted to membership of the United Nations.

他们在外流浪了将近1800年。上个世纪末,一些犹太人开始回到自己的故乡。从20世纪开始,在以色列的犹太人口总数从几千人上升到二百万。1948年,犹太人觉得有能力宣布独立,他们也这样做了。第二年,联合国承认了以色列的会员资格。

 

History Written in Advance提前书写的历史

 

With this brief summary of Jewish history in mind, look at what the Old Testament said would happen to the Jews. As you read the following Bible passages, ask yourself: “Are these prophecies vaguely worded, or are they clear and plain? And have they been fulfilled, or not?”

在简短地总结了犹太人的历史以后,我们来看旧约中是怎么说到犹太人的遭遇的。在我们读到以下段落的时候,我们需要问问自己:“这些预言是含糊地说,还是明确的成述?这些预言实现了没有?”

                                 

(1)               They would be scattered all over the world, hated, persecuted, and driven from country to country.

1 他们将被分散到世界的各个地方,被人憎恨,迫害,而且要从一个国家赶到另外一个国家。

“The Lord shall scatter thee among all people, from the one end of the earth even unto the other.... Among these nations thou shalt find no ease, neither shall the sole of thy foot have rest, but the Lord shall give thee there a trembling heart, and failing of eyes and sorrow of mind.

“And thy life shall hang in doubt before thee, and thou shalt fear day and night, and shalt have none assurance of thy life. ... And thou shalt become astonishment, a proverb and a byword among all nations whither the Lord shall lead thee.”1

   “耶和华必使你们分散在万民中,从地这边到地那边,…. 在那些国中,你必不得安逸,也不得落脚之地;耶和华却使你在那里心中跳动,眼目失明,精神消耗。

    你在耶和华领你到的各国中,要令人惊骇、笑谈、讥诮。”(申命记2864-637

(2)               Meanwhile, their land, once so fruitful, would lie desolate.

2 在这段时期,他们曾经居住的富饶土地,将会成为一片荒凉。

“I will scatter you among the nations ... and your land shall be desolate, and your cities waste. Then shall the land enjoy her sabbaths, as long as it lieth desolate, and ye be in your enemies’ land.”2

   “你们在仇敌之地居住的时候,你们的地荒凉,要享受众安息;正在那时候,地要歇息,享受安息。地多时为荒场,就要多时歇息;地这样歇息,是你们住在其上的安息年所不能得的。”(利未记2633-4

(3)               They would survive all these troubles, and would actually out­live their persecutors.

3 他们将经过各种艰难困苦生存下来。

“Though I make a full end of all nations whither I have scattered thee, yet will I not make a full end of thee”3

“因我……也要将所赶散你到的那些国灭绝净尽,却不将你灭绝净尽”。

(耶利米书3011

“The children of Israel shall abide many days without a king and without a prince and without a sacrifice - . . Afterward shall the children of Israel return.”4

    “以色列人也必多日独居,无君王,无首领,无祭祀,无柱像,无以弗得,无家中的神像。後来以色列人必归回。”(何西阿书34-5

(4)               Eventually, while still disobeying God, they would go back to their own land again.

尽管他们依然不听  神的话,他们还是可以回到自己的土地上.

 

“I will even gather you from the people, and assemble you out of the countries where ye have been scattered, and I will give you the land of Israel.”5

“我必从万民中招聚你们,从分散的列国内聚集你们,又要将以色列地赐给你们。”(以西结书1117

“I do not this for your sakes, O house of Israel, but for Mine Holy Name’s sake, which ye have profaned among the nations, whither ye went.... For I will take you from among the nations, and gather you out of all countries, and will bring you into your own land.”6

主耶和华如此说:以色列家啊,我行这事不是为你们,乃是为我的圣名,就是在你们到的列国中所亵渎的……我必从各国收取你们,从列邦聚集你们,引导你们归回本地。” 以西结书3622-24

“It is even the time of Jacob’s (Israel’s) trouble, but he shall be saved out of it. . . . I will save thee from afar, and thy seed from the land of their captivity, and Jacob shall return.”7

   “这是雅各遭难的时候,但他必被救出来……因我要从远方拯救你,从被掳到之地拯救你的後裔;雅各必回来得享平靖安逸,无人使他害怕。”(耶利米书307-10

These seven extracts, taken from five different books, are typical of all Old Testament teaching about the future of Israel. Everyone, believer and unbeliever alike, agrees that the Old Testament was written before the time of Christ. Consequently, it is absolutely cer­tain that the prophecies about the Jews were written hundreds of years before they were fulfilled.

这些从圣经5本书选出来的7个摘录,是关于以色列将来的典型论述。任何人,不管他是否相信圣经,都同意旧约写在耶稣出生以前。所以,我们可以绝对有把握地说,关于犹太人的预言早在事情发生之前至少几百年的时间就写成了。

  For the prophecies about the exile of the Jews were not fulfilled until the second century after Christ. The prophecies about their wanderings were fulfilled continuously from the second to the nine­teenth centuries. And the prophecies about the return of the Jews to their homeland were not fulfilled until the twentieth century.

犹太人被流放的预言到了公元2世纪才得以实现。关于犹太人要成为流浪的民族从公元2世纪一直到19世纪一直都在应验,而犹太人最后要回到故土的预言一直到20世纪才实现。

 

 

Uncanny Detail神奇的细节

 

For many centuries-since long before the prophecies about the Jews’ return to the land of Israel began to be fulfilled-men have mar­velled at the way Bible prophecy and Jewish history have tallied. It is no wonder that when Frederick II of Prussia asked his physician for a proof that God exists, he replied, “The Jews, Your Majesty.”

在犹太人回到以色列这块土地的预言得到应验之前,在这段长达十几个世纪的日子里,人们就已经对圣经中关于犹太人的历史的预言中感到惊奇。难怪普鲁士国王弗雷德里克二世(Frederick II)询问他的医师关于 神存在的证据时,他回答说:“犹太人就是证明,陛下”

The broad correspondence between the prophecies and their fulfil­ment is wonderful enough. But some of the detail is enough to make the mind boggle.

圣经的预言和预言的实现本身就令人感到惊奇不已,其中的一些细节甚至是让人感到难以置信.

In the first passage quoted above, Moses said, “thou shalt become a proverb and a byword among all nations.” How was he to know that, thousands of years later, Englishmen would use the expression, “You miserable old Jew!” when they wanted to condemn someone’s meanness? And that similarly, in nearly every major language on earth, “Jew” has been used as a term of contempt?

在我们前面引用的一段经文中,摩西说:“你在耶和华领你到的各国中,要令人惊骇、笑谈、讥诮”。摩西如何知道,在几千年以后,英国人在指责某个人自私,吝啬时说:“你这个可怜的犹太佬!”类似地,几在乎所有的语言中,“犹太”都是一个带有轻蔑意味的词?

In the second passage, Moses declared that the land would lie desolate while the Jews were in exile. This was a most unlikely thing to suggest. It was then a prosperous, fertile land. If the Jews were driven out, you would expect their conquerors to take full advantage of their pleasant land. But did they? Listen to the words of one of Israel’s official historians, describing the period of Jewish exile:

在第二段中,摩西宣布在犹太人被放逐以后,他们的土地将成为荒凉。这也是让人最难以接受的。当时以色列的土地繁荣、丰收。如果犹太人被赶出去了,你可以猜测征服者将会利用这块肥沃的土地。但是这些征服者都干了些什么?我们来看看一个犹太拉比,以色列的官方历史学家的话:

 

“Meanwhile, the Land of Israel slumbered on and lay waste.

Of the ‘land flowing with milk and honey’, as it is so often lauded in Holy Writ, much became barren. The garden was now a desert and malarial swamps collected where once were smiling plains.”8

“在以色列被流放期间,这块土地被抛弃了,成为荒凉的废墟。圣书通常称这块地为 “流奶与蜜之地”,大部分成为不毛之地。花园成为沙漠,平原成为沼泽”。

(选自1964年在耶路撒冷出版的以色列文摘)

The third passage must have sounded equally preposterous when Jeremiah wrote it. God would do away with the mighty nations that persecuted Israel, but little Israel would outlive them all.

在耶利米的时代,第3段预言一定显得非常荒谬。  神将来要消灭那些迫害以色列的国家,小小的以色列却要比这些国家生存得更久。

When the mighty Roman Empire crushed Jerusalem under its heel and made slaves of its inhabitants, a sacred copy of the Old Testa­ment from the temple was carried in triumph to Rome. Just suppose that one of the Roman Emperor’s courtiers had read from that Book, and said to the most powerful man on earth, “O Caesar, it prophesies here that our great Empire shall come to an end, but that these miser­able Jews will live on.” How the Emperor would have laughed! But the incredible prophecy came true.

当强大的罗马军队的铁蹄践踏耶路撒冷时,所有的居民被当成奴隶出卖,罗马人将神殿中珍藏的旧约版本当作战利品运到罗马。以色列成为罗马统治下的一个国家。假设当时有一个罗马人看了这本书,他向世界上最有权力的人汇报说:“凯撒,一个预言说我们伟大的帝国会灭亡,而那些可怜的犹太人的国家会继续存在”。这个皇帝会怎样大笑!但是这个难以置信的预言竟然成了现实!

Now look at the sixth passage quoted. It says that God would bring Israel back to their own land, not because of their godliness, but despite their ungodliness. What ordinary writer would have written such an unflattering thing about his countrymen? Yet, once more, every detail of the prophecy has come true, as the following incident shows.

现在来看看第6处刚才引用的圣经。它说, 神将带领以色列人回来,不是因为他们的心归向  神,而是“尽管他们的心依然没有归向  神”。普通人是不会写这些不讨好自己同胞事情的。然而预言的每一个细节再次得以实现。下面的一些小插曲也告诉我们的。

A few years ago I had dinner at a scientific conference in Italy with a world-famous scientist from Haifa, in Israel. I asked him what it felt like to be fulfilling Bible prophecy as a member of God’s own nation.

几年以前,我在意大利参加一次科学大会,在宴会上我遇见了一位来自以色列海法市的著名的科学家。我问他,圣经中关于以色列的预言实现了,作为以色列人,他有什么看法。

He gave a polite little laugh. “We don’t look at it like that,” he said. “Most of us who are building up the State of Israel are doing so for economic or political reasons, not because we have any religious convictions.”

His words are frequently confirmed by reports from journalists visiting Israel. For example:

他给我一个政治家的微笑,“我们自己并不这样看待,”他说:“我们中间的大部分人回来建国是出于政治或者经济的原因,而不是出于宗教方面的原因。”

很多访问过以色列的记者也多次证实了这种现象。例如,1970217日在伦敦出版的时代杂志说:

“One can see that the founders of the political State of Israel were for the most part sceptics or non-practising Jews.

“Mrs Meir [the Prime Minister] told me, as she had said in the Knesset [Israel’s parliament] that she herself is ‘a non-observant Jewess’... Many of the Israelis one meets are lax in their practices and agnostic in their... views.”9

     “以色列国家的奠基者大部分都是怀疑论者。”

   “梅耶夫人(时任以色列总理)告诉我,她在议会就说她自己并不是一个严格遵守犹太教教规的女人。很多以色列人相信不可知论”。

 

Why Hitler Failed希特勒为什么会失败

 

There is another kind of prophecy about the Jews that has been ful­filled again and again, at different periods of history. The most spectacular fulfilment of it occurred quite recently. It related to the late Adolf Hitler and his Nazis.

还有另一种类型的与犹太人有关的预言实现过很多次。最独特的事情发生在现代,与希特勒和纳粹帝国有关:

In the middle 1930s Hitler’s scheme to conquer the world was al­ready in motion. By the summer of 1940s everything had gone accord­ing to plan. The whole of the mainland of Western Europe was bowing to the Nazis, and it looked as though the German war machine was unstoppable.

20世纪30年代中期开始,希特勒就酝酿征服世界的计划。1940年夏季之前的一切事情都按照他的计划进行。欧洲大陆的大部分落在德国手中,看起来任何人都不能阻止德国战争机器运行。

Yet within five years Hitler’s mutilated body lay in the ruins of his Berlin headquarters, and Nazi Germany was no more. What went wrong? How did Hitler fail, after coming so close to success?

然而不到5年希特勒就葬身于柏林的指挥中心,纳粹德国不复存在。为什么德国会在如此接近成功之后迅速走向失败?

Historians usually explain Hitler’s failure by listing a series of extraordinary blunders (like bombing British civilian targets instead of airfields in 1940, and invading Russia in 1941) when Hitler over­ruled the carefully laid plans of his own generals. But this only throws the problem a stage further back. Why did a brilliant leader like Hitler make so many fatal mistakes?

历史学家通常会解释说,希特勒的失败是由自己的一系列失误造成的(例如下令轰炸英国的平民而不是英国飞机场,在1941年的秋天进攻俄国)。但是像希特勒这样的一个聪明人又怎么会犯如此多的致命错误?

The real answer to these questions is a very simple one, but so unexpected that historians usually miss it. God had said of Israel:

“Cursed be every one that curseth thee,

And blessed be he that blesseth thee.”10

   真正的答案很简单,但是却超出历史学家的预料。  神这样说以色列:

  “凡咒诅你的,愿他受咒诅;为你祝福的,愿他蒙福”。

(创世记2729,同样见创世记123,民数记249

 

When the Nazi party adopted Hitler’s plan to wipe out the Jewish nation, it signed its own death warrant. God had warned the world that He would oppose those who opposed His nation, Israel. By murdering millions of Jews the Nazis were challenging the Almighty to His face. No wonder they lost the war!

纳粹德国在按照希特勒的计划清除犹太人的时候,他们也是在给自己下死亡通知书。  神已经向世人宣告,压迫  神的选民——以色列的,同样会被 神所咒诅。纳粹德国谋杀了数百万的犹太人,实际上是在向全能者挑战,难怪他们会输掉战争!

But the German nation as a whole was ashamed of what the Nazis had done to the Jews. After the war the new German government decided to make amends for Hitler’s crimes. At a time when they could ill afford to be so generous, the Germans made what has been called the greatest act of national generosity in all history.

但是德国作为一个民族的整体,他们对纳粹向犹太人所作事情的感到羞愧。战后德国政府决定为希特勒所犯的罪行向犹太人做出补偿。有一段时间,他们自己负担不起如此的慷慨,德国人行为称得上是人类历史上最慷慨补偿行为。

Picture the situation in 1945. All over Germany, houses and fac­tories lay in ruins. The cream of the nation’s youth was dead or in captivity. The country was bankrupt, the people were starving. The victorious allies were demanding compensation for what they had suffered. The future for Germany looked altogether hopeless.

1945年,德国人的家和工厂都是一片废墟。年轻人阵亡、或被囚禁,国家处于破产状态,人民在挨饿。盟军胜利者要求德国作出战争赔偿。德国的将来看起来没有希望。

Yet the West German Government decided, despite their own people’s desperate need for goods and money, to pay hundreds of millions of pounds in compensation to Jews who had suffered through the war. They did not lose by their generosity. The land that lay in ruins in 1945 was, by 1965, almost the richest in Europe.

尽管百姓也迫切需要商品和金钱,西德政府却决定向在战争中遭受折磨的犹太人补偿数亿英镑。然而他们的慷慨并没有让他们失去什么。在1945年,他们的国家还是一片废墟,到了1965年,却差不多成了欧洲最富裕的地方。

Hitler had learnt that God keeps His threats: “Cursed be every one that curseth thee (Israel).”

Post-war Germany learnt that God also keeps His promises: ‘Blessed be he that blesseth thee.”

希特勒应该学到了  神的咒诅,“凡咒诅你(以色列)的,愿他受咒诅”。

战后的德国明白了  神会信守自己的承诺:“为你祝福的,愿他蒙福”。

 

For Every Effect, A Cause 有结果必有原因

 

A very large number of scientists believe in God. There is a reason for this. America’s leading space scientist Dr. Wernher von Braun, has put it in a nutshell:

很多科学家相信  神。这是有原因的。美国最顶尖的航天科学家Wernher von Braun博士曾经对公众说:(本书的引用得到了他的许可)。

“One of the most fundamental laws of natural science is that nothing in the physical world ever happens without a cause. There simply cannot be a creation without some kind of spiritual creator.

-  . . Anything as well ordered and perfectly created as is our earth and universe must have a Maker, a master designer.”11 (The italics are mine.)

“自然科学最根本的原则之一是:物质世界中没有一样事情的发生是没有原因的。如果没有一个创造者,就不可能有创造物。

在我们地球,在整个宇宙,一切都创造得那么完美,那么有次序,因此,造物主肯定存在,这一切肯定有一位设计者。”

Even if you are not yet ready to agree with von Braun’s conclusion about the existence of God, you are bound to accept his first sentence. Nothing ever happens without a cause. This is a fundamental law of science. It is also plain common sense.

即使你不同意他的结论,你一定同意他的第一句话。任何事情都不会无缘无故地发生。这是一条科学原则,也是简单的常识。

Now apply this principle to the facts outlined in this chapter.

现在我们要在事实运用这一原则。

Thousands of years ago Moses, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and Hosea (whose words have been quoted) and several other Old Testament prophets foretold the future history of the Jewish people. Their prophecies were expressed in clear language and were full of detail. Throughout the past two thousand years everything has happened just as they said it would.

几千年以前,摩西、耶利米和何西阿以及其他的旧约先知们都提前书写了以色列将来的历史。预言使用非常明确的语言详细地表达。过去两千年的历史一直按照圣经所说的向前发展。

This astonishing fact cries out for an explanation. “Nothing ever happens without a cause.” What was the “cause” that led all those Hebrew writers to foretell the history of their race with such uncanny accuracy?

这些惊人的事实呼唤解释。“任何事情都不会无缘无故地发生”。这些希伯来人准确地预言了将来,为什么?

Ask an atheist that question, and then watch his reactions. If he is an intelligent man, well informed of the facts, he is most unlikely to say, “Oh, it just happened.” He knows that would only invite the rejoinder, “If you can believe that, you can believe anything!”

如果你问一个无神论者,如果他是聪明人,对事实已经有了清楚地了解,他最不可能说:“这只是巧合”。他知道这样的回答只能招来反驳:“如果你相信这些仅仅是巧合,你就会相信任何事情!”

Instead, he will probably look very learned, and suggest that it is “the natural outcome of the religious genius of the Hebrew race”. This sounds almost convincing-until you think about it. Then it reminds you of the Russian general who was asked by a Western journalist how the Russian engineers had succeeded in building rockets more powerful than anything the Americans had produced. He replied: “Quite simple. It is the inevitable consequence of a Marxist-Leninist society.”

他很可能看起来很有学问地说:“这是因为希伯来人天生就很聪明”。在你仔细思考之前,你会认为这些话是有道理。就像一位西方记者采访某位俄罗斯将军:“为什么苏联能够制造比美国运载能力更大得火箭”,他回答说:“非常简单,这是马克思-列宁主义的必然结果”。

Answers like that are clever. They sound very impressive. They completely dodge the awkward question. And they explain nothing.

回答者看起来很聪明,也给人留下了非常深刻的印象。他完全躲避了尴尬的处境,然而也没有解释任何问题。

Yet this sort of evasion is the only answer that you are likely to get from an atheist. I say this from personal experience, because in my younger days I spent many a Saturday afternoon on a soapbox at Speaker’s Corner in London’s Hyde Park, surrounded by crowds of atheists. Time and again I used to put forward these facts about the Jews, and challenge the audience to explain them. But never once did I get a reasonable answer.

你可能只能从无神论者那里得到这样的答案,这是我个人的体会。我年轻时常常参加星期六下午的海得公园辩论会。我要求无神论者解释有关犹太人的问题,但是从来没有得到合理的解答。

No, there is only one answer that fits the facts. That is the answer given by the Bible itself:

“Surely the Lord God will do nothing, but (unless) He revealeth His secret unto His servants the prophets.”12

“And if thou say in thine heart, ‘How shall we know the word which the Lord hath not spoken?’ When a prophet speaketh in the name of the Lord, if the thing follow not, nor come to pass, that is the thing which the Lord hath not spoken.”13

因为只有一个能够符合事实的答案。这个答案来自圣经:

“主耶和华若不将奥秘指示他的仆人众先知,就一无所行。”(阿摩斯书37

“你心里若说:『耶和华所未曾吩咐的话,我们怎能知道呢?』先知托耶和华的名说话,所说的若不成就,也无效验,这就是耶和华所未曾吩咐的,是那先知擅自说的,你不要怕他。”(申命记1821-2

It is as if the Bible says to us: “I will prove to you that I am a message from Almighty God. False prophets cannot foretell the future. But God’s true prophets can. So I will foretell the whole history of the Jewish race.”

这好像是圣经对我们说:“我要向你证明这些信息是从全能的  神那里来的。假先知不能预知未来。来自  神的先知能够预知未来。因此我要预先告诉你关于犹太民族的整个历史”。

并且已经。

And it has.

 

3

More History Written in Advance

提前书写的其它相关国家的历史

While the Old Testament was being written Israel was surrounded by a number of nations, most of which no longer exist. Some of them were great powers, like Egypt, Babylonia, Assyria and Phoenicia. Others were quite small nations (just as Israel herself was a small nation) such as Syria, Edom, Moab, and Ammon.

在旧约书写年代,以色列周围有很多国家,大部分现在已经不复存在。其中有强大的,例如埃及、巴比伦、亚述和腓尼基。也有小国(以色列自己就是),例如亚述、以东、摩亚、亚们。

Israel had a great deal of contact with these nations. She traded with them; sometimes she went to war with them; and all too often she was corrupted by their idolatrous religions.

以色列和这些国家有很多联系。他们之间有贸易往来,有时候相互打仗,以色列的信仰常常被这些国家崇拜偶像的宗教所败坏。

Consequently the prophets of Israel sometimes mentioned these other nations. They condemned them when they behaved wickedly, and occasionally praised them when they did what God required of them. And as with Israel, only much more briefly, their future history was sometimes foretold. Whenever such prophecies were made, as John Urquhart has shown,1 they were fulfilled with great accuracy.

以色列的先知们常常提到这些国家。他们作恶的时谴责这些他们,按照神的要求去做的时称赞他们。就像圣经预言了以色列民族的将来一样,对这些国家的将来圣经也有预言。无论预言是在什么时候写下的,后来的历史证明它们的准确性。

 

A Tale of Two cities 有关两个城市的故事

 

Two of the most splendid cities of the ancient world were Babylon and Tyre. Babylon was the capital of the land we now call Iraq. Eventually she conquered so much territory that she ruled the mightiest empire the world had then seen. Tyre, a seaport, was the capital city of the Phoenicians. Her navy dominated the Mediter­ranean, and her traders owned the greatest fleet of merchant ships in the ancient world.

古巴比伦和推罗都在最辉煌的古代城市之列。巴比伦是现在的伊拉克过去的首都,巴比伦王国逐步吞并了周围的国家,成为当时世界上最强大的帝国。推罗是一个港口城市,也是腓尼基的首都,她的海军主宰了整个地中海地区,同时还拥有古代最大的商船船队。

The Bible said plainly that each of these cities was to be punished for its wickedness. But the nature of their punishments was to be very different.

圣经明确地宣布,因为这两个城市作恶多端,它们将来都要受惩罚,但是受惩罚的方式是不一样的。

Babylon was to be destroyed, and to remain a collection of un­inhabited ruins.

巴比伦要被摧毁,变成无人居住的废墟。

Tyre was also to be destroyed, but not to remain as ruins. In her case, the very stones of the city were all to be cast into the sea.

推罗也要被摧毁,不是成为废墟,而是它的每一块石头都要抛到大海去。

Here are the actual words of Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel.

下面是以赛亚书、耶利米书、以西结书中的话:

 

BABYLON:       “And Babylon, the glory of kingdoms, the beauty of the Chaldees’ excellency, shall be as when God overthrew Sodom andGomorrah. It shall never be inhabited, neither shall it be dwelt in from generation to generation. Neither shall the Arabian pitch tent there, neither shall the shepherds make their fold there. But wild beasts of the desert shall lie there, and their houses shall be full of doleful creatures, and owls shall dwell there.”2

“It shall be no more inhabited for ever, neither shall it be dwelt in from generation to generation. . .. And they shall not take of thee a stone for a corner, nor a stone for foundations, but thou shalt be desolate for ever, saith the Lord.... And Babylon shall become heaps, a dwelling place for jackals, an astonishment, and an hissing, without an inhabitant.”3

TYRE:       “And they shall make a spoil of thy riches, and make a prey of thy merchandise. And they shall break down thy walls, and destroy thy pleasant houses, and they shall lay thy stones and thy timber and thy dust in the midst of the water.... And I will make thee like the top of a rock. Thou shalt be a place to spread nets upon. Thou shalt be built no more.”4

关于巴比伦:“巴比伦素来为列国的荣耀,为迦勒底人所矜夸的华美,必像神所倾覆的所多玛、蛾摩拉一样。其内必永无人烟,世世代代无人居住。亚拉伯人也不在那里支搭帐棚;牧羊的人也不使羊群卧在那里,只有旷野的走兽卧在那里;咆哮的兽满了房屋。鸵鸟住在那里;野山羊在那里跳舞”(以赛亚书1319-21

“所以旷野的走兽和豺狼必住在那里,鸵鸟也住在其中,永无人烟,世世代代无人居住。……人必不从你那里取石头为房角石,也不取石头为根基石;你必永远荒凉。这是耶和华说的……巴比伦必成为乱堆,为野狗的住处,令人惊骇、嗤笑,并且无人居住。(耶利米书5039512637

关于推罗:“人必以你的财宝为掳物,以你的货财为掠物,破坏你的墙垣,拆毁你华美的房屋,将你的石头、木头、尘土都抛在水中。Eze 26:14  我必使你成为净光的磐石,作晒网的地方;你不得再被建造,因为这是主耶和华说的。”(以西结书261214

You can visit the sites of both these cities today, and see how precisely the prophecies have been fulfilled. Babylon, whose hang­ing gardens were once one of the seven wonders of the world, and whose surrounding countryside was then a fertile plain, now lies deserted.

今天你可以去参观这两座城市,看看这些预言是如何准确地应验的。巴比伦的空中花园曾经是世界七大奇观之一,它的周围的是一片富饶的平原,现在却成了不毛之地。

Many other ancient cities have had modern cities built on top of them. But not Babylon. As far as the eye can see lie the deserted heaps of ruins, an archaeologist’s paradise, just waiting to be excavated. Not even a Bedouin encampment breaks the monotony, for the ruins are too inhospitable to provide grazing for their flocks, and in any case they have a reputation of being haunted. Only wild beasts and birds find a dwelling place among the fallen towers of Babylon.

很多其它古代城市现在发展成为了现代都市,但巴比伦不是。现在在巴比伦能够看到的只有废墟。巴比伦是考古学家的乐园,现在甚至连贝都应人都不愿意在这里搭帐篷,因为那里太荒凉,羊群找不到吃草的地方。巴比伦现在因被传说闹鬼而出名,只有野兽和飞鸟在巴比伦的废弃的倒塌的塔上歇息做窝。

Now read again the words of Isaiah and Jeremiah quoted above.

请再次阅读刚才我们引用的预言。

Ask yourself: how were they able to describe this scene so accurately?  For more than a thousand years their words have, in effect, challenged the world: “Re-inhabit Babylon, and you will prove the Bible false!”  But nobody has taken up the challenge.

问问自己:这些描写为什么如此准确?这些话写出来以后,至少有一千年的时间世界一直都在挑战:“重建巴比伦,你就可以证明圣经是错误的”。但是没有人出来挑战。

If you wish to survey the ruins of ancient Tyre, however, you really should have a frogman’s suit. History tells how the ruins of the city really were cast into the sea, hundreds of years after Ezekiel had said they would be. In 332 B.C. Alexander the Great wanted to subdue an island fortress off the coast, near the ruins of the former city. He achieved his aim by building a causeway Out to the island, and he used the remains of ancient Tyre for material.

Every scrap of rubble from the ruins of Tyre was used by Alexander, so that the site really was, as Ezekiel put it, “made like the top of a rock”. Moreover, as the prophet foretold, the site of the old city was never built on again. The city of Tyre mentioned in the New Testament, and which still exists today, stands on an entirely different site.

When they were first uttered, these prophecies about Babylon and Tyre must have sounded most unlikely to be fulfilled. Yet fulfilled they were, down to the last detail.

如果你希望调查古推罗的废墟,你需要一套潜水装备。历史已经记载了这个城市是如何被抛到海中的,发生的时间在以西结写下预言以后的数百年。在公元前332年,亚历山大大帝想征服这个远离陆地的海岛要塞。他使用古推罗的遗留物作为材料,修建一座堤靠近海岛成功地实现了自己的目标。推罗废弃的城市的每一块能够搬运的石头都被亚历山大所利用,甚至石头渣子也不例外。这个城市真的如以西结所预言的那样,“成为净光的磐石”,而且,这个城市以后一直没有重建,这也是以西结所预言的。(新约提到的推罗和旧推罗完全不是同一个地方)。

这些预言在当初写出来的时候,都像是最不可能发生的事情。然而,这些预言都完全彻底地实现了。

 

World History in a Nutshell 简而言之的世界历史

 

One of the most fascinating prophecies in the whole Bible is contained in Daniel chapter 2. Here, in the space of only 49 verses, we are given a bird’s-eye view of world history, from about 600 B.C. down to the present day and beyond.

但以理书第二章的预言是圣经中最吸引人的地方之一。通过简短的49节经文,我们就能够看清从大约公元前600年开始,到现在甚至是将来的世界历史大纲。

The late Mr. Henry Ford is often quoted as having said, “History is bunk.” But according to his friends, what he actually said was this:

人们经常引用美国汽车大王亨利.福特的名言:“历史就是睡觉”。但是他的朋友说,亨利.福特实际上说的是:

“上历史课的时候,学生们通常在睡觉。”

“History as it is generally taught in schools is bunk.”

If this really was what he said, he was right. Badly taught history can be deadly dull. Perhaps this is why the history lesson-in-advance of Daniel 2 is given to us in such an unusual and interesting way. It is in the form of a parable. But we do not have to guess at its meaning. Like some of the parables of Jesus, this one is accompanied by an explanation.

假如亨利.福特真的这么说过,他说的对极了。历史课讲得不好的话是很乏味的。这也许是但以理书让我们感兴趣的地方,因为但以理书是在事情没有发生之前就将世界历史简要地写了出来,而且是采用比喻的形式。正如耶稣也作了很多比喻,接着又把比喻的意义告诉了我们,但以理书也不需要我们来猜测预言的含义。

You really ought to read the whole chapter for yourself. But in case you don’t feel like doing so just now, here is a summary.

你应该阅读但以理书这一章的整个内容。但是如果你还没有读的话,我可以为你将整章作大致的介绍:

King Nebuchadnezzar, ruler of the mighty Babylonian Empire, had a dream. It was a strange dream, and it worried him. He felt sure that it was no ordinary dream, but that it meant something. So he called for the royal astrologers and soothsayers and asked them to explain the dream.  

尼布甲尼撒是强大的巴比伦王国的国王。有一天,他做了一个非常奇怪的梦,让他感到不安。他觉得这个梦非同寻常,应该有很深的含义。于是他将自己国家中有智慧的人召集在一起,要他们解释梦的含义。

The astrologers then made the obvious request. “Tell thy servants the dream, and we will show the interpretation.”5

这些人当然会请求国王说:“请将那梦告诉仆人,仆人就可以讲解。”但以理书25

But the king was no fool. He was not going to play into their hands. Any self-styled magician with a good imagination could concoct an “explanation” if he were told the dream. So he put them to the test. “You show me the dream-and its interpretation!”6 he demanded. As an inducement to do so he added the interesting information that, if they failed, they would all be cut in pieces.

但是国王不是傻瓜。他不想被这些人欺骗。如果他告诉这些人他做的梦是什么,这些人就有发挥自己想象力的余地“解释”。国王首先想测试一下这些聪明人,他对他们说:“梦我已经忘了,你们若不将梦和梦的讲解告诉我,就必被凌迟”。

Fortunately for the gentlemen whose bluff had been called, there was a young Jewish captive in Babylon. He saved their lives (and his own) by going to the king and saying: “The secret which the king hath demanded cannot the wise men, the astrologers, the magicians, the soothsayers, show unto the king. But there is a God in heaven that revealeth secrets, and maketh known to the King Nebuchadnezzar what shall be in the latter days.”7

幸运的是,在这些被逼到墙角的人当中,有一个是犹太人俘虏。他救了这些人的命,他告诉国王说:“王所问的那奥秘事,哲士、用法术的、术士、观兆的都不能告诉王;只有一位在天上的神能显明奥秘的事。他已将日後必有的事指示尼布甲尼撒王。”但以理书22728

Daniel explained that what the king had seen was a great, fearsome statue of a man. But it was no ordinary statue. Its construction was weird and wonderful. It was like this:

    但以理解释说,国王梦见的是一尊巨大而可怕的像,它不是普通的,它的构造是神秘和奇妙的。这个像是这样的:

 

(1)    Its head was made of gold. 它的头是金的

(2)       Its chest and arms were silver. 胸膛和膀臂是银的

(3)  The lower part of the trunk and the thighs were brass. 肚腹和腰是铜的

(4)  The legs were iron. 腿是铁的。

(5)  The feet were an awkward mixture of iron and clay. 脚是半铁半泥的

 

The dreaming king had stared in wonder at this strange figure for a while. Then he noticed something beginning to happen. Some distance away from the statue a stone was being quarried. But there were no quarrymen to be seen. It was as if the stone were being carved out by invisible hands.

在梦中尼布甲尼撒王王对这个像感到奇怪。接着他注意到,从远处一块石头被采集出来,但是看不见任何采石头的人,这块石头好像是被看不见的手采集的。

Then the fresh-hewn stone moved towards the statue, and struck it violently upon its brittle feet of iron and clay. This brought the statue crashing down, and then the stone attacked the ruins. It broke the gold, the silver, the brass, the iron and the clay into tiny pieces. Then the wind sprang up and blew all the debris away in a cloud of dust, so that the stone was left alone.

这块刚采集下来的石头砸向人像,“打在这像半铁半泥的脚上,把脚砸碎;於是金、银、铜、铁、泥都一同砸得粉碎,成如夏天禾场上的糠秕,被风吹散,无处可寻。打碎这像的石头变成一座大山,充满天下。”

Finally, the triumphant stone began to expand. It grew and grew and grew until it had become a great mountain. Before the king awoke, he saw the stone become so vast that it filled the whole world.

   最后,这块胜利的石头开始膨胀。它越变越大,直到最后成为一座大山。国王醒来的之前,这块石头变得非常巨大,以至充满了全世界。

 

Daniel Explains但以理的解释

 

“This is the dream, and we will tell the interpretation thereof”,8 said Daniel.

但以理接着说:“这就是那梦。我们在王面前要讲解那梦。”(但以理书236

The king listened intently to Daniel’s explanation. He realised that Daniel was the possessor of superhuman knowledge. Within a few minutes the mighty man would be kneeling down before Daniel, and saying, “Of a truth, it is that your God is a God of gods, and a Lord of kings, and a revealer of secrets.”9

国王认真听了但以理的解释。他认识到但以理具有超人的知识。尼布甲尼撒王——这位有权势的人俯伏在地,向但以理下拜,并且说:“你们的神诚然是万神之神、万王之主,又是显明奥秘事的。”247

Meanwhile, this was the secret that Daniel had revealed. The statue was a kind of “map” of world history, with a time scale running from top to bottom. Like any small-scale map, this one could not attempt to show any detail, but only the broad outline of history. And the outline was this:

这也是但以理所揭示的秘密。这尊像是另一种形式的世界历史“地图”,时间刻度从头到尾。就像任何大比例尺地图的目的不是为了显示细节一样,这幅图画是为了显示广阔的历史大纲。这个大纲就是:

 

(1)  The golden head was Nebuchadnezzar’s own great empire.10

金头代表尼布甲尼撒自己的帝国。(但以理书23738

(2)  His empire was to be followed by a second (the silver chest and Arms).11

  他的帝国将被第二个帝国所取代。(但以理书239

(3)  After that would come “another third kingdom of brass, which shall bear rule over all the earth”.12

(Note how the words in italics show that Daniel is not talking about local kingdoms, but about what might be called “world empires”-bearing in mind that the known world in those days was a great deal smaller than it is today.) 接下来的另一个帝国,“就是铜的,必掌管天下。”(但以理书239(请注意:但以理讨论的是当时的世界性帝国, 因为当时的世界要比今天世界小的多。)

(4)       The iron represented a fourth great empire, which would be the strongest of them all.13

铁代表着第四个大帝国,它将是4个帝国之中最强大的。

(5) But after this the world empire would be divided, never to be reunited by human hands. As Daniel put it, “The kingdom (empire) shall be divided . . as the toes of the feet were part of iron and part of clay, so the kingdom shall be partly strong and partly broken... they shall not cleave (join) one to another, even as iron is not mixed (joined) with clay.”14

在这些世界性的帝国分裂之后,它们将来决不会经过人的手统一。正如但以理说的:“既见像的脚和脚指头,一半是窑匠的泥,一半是铁,那国将来也必分开。你既见铁与泥搀杂,那国也必有铁的力量。那脚指头,既是半铁半泥,那国也必半强半弱。你既见铁与泥搀杂,那国民也必与各种人搀杂,却不能彼此相合,正如铁与泥不能相合一样。”(但以理书241-43

(6)  Eventually, at a time when the world was still full of disunited nations, God would intervene. “In the days of these (disunited) kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed ... but it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms and it shall stand for ever.”15

最终,当某个时候来临,世界依然充满了分裂的国家。 神会亲自干预世界的事务。“当那列王在位的时候,天上的神必另立一国,永不败坏,也不归别国的人,却要打碎灭绝那一切国,这国必存到永远”。(但以理书244

 

Has it Happened? 这些事情已经发生了吗?

 

Since God has not yet intervened openly in world affairs, Stage 6 must still lie in the future. But what of the first five sections of the prophecy; have they been fulfilled, or not?

因为  神还没有公开地干预世界事务,第6阶段还停留在将来。但是预言中其它5部分是不是已经实现了呢?

We cannot all be historians, so we must compare the prophecy with a history book. H. G. Wells’ Short History of the World16 is doubly suitable for this purpose. First, because it is very brief (250 pages) 50 that, like Daniel 2, it gives a bird’s-eye view-”shorn of elaborations and complications”, as the author says in his preface. Secondly, since Wells was famous for his anti-religious views, we can be quite certain that he did not frame his book to fit Daniel 2.

我们不可能每个人都是历史学家,因此我们可以将历史学家威尔(H. G. Wells)写的世界简史(Short History of the World)和圣经进行对照。我选择这本书的原因,第一是这本书很简短,只有250页;其次,威尔以反对宗教信仰而闻名,因此我们可以肯定威尔的书不会故意按照但以理书第二章的框架来写。

Yet a careful look at the contents page of Wells’ book shows that he recognised four, and only four, great empires in the ancient world. Until modern times, when he speaks of the colonial “empires” of the European powers (which were, of course, quite unlike the world-empires of the past) the only chapter headings that mention empires are these:

如果我们仔细看看威尔写的这本书的目录,就可以看出他已经确定了在古代世界存在的四个帝国,仅仅是四个。直到现代,威尔将欧洲的殖民帝国也看成是帝国,(欧洲的殖民帝国与古代的帝国是有很大的不同)。他这样提到它们:

 

XX     The Last Babylonian Empire and the Empire of Darius I

XXVI      The Empire of Alexander the Great

XXXIII  The Growth of the Roman Empire

XXXV     The Common Man’s Life under the Early Roman Empire

XXXVI    Religious Developments under the Roman Empire

XXXIX    The Barbarians Break the Empire into East and West

XL The Huns and the End of the Western Empire

XLI The Byzantine and Sassanid Empires

 

第20章  巴比伦帝国的后期以及大流士1世的帝国

24  亚历山大大帝和他的帝国

33  罗马帝国的兴起

35  罗马帝国早期普通人的生活

36  罗马帝国统治下的宗教发展

39  蛮族人的进攻,罗马帝国的分裂

60  匈族人结束西罗马帝国

61  拜占庭帝国和萨桑王朝

 

What are these empires that Wells mentions?

威尔提到的是那四个帝国呢?

He begins, like Daniel, with the Babylonian Empire of Nebuchad­nezzar.

他从尼布甲尼撒王的巴比伦帝国的开始,和但以理书的记载相同。

His second empire is “the Empire of Darius I”. In the text of his book he explains that this was the Empire of the Medes and Persians, which swallowed up and succeeded the Babylonian Empire. A later chapter in Daniel17 also names the conquerors as the Medes and Persians, and their emperor as Darius.

第二个帝国从“大流士I世”开始。在威尔的书中,他解释这个帝国就是玛代和波斯帝国,这个国家吞并了巴比伦帝国。但以理书的52831同样给出了玛代和波斯征服者的姓名,例如大流士。  

Another chapter in Daniel18 stated that the Medes and Persians would be conquered in their turn by the Greeks. This ties up with Wells’ next chapter heading, “The Empire of Alexander the Great”, who was the greatest of the Greek rulers.

根据但以理书的另外一章记载,玛代和波斯帝国被希腊帝国所征服,这和威尔下一章的标题“亚历山大大帝”是有联系的。亚历山大大帝是希腊最伟大的君王。

Fourthly, Wells comes to the Roman Empire, which was so impor­tant and lasted so long that it occupies several chapters. (A hint of its greatness was given by Daniel when he said, “the fourth kingdom shall be strong as iron”.)

接下来,威尔记载了罗马帝国,这个帝国的历史是非常重要的,以至他用了好几章的篇幅来描写。(这个帝国和但以理书中的“第四国,必坚壮如铁”有联系)。

In Chapter xxxix Wells speaks of the splitting of the Roman Empire into two halves, East and West. Chapter XL tells what, happened to the Western Empire, and Chapter XLI the Eastern Empire (the Byzantine-Sassanid half of the Roman Empire). Here again is a remarkable correspondence with Daniel: the empire that ended its day split into two parts is represented in Daniel by two legs.

在第39章中,威尔谈到了罗马帝国一分为二,成为东罗马帝国和西罗马帝国。第60章告诉我们发生在东罗马的事情,在61章记载了发生在西罗马帝国的事情。这样威尔的书又和但以理书发生了很强的联系。因为罗马帝国分裂成了两个部分,而但以理书中的第四个帝国有两条腿。

Daniel was quite emphatic that this fourth empire would be per­manently divided. He was right. Wells’ book makes it perfectly clear that after the final extinction of Rome there has never been another all-powerful world empire.

但以理非常明确地判断,第四个帝国将来会永久地分裂。他是对的。威尔的书中也非常清楚地表明,在罗马帝国灭亡以后,不再有另一个世界性的帝国。

But this conclusion-that the empire of Rome was the last world empire-is too important to rest upon the testimony of Wells alone. So here are some words by one of the greatest of all historians, Gibbon. He, like Wells, did not believe in the Bible, and certainly did not write this passage with the intention of supporting Daniel.

但是,罗马帝国将是最后一个世界性的帝国这个结论是如此重要,决不是靠威尔一个人可以证明了的。Gibbon也是一位伟大的历史学家,同威尔一样不相信圣经,他下面这一段话也不是为了支持但以理书而写的:

 

“The division of Europe into a number of independent states, connected, however, with each other by the general resemblance of religion, language and manners, is productive of the most beneficial consequences to the liberty of mankind. A modern tyrant... would soon experience a gentle restraint from the example of his equals, the dread of present censure, the advice of his allies, and the appre­hension of his enemies.

... But the empire of the Romans filled the world, and when that empire fell into the hands of a single person, the world became a safe and dreary prison for his enemies.”19 (The italics are mine.)

“欧洲分裂成为一系列独立国家,被宗教、语言和行为的相似性联系在一起,这是人类追求自由的最大成果。现代的独裁者会受到下列因素制约:其它权力机关的限制,同盟者的建议,以及政敌的攻击。 

但是当整个帝国掌控一个人的手中,罗马帝国充满了当时的世界。世界变成了一个人的监狱”

Here, then, is another remarkable fact about the Bible that demands explanation. The prophet declared that there would be four world empires, and only four. A twentieth-century historian, unbeliever though he was, admitted that this has happened.

在这里,有一件与圣经有关的事实需要解释。这位先知宣布将来会有4个世界性的帝国,并且只有4个。而且有一位20世纪的历史学家,尽管他不相信圣经,也承认事情的发生确实是这样的。

How did the prophet manage to foresee this? How did he know that the fourth empire would be the strongest of them all? That it would be divided into halves? And, above all, how did he know that never again would some power-hungry conqueror unite western civilisation under one rule?

先知是如何预先看到这一点的?他怎样才能知道第四个帝国是最强盛的?而且第四个帝国要分裂成为两个部分?最重要的是,他怎么知道世界决不会有这样的帝国出现?

The unbelievers’ attempts to explain the facts are pathetic. The best they can do is to argue (despite a lack of conclusive evidence) that the prophecy was not written by Daniel, but by an unknown forger writing in the days of the Greeks.

那些不信仰圣经的人的解释是站不住脚的。他们能够做的事情就是否认但以理书是但以理书写的(尽管他们没有令人信服的证据),而是由希腊帝国时期的一位假冒但以理的人写成的。

All this does is to evade the facts, not to explain them. Even if the unbelievers were right in saying that the book of Daniel was written in the third century B.C. instead of the sixth, what of it? That would still leave 2,200 years of fulfilled prophecy to account for!

他们这样做是为了逃避事实,而不是解释事实。即使这些人说的是对的,但以理书是在公元前3世纪而不是公元前6世纪写成的,那又能够说明什么问题?这本书依然预言了2200年之后发展的历史!

Once again the only explanation that really fits the facts is the Bible’s own explanation: “There is a God in heaven that revealeth secrets, and maketh known... what shall be in the latter days.”20

我们会再次发现,只有圣经自己的解释才能符合事实:“那就是至大的 神把后来必有的事给王指明”。 (但以理书244

 

Another Reason for Prophecy预言的另一个理由

 

The motto of one politician (his friends call him George) is this:

有一句政治格言这样说:

“When you can’t reasonably answer an opponent, poke fun at him. The audience will laugh, and forget that he has a better case than you.”

“如果你不能够正确回答你的对手提出得问题,那就取笑你的对手。观众们哄堂大笑,就会忘记了你的对手比你更有理由。”

George, who is an unbeliever, applies the same tactics to the Bible. When he is faced with arguments based on fulfilled prophecy, he makes no attempt to answer them. He just grins, and talks like this.

乔治不相信圣经,他也采取这样的策略对待圣经。每一次我提到已经实现的圣经预言时,他就开口笑,然后用这样的方式来回答问题:

“So the Bible is like a racing tipster, is it? The horsey fellow says, ‘I picked the winners of the last two races, didn’t I? So you can trust me to give you a good tip for the three-thirty’. And the Bible says, ‘I’ve foretold a few things about this world. So you can trust me to give you a few tips about the next.’”

“这样说,圣经就像是一个透露内幕消息的人。这位消息灵通人士说:‘最近两场赛马我都猜对了,因此你可以相信我,按照我的猜想投注。’而圣经也这样说:‘我提前告诉了你世界的将来的一些事情,因此你可以信任我告诉你以后的事情。’”。

Poor George. His crude caricature only reveals his complete ignorance of the Bible. For one thing, unlike the racing tipster, the Bible is right every time. But there is an even more important fallacy in his attitude. Bible prophecy is not just a matter of: “Such-and-such will happen; it has happened; therefore I was right.” Bible prophecy is not just a lot of bits and pieces. Bible prophecy is a vital part of God’s message to mankind.

可怜的乔治,他的讥讽只能证明他对圣经的完全无知。和猜测赛马不一样,圣经每一次都是正确的,而赛马消息灵通人士做不到。但他最错误的地方是他的态度。圣经预言不仅仅是说:“这些事情要发生,现在已经发生了,因此我是对的。”圣经预言不仅仅只是一些零碎的片断,而是来自  神的与人类生死攸关的信息。

From Genesis to Revelation the Bible tells one connected story. It starts with the creation of a beautiful world, and says how man brought tragedy into it. It goes on to explain how God introduced a wonderful Plan to put things right. How He first raised up a chosen people; then provided a Saviour from among the chosen race; then sent that Saviour’s followers to preach the gospel to all nations; and how at last that Saviour will return to earth, to judge the living and the dead, and to fill the earth with God’s glory.

从创世纪到启示录,圣经诉说的是一个完整的故事。它以创造一个美丽的世界开始,后来又告诉我们人类是如何将悲剧带进这个世界的。接下来解释 神如何实施一个奇妙的计划,让一切事情都回到正常的状态中来。  神从他选择的那个民族中差遣一位弥赛亚(救世主)到世界,这位救世主的追随者将福音传遍整个世界,最后这位救世主将来要再次降临在地球上,审判活人和死人,并且让“全地都充满 神的荣耀”。

But the Bible was not written all at once. It was written a book at a time, over a period of some fifteen hundred years.

圣经不是一次全部写完的。在一段时间只书写一本书,整本圣经书写的时间跨度长达约1500年。 

During that time God’s Plan was steadily unfolding, step by step. And all the time the Bible was gradually telling how the Plan was getting on. It recorded each important step in the working out of the Plan. And it frequently foretold future developments in the Plan, many of which have already happened, although some have still to take place.

在这个时间, 神的计划在稳定地展开。在这个期间,圣经一直在逐步地告诉整个计划进行的程度。它记录了每一个期间的重要阶段,还经常提前告诉将来计划,很多计划中的事情是已经发生的,还有一些计划是将来要发生的。

Now we can look at Daniel 2 in a new light. Previously it was nothing more than powerful evidence that “there is none like God, declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done”.21 But now we can see it as a picture of human history guided by God, moving towards a wonderful climax.

    现在我们可以用一种新的眼光看待但以理书第二章。从前我们将它看成是一种证据,证明“我是神,再没有能比我的。我从起初指明末後的事,从古时言明未成的事,说:我的筹算必立定;凡我所喜悦的,我必成就。”(以赛亚书46910。现在我们看到,整个人类的历史好像一幅画卷,是在 神的指导下一步一步地步入高潮的。

The stone that grinds the statue to pieces, and then grows until it fills the whole earth, is Jesus Christ. He quoted the words of Daniel about that stone, and applied them to Himself.22 This last scene in Nebuchadnezzar’s dream will be fulfilled when Jesus returns to the earth.

这个打碎雕像并充满全地的石头就是耶稣基督。他曾经引用了但以理的经文,告诉人们这块石头就是他自己。(路加福音2018尼布甲尼撒梦中的最后一个情节是耶稣将来要回到地上,这个事件将在将来实现。

But this is going too fast. There are many interesting Bible prophecies about the events leading up to Christ’s Second Coming. They must have a chapter to themselves.

  我们的叙述可能太快了一点。有很多关于导致耶稣的第二次降临的预言,需要一章的篇幅进行介绍。

And before the Second Coming there had to be a First Coming. The Old Testament is full of prophecies about that. We must have a look at those first.

   但是第二次来之前肯定有第一次。旧约中充满了耶稣第一次来的预言,我们首先要看的是这些预言。

 

4

Preview of Calvary

关于耶稣的受难的预言

One evening a few years ago I carried out an interesting experiment. I was with a friend who did not believe the Bible, and, like most unbelievers, knew very little about it. But at least he was willing to discuss it.

几年以前的一个晚上,我和一个朋友在一起。他不相信圣经,同大部分这样的人一样,他也知道圣经一点点。最后他愿意和我一起讨论圣经。

So I said to him: “Excuse me, Arthur. Do you mind if I give you a little Bible quiz? I’d like to read to you a well-known Bible passage about Jesus, and then see if you can tell me whereabouts in the New Testament it comes from? Will you have a try?”

我对他说:“亚瑟,我对你进行一次圣经知识小测验,好吗?我对你读一段关于耶稣的经文,你告诉我在那本书中能够找到。你想试一试吗?”

“O.K., I’m game. I don’t mind exposing my ignorance,” said Arthur. So I read him a few verses about the sufferings and death of Jesus Christ, and then stopped.

“好吧。只是一个游戏,就是不知道也无所谓。”他说。于是我阅读到了一些关于耶稣受难和死亡的经文,然后停下来。

Arthur wrinkled his brows. “I know the words all right. But I’ve no idea which gospel they come from. Or maybe they even come from one of Paul’s epistles,” he added as an afterthought.

亚瑟开始皱眉头。“我知道这些话,但是我不知道来自哪本福音书。也有可能是保罗写的书信。”他想了一会说。

 

“No, they don’t originally come from any of those places, although they are quoted by several New Testament writers,” I said. “I was reading to you from the book of Isaiah, in the Old Testament.”

 “不对,这些话并不来自其中你提到的任何一本书,尽管后来在新约中曾经引用了这些话。”我对他说:“我刚才向你读的是以赛亚书,在旧约中。”

“In the Old Testament? You’re kidding!”

But I wasn’t kidding. I was satisfying myself that some of the Old Testament prophecies of Jesus really do fit Him so well that they can be mistaken for New Testament passages.

“在旧约中?你在开玩笑吧!”

我可不是在开玩笑。只是旧约的一些关于耶稣的预言被当成是在新约中,我自己觉得很好笑。

 

Jesus Knew About Prophecy耶稣知道关于他的预言

 

On a number of occasions Jesus reminded His followers that the Old Testament was full of prophecies about Himself. Here is just one example:

耶稣曾经多次告诉他的门徒旧约中关于他的预言会实现。下面的仅仅是一个例子:

“He (Jesus) took unto Him the twelve, and said unto them, ‘Behold, we go up to Jerusalem, and all things that are written by the prophets concerning the Son of Man shall be accomplished. For He shall be delivered unto the Gentiles, and shall be mocked, and spitefully entreated, and spitted on. And they shall scourge Him and put Him to death. And the third day He shall rise again.’”

   “耶稣带着十二个门徒,对他们说:「看哪,我们上耶路撒冷去,先知所写的一切事都要成就在人子身上。他将要被交给外邦人,他们要戏弄他,凌辱他,吐唾沫在他脸上,并要鞭打他,杀害他;第三日他要复活。」”(路加福音1831-33

Jesus was not exaggerating. Most of the dreadful things that hap­pened to Him during the last twenty-four hours of His mortal life were foretold in the Old Testament. So was His resurrection, and His ascension to heaven, too. Yet the whole of the Old Testament was already yellow with age when Jesus was born.

耶稣并没有夸大。在他作为一个人在世界上的最后24小时,大部分可怕的事情发生在他身上。他也照着圣经所预言的复活、升天。而旧约在耶稣出生之前已经至少存在了好几百年。

You may perhaps wonder whether the early Christians might have cunningly altered the wording of the Old Testament prophecies, to make them fit the events. But there is no fear of that. The Christians kept their own copies of the Bible in the Greek language, while the Jews kept their copies of the Old Testament in Hebrew.

你可能在想,是不是早期的基督徒改变了圣经旧约的预言,好让事情的发展正好和预言相吻合。但是你不用害怕这种可能性。因为基督徒拥有的版本是希腊文,而犹太人拥有的旧约版本是希伯来文。

The best copies of the Old Testament, upon which our English Bible is based, are the Jewish ones. It is quite certain that the Jews would never have altered their copies of the Scriptures, so as to further the claims of a rival religion.

最好的旧约版本是希伯来文版本,英文圣经的旧约就是根据希伯来文版本翻译而来的。犹太人从来没有改变过他们的圣经版本,更不用说是为了迎合一种与他们的信仰相抗衡的宗教了。

We need to look in detail at two of the chapters that Jesus would have had in mind. If you want to appreciate fully the wonder of these prophecies, turn them up in your own Bible. As you read them, keep asking yourself this question: how could the writers have foreseen these things, unless God inspired them?

我们需要仔细看看下面两章,这也是耶稣曾经牢记的经文。如果你希望完整地欣赏这些预言的奇妙,可以打开自己的圣经来阅读。在阅读的时候,你需要一直问自己:如果没有  神的启示,谁能够预知这些事情?

PSALM 22 describes the Man of God being put to death by His enemies. Instead of using the common Jewish method of execution (stoning) they “pierce his hands and feet”.2 He is tormented by thirst as he dies.3 His enemies stand round him.4 They stare at him.5 They laugh at him.6 They jeer at him, asking why God does not rescue him.7 They strip off his clothes and share them out, casting lots for the odd one left over.8

诗篇22章描写了  神的儿子被敌人害死的情景。犹太人判处死刑的方法使用石头将罪犯砸死,但是耶稣死的时候,“犬类围著我,恶党环绕我;他们扎了我的手,我的脚。”。(诗篇2216)他感到饥渴,“我的精力枯乾,如同瓦片;我的舌头贴在我牙床上。” (诗篇221他的敌人站在他的周围,他们看着他,他们嘲笑他。“ 有许多公牛围绕我,巴珊大力的公牛四面困住我。” (诗篇2216他们讽刺他,问为什么  神不来救他。(诗篇221“”他们嘲笑他说:“他把自己交托耶和华,耶和华可以救他吧!耶和华既喜悦他,可以搭救他吧!” (诗篇228

If you are familiar with the gospels, you will recognise each of these details. It all adds up to a picture of Calvary, painted hundreds of years before it happened.

如果你对福音书比较熟悉的话,会辨认出其中的每一个细节。它们都为耶稣受难的画面增加了色彩,而且这幅画是在事情发生前几百年就已经画好。

ISAIAH 53 fills in more of the details. He was to be “despised and rejected” by his fellow men, a “man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief”.9  He would be wounded and flogged,10 led as a condemned prisoner to his execution.11 Yet he would accept his fate meekly and without speaking in his own defence,12 although he was innocent of any crime.13

以赛亚书53章充满了更多的细节。“他被藐视,被人厌弃;多受痛苦,常经忧患。(以赛亚书533“他为我们的过犯受害,为我们的罪孽压伤”(以赛亚书535他像羊羔被牵到宰杀之地”。(以赛亚书538 尽管他从来没有做过任何犯罪的事情,他接受了自己的命运,也不曾为自己辩护。(以赛亚书539-12

The chapter insists that this was not just another martyrdom. Seven times over (in verses 4, 5, 6, 8, 10, 11 and 12) it explains that this righteous man’s death would be an atonement for the sins of others. Because of this, God would raise him from the dead,14 and give him a position of great honour.15

这一章强调的不仅仅是耶稣的受难。有超过7节(4, 5, 6, 8, 10, 11 12节)的篇幅解释了他是个完全的义人,他的死可以赎别人的罪。 因为这样,  神让耶稣从死亡中复活,并且给他极大的尊荣。

It is no wonder that when I read this chapter to Arthur, he thought it occurred in the New Testament. If it did so, people would accept it as a great piece of Christian literature, a beautiful poetic description of the sufferings of Jesus Christ. But it is not a Christian writing. It is found in the Old Testament, the Holy Book of the Jews - a nation that had always hated the thought of human sacrifice, and has never accepted Jesus.

难怪当我在阅读这一章的时候,Arthur以为这些话出现在新约。如果是这样的话,人们就会认为这些话属于基督教文学,用诗歌般的语言描写了基督的受难。但是这些话不是一个基督徒写的,这些话出现在圣经旧约。旧约是犹太人的神圣的典章,犹太民族一直仇视用人来献祭的想法,从来没有接受耶稣。

The official Jewish interpretation is that this chapter describes the’ Jewish race, not Jesus. One look at the chapter is enough to show how absurd this interpretation is. Every verse fits Jesus; half of then could not possibly be applied to the Jews. Try fitting these extract to the Jews (or, for that matter, to any other nation):

犹太人的官方解释是,这一章描写的是以色列这个民族。一个人如果已经阅读了这一章的话,就会明白这一解释是多么可笑。这里的每一句话都适合耶稣,其中的一半可能可以用在犹太人身上。如果尝试将这些经文用在犹太人(或其它任何民族)身上:

 

“He had done no violence, neither was any deceit in his mouth.

(verse 9)

“By his knowledge shall My Righteous Servant justify many, for he shall bear their iniquities.” (verse 11)

   “他虽然未行强暴,口中也没有诡诈”(第9节)

   “有许多人因认识我的义仆得称为义;并且他要担当他们的罪孽。”(第11节)

Even the Jews are not comfortable with their own interpretation. They dislike this chapter, and avoid reading it in their synagogue But though they try to ignore it they cannot destroy it. Isaiah 5 remains a lasting proof of the superhuman origin of the Bible.

犹太人自己也不对这些解释感到满意。它们不喜欢这一章,在会堂中避免读它。尽管这一章被犹太人忽视,但是他们不能将它们从圣经中抹去。以赛亚书第53章依然是圣经超人类起源的永久证据。

 

Who Was Messiah? 弥赛亚是谁?

 

It is difficult for us to appreciate the full significance of these prophecies without knowing what the Old Testament word “Messiah” meant to the Jews at the time of Jesus. Even today, it still means quite a lot to them. A Jewish encyclopaedia says this about what it calls “Messianism”:

如果我们没有理解旧约中的弥赛亚对犹太人意味着什么,我们就很难体会到这些预言的完整意义。即使是在今天,这个词汇的含义依然很丰富。犹太人的一本百科全书是这样形容“弥赛亚主义”的:

“The term ‘Mashiah’ is used in the Bible . . . it was applied an ideal king, who would bring salvation to Israel and a regeneration of the human race . .”16

“弥赛亚是一个圣经词汇,用来形容一个完美的君王,他将拯救以色列,也将拯救全人类。”

Historians tell us that in the first century Israel was positively buzzing with excitement at the prospect of Messiah’s coming. They we convinced that the time for Messiah to appear was “now, or never”.  Their conviction was based upon the following passage in the book of Daniel:

历史学家告诉我们,公元世纪的以色列人对于弥赛亚即将到来感到兴奋。他们相信弥赛亚要么马上出现,要么永远不会来。他们的确信建立在但以理书中的一些预言之上:

 

“Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people and upon thy holy city, to finish the transgression, and to make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up the vision and prophecy, and to anoint the most Holy. Know therefore and understand, that from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem unto the Messiah the Prince shall be seven weeks, and threescore and two weeks; the street shall be built again, and the wall, even in troublous times. And after threescore and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off.”17

     “为你本国之民和你圣城,已经定了七十个七。要止住罪过,除净罪恶,赎尽罪孽,引进(或作:彰显)永义,封住异象和预言,并膏至圣者(者:或作所)。你当知道,当明白,从出令重新建造耶路撒冷,直到有受膏君的时候,必有七个七和六十二个七。正在艰难的时候,耶路撒冷城连街带濠都必重新建造。过了六十二个七,那受膏者必被剪除,一无所有”(但以理书924-26

The Jews paid no attention to the words in italics, because they did not understand them. “Cut off” was a common Old Testament expression meaning “killed”,18 and the Jews did not see how Messiah could possibly be killed. They knew lots of splendid prophecies about the coming Messiah: he was going to be a great and glorious leader, the deliverer of Israel, and king of the whole world. So they turned a blind eye to the passages (including Psalm 22 and Isaiah 53) that spoke of Messiah’s death.

犹太人没有注意到用斜体字表示的这些话 ,因为他们不明白。“受膏者必被剪除”在旧约中的意思是“被杀死”,犹太人不明白弥赛亚怎么会被杀。他们知道很多关于弥赛亚来到时的辉煌场景,弥赛亚将会是伟大的荣耀的君王,以色列的拯救者,也是整个世界的王。圣经中有很多预言关于弥赛亚的死亡,包括诗篇第22章,以赛亚书第53章,但犹太人对于这些章节熟视无睹。

But what did excite them was Daniel’s promise that Messiah would appear some 69 or 70 “weeks” after the commandment to rebuild Jerusalem (which in Daniel’s day was lying in ruins). The Hebrew word for “week” is the ordinary word for “seven”, and they knew that in the prophets it could mean either seven days or seven years.19

但是让犹太人感到兴奋的是,但以理书预言弥赛亚将出现在下令重新建造耶路撒冷之后的大约697或者是707。(在但以理的日子耶路撒冷是一片废墟)。希伯来文“7”是一个很普通的词汇,他们知道在7预言中表示7天,或者是7年。(见民数记1434,以西结书44-6

So the Jews had long been waiting for Daniel’s period of 483 to 490 years (69 to 70 “weeks”) to elapse. They were not sure of the exact starting point of the prophecy, because there had been several “com­mandments to restore and to build Jerusalem” around the end of the sixth and the beginning of the fifth centuries B.C.

因此犹太人一直盼望着这483490年快点过去。他们不确信应该从什么时候计算开始的时间,因为在公元前6世纪和5世纪之间,有好几个国王“下令重新建造耶路撒冷”。

But one thing at least was clear to them: Messiah would have to come sometime in the earlier part of what we now call the first centuryA.D.

   但是至少有一点他们是清楚的:弥赛亚将在被我们称为公元1世纪的初期来到世上。

From Daniel 9, therefore, we can add two more to the growing list of prophecies fulfilled when Jesus first came:

在但以理书第9章中,我们可以在已经实现的有关耶稣第一次来到世上的预言单中,另外加上两处:

 

(1)       He came at just about the right time in history.他在已经预言的历史时刻出现。

(2)       He was killed, just as Daniel foretold the Messiah would be. 他将被杀害,因为但以理书预言了这件事情会发生。

But, what is even more important, we have learnt something about the way the Jews understood the Old Testament. There are scores of Old Testament passages that speak about a Very Important Person who was to come. This Person was occasionally referred to as “Messiah” in the Hebrew Bible (although the word appears in the English Old Testament only in Daniel 9), but in most cases he is un­named. Nevertheless the Jews accepted all these passages as prophecies of the Messiah

更重要的是,我们明白了犹太人理解旧约的方式。在旧约中数十次提到了将来会有一个伟大的人物要来。这个人就是“弥赛亚”,尽管这个圣经词汇只在但以理书中出现过。在大部分的情况下是没有给出名字或称呼的。然而犹太人接受了所有关于弥赛亚的预言。

It is essential that we keep this fact in mind. Some of those passages may not look to an English reader as if they are prophecies of the Messiah. But the Bible was not written, in the first place, for English-speaking people. It was written by Hebrews, for Hebrews. And the ancient Hebrews had a very different literary style from modern Europeans.

将这些事实放在脑海中,这是很重要的一点。其中有一些段落对于英国读者来说,不像是有关弥赛亚的预言。但是圣经起初并不是为说英语的人而写的。圣经最早是由希伯来人写的,为希伯来人而写。而古希伯来语和现代欧洲人的语言习惯有很大的区别。

The ancient Jews themselves had no doubt at all that those passages were prophecies of the Messiah. Consequently we are bound to take the Jews’ word for it, and look at the prophecies in the same way as they did.

   古代的犹太人自己从来没有怀疑这些段落是有关弥赛亚的预言。我们也只能用犹太人的语言习惯、方式看待这些预言。

 

More Prophecies of Messiah更多的关于弥赛亚的预言

 

There are so many of these prophecies that it is difficult to know when to stop. Here are five more to add to the list:

这类预言有很多,以至我们不知道选择。下面5个例子就是一些:

(1)  He was to be born in Bethlehem.他出生在伯利恒

 

“But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth unto Me that is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting.”20

  “伯利恒、以法他啊,你在犹大诸城中为小,将来必有一位从你那里出来,在以色列中为我作掌权的;他的根源从亘古,从太初就有。”(弥迦书52

We all know that Jesus actually was born in Bethlehem. That an established fact. Even those arch-enemies of the Christian faith the Pharisees and Sadducees, never denied it. But has it ever occurred to you how unlikely it was for that prophecy to have been fulfilled by accident?

我们都知道耶稣出生在伯利恒。这是明白无误的事实。即使是基督教的最主要敌人法利赛人和撒都该人从来也不曾否认过。但你思考过这个预言是巧合的可能性有多大?

Bethlehem was, as the prophecy mentioned, a very small place. some unscrupulous gentleman wanted to establish a reputation for himself as a prophet, he might take a gamble and say, “The next president of the United States will be a man born in New York.” many leading Americans are New Yorkers that at least he would stand a sporting chance of being right.

正如预言提到的,伯利恒是一座非常小的城市,假如某位先生自称是先知,他打赌说:“美国的下一届总统将出生于纽约。”因为纽约市一个人口很多的大都市,他说话成立的可能性还是比较大的。

But suppose that he said “The next president of the United States will be born in Piketon, Ohio.” Since Piketon has only a few thousand inhabitants the odds against his guess being right would be enormous. Yet Micah picked a similarly insignificant village as the birthplace of the Messiah-and his prophecy came true.

但如果他说:“美国的下一任总统将出生在俄亥俄州的皮克顿”。由于这个小镇只有几千居民,预言成功的可能性非常小。然而,弥迦的预言却选择了一个微不足道的小城市作为弥赛亚的出生地,而且这个预言真的实现了。

How did Micah manage it, unless he was inspired by God?

如果不是  神的启示,弥迦怎么会知道?

 

(2) He was to enter Jerusalem on an ass.耶稣骑着驴子进入耶路撒冷

I can imagine your reaction to that statement. “Well, so what? Lots of people entered Jerusalem on asses, didn’t they? Why shouldn’t Jesus do so, too-especially if He had read the prophecy that said He had to?”

我可以想象你的反应:“这有什么可奇怪的,很多人是骑着驴子进入耶路撒冷的。为什么耶稣这样做就很特别呢?”

For a very good reason. Lots of people did indeed enter Jerusalem on asses, but they were all ordinary, humble folk. Conquering kings were far too high and mighty to ride asses. They rode on mules warhorses, or in chariots. And the prophet said that it was as King of Jerusalem, King of the World, that Jesus would arrive at His capital city on a humble donkey. Here are Zechariah’s words: 

确实有很多人是骑着驴子进入耶路撒冷的,但是这些人都是一般的老百姓。有权力高高在上的国王是不会骑着驴子进城的,他们都骑着战马,或坐着战车。先知的预言说耶稣是耶路撒冷的王,也是世界的王,耶稣进入他的首都的时候是骑着驴子,以下就是撒迦利亚的话:

 

“Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion; shout, O daughter of Jerusalem: behold, thy King cometh unto thee: he is just, and having salvation; lowly, and riding upon an ass, and upon a colt the foal of an ass . . . and he shall speak peace unto the nations,  and his dominion shall be from sea even to sea, and from the river even to the ends of the earth.”21

  “锡安的民哪,应当大大喜乐;耶路撒冷的民哪,应当欢呼。看哪,你的王来到你这里!他是公义的,并且施行拯救,谦谦和和地骑著驴,就是骑著驴的驹子…..他必向列国讲和平;他的权柄必从这海管到那海,从大河管到地极”。(撒迦利亚书9910

When these words were written, they would have seemed utterly ridiculous. What king would ever become “lowly, and riding upon an ass”? And if he ever did approach his capital in such an improper fashion, would his people “rejoice greatly” and “shout” their approval of such behaviour? How absurd it must all have sounded!

这些话写的时候看起来是多么可笑。有哪一位国王会“谦谦和和地骑著驴”?如果有这样的国王用这样的低姿态进入自己的首都,他的百姓会对此“大大喜乐”、赞扬?这些话听起来非常荒谬!

And yet, when it happened, it all seemed perfectly natural. Jesus was a poor man, a humble man, a man of peace. It would have been unthinkable for Him to have mounted a warhorse. Yet at the same time He had the bearing, the strength of character, the dynamic personality and the personal magnetism of a mighty king.

然而,当事情就是这样发生时,一切看起来都是那么自然。耶稣是一个穷人,一个谦卑的人,一个带来和平的人。对他来说,骑着高头大马是不可想象的,尽管他具有一位君王的品德。

So when Jesus deliberately rode into Jerusalem in the way that Zechariah had said He must, nobody laughed. Instead, great crowds carpeted His path with their own clothing, and shouted their acknowledgement that He was their King.22

因此,当耶稣故意起着“骑著驴”沿着撒迦利亚预言的道路进入耶路撒冷的时候,没有人笑话他。相反地,他们欢呼,因为他们知道他就是他们的王。(马可福音11910

Without this response from the crowd, any attempt by Jesus to fulfil Zechariah’s prophecy would have been a farce. But as it turned Out, an utterly improbable prophecy came true.

   如果没有群众的配合,任何耶稣自己想实现撒迦利亚预言的尝试都是一场闹剧。已经发生了的事情证明,完全不可能的预言变成了现实。

                                                                                                                          

(3)  He was to be uniquely righteous.他是世界上唯一的义人

Suppose we ask the question: “Why should God bless Messiah so richly, by making him so much greater than anyone else?”

Several correct answers could be given. This is the reason given in Psalm 45:

假定我们问这个问题:“为什么  神会如此丰盛地赐福给他,让他比其他任何人都伟大?”

这个问题有很多种正确答案。诗篇45章给出的理由是:

 

“Thou art fairer than the children of men

Grace is poured into thy lips

Therefore God hath blessed thee for ever.”23

“Thou hast loved righteousness and hated wickedness

Therefore God, thy God, hath anointed thee

With the oil of gladness above thy fellows.”24

  “你比世人更美;在你嘴里满有恩惠;

所以神赐福给你,直到永远。”(诗篇452

  “你喜爱公义,恨恶罪恶;

所以神,就是你的神用喜乐油膏你,

胜过膏你的同伴。”(诗篇457

The answer is clear. God would bless Messiah so richly because of his perfect speech and his perfect behaviour. Consequently, only a perfect man could claim to be Messiah. An unrighteous self-styled Messiah would soon have been exposed as a fraud.

答案很清楚。 神如此赐福给他,因为他完美的言行。只有完全的义人才能自称弥赛亚。其他自称是弥赛亚的人只能很快露出原形。

Jesus made this claim. “Which of you convicteth Me of sin?” He asked.25 No one took up His challenge.

耶稣说:“你们中间谁能指证我有罪呢?”(约翰福音846没有人敢接受这样的挑战。

His disciples, who knew Him intimately, were clearly convinced of His utter sinlessness. The whole Christian gospel of salvation was based upon a belief in a sinless sacrifice. As Peter put it:

    他的门徒了解他,相信他是完全无罪的。基督教福音是建立在一个无罪的羔羊的身上。正如彼得所说的:

“Ye were redeemed with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot . . . who did no sin . . . For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust.”26

  “你们得赎……乃是凭著基督的宝血,如同无瑕疵、无玷污的羔羊之血他并没有犯罪因基督也曾一次为罪受苦就是义的代替不义的”。(彼得前书11819222318

Now suppose that this had not been true. Suppose that Jesus had actually been as imperfect as everybody else. Isn’t it obvious that in that case Christianity would have been stillborn? The Pharisees and Sadducees stopped at nothing-not even at persecution and murder

假设这些都不是真的。假设耶稣和其他任何人一样都有缺点,这样还会有基督教产生吗?法利赛人和撒都该人不惜以陷害和谋杀为手段,难道只是为阻止一个不存在的人?

-in their attempts to stifle the preaching of the early disciples. Yet they could have destroyed the very foundation of Christianity by bringing evidence that Jesus was a sinner. 

 他们阻止使徒们传教的过程中,如果他们能找到证据证明耶稣是罪人,他们就可以将基督教的根基完全摧毁。

But they failed to do it.

但是他们没有能够做到这一点。

Why?为什么?

One answer stands out as being far more likely than any other. They could not. Jesus fulfilled the prophecy that Messiah would be a sinless man.

有一种答案比其它任何答案的可能性更大。因为他们做不到。耶稣应验了以赛亚书的预言:弥赛亚将是一个无罪的人。

 

(4)  He was to rise from the dead 他将来要从死亡中复活。.

Did Jesus rise from the dead? This question is so important that a whole chapter must be devoted to it. For now, it is enough to put on record that the Old Testament prophesied that He would.

耶稣从死里复活了吗?这个问题是如此重要,以至我们要在本书后面用一整章的篇幅来阐述。

“My flesh also shall rest in hope

For thou wilt not leave my soul in hell,

Neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption.

Thou wilt shew me the path of life.

In thy presence is fulness of joy;

At thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore.”27

“因此,我的心欢喜,我的灵快乐;

我的肉身也要安然居住。

因为你必不将我的灵魂撇在阴间,也不叫你的圣者见朽坏。

你必将生命的道路指示我。

在你面前有满足的喜乐;在你右手中有永远的福乐”。(诗篇169-11

This prophecy is easier to understand in the original Hebrew than in the English. The word translated “hell” in the second line is the Hebrew word Sheol which simply means “the place of the dead”. In about thirty places in our Old Testament it is translated “the grave”.

预言的希伯来文比英文翻译更容易懂。“阴间”(Sheol在希伯来文中的意思是“死人所在的地方”,在旧约中大约有30处“阴间”(Sheol被翻译为“坟墓”。

As the Apostle Peter pointed out28 the Psalm clearly means that, although Messiah would be buried, his body would not rot away in the grave. He would be raised up by God to a new life of everlasting Joy

正如使徒彼得指出的(使徒行传222-24,诗篇清楚地告诉我们,尽管弥赛亚会被埋葬在坟墓中,他的身体却不会再坟墓中腐烂。他会被  神复活,而且  神将赐给他永远喜乐的新生命。

At this stage you must reserve your judgement as to whether this prophecy was fulfilled, or not. After you have read Chapter 7, you may be able to decide.

在这个阶段,需要你自己判断这些预言是否已经实现。本书第7章可能会帮助你自己下结论。

 

(5)  He was to ascend to heaven.他要升到天堂。

Another prophecy which must have been impossible to understand at the time was written by King David:

当大卫王写下这些话的时候,人们不可能理解其中的含义:

 

“The Lord said unto my lord, ‘Sit thou at My right hand, Until I make thine enemies thy footstool’.”29

“The Lord hath sworn and will not repent, Thou art a priest for ever

After the order of Melchizedek.”30

“耶和华对我主说:你坐在我的右边,等我使你仇敌作你的脚凳。”(诗篇1101

“耶和华起了誓,决不後悔,说:你是照著麦基洗德的等次永远为祭司。”(诗篇1104

The astonishing thing about this Psalm of David is that it exists in the Jewish scriptures at all. Humanly speaking, it has no business to be there. From a Jewish point of view, it should never have been written, or, if written, it should have been burnt at once, as heresy.

让人惊奇的是,这些诗篇一直保存在圣经之中。用犹太人的观点来看,这些话本来就不应该写。如果已经写了,应该马上被当成是异端烧掉。

Many prophecies declare that Messiah was to be a descendant of David. In accordance with oriental custom, this meant that he should be subordinate to David. Yet in the opening line, David refers to Messiah as “my lord”.

有很多圣经经文已经宣布弥赛亚将是大卫的后裔。按照东方的传统,弥赛亚应该比大卫的地位低。然而在这个时候,大卫却称呼弥赛亚为“我主”。

Whatever made David do that? Jesus asked this question of the rabbis, and they could not answer.31 It did not make sense to them.

大卫为什么这样说呢?耶稣曾经问犹太人的拉比这个问题,但他们回答不出来。(马太福音2241-46对他们来说这句话不符合常识。

The next two lines were (and still are) equally baffling to the Jews. Since Messiah is to be king of the world, why should he have to ascend to heaven and wait there for some time before being given power on earth?

接下来的两行圣经同样使犹太人感到困惑(至今也是这样)。既然弥赛亚是世界的王,为什么他必须升天,并在那里等待以后,才能回到地上作王?

The last three lines of the passage quoted above are even more surprising, if you know the Old Testament background. This Messiah who Sits in heaven is to be an everlasting priest, “after the order of Melchizedek”.

如果你知道圣经旧约的背景的话,最后三行应该让犹太人感到更加吃惊:坐在天上的弥赛亚将成为永远的大祭司,而且是“按照麦基冼德的等次”。

The point of this is that Messiah, like all Jewish kings, had to be of the tribe of Judah. But Jewish priests could only come from the tribe of Levi, and consequently a king could not possibly be a priest. King Uzziah tried to do a priest’s job once, and God immediately punished him for it.32

   问题的要点在于,犹太人的王来自犹大支派。而祭司只能来自利未支派中。因此犹太人的国王不可能同时是祭司。有一位犹大国王想做祭司做的工作,结果他马上受到了  神的惩罚。见历代志下2616-20

How, then, could Messiah be a priest? The answer lies in the reference to Melchizedek. This man is mentioned only once before in the Bible, and that in the very beginning, way back in the book of Genesis. Melchizedek was a priest to Abraham, and he was also a king.33

弥赛亚可以成为祭司吗?答案在有关麦基冼德的解释中。这个人在圣经的前半部分中只提到过一次,在创世记,就是圣经的第一本书中。 麦基冼德以祭司的身份出现在亚伯拉罕面前,他同时还是一位国王。(创世记1418-20

Moreover, as one New Testament writer pointed out,34 he was an even greater man than Abraham who paid him tithes. Consequently his priestly order must have been far higher than that of the priests descended from Abraham.

而且,正如在新约圣经中提到的,耶稣比亚伯拉罕更加伟大。(希伯来书71-4因此,耶稣的祭司职位也远远比亚伯拉罕的后代所担任的更加伟大。

 

The priests of Israel must have winced every time they read that psalm. It was both baffling and painful. It implied that their own order of priesthood would come to an end, and give way to a greater order when Messiah came. Yet those same priests had somehow been compelled to keep that uncomfortable psalm for centuries, safely preserved along with the rest of their Scriptures.

以色列人的祭司每次在阅读这一段诗篇的时候肯定会感到迷惑,也感到痛苦。这段经文暗示了他们的祭司身份将来要让位于比他们更伟大的弥赛亚。尽管他们对这段经文感到不舒服,他们还是将它同其它经文安全地保存在一起。

Once more we have a strange fact that demands an explanation. How did a psalm that could never have made sense to its writer come to be written? How did it come to be accepted as part of the Jewish Scriptures? Why did the priests, who must have found it so embarrassing-mg, keep it and not destroy it?

这些奇怪的事实同样需要解释。为什么是诗篇的作者会写下这些似乎是毫无意义的话?为什么这些话会成为圣经经文的一部分?尽管犹太人的祭司对这些话管道感到尴尬,为什么他们会将这些话保留,而不是销毁它?

And above all, how does it happen that the events recorded in the New Testament fit the psalm so perfectly? That they, and they alone, bring the psalm to life and fill it with meaning?

更重要的是,究竟有什么事情发生,让圣经新约完美地适合这些预言?是这些事实让诗篇具有意义。

I have heard only one explanation that fits all the facts. The psalm must be a prophecy given by God. The New Testament account of Jesus ascending to heaven, to be a priest for His followers and to await the time of His Second Coming, must be true.

    只有一种解释能够符合所有事实。诗篇中的预言肯定是  神的启示。新约中关于耶稣升天的记载,他现在是大祭司的记载,以及他要第二次降临的记载,一定是正确的。

 

Taking Stock 事实归纳

 

Some very important facts have been established in this chapter.

在本章中我们确定了一些重要的事实。

There is clear evidence that most of the main events described in the gospels were foretold in the Old Testament. These include the crucifixion (with very much detail), the approximate date of Christ 5 appearance, His birthplace, the extraordinary nature of His triumphal entry into Jerusalem, His perfect character, His resurrection, His ascension to heaven, His heavenly priesthood, and the promise of His Second Coming.

我们有明确的证据证明,福音书记载的大部分事件在圣经旧约中都有预言。其中包括耶稣的受难(非常详细的细节),他出生的大约时间、明确的地点、他进入耶路撒冷的方式、他完美的品德、他的复活、他的升天,他在天上成为我们的大祭司,以及他向我们应许他还要再次回到地上。

How do the unbelievers explain these facts?

那些不相信圣经的人该如何解释这些事实?

Not very well. I think I am being fair to them in saying that these are the alternatives they offer you:

  他们的解释都不太好,而且不外乎下面几个:

(1)  Perhaps Jesus deliberately fulfilled the prophecies.可能是耶稣故意使预言得到实现

One theory is that He spent years swotting up the Old Testament until He knew all the Messianic prophecies, and then went around fulfilling them. But this bristles with difficulties. To begin with, how did Jesus contrive to get Himself born in Bethlehem? How did He manage to achieve what no other human being has managed: a sinless life? Did He really arrange to be tortured to death, just because prophecy required it? And if so, how did He persuade His executioners to comply with all the detailed requirements of the prophecy? And what about His resurrection and ascension to heaven?

这种理论说,耶稣花费了好几年的时间来,最后他明白了所有的关于弥赛亚的预言,然后自己去实现这些预言。但是这种情况太难以办到了:首先,耶稣怎样才能设法让自己出生在伯利恒?没有人能够从不犯罪,耶稣怎样做到其他任何一个人都做不到的事情?难道他真的故意安排自己的死亡,仅仅是因为预言说过?而且他又怎样劝说那些杀死他的人按照预言的每一个细节去做?他又怎么能够复活,升天?

Obviously that won’t do.

   很显然这种假设行不通。

 

(2)  Perhaps the early Christians twisted the Old Testament.可能是早期的基督徒歪曲了旧约

It has been suggested that the first Christians “saw” prophecies in the Old Testament where no prophecies really existed-that they twisted the meaning of the Old Testament to bolster up their own preaching.

这种理论说,最早的基督徒看见了旧约的预言,他们歪曲了旧约的意义来支撑自己的教义。

But that won’t do, either. The early Christians interpreted their Old Testament in the same way that Jews had always done. Even the unbelieving Jews never denied that the Old Testament was full of Messianic prophecies. The Jews merely denied that Jesus of Nazareth was the Messiah, because He did not behave as they thought the Messiah ought to behave.

但是这种理论也不成立。早期的基督徒是按照犹太人的传统来翻译旧约圣经的。即使是不相信耶稣的犹太人也从不否认旧约中充满了关于弥赛亚的预言。犹太人仅仅是否认拿撒勒人耶稣是弥赛亚,因为耶稣的行为和他们所认为弥赛亚不一样。

 (3). Perhaps the early Christians distorted the facts of history .有可能是早期的基督徒歪曲了历史事实

According to this theory the events recorded in the gospels never took place at all. This treats the New Testament as nothing more than a collection of legends, compounded to make it look as if Old Testa­ment prophecy was being fulfilled.

按照这种理论,福音书记载的事件从来没有发生过。这种理论将新约仅仅看成是一系列传说的集合,有人将这些故事组合起来,看起来好像是旧约预言真的得到实现。

That was a popular excuse in Queen Victoria’s day, but it does not hold water nowadays. We know now that the gospels were written while plenty of eyewitnesses were still alive. (Chapter 16 gives the evidence for this.) And besides, the moral tone of the New Testament is so high that it simply cannot be the work of men who cooked up stories to deceive the public.

在维多利亚的时代它是不相信圣经的人常见的借口,但现在行不通了。我们知道,在福音书书写的年代,有大量的见证人还活着,编造故事欺骗大众的人写不出新约充满高尚道德情操的作品。

 

Well, what do you think?

Which is easier? Which is more reasonable?

To believe that the prophecies of the Old Testament were fulfilled in Jesus of Nazareth?

Or to believe the feeble explanations of the unbelievers?

 

那么,你是怎样看待这个问题的呢?

那一种更容易接受,那一种更合理?

是相信耶稣已经实现了旧约中的预言,还是相信那些不相信耶稣的人的虚妄的解释?

 

5

 

Jesus Foretells Twentieth-Century Problems

耶稣已经预言了二十世纪的问题

 

Very few people ever think of Jesus Christ as a prophet. Yet He was. He made many predictions about the future, all of which have either come true already, or are beginning to come true now.

只有少数人把耶稣看成是先知,其实他是。耶稣作了很多关于未来的预言,这些预言要么已经实现,要么正在实现。

Some of His predictions must have sounded utterly improbable at the time He made them. Yet they came true. Take this one, for instance:

有些预言在当时看起来是完全不可能的,然而它们已经变成了现实。现在举一个例子说明:

“And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations.”1

    “这天国的福音要传遍天下,对万民作见证,然后末期才来到(马太福音2414

When Jesus spoke those words, He had only a handful of followers, and those were mostly uneducated working-class men. He had com­pletely failed to convert His own small nation. The ordinary people were mostly unmoved by His message, and the leaders hated Him like poison. Within a few weeks they would have Him hanging on a cross.

耶稣说这些话的时候,跟从他的只有一小部分人,大多数是没有受过教育的劳动阶层。他们不能够改变自己少数派的特性。大部分普通人对耶稣的传道无动于衷,统治阶级视耶稣为毒药,在几个星期以前,他们曾经将耶稣钉死在十字架上。

By all the laws of human probability, that should have been the end of it. Those who watched Him die must have thought, “Well, we shan’t hear any more of Him and His confounded gospel!”

按照人类的概率法则,耶稣的福音完全会被抹杀。那些看见耶稣死的人心里可能想:“好了,我们再也不会听见这个人说话,这个人讲的讨厌的福音也该到头了!”

But they were wrong. Within their own lifetime, His gospel was being preached over most of the Roman Empire. Since then it really has been preached to every nation on earth-the only religion that has. The words of Jesus have been translated into more than a thous­and different languages.

但是他们错了!这些人还活着的时候,耶稣的福音就传遍了罗马帝国的大部分地区。从那时起,耶稣的话被传到地球的每个民族,基督教是唯一能做到这一点的宗教。耶稣的话被翻译成了多种语言,超过一千种版本。

Bibles by the million are spread abroad each year. They go by ship to the tropics, by air to the arctic, by rail and road and forest trail to the farthest corners of the earth. Brave men and women risk life and liberty smuggling Bibles into the communist countries of Eastern Europe.

圣经以每年数百万计的速度扩展。通过轮船它被带到热带地区,通过飞机传到了北极,通过铁路和公路传到地球最偏远的角落。一些勇敢的人冒着失去生命和自由的危险,将圣经偷运进到东欧的共产主义国家。

 

 

Facts and Fashions事实和潮流

 

Yes, Jesus was a prophet whose words came true. This is a good reason for listening carefully to what He has to say about our own day.

是的,耶稣是一个先知,他的预言曾经实现过。他还预言过我们的时代,对这些预言我们要认真地听。

But first, a word of warning. Fashions come and fashions go. Yet facts are stubborn things. Facts remain the same while fashions change and change.

在开始这个话题之前,我先要写一些告诫的话。潮流来来往往,变化无常,只有事实是永不改变的。

And fashions are not restricted to the way people dress. There are changing fashions in the way people behave and think. There are even fashions in scientific thought and in religious outlook.

潮流并不是局限于人们衣着打扮的方式,人们行为和思考方式的潮流也在变化,甚至科学和宗教的外观也有潮流。

So beware of thinking that today’s fashion is necessarily right. Remember that tomorrow’s fashion will probably be quite different. “Everybody’s doing it” may be a good excuse for going along with the crowd, but it is a very poor reason.

因此我们要对当今潮流保持警惕。要记住明天的潮流很可能和今天大不一样。“别人都这样做”很可能成为随大流的很好借口,但是这个借口是站不住脚的。

A hundred years ago it was quite fashionable to believe in the Second Coming of Christ. Today it is fashionable to ridicule the idea of the Second Coming.

一百年以前,相信耶稣马上要回来成为一股潮流。而今天,认为耶稣会回来的观点受到嘲笑。

But what of it? Don’t let the fashion-mongers beguile you. It is only the fashion that has changed. The basic facts are the same as they always were. And such new facts as have come to light in recent years make it easier to believe in the Second Coming, not harder.

这是怎么会事?不要让潮流迷惑了你自己。潮流永远在变化,然而基本事实永不改变。而且最近发生的事件让我们更容易地相信耶稣会再来。

The first great fact is that Jesus promised, very plainly and emphatically, that He would come again.

第一重要的事实是耶稣已经非常明白而且强调地承诺,他要再次回来。

The second great fact is that He described what would be happen­ing in the world at the time of His return.

第二件重要的事实是耶稣描绘了他再次回来时这个世界要发生的事情。

And the third great fact is that the events He foretold are develop­ing in our world today.

第三件重要的事实是耶稣已经预言了当今世界要发生的事件。

So don’t be put off by the force of public opinion. Remember how often in the past public opinion has been proved wrong. The facts are so important that they deserve to be looked at squarely, to see what lies behind them.

我们不必被公众舆论的力量分心。很多时候公众的意见被证明是错误的。事实是如此重要,我们要严肃地看待事实后面所隐藏的东西。

Do not be put off, either, because in the past a number of cranks have believed in the Second Coming, and have persuaded some people to do some very foolish things. There have always been plenty of unbalanced people in the world, but their foolish actions are best forgotten.

也不要上当,过去很多人相信耶稣会再来的人,他们劝说别人做过很傻的事情。世界上永远存在着一些失去平衡的人,我们最好还是忘记这些人做的傻事。

Quite a lot of lunatics killed themselves trying to fly before aircraft were invented-but that is no reason to dispute the fact of modern aviation. Similarly, quite a number of poor deluded people have been known to dispose of all their possessions and climb a mountain “to wait for Jesus”-but that is no reason to dispute the actual facts about the Second Coming.

    飞机发明之前,有很多狂人想让自己飞起来,结果死于非命。同样,有很多可怜的受欺骗的人,他们抛弃了自己的财产,爬到山上去“等待耶稣”,但这些行为无损耶稣将来要再次回来的事实。

 

World in a Mess 困境之中的世界

 

We had better face it: the world is in a terrible predicament. While life in our affluent society goes gaily on, the most appalling forces are building up behind the scenes. The world is heading, helter-skelter, for a crisis too horrible to contemplate.

我们最好面对现实:世界正处在可怕的困境之中。在我们这个富裕社会,人们的生活依然舒适,但有一种令人恐惧的力量正隐藏在舞台后面。灾难总是在报纸的头条新闻,超过我们的预计。

But we must contemplate it for a few moments, however horrible it may be, because there is no other way to get at the facts. Here, then, is a summary of the six great problems facing the world today.

不管灾难是如何可怕,我们必须思考,因为我们没有逃避事实的道路。下面我列举当今世界所面临的6大可怕问题:

(1) Terrible Weapons. On August 6th 1945 the Japanese city of Hiroshima was wiped out by an atomic bomb. The same day Sir Winston Churchill made a statement about it, which was published a few days later in a British Government white paper. His statement ended like this:

(1)大规模杀伤性的武器194586,日本广岛受到原子弹的袭击。同一天,英国首相丘吉尔发表白皮书,白皮书声明的结尾说:

 

“We must indeed pray that these awful agencies will be made to conduce to peace among the nations, and that instead of wreaking measureless havoc upon the entire globe, they may become a peren­nial fountain of world prosperity.”2

   “我们必须虔诚地祷告,让这些可怕的武器不要成为威胁各国和平的手段,不要成为给整个世界带来巨大浩劫,而成为世界永在和平的根基。”

But the bomb that filled Churchill with awe and dread seems like a mere firework compared with the bombs of today. In 1968 Lord Ritchie-Calder did a few sums, and estimated the explosive power of all the atomic weapons existing then. It worked out at the equivalent of 100 tons of old-fashioned explosive (TNT) for every man, woman and child on earth.3

这种让丘吉尔感到恐怖的武器和现在的核武器相比较,就像是焰火一样。根据1968Ritchie-Calder爵士的估计,当年全世界核武器的当量,相当于平均每人(不管男女老幼)分配100吨的TNT炸药。

To put it another way, if we assume, that the average street has 200 people living in it, then there was already enough atomic explo­sive in 1968 to provide one Hiroshima-sized bomb for every street in the world.

   换句话说,大街上每200个人所分配到的核武器当量就相当于1968年广岛核武器爆炸的规模。

But bombs are not all. Nobody knows what horrors are being pre­pared in the secret germ-warfare laboratories of the great powers. A few years ago a British scientist in one of these labs died from a new germ he had helped to cultivate. “Good job he didn’t sneeze before he died,” a colleague is reported to have said. “He might have started an epidemic that would have wiped out the human race.”

不仅仅有原子弹。没有人知道一些秘密的生化武器试验室正在研究什么样的细菌武器。多年以前,一位英国科学家死于自己所培养的细菌,他的一位同事说:“太好了,他连一个喷嚏都没打就死了。要知道他正在研究如何制造给人类带来毁灭性打击的瘟疫。”

One thing is quite certain. World war would mean world catas­trophe. The vital question is: can man preserve world peace?

有一件事情是肯定的:世界大战意味着世界大灾难。问题的关键是:人类能够维持世界和平吗?

(2) Political Tension. The goal of all communists has always been clear. They are determined to turn the whole world communist. America and the Western Powers are equally determined to stop them. Unless one side gives way, sooner or later a head-on collision must occur. And so far neither side shows any sign of giving in.

(2) 政治紧张。共产主义国家的目标是非常明确的,他们要把整个世界变成共产主义。而美国和西方国家尽力在阻止共产主义。除非一方让步,正面冲突迟早会爆发。而在目前还没有一方显示出让步的迹象。

The danger of all-out war between Russia and China is also much greater than most people realise. In a book with the grim title, The Coming War Between Russia and China,4 a foreign affairs expert reveals the frightening facts. Communists always have quarrelled among themselves, and the two great communist countries are al­ready fully prepared to fight each other with atomic weapons.

中国和俄罗斯之间爆发全面战争的危险性大大超过人们的预料。一位外交专家在他的著作“中国和俄罗斯即将爆发的战争”,揭露出了令人震惊的事实。共产主义国家之间经常互相争吵,中国和俄罗斯这两个共产主义大国甚至准备在战争中动用核武器。

(3) Exploding Populations. More than half the population of the world is underfed now. Every year there are fifty million more mouths to feed. In thirty-five years time the world’s population is expected to be double what it is today.

(3)人口膨胀。现在过半数的人口处于营养不良状态。每年世界需要增加1500万人口的粮食供应,预计35年以后世界的人口会在今天的基础上增加一倍。

It is the poor nations whose populations are growing the fastest.其中穷国的人口增加速度最快。

Every year they grow poorer, while the rich nations grow richer. Sooner or later the cry is bound to come, “Shall we starve-or fight?”

结果会导致穷国变得更穷,富国更富。迟早有一天人们会说:“要么饿死,要么战斗!”

(4) Plundered Resources. Man has already cut down more than half the world’s forests, and turned vast areas of fertile land into desert. He is exterminating much of the earth’s wildlife, and using up mineral deposits at an alarming rate. As the world’s remaining resources dwindle, nations will become more and more tempted to fight for what is left.

(4) 对资源的掠夺。世界上已经有过半的森林被砍伐,大片的肥沃土地变成了沙漠。人类已经使超过半的野生动物灭绝,还以惊人的速度浪费矿产资源。随着世界的资源越来越少,国与国之间为了争夺资源爆发战争的可能性越来越大。

(5) Pollution. Man has turned many of the world’s rivers into sewers, and one of its greatest lakes into a cesspool where few fish can survive. By filling the air with fumes he has impaired the health of millions, and is in danger of changing the climate of the whole planet. If he goes on like this for another century, man could easily make the earth uninhabitable.

(5) 环境污染。很多河流已经被人类变成了臭水沟,最大的湖泊变成了污水池,只有少量的鱼儿在挣扎。现在空气污染已经影响到数百万人的身体健康,而且还会改变地球的气候。如果这种现状持续到下一个世纪,地球就不再是一个适合于人类居住的地方。

(6) Loss of Moral Sense. A little while ago I met a Chinese scientist from Formosa. “What’s the religious situation in the more prosperous parts of Asia today?” I asked him over lunch.

6)缺乏道德观点。不久前我遇见一位来自台湾的中国科学家,午餐时我问他:“亚洲一些的地方经济越来越繁荣,那里人们的宗教信仰状况如何?”

“Just the same as it is in Europe,” he replied. “Many people still claim to hold the old Eastern religions, just as England still calls itself a Christian country’. But as with you, so with us: the old religions no longer mean anything to most people. We have our ‘permissive society’ just like yours.”

“和欧洲的情况一样”,他说。“很多人声称自己信仰传统的东方美德,就像现在英国仍然声称自己是一个基督教国家一样。你们的情况就是我们的状况。传统的宗教对于大多数人来说已经不重要,我们的社会变成了一个“宽容的社会”,这一点也和你们一样。

When faith goes, morals are bound to slip. So all the advanced nations have a crime wave, rapidly growing problems of alcoholism, drug addiction and juvenile violence.

没有信仰,道德自然会滑坡。所有的发达国家都遇到犯罪率就会上升,酗酒、吸毒、青少年犯罪增加的难题。

One day in 1969 the police in Montreal went on strike for just twelve hours. Yet that was long enough for the city to be terrorised, when thousands of normally law-abiding citizens went berserk. The “civilised” world today is only one step away from a return to the jungle.

1969年的一天,加拿大蒙特利尔市的警察仅仅罢工12小时,然而已经足够让这个城市陷于恐怖之中,甚至数千名普通遵守法的公民也开始疯狂。今天,从“文明世界”到土著部落,中间相差只有一步。

 

 

Jesus Answers a Question耶稣对一个问题的回答

 

“Well, so what?” said my friend Norman one day, when I was telling him about these things. “The world’s in a mess, right enough. But then it’s often been in a mess. Jesus didn’t need to be a prophet to foretell that the world would have a load of trouble. Anybody could have foreseen that. And, anyway, what makes you think it was our particular, twentieth-century, mess that Jesus spoke about?”

“好了,这又怎样?”我们朋友罗曼说:“这个世界是一团糟,但是一直都是一团糟。耶稣不需要预言这个世界会遇到麻烦,任何人都可以预见这一点。还有,是什么让你认为耶稣说的就是我们二十世纪的独特现状?”

There is a very satisfactory answer to Norman’s question. To appreciate it we must take a close look at what Jesus said, and how He came to say it.

回答罗曼的问题有一中非常令人满意的方法。这就是我们必须先仔细地看耶稣说过什么,是怎样说的。

One day, not long before He was crucified, His disciples referred to the magnificent Temple that was Jerusalem’s pride and joy. Jesus startled them by commenting that it was going to be utterly destroyed.

耶稣受害前不久的某一天,他的门徒指向耶路撒冷的圣殿,圣殿是耶路撒冷的骄傲。耶稣告诉他们这座圣殿将来要完完全全地被拆毁。

  

So they asked Him the obvious question-when? And then they added a second question. They said:

   门徒们因此会情不自禁地问这些事情什么时候发生。他们说:

“Tell us, when shall these things be? And what shall be the sign of Thy coming, and of the end of the world?”5

请告诉我们,什么时候有这些事?你降临和世界的末了有什么预兆呢?(马太福音243

In reply Jesus talked at great length. He described how there would be a period of trouble for the nation, and of persecution for His disciples. Then, He said, an enemy army would besiege Jerusalem, and terrible events would follow.6 He continued:

    耶稣用了比较长的篇幅回答这个问题。他描绘了以色列民族将来要被压迫,自己的门徒要受到迫害。他还告诉他们,耶路撒冷将来要被敌人所围困,还有及其可怕的事情发生,因为:

“For these be the days of vengeance, that all things which are written may be fulfilled.”7

“这是报应的日子,使经上所写的都得应验。”(路加福音2122

The words in italics are very important. When Jesus spoke of things “written”, as He did many times, He always meant “written in the Old Testament”. Many Old Testament prophecies about the Jews were quoted in Chapter 2 of this book. Jesus was evidently referring to them, and others like them. He said that all of those things must be fulfilled. 

这些斜体字非常重要。耶稣在提到“经上所写的”时候,通常是指“记载于旧约中的话。”本书第2章引用了很多旧约关于犹太人的预言。耶稣说的就是这些犹太人,他说所有圣经记载的事情都要实现。

If you refer back to Chapter 2 you will see that those prophecies about the Jews were in three groups: (1) Expulsion, (2) A long period of exile, (3) Return to their homeland. In the next verse but one, Jesus summarised all those Scriptures which “must be fulfilled”:

如果你参考本书第二章,你就会看到有关犹太人的预言被分成3个阶段:(1).被赶出故土。(2).漫长的流放时期。(3).回到故土。耶稣总结说,这些预言“都得应验”。

 

“And they shall fall by the edge of the sword, and shall be led away captive into all nations [that is (1), Expulsion] and Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles [that is (2), A period of exile] until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled.”8

“他们要倒在刀下,又被掳到各国去。耶路撒冷要被外邦人践踏,直到外邦人的日期满了。”(路加福音2124

The key word “until” implies that the Gentiles would not always occupy Jerusalem. This was Christ’s way of referring to the third group of Old Testament prophecies, which spoke of the Jews eventu­ally returning to their homeland. He spoke another two verses des­cribing the state of the world at that future day, and then made a momentous promise:

 直到”是一个关键词,暗示外邦人不会永远占领耶路撒冷。这也是基督表达犹太人会回到自己本国的方式,和旧约中的预言一致。耶稣谈到了将来世界的状态,然后作出了重大的承诺:

 

“And then shall they see the Son of Man [Himself] coming in a cloud, with power and great glory.”9

“那时,他们要看见人子(耶稣自己)有能力,有大荣耀驾云降临。”(路加福音2127

In other words, Jesus taught that when the Jews went back to their homeland (and Jerusalem in particular) His Second Coming would soon follow.

用另外的话来说,在犹太人回到他们的故土(特别是耶路撒冷)以后,耶稣才有可能再来。

This is how we know that Jesus was speaking of our day. For about 1800 years the Jews lived in exile. About seventy years ago they began to go home. In 1948 the State of Israel was set up. In 1967 Israel captured the Old City of Jerusalem (they already owned the New City). At last Jerusalem was no longer “trodden down of the Gentiles”.

从这里我们可以知道耶稣说的是我们这个时代。犹太人流浪在外大约1800年,70多年以前他们开始回到故土。在1948年以色列建国。在1967年,他们夺回了耶路撒冷旧城,(现在新城也在他们的控制之下)。耶路撒冷终于不再“被外邦人践踏”。

Whether we agree with Israel’s policy of occupying Arab lands is beside the point. What matters is that Christ’s words unmistakably give us one vital piece of information. Recent events in the Holy Land have provided a sure sign that Christ’s return is near.

不管我们是否赞同以色列占领阿拉伯领土,这是另外一个问题,重要的是耶稣已经提前告诉我们这一重要信息。在以色列这片神圣的土地上所发生的事情,向我们保证耶稣再次降临的时间不会太久。

Do not be surprised if some other great changes have taken place in the land of Israel by the time you read these words. These are to be expected. For example, Ezekiel said that after God’s unworthy people had returned to their land, something miraculous would happen to convert them:

如果你已经看过这些话,就不会对以色列发生的一些其它大的变化感到惊奇。这些事情是早就可以预料到的。例如,以西结说, 神还是让这些不配的百姓回到自己的家乡,然后有一些神奇的事情会发生,使他们转变心意:

“I will gather you out of all countries and will bring you into your own land. Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you and ye shall be clean; from all your filthiness and from all your idols will I cleanse you. A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you.”10

   “我必从各国收取你们,从列邦聚集你们,引导你们归回本地。我必用清水洒在你们身上,你们就洁净了。我要洁净你们,使你们脱离一切的污秽,弃掉一切的偶像。我也要赐给你们一个新心,将新灵放在你们里面,又从你们的肉体中除掉石心,赐给你们肉心”。(以西结书3624-26

How was the ungodly nation of Israel going to be changed so suddenly? Another prophet explains:

“I will save my people from the east country and from the west country, and I will bring them and they shall dwell in the midst of Jerusalem . . . And I will pour upon the house of David and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem the spirit of grace and of supplication; and they shall look upon me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him... And one shall say unto him, ‘What are these wounds in thine hands?’ Then he shall answer, ‘Those with which I was wounded in the house of my friends’.”11

以色列人大多数时候都是不敬神的,他们是怎样突然转变?另一位先知解释说:

      “我要从东方从西方救回我的民。我要领他们来,使他们住在耶路撒冷中……我必将那施恩叫人恳求的灵,浇灌大卫家和耶路撒冷的居民。他们必仰望我,就是他们所扎的;必为我悲哀,如丧独生子,又为我愁苦,如丧长子。那日,耶路撒冷必有大大的悲哀,如米吉多平原之哈达临门的悲哀….. 必有人问他说:『你两臂中间是什麽伤呢?』他必回答说:『这是我在亲友家中所受的伤。』”(撒迦利亚书878121011136

So that is how the unbelieving Israelis are to be converted so suddenly. Their Messiah will come to them. If you read the whole of Zechariah 12 you will see that he is to come to save them from a national disaster, which might even involve them in military defeat and a temporary captivity.

这是一个不信仰耶稣的民族突然转变的原因,因为他们的弥赛亚来到他们中间。如果你仔细阅读撒迦利亚书第12章,你会看到当弥赛亚降临的时候,以色列这个民族正在遇到一场大的灾难,他们的军队被击败,甚至城市中的百姓被暂时俘虏到别的地方。

This will be the most poignant moment in Israel’s 4,000-year his­tory. They look at this Messiah who has just delivered them from their misery. They see he bears the marks of crucifixion. At long last the truth dawns upon them. and the Jews finally accept Jesus as their Messiah.

这将是以色列4000年历史上最痛苦的时刻。他们的弥赛亚将拯救他们,他们将仰望他,他们明白弥赛亚为了他们而上十字架。最后,真理会浇灌他们使他们明白真理,犹太人最终会接受耶稣是他们的弥赛亚。

 

 

Meanwhile, in the World Outside...与此同时,在外面的世界

 

But this has been looking ahead. The return of Jesus is near, but it is still future. Our task at the moment is to see what Jesus says about our day, the time after the Jewish return to Jerusalem (reference 8, above) and before the Second Coming (reference 9). I left out the two verses separating those two passages. They said:

耶稣回来的日子近了,但是还是在将来。我们此刻的目的是看看耶稣关于我们的时代说过什么,在犹太人回到耶路撒冷以后,在他回来以前。我在这里引用两句经文:

“And there shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars; and upon the earth distress of nations with perplexity,the sea and the waves roaring; men’s hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth. For the powers of heaven shall he shaken.”12

  “日、月、星辰要显出异兆,地上的邦国也有困苦;因海中波浪的响声,就慌慌不定。天势都要震动,人想起那将要临到世界的事,就都吓得魂不附体。”

(路加福音212526

Each phrase here is full of meaning. But it is no use looking at them with twentieth-century European eyes, and guessing at the mean­ing that seems likely to us. These words were spoken to first-century Jews, men steeped in Old Testament knowledge. We need to ask ourselves, “How would they have understood Christ’s words?” The answer undoubtedly is, “In the light of the Old Testament passages that Jesus was referring to.”

这里的每一句话都充满意义,但是用现代欧洲人的眼光来猜测这些话的含义是没有用的。这些话是耶稣对公元1世纪的犹太人说的,他们的圣经知识仅仅限于旧约。我们应该问一问我们自己:“他们怎样理解耶稣的话?”答案当然是:“要根据耶稣提到的圣经旧约知识”

It is therefore necessary to examine each phrase in that light.

我们要根据这一点查考每一段经文:

First, “Signs in the sun, moon and stars”. This language was a familiar Old Testament figure of speech for national disaster. Isaiah used it of the military conquest of Babylon13 and Ezekiel of the military defeat of Egypt.14 But it is the prophet Joel to whose words Jesus is most probably referring. Joel uses similar expressions twice:

首先,要看到“日、月、星辰要显出异兆”是我们熟悉的语言,这些语言用来形容一个国家的灾难。以赛亚在描叙巴比伦被征服(以赛亚书1310、以西结在提到埃及被别的国家打败时(以西结书327,都用到这些词汇。但是耶稣在这里引用这个词主要是根据约珥书中来的。约珥曾经两次使用了这个词:

once of the disaster coming upon Israel15 and again of the disaster coming upon the whole world.16 But in both chapters Joel is speaking of “the day of the Lord”, when Israel shall return to their land17 and Messiah shall appear to establish God’s kingdom.18

第一次是描写灾难降临在以色列这块土地上约珥书315,还有一次描写这个灾难后来扩散到了整个世界(约珥书31。约珥在这两章中都谈到了“耶和华的日子”,是以色列回归土地以后,弥赛亚将来会出现,建立  神的国。

 

Evidently by this expression Jesus was saying, “The great world disaster foretold by the Prophets will burst upon the world.”

耶稣用这种表达方式实际上是说:“这些先知已经早就预言过的世界性的大灾难将来会突然降临在世界上。”

His next phrase: “Upon the earth, distress of nations, with per­plexity.” Again He refers to the Old Testament prophecies about His Second Coming, such as one in Daniel that says it would be accom­panied by:

我们在来看接下来的经文:“地上的邦国也有困苦”,在这里他提到了旧约关于他第二次降临的预言,但以理书也提到过,他说,这个时刻是以色列最艰难的时刻:

“A time of trouble such as never was, since there was a nation to that same time.”19

    “从有国以来直到此时,没有这样的。”(但以理书121

A standard authority on the Greek language20 says that Christ’s word “perplexity” means, in the Greek New Testament, “a state of not knowing which way to turn”. This describes exactly the position of the world’s governments today. They know the problems threaten­ing the human race with extinction. But they do not know which way to turn to solve them.

一位希腊文权威解释说,耶稣所言的“困苦”,意思是“不知道往哪个方向去”,这也是今天世界各国政府所要面临的难题。我们知道人类生存所面临的威胁,但是不知道解决的方法。

H. G. Wells spoke for many of his fellow unbelievers, when he wrote in his last book:

  威尔是不相信圣经的代表人物。他在一本书的最后写道:

“This world is at the end of its tether. The end of everything we call life is close at hand and cannot be evaded - . - there is no way out, or round, or through the impasse. It is the end.”21

  “世界正在面临自己的尽头。我们称为生命的每一样东西都到了尽头,不能逃避,没有回头,不能转弯,也不能打破僵局。世界到了尽头”。

If he had not been an unbeliever, you might almost think that Wells was deliberately echoing Jesus - “not knowing which way to turn”.

如果他不是一位不相信  神的人,你一定会认为是在故意地迎合耶稣的观点:“不知道往哪个方向去”。

The next words of Jesus are puzzling to many Western minds: “The sea and the waves roaring”. To the careful Bible reader they present no difficulty. Behind them lies the figurative language of Isaiah, who likened the behaviour of masses of wicked people to the raging of a restless sea.22 If world catastrophe occurs, and law and order breaks down, it is not difficult to visualise the “roaring waves” of mob violence that will follow.

“因海中波浪的响声,就慌慌不定”,接下来的这句话会让很多西方人感到难以理解。但是对于认真阅读圣经的人来说,这些话是不难理解的。这句话应用了以赛亚书中的比喻,象征很多做坏事的人引起的骚乱。(以赛亚书572021如果灾难发生,法律和次序被破坏,不难想象“愤怒的波涛”后面将紧跟着暴力和抢劫。

No wonder that Jesus continues, “Men’s hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth.” It only needs one newspaper headline, such as, “American Ultimatum to Russia Expires at Midnight!” for those words to start coming true.

难怪耶稣会接下来说:“人想起那将要临到世界的事,就都吓得魂不附体。”如果那一天报纸的头条新闻是“美国向苏联发出最后通牒”,它就可能会变成现实。

The verses quoted conclude, “for the powers of the heavens shall be shaken”. This also is well-established Old Testament language, used to describe governments crashing under the impact of war.23

这句经文结论是:“天势都要震动”,在旧约中也经常使用这样的话,描写了受战争的影响下的政府。(例如以赛亚书341-5

What does all this add up to? That Jesus foretold, in language that was perfectly clear to the Jews who first heard Him, and that can be equally clear to us if we trouble to get acquainted with the figures of speech used in the Old Testament, a world just like ours.

  耶稣用当时犹太人一听就能够明白的话预言,如果我们能够了解圣经旧约中的象征意义,我们同样也能够明白,这样的世界就像我们现在的时代。

He said, in effect, that in the days when the Jews went back to the Land of Israel, the world would be facing frightful problems. World catastrophe would be looming up, but men would not know how to prevent it. When disaster came, governments would fall, law and order would go, mob violence would take its place. And then-thank God-He would return “to destroy them which destroy the earth” (to quote a phrase used in another New Testament book).24

耶稣实际上是说,在犹太人回到耶路撒冷以后,世界将会面临一系列可怕的难题。世界灾难临近,没有人知道怎样去阻止他们。在灾难来到的时候,政府垮台,法律和次序荡然无存,暴力会取代法律。然而我们应该感谢  神,因为他最终将“败坏那些败坏世界之人”。(启示录1118

How did Jesus manage to foretell so clearly the problem facing our world?

This is the explanation He gave Himself:

耶稣如何能清楚地预言我们这个世界所遇到的问题?

耶稣自己的解释是:

“The word which ye hear is not Mine, but the Father’s which sent me.”25

   “你们所听见的道(即  神的话)不是我的,乃是差我来之父的道。”(约翰福音1424

Can you think of another explanation that fits the facts so well?

    你能想到其它符合事实的解释吗?

 

Peter Continues彼得的陈述

 

The right hand man of Jesus was His apostle, Peter. After Jesus left the scene, Peter became a leader of the Christian church. He wrote two books of the New Testament, and in one of them he enlarged on the Master’s prophecy about our age. He said:

彼得是耶稣最亲近的门徒之一。在耶稣升天离开门徒以后,彼得就成为教会的领导者。新约收录了他写的两封书信,其中之一预言了我们今天这个时代:

 

“In the last days mockers shall come with mockery) walking after their own lusts and saying, ‘Where is the promise of His coming, for from the day that the fathers fell asleep all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation’. For this they wilfully forget, that by the Word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of the water and in the water, whereby the world that then was, being overflowed with water, perished. But the heavens and the earth which are now, by the same Word, are kept in store reserved unto fire against the Day of Judgment - . The day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat”.26

    “第一要紧的,该知道在末世必有好讥诮的人随从自己的私欲出来讥诮说:「主要降临的应许在那里呢?因为从列祖睡了以来,万物与起初创造的时候仍是一样。」他们故意忘记,从太古,凭神的命有了天,并从水而出、藉水而成的地。故此,当时的世界被水淹没就消灭了。但现在的天地还是凭著那命存留,直留到不敬虔之人受审判遭沉沦的日子,用火焚烧……. 但主的日子要像贼来到一样。那日,天必大有响声废去,有形质的都要被烈火销化,地和其上的物都要烧尽了。”(彼得后书33-710

The words printed in italics show that Peter foresaw four distinct features about our age.

斜体字代表了彼得预言的、不同于以往时代的我们这个时代;

(1) Men would mock at the idea of Christ’s return, They do mock, don’t they? So much so that I had to appeal to you at the beginning of this chapter not to follow the fashion, but to give the facts a fair hearing.人们会讥笑耶稣会来的观点 现实生活中我们确实看到这些嘲笑的声音,难道不是吗? 在本章中我一开始就呼吁您不要随着潮流的风向变化,要留心事实。

(2) Their excuse would be, “All things continue as they were.” In other words, “Natural laws carry on without changing; why should we believe that a Creator ever has intervened in the world’s affairs, or will do so again?” 他们的理由是:“万物与起初创造的时候仍是一样”,用另外的话来说,“自然法则一直运行不息,没有改变,为什么我们要相信有一位造物主曾经干预世界事务,或者是将来还要这样做?”

Only a scientist could be expected to recognise this as a remarkable prophecy. But it is. As Col. Merson Davies, a scientist of some dis­tinction (he was awarded two doctorates for research in geology) has pointed Out, Peter’s words exactly describe the modern scientific principle of “uniformitarianism” (or “uniformity”, if you prefer short words to long ones).27

只有科学家才能分辨出彼得的预言。著名的科学家Merson Davies(他曾在地质学领域获得过双博士学位)指出,彼得描写的现象就是现代科学的“地质均变说”原则。

“Uniformity” is the foundation upon which the science of geology, and much else besides, is built. It leads directly to the popular philosophy, “Evolution has explained everything-therefore we needn’t believe in God any more. Hooray!”

“地质均变说”是地质学的基础,地质学就是在“地质均变说”的基础上建立的。“地质均变说”还直接导致一种流行哲学的出现,“进化论已经解释了一切,因此我们不需要相信上帝了。万岁!”

“Uniformity” is very much a modern invention. It was totally opposed to the thinking of the world in which Peter lived. Yet Peter foresaw its uprise, many centuries beforehand.

“地质均变说”是一种非常现代的理论。它完全不同于彼得时代的思维方式。然而彼得在很久以前就已经预言了这种理论会出现:

(3) Men would deny that the Flood ever occurred. This also was a most unlikely prophecy when it was written. Until a couple of hundred years ago the reality of Noah’s Flood was never questioned. Yet today it is fashionable to regard it as a myth. Peter foresaw this complete change of thought, more than a thousand years before it began. 人们会故意否认曾经发生过的大洪水。彼得在写这些话的时候,似乎也是最不太可能发生的事情,因为两百年以前,没有人质疑挪亚时代的大洪水,直到现代人流行将大洪水看成是一种神话。彼得在几千年以前就已经预见了人们的思想变化。

(4) The final world catastrophe would be associated with fire. This also is a surprising prophecy. The Old Testament which Peter knew so well generally associated the future world-wide catastrophe with war.26 In Peter’s day war was a matter of iron blades and flowing blood. How did he know that in our day the whole image of war would be different?   世界末日的灾难与火有关这也是令人惊讶的。旧约通常将未来的世界大灾难和战争联系在一起的。(例如以西节书36-39;约饵书23;撒迦利亚书14彼得非常熟悉这一点,在他的年代,战争是冷兵器时代。他是怎样想象将来战争的形态是完全不同的?

First, firearms; then incendiary bombs; then napalm; finally, The Bomb. These have entirely changed the image of war. Now, more than anything else, we associate war with fire. How did Peter know that modern weapons would make “the elements melt with fervent heat”?

首先是火器,接下来是燃烧弹,在接下来是凝固汽油弹,最后是原子弹。这些武器完全改变了战争的形态。现在提到战争,我们首先想到的是火。彼得是怎么想到现代战争会使“有形质的都要被烈火销化”?

 

Once again the decision is up to you. This book can only put the facts before you. You are the one who must weigh them in your mind, and try to reach a decision.

你如何回答这个问题取决于你自己。本书只能将事实摆在你的面前。但是你应该在大脑中掂量这些事实,然后试图作出选择。

Is there some other explanation for these facts?

对这些事实还有别的解释吗?

Or did Jesus, and Peter, and the prophets of the Old Testament, really foresee the frightful predicament of our generation? And if so, can’t we trust them as true prophets, and believe that God who fore­saw our problems will solve them for us as He promised-by sending Jesus back to put the world right?

或者,耶稣、彼得以及旧约时代的先知们真的预言我们这个时代可怕的困境?如果是这样,我们就应该相信他们是真正的先知,并且相信  神会预见我们的困难,会按照自己的应许差遣耶稣回来拯救世界。

 

6

Who Could Have Invented Jesus?

谁能虚构耶稣?

Now we have left the evidence of fulfilled prophecy behind, and must go on to look at a very different kind of evidence. This will involve making a study of Jesus Christ Himself.

现在我们将已经应验的预言放在一边,来看看另一种证据,它涉及到研究耶稣基督本人。

“Ah,” you may say, “but this begs the question. How do we know that there ever was such a person? What’s the use of assuming that the gospels tell the truth about Jesus, and then building conclusions on such a shaky foundation?”

你可能会说,“咳,我们怎么才能知道有这样一个人?如果福音书告诉我们有关耶稣的真相是建立在假设耶稣存在的基础上,然后根据这个不可靠的假设下结论,这样做又有什么用?”

Quite so. Very true. And I have no intention of doing any such thing. All I shall assume is that the gospels are either fact, or fiction, or a mixture of the two. (You won’t disagree with that, will you?) Then we shall examine the gospels critically to see which of those three alternatives seems most likely. Fair enough? 

确实有这样的可能性,但是我不打算这样做。我现在的假设是:福音书要么是事实,要么是虚构的,或者是事实加上虚构。(这一点应该不会有异议,是吗?)接下来我们采取挑剔的眼光严格检查福音书,看看三种可能性中那种的可能性最大。这样做算是公平,可以吧?

But before we begin, it is worth noting that even unbelievers generally recognise that the gospels are not pure fiction. One of the most learned of all unbelievers was Sir James Frazer. His classic history of magic and religion, The Golden Bough, was a landmark in twentieth century scholarship. He wrote:

在开始之前我们有必要注意,即使是不相信圣经的人通常也不认为福音书纯粹是虚构的。James Frazer爵士是一位非常有学识的人,他的有关历史和宗教的经典剧作《The Golden Bough,是二十世纪标志性的学术著作。他写道:

“My theory assumes the historical reality of Jesus of Nazareth as a great religious and moral teacher [not, you will notice, as the Son of God] who founded Christianity and was crucified at Jerusalem under the governorship of Pontius Pilate. The testimony of the gospels, confirmed by the hostile evidence of Tacitus (Ann. 15,44) and the younger Pliny (Epist. 10,96) appears amply sufficient to establish these facts to the satisfaction of all unprejudiced enquirers. It is only the details of the life and death of Christ that remain, and will probably always remain, shrouded in the mists of un­certainty. The doubts which have been cast upon the historical reality of Jesus are, in my judgment, unworthy of serious attention. Quite apart from the positive evidence of history and tradition, the origin of a great religious and moral reform is inexplicable without the personal existence of a great reformer.”1 (The italics are mine.)

“我自己的理论把拿撒勒人耶稣看成是一个历史真实人物,也是伟大的宗教和道德教师(请注意,他没有说耶稣是  神的儿子”),他建立了基督教,并且后来在耶路撒冷被罗马总督比拉多钉死在十字架上。有福音书的以及塔西佗(古罗马元老院议员, 历史学家)提供的书面材料可以证明。这些证据可以满足所有怀有偏见的怀疑者的质疑。只有耶稣的出生和死亡细节是一个谜,也许永远会是一个谜。这些谜团并不能否认耶稣是一个真实的人物,我认为怀疑者论的观点不值得严肃的关注。除了历史和传统的正面证据以外,基督教的起源和道德革命证明了一定存在着一位伟大的改革者。  

 

Inventing the Uninventable 发明不可能发明的

 

About 500 years ago there lived in Italy one of the greatest geniuses of all time, Leonardo da Vinci. Besides painting some of the world’s greatest pictures, he was a research scientist of the first rank. He is often said to have “invented” the aeroplane, the steamship, and the submarine.  

达芬奇是生活在500年以前的意大利天才。除了画画,他还是当时一流的科学家。人们常常说他“发明”了飞机、气垫船、潜水艇。

Perhaps “invented” is too strong a word, because he never built any such machines. He did, however, first hatch out the ideas that hundreds of years later led to the development of those modern marvels. So we can give him the benefit of the doubt and say that, in a sense, he did invent them.

 “发明”这个词对于他来说可能过分了一些,因为他没有真正地造出这些机器来。然而,他大脑中存在的这些构想导致了几百年以后对这些现代机器的开发。尽管存在一些疑问,我们还是可以说,从某种程度上他发明了这些机器。

His inventions were brilliant, but not impossible. All the back­ground knowledge that he needed was to hand. But there were certain things that he did not invent, because in his day they were uninvent­able. He could not invent a heart-lung machine, because he did not know about the circulation of the blood; more than a century was to elapse before Harvey discovered that. Nor could Leonardo invent an atom bomb, because he regarded matter as solid stuff; until modern scientists discovered that atoms were not solid lumps after all, but hollow spheres peppered with electric particles, the atom bomb was uninventable.

他的发明是非常聪明的,但不是不可能的。所有需要的背景知识都是他可以掌握的。有很多事情他没有发明,因为在那个时代是不可能发明的。他不可能发明心肺机(心脏手术时临时代替病人心肺的机器),因为他不知道血液循环,这种机器是在一百年以后由Harvey发明的。达芬奇也不可能发明原子弹,因为他认为没有物质和能量互相转化的知识,而且他认为物质是实心的,直到现代科学家才揭示了物质根本不是实心的,而是空心的,外面自由分布着电子。如果没有这些知识,发明原子弹是不可想象的。

Now the argument I shall put forward in this chapter is this: the Jesus of whom we read in the gospels was, at the time the gospels were written, uninventable. Consequently the Jesus of the gospels must have been a historical character, not a fictional one.

现在我提出本章的论点:我们在福音书中读到的耶稣,在福音书书写的年代是不可能被发明的。因此福音书中的耶稣一定是一个历史性的真实人物,而不是虚构的人物。

The first thing to note is that nobody wanted a person like the Jesus of the New Testament. (To avoid repetition I shall not keep saying “the Jesus of the New Testament” but simply “Jesus”-while, for the time being, leaving completely open the question whether He was a historical character or a fictitious one.) Paul summed up the situation when he wrote:

首先我们要注意的是,没有人想要新约中耶稣这样的人物。(为了避免重复,我简单地用耶稣来代替福音书中的耶稣)。保罗总结当时的情况说:

“But we preach Christ crucified, unto the Jews a stumbling block, and unto the Gentiles foolishness.”2

   “我们却是传钉十字架的基督,在犹太人为绊脚石,在外邦人为愚拙”。(哥林多前书123

Nearly all the Jews had no time for Him. They were bigots, com­pletely set in their religious ways. This man turned all their religious ideas upside down. He was nothing like the conquering king of a Messiah that they wanted. No Jew would have wanted to invent such an improbable, unacceptable kind of Messiah.

 几乎所有的犹太人都没有时间听耶稣的话。他们顽固地坚持自己所认为是正确的事情。耶稣这个人完全颠倒了他们的宗教观点,一点也不像他们所需要的弥赛亚。没有犹太人会发明一个他们不可能、也不接受的弥赛亚。

Nearly all the Gentiles had no use for Him, either. He was altogether unlike the kind of men they admired. Theirs was a cruel, selfish, lustful world. Human life was cheap. They would leave un­wanted babies (girls, usually) to die with as little compunction as we drown unwanted kittens.

Their pleasures were mostly immoral ones: watching gladiators fighting to the death, or worshipping at idolatrous temples which were often only glorified brothels. It is hard to imagine any Gentile inventing a Jesus whose teaching was so full of condemnation for the Gentile way of life.

犹太人以外的民族几乎都认为耶稣对他们没有用。他不像他们所羡慕的类型。他们的世界是残酷的、自私的,人的生命是廉价的。他们会抛弃他们不喜欢的婴儿,例如女婴,就像他们淹死一个他们不喜欢的猫。

他们的喜欢的娱乐方式是最不道德的:观看格斗者互相搏斗直到死亡,崇拜偶像,和神庙中的妓女发生性关系。很难相信这些外邦人会发明一个耶稣,这个人的教导充满了对他们生活方式的谴责。

Into this harsh world came Jesus, teaching things that made men marvel. He preached the necessity of unselfish love, love that stopped at nothing, love that led men to lay down their lives rather than use force against others. He preached it, and He set the example Himself. He refused to defend Himself, or even to let His disciples defend Him.Instead, He went meekly to a horrible death.

耶稣在这个时候来了。他的教导让人们感到惊奇。他宣传无私的爱,没有止境的爱,他为别人献出自己的生命而不是用武力征服他人。他宣传自己的教义,并且实践自己的教义。他拒绝用武力来保护自己,甚至不让自己的门徒来保护自己,最后他平静地接受了可怕的死亡。

We are not now concerned with the weighty question of whether Christians today should be pacifists. My personal opinion is in favour of Christian pacifism today, but that is beside the point. At the moment we are not concerned with opinions but with facts. The relevant facts are:

我们现在没有涉及基督徒是否应该是和平主义者。我个人的观点是赞同和平主义的,但是这不是我们现在要讨论的话题。现在我们要讨论的不是个人的看法,而是事实。

相关的事实有:

(1) That Jesus introduced to a hostile world the entirely new teaching of “Love to the uttermost”. 耶稣在一个充满敌对思想的世界宣传“没有限度的爱”。

(2) In keeping with this, He and His apostles preached pacifism. 4

和耶稣的观点一样,他和他的门徒们宣传和平主义。

(3) He constantly lived up to His own teaching, even though it led Him to a cruel death.

耶稣一直按照自己宣传的那样生活,即使这种方式导致他受到残酷的死亡。

(4) There is plenty of historical evidence that the early Christian Church followed His difficult teaching, including pacifism.5

有足够的历史证据证实早期的基督教教会跟随耶稣的教义,包括和和平主义。

It is not surprising that the originator of these unpopular teach­ings made few converts at first. In the very early days Christianity was a small sect “everywhere spoken against”.6 It was an unpopular minority religion.

毫不奇怪,由于这些教训不受欢迎,最开始耶稣只有少数的追随者。在教会的初期阶段,基督教“是到处被毁谤的”(使徒新传2822)。基督教在当时是少数人信仰的不受欢迎的宗教。

True, by the fourth century it had grown great. But only because the standards had been lowered, the fine new teaching had been watered down. Yet even despite this watering down, despite the wickedness that has been done in the name of Christ by millions of unworthy professors of Christianity-despite everything, the teaching of Jesus has met the world’s need.

确实如此,在公元4世纪基督教开始发展壮大,仅仅是因为标准降低了,基督教的教义被添加了水分。尽管如此,尽管有很多不配称为基督徒的教授们以基督教的名义作了很多坏事,尽管有这样多的事情出现,耶稣的教义满足了世界的需要。

Where men have truly followed the teaching of the gospels, all that is best in the sad story of mankind has followed. Even unbelievers admit that. Here are the words of a famous American who did not believe that Jesus was the Son of God, Theodore Parker:

    在那些有真正的听从耶稣教训的人地方,也是人类悲惨的历史中出现的仅有的好时期,即使是那些不相信圣经的人也承认如此。Theodore Parker就是这样一位,他说: 

“Consider what a work his [Christ’s] words and deeds have wrought in the world. Remember that the greatest minds, the rich­est hearts, have set no loftier aim, no truer method than his of perfect love to God and man. Shall we be told that such a man never lived-the whole story is a lie! Suppose that Plato and Newton never lived. But who did their wonders, and thought their thought? It takes a Newton to forge a Newton. What man could have fabricated a Jesus?”7

   “考虑到耶稣的言行对世界有多么大的影响,要牢记最伟大的思想、最富有的心肠都比不上耶稣对  神、对人的爱。难道有人会告诉我们说,历史上从来就没有这样一个人?难道整个历史都是编造的?谁能够假定伯拉图这个人不存在,牛顿不存在,但是这些人的新观点、新思想是从哪里来的?难道是一个牛顿来假冒另外一个牛顿,谁能够假冒耶稣?”

Besides paying tribute to all that the Christian message has done for mankind, Parker takes up the question with which we began: could anyone have invented Jesus? And although he regarded Jesus as a mere man, he answered with a resounding, “No!”

    Parker在高度赞扬了基督教对人类的贡献以后,他又重新提问我们开始的问题:“谁能够发明耶稣?”尽管Parker认为耶稣仅仅是一位人,但是他的回答是响亮的:“没有!”

Another famous writer who was a complete unbeliever, John Stuart Mill, backs him up:

      还有一位著名的作家,John Stuart Mill他也不是基督徒,他也有同样的观点:

“It is of no use to say that Christ as exhibited in the gospels is not historical, and that we know not how much of what is admirable has been superadded by the tradition of his followers. Who among his disciples or among their proselytes was capable of inventing the sayings ascribed to Jesus, or of imagining the life and character revealed in the gospels? Certainly not the fishermen of Galilee, still less the early Christian writers.”8

   “不承认在福音书中出现的基督是历史事实,这样做是行不通的。我们不知道有多少他可羡慕之处是他的追随者加上去的,在他的门徒中间谁能够发明或者是编造出福音书中所描写的耶稣来,或者是能够想象出福音书中展现的耶稣的生活或品德出来?这些加利利湖边的那些渔夫肯定不会,早期的基督教作家更不太可能。”

 

His Sublime character耶稣崇高的品德

 

So far so good. The idea that any lesser men could have “invented” Jesus begins to look unlikely. But the evidence is not yet conclusive. We must go a little further, and study more closely the character of this Jesus.

好了,有人发明耶稣看起来是不太可能的。但是证据还不是结论性的。我们需要进一步准确地来分析耶稣的品德。

To save space, we shall only be able to consider the last twenty-four hours of His life. As we do this, it is important that you bear two things in mind:

为了节省篇幅,我们来看耶稣生命中的最后24小时。在我们这样做的时候,我们需要一直惦记着非常重要的两点:

(1) We shall be dodging about between all four gospels, because this is the only way we can build up a complete picture of Him. So, if Jesus was invented’’, He had not one inventor but four, all skil­fully co-operating to produce a realistic result.

我们要在本福音书中来回穿梭,因为只有这样我们才能形成关于耶稣的整体画面。如果耶稣是被人捏造出来的人物,他应该是4个人同时发明出来的,而且这4个人要彼此有高超的协作技巧才能制造出可信的效果来。

(2) Many of the facets of His character that we shall examine are not on the surface of the record. We have to look very carefully, to dig them out from where they lie, half-buried in the text. Does this look like fiction, or fact? Novelists do not usually hide all their best points, so that only a diligent student can find them!  很多耶稣的品德并不能从表面上表现出来。我们必须非常仔细地观察,才能挖掘出隐藏在经文中的内涵。这看起来是虚构的,还是事实?小说家通常不会将他们最精彩的观点刻意地隐藏起来,而圣经的要点只有勤奋的学生才能发现。

We enter the gospel story on the evening before He is crucified. He is in an upstairs room with the twelve apostles, where they are about to have supper. He knows that this will be the last meal of His mortal life, and He intends to make it a memorable one. Two passages summarise one aspect of this meal:

我们来考察耶稣被害之前的那个晚上。他和十二个门徒在一座房子的楼上一起吃晚餐。他知道这将是他此生最后的晚餐,也是他想让他们纪念的一次晚餐。两段经文总结了这次晚餐的一个方面:

 

“When Jesus knew that His hour was come . . . having loved His own which were in the world, He loved them unto the end.”9

“And He said unto them, ‘With desire I have desired to eat this passover with you before I suffer’ ... And He took bread, and gave thanks, and brake it, and gave unto them, saying, ‘This is My body which is given for you; this do in remembrance of Me.’ Likewise also the cup after supper, saying, ‘This cup is the new covenant in My blood, which is shed for you.’” 10

逾越节以前,耶稣知道自己离世归父的时候到了。他既然爱世间属自己的人,就爱他们到底”。(约翰福音131

  “耶稣对他们说:「我很愿意在受害以先和你们吃这逾越节的筵席。我告诉你们,我不再吃这筵席,直到成就在神的国里。」耶稣接过杯来,祝谢了,说:「你们拿这个,大家分着喝。我告诉你们,从今以后,我不再喝这葡萄汁,直等神的国来到。」又拿起饼来,祝谢了,就擘开,递给他们,说:「这是我的身体,为你们舍的,你们也应当如此行,为的是记念我。」饭后也照样拿起杯来,说:「这杯是用我血所立的新约,是为你们流出来的”。(路加福音2215-20

From these two passages, we can deduce:

从这两段经文中我们可以得出以下结论:

(1) That He knew what was coming to Him. He had often said that one day He would be crucified,11 and now the time had arrived.耶稣自己知道即将发生在自己身上的事情。他多次说自己要被钉死在十字架上,现在这个时刻已经来到了。

(2) Nevertheless, He was not thinking of the frightful pain that would soon be racking His own body. His only concern was love for His disciples: “He loved them unto the end.” 尽管如此,他没有考虑即将来到的对于他的身体所带来的折磨和疼痛,他考虑的仅仅是他的门徒。“他既然爱世间属自己的人,就爱他们到底”。(约翰福音131

(3) By comparing similar expressions in the Old Testament, we can see that “with desire I have desired” is a Jewish way of saying, “with a very intense desire”. For their sakes He was terribly keen to hold that ceremonial meal with them.耶稣说:“我很愿意在受害以先和你们吃这逾越节的筵席”,表明他非常愿意和他们一起参加这次纪念晚餐。

(4) He turned that meal into a dramatised parable. He broke bread, and used it to represent the next day’s tearing of His own flesh. He poured wine, and made it a symbol of His blood that would soon be flowing from a multitude of wounds.他用晚餐作比喻。他掰开饼,用它来代表第二天他的就要分开的他的身体。他倒酒,用酒来代表他第二天就要留出的鲜血。

Any other man would have wanted to forget about the torture that was coming to him tomorrow. But Jesus was prepared to bring it vividly to mind. Although it was so painful to Himself, He knew that this simple ceremony would benefit His disciples for centuries to come. And so He performed it with eager desire.

除他之外的任何人都喜欢忘记明天的痛苦。但是耶稣却准备给门徒们留下鲜明的记忆。尽管对于自己是如此的痛苦,但他知道这个简单的仪式会让门徒终生受益。

A further group of verses shows up another aspect of that meal:

一些经文告诉我们最后的晚餐的另外一个方面:

 

“He poureth water into a basin, and began to wash the disciples’ feet, and to wipe them with the towel wherewith He was girded... So after He had washed their feet, and had taken His garments, and was set down again, He said unto them, ‘Know ye what I have done to you? Ye call me Master and Lord, and ye say well, for so I am. If I then, your Lord and Master, have washed your feet, ye also ought to wash one another’s feet.’ 12

“And as they did eat, He said, ‘Verily I say unto you, that one of you shall betray Me.’ And they were exceeding sorrowful, and began every one to say unto Him, ‘Lord, is it I?’”13

    “随后把水倒在盆里,就洗门徒的脚,并用自己所束的手巾擦干。….. 耶稣洗完了他们的脚,就穿上衣服,又坐下,对他们说:「我向你们所做的,你们明白吗?你们称呼我夫子,称呼我主,你们说的不错,我本来是。我是你们的主,你们的夫子,尚且洗你们的脚,你们也当彼此洗脚”。(约翰福音13512-14

    “正吃的时候,耶稣说:「我实在告诉你们,你们中间有一个人要卖我了。」他们就甚忧愁,一个一个的问他说:「主,是我吗?」”(马太福音262122

One aspect of His character lies right on the surface here. He was an exceedingly humble man. He was willing to do a very tiring and unpleasant job. But why did He do it? Couldn’t they all wash their own feet?

这些事情表露出耶稣高尚品德的一个侧面。他是一个特别谦卑的人,愿意做别人不喜欢干的事情。但是他为什么要这样做?难道门徒们不能自己洗脚吗?

He was not the sort of man to show off. Nor was He doing an un­necessary chore just so that He could give them a lecture about help­ing one another. There was a very good reason for His action, but it takes a careful student of the gospels to discover it.

耶稣不是那种喜欢炫耀的人。他也不是在做不必要的家务事,他想的是给他们一个生动的教训,让他们互相帮助。

We learn the reason from another gospel. Soon after supper the disciples found themselves unable to stay awake.14 Evidently they were all utterly weary with overwork and lack of sleep. So the Master’s work upon their tired feet was a real and necessary act of loving kindness.

But there is yet another lesson lying under the surface. It lies behind that chorus of astonishment, “Is it I?” which rose up when He said, “One of you shall betray Me.”

我们从另一本福音书中找到了理由。在晚餐之后,门徒们觉得自己不能保持清醒,因为过分劳累和缺乏睡眠,他们特别疲劳。耶稣给他们洗脚是对他们关心和爱的表现。

但是在故事的后面还隐藏着另外一个教训。它深藏在门徒们的惊叫中,当耶稣说他的一个门徒即将出卖他的时候,他们都问:“是我吗?”

Obviously they had not the slightest idea who the traitor was. But Jesus knew. John says so, explicitly.15 A few minutes before, Jesus had washed the feet of Judas. And He must have washed the traitor’s feet with the same loving care that He bestowed upon the other eleven. Otherwise someone would have noticed, and said, “Have you seen how the Master is looking at Judas? I wonder what’s wrong.”

显然他们不知道是谁出卖了耶稣。耶稣知道,并且很明确地指出是犹大。几分钟以前,耶稣还给犹大洗过脚,在给这个叛徒洗脚的时候,耶稣一定是带着于其他11个门徒相同的爱来做的。否则就会有门徒说:“你看见主是怎样看着犹大的吗?我想是不是有什么问题。”

But nobody noticed any difference-hence that repeated question, “Is it I?”

但是没有人注意到有什么不同,因此他们一个个的问:“主,是我吗?”。

What superhuman love, if these records really are true and Jesus really did behave like that!

如果福音书记载的是真实的,耶稣真的做过这些事情,那么他表现出来的是多么高超的爱!

But what superhuman artistry if Matthew, Mark, Luke and John were four deceivers, weaving together the most elaborately hidden pen portrait in the history of fiction!

    如果马太、马可、路加和约翰四个人都是骗子,他们故意地天衣无缝地将虚构的耶稣生活场景交织在一起,那么他们四个人该是什么样的超人艺术家!

 

Gethsemane在客西马尼园

 

Supper is over. Judas Iscariot has gone off alone to earn his blood money. Jesus and the faithful eleven go out into the darkness of the Garden of Gethsemane. In one part of the garden the disciples drop to the earth exhausted, and sleep.

晚餐结束了。犹大为了三十块钱偷偷地告密去了。耶稣和忠于他的11个门徒走进黑暗中的客西马尼园,门徒们感到疲倦,他们睡着了。

In another part, Jesus begins His last great struggle against His mortal body.

在花园的另一个角落,耶稣开始最后一次巨大的对抗自己的肉体的战斗:

 

“He kneeled down, and prayed, saying ‘Father if Thou be will­ing, remove this cup from Me; nevertheless not My will, but Thine, be done.’ And there appeared an angel unto Him from heaven, strengthening Him. And being in an agony He prayed more earnestly, and His sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground.”16

   (他)“跪下祷告,说:「父啊!你若愿意,就把这杯撤去;然而,不要成就我的意思,只要成就你的意思。」有一位天使从天上显现,加添他的力量。耶稣极其伤痛,祷告更加恳切,汗珠如大血点滴在地上。”(路加福音2241-44

This does not read like fiction. No gospel writer would want to invent an incident like that. Inventors of propaganda might have told a tale about Jesus facing death with unruffled calm. But the gospel writers were not inventors of propaganda. They record how the Son of God admitted that one side of Him would have liked to escape crucifixion. They portray Him as fighting a terrific battle to overcome His human desire-a battle so great that He was in agony, while the sweat poured off Him like blood.

这些经文读起来不像是虚构的小说。福音书的作者并不希望有这样的情节出现。某些教会的传教者说,耶稣面临死亡的时候特别平静。但是福音书的作者不是这些传教士。他们记录了  神的儿子也承认自己希望能够逃脱死亡的情景。他们描绘了耶稣经历了一场特别可怕的战斗,他战胜自己个人的欲望。这场战斗是如此激烈,他陷于了剧烈的痛苦之中,汗水同血水一起留出来。

How easily this story could have been (yes, and has been) mis­interpreted by the immature as something unworthy of the Son of God. But the apostles wrote it just the same. They wrote with the candour of men who have nothing to hide, who are only concerned to record the plain, unvarnished facts.

这些故事很容易被那些对  神的儿子的理解不成熟的人所歪曲,而且已经被歪曲。门徒们的记载是一致的。他们记载的公正程度让人感到其中没有隐藏什么,他们只是在用平白的、未加修饰的语言记载事实。 

No sooner has Jesus won His battle than lights appear, coming through the olive trees towards His little band. They hear the clink of steel, and the tramp of many men. Unless something is done quickly there will be twelve arrests instead of one, and eleven extra crosses on Calvary tomorrow.

耶稣结束自己的战斗之后不久,天就快亮了,他穿过橄榄树走向自己的门徒。他们听见了刀和棍子碰撞的声音,还有走路的脚步声。除非他们赶快采取行动,否则被捕的就不止耶稣一个人。

The next act of Jesus always reminds me of Captain Oates of the Antarctic, who said goodbye to his friends and walked off into the blizzard to die, hoping that through his sacrifice they might survive. “It was the act of a brave man and an English gentleman,” wrote Captain Scott in his diary.

耶稣接下来的行为总是让我想起了在南极洲的Oates上校,他希望自己的死亡会使同伴们增加活下来的机会。他向自己的伙伴说声再见,然后走进暴风雨中去接受死亡。Oates上校在自己的日记中说:“这是勇敢的人和英国绅士们应该作的事情”。

When Scott’s diary was found, he and his fellows were all dead. Yet everybody takes it for granted that Scott was telling the truth. His account bears all the marks of a true record. And similarly John’s gospel reads like sober fact, not glamourised fiction.

当斯科特的日记被发现的时候,他和他的伙伴都死了。然而每个人都认为斯科特说的是真的。他的日记中有能够经受考验的印记。同样约翰福音读起来好像是冷静的陈述事实,而不是迷惑人的虚构故事。

“Jesus therefore, knowing all things that should come upon Him, went forth and said unto them, ‘Whom seek ye?’ They answered Him, ‘Jesus of Nazareth.’ Jesus saith unto them, ‘I am He.’ And Judas also, which betrayed Him, stood with them. As soon then as He had said unto them, ‘I am He,’ they went backward, and fell to the ground. Then asked He them again, ‘Whom seek ye?’ And they said, ‘Jesus of Nazareth.’ Jesus answered, ‘I have told you that I am He: if therefore ye seek Me, let these go their way.’”17

   “耶稣知道将要临到自己的一切事,就出来对他们说:「你们找谁?」他们回答说:「找拿撒勒人耶稣。」耶稣说:「我就是。」卖他的犹大也同他们站在那里。耶稣一说「我就是」,他们就退後倒在地上。他又问他们说:「你们找谁?」他们说:「找拿撒 勒人耶稣。」耶稣说:「我已经告诉你们,我就是。你们若找我,就让这些人去吧。」”(约翰福音185-8

But what lies behind that strange statement in the middle of the passage, “they went backward and fell to the ground”? The reader inevitably wonders what made a strong force of armed men do that. If John had been writing fiction, would he have left that question unanswered? Surely not. By stating the fact, and leaving us to draw our own conclusions, John shows that he is no embroiderer of fancy tales 

这段经文说:“他们就退后倒在地上”,这让人感到奇怪,读者不可避免地想,他们是身强力壮的人,又带着武器,为什么会这样呢?如果约翰是在编造故事,他为什么不去解释原因呢?约翰在通过陈述事实,让我们去得出结论,我们可以看出他不是在编造故事。 

As so often happens, another book of the Bible supplies the prob­able explanation for us. When Christ’s first martyr, Stephen, was in a somewhat similar position, his executioners “saw his face as it had been the face of an angel”.18 If the face of Jesus similarly shone with angelic glory for a moment, it is not surprising that His enemies staggered backwards in terror.

和平常的情况一样,圣经中的其它部分为我们提供了的答案。基督徒的第一个殉难者司提反也遇到和耶稣类似的情况,那些杀死他的人“见他的面貌,好像天使的面貌”。(使徒行传615如果那时耶稣的脸上同样显示出天使的荣耀来,我们不会奇怪他的敌人会惊恐地向后退。

 

To the Cross在十字架的路上

 

So the innocent man was led away, to be sentenced on a trumped-up charge with the aid of bribed witnesses. Yet He would not argue in His own defence.19 When He spoke it was for the sake of others.

这位无辜的人被带走以后,他受到指控,还有一些被收买的证人作伪证陷害他,然而他没有为自己争辩。(马可福音153-5如果他说话,那也是为了别人。

He even showed a measure of sympathy for Pilate, to whom He said: “Thou couldest have no power at all against Me, except it were given thee from above. Therefore he that delivered Me unto thee hath the greater sin.”20

    他甚至对彼拉多表示出一定程度的的同情。他说:“若不是从上头赐给你的,你就毫无权柄办我。所以,把我交给你的那人罪更重了。”(约翰福音1911

With the rough heavy cross upon His shoulder, He struggled along the road to Calvary. Even then, His thoughts were upon others rather than Himself.

肩膀上扛着沉重的十字架,耶稣挣扎着走向受难场。即使是在那个时候,他也是在为别人而不是自己考虑。

 

“And there followed Him a great company of people, and of women, which also bewailed and lamented Him. But Jesus turning unto them said, ‘Daughters of Jerusalem, weep not for Me, but weep for yourselves, and for your children. For, behold, the days are coming, in the which they shall say, “Blessed are the barren, and the wombs that never bare, and the breasts which never gave suck.”’”21

    “有许多百姓跟随耶稣,内中有好些妇女;妇女们为他号陶痛哭。耶稣转身对他们说:「耶路撒冷的女子,不要为我哭,当为自己和自己的儿女哭。因为日子要到,人必说:『不生育的,和未曾怀胎的,未曾乳养婴孩的,有福了!』”(路加福音2327-29

It was to be thirty-odd years before the Roman armies came to destroy Jerusalem. But to Jesus, that dreadful day to come was even more tragic than His own immediate plight.

三十多年以后,罗马军队过来摧毁了耶路撒冷。但是对于耶稣来说,三十年后的可怕日子要比自己马上面临的死刑更加紧迫。

Even while He hung on the cross, in His final awful pain, He could still help others.

在他被悬挂在十字架上,全身疼痛的时候,他依然能够帮助被人。

He cried with a loud voice, “My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken me?”22  Though at first sight this looks like weakness or despair it was nothing of the kind. Those words are actually the first line of Psalm 22, which, as we saw in Chapter 4’ is a wonderfully detailed prophecy of the events on that dreadful day. By reciting this title-line of a well-known Jewish hymn, Jesus was as good as saying, “Look everybody! See how Messianic prophecy is being fulfilled today. See, and believe!”

他大声呼喊:“我的神,我的神!为什麽离弃我?”(诗篇221,马太福音2746这些话听起来好像是虚弱或绝望的呼喊,实际上它是诗篇22章的第一句话。在本书第4章中我们看到,诗篇22章所预言的每一个细节都分毫不差地实现了。通过背诵这句犹太人所熟悉的圣歌,耶稣好像在对他们说:“大家来看!看看诗篇关于弥赛亚的预言是如何实现的!相信  神!”

He prayed for His executioners to be forgiven, because they did not understand the enormity of their offence.23

他为他的行刑人祷告,“父啊!赦免他们;因为他们所做的,他们不晓得。”

He arranged for a faithful disciple to take care of His heartbroken mother.24

他安排一个有忠心的门徒照看自己伤心的母亲。(约翰福音1925-27

He comforted the dying thief who had come to believe in Him at the eleventh hour.25

他安慰了一个在生命的最后一刻相信了自己的罪犯。(路加福音2346

When there was nothing else left for Him to do, He gave a shout of triumph-”It is finished!”26 Then, with quiet dignity, He died:

  当没有需要他可以做的事情的时候,他发出胜利的喊声:“成了!” (约翰福音1946然后他带着尊严死去。

“He said, ‘Father, into Thy hands I commend My spirit.’ And having said thus, He gave up the ghost.”27

   “耶稣大声喊着说:「父啊!我将我的灵魂交在你手里。」说了这话,气就断了”(路加福音2346

We have not been able to look at more than a fraction of the gospel records of the crucifixion. But what we have seen is a picture of a man like no other man, a man that no first-century legend-spinner could possibly have invented. No wonder that the centurion who watched it all said, “Truly, this man was the Son of God!”28

     我们只看了福音书记载的一小部分。我们看出这个人和其他任何人都不一样,他绝不是任何一个公元1世纪的小说家可以编造出来的;难怪看见了整个过程的罗马百夫长说:

    “这人真是 神的儿子!”(马可福音1539

 

Did the Gospel Writers Exaggerate?福音书的作者夸大事实了吗?

 

We have disposed of one possibility. The gospels are not pure fiction. But there is that other possibility, that they might be a mixture of fact and fiction. Could the gospel writers have described an “ordinary” good man, and then added all sorts of imaginary sayings and events, just as a modern writer might write a novel about Napoleon or Julius Caesar?

我们已经排除了一种可能性,福音书并不是纯粹的虚构出来的。但是还有别的可能性,福音书可能是事实和虚构的混合体。福音书可能描写的是一个普通的好人,然后在此基础上加上各种想象的传说和事件,就像现代的作家书写拿破仑和凯撒的传记时所做的那样?

This suggestion also runs against the facts. Here are four solid reasons for believing that the gospels are all fact, not a mixture of fact and fiction.

这个假设同样也不符合事实。以下的理由可以说明福音书完全是事实,而不是事实和想象的混合物:

(1)     The gospel writers sound like reliable men. You will need to read all four gospels for yourself to appreciate that this is so. Then you will see that these books were obviously not written by men out to create a sensation. They each tell their tale in a simple, straightforward way. Where it is appropriate they point out how Old Testament prophecy was fulfilled in Jesus. Apart from this, they write like men reporting facts, not like men determined to impress their readers.福音书的书写者看起来像一个可信赖的人。你需要阅读所有4本福音书才会得出这样的结论。你会明白这些书不是为了引起轰动的人写的。每一本福音书都是以一种平白的、简单的诉说方式书写的,在合适的地方会告诉我们旧约的预言是如何在耶稣身上应验的。除此以外,福音书读起来好像在陈述事实,而不是想故意给读者留下深刻的印象。

They are not afraid to mention things that, to a casual reader, may seem unfavourable to their cause. They report some surprising acts and sayings of Jesus which, at first glance, seem to show Him in an unfavourable light. We have to study these passages very closely, often by comparing one gospel with another, before we can see that Jesus did in fact have good reason for everything He said and did. (We have seen several examples of this already in this chapter.)

他们并不害怕将一些普通读者认为是不利的事情写下来。福音书记载的某些事情,起初看来似乎对耶稣不利,我们不得不将福音书仔细研究,通常要将福音书对照起来看,才能明白耶稣这样做、这样说的理由。在这一章中,我们已经给出了好几个这样的例子。

Again, they are not at all like four dishonest witnesses determined to present a united front. Each tells his story from his own point of view, regardless of what the others have said. Sometimes it even looks as if they contradict each other. Only when you study the records closely can you see that there is real harmony behind the apparent contradictions, as Chapter 19 shows.

还有,这些人不像是不诚实作假证的人,互相勾结。每个人记载故事是根据自己的观察点,不管别人是怎样说的。有的时候甚至看起来与其他人的记载相矛盾。只有非常仔细地进行观察,才能发现在这些表面矛盾的下面隐藏着真正的和谐,正如本书第19章将要告诉读者的那样。

All these things are the marks of honest men, telling a true story.

这些都是诚实人所特有的标记,他们诉说的故事也是真实的。

(2)    Their stories hang together as a whole. If the gospels are a mixture of fact and fiction, then which bits are the factual bits? Hundreds of unbelievers and half-believers have tried to answer this question to their own satisfaction. 这些故事是一个整体。如果福音书是事实和虚构的混合物,那么那一部分是事实呢?很多不信和半信半疑的人都想找出自己满意的答案。

But no two have ever reached exactly the same conclusion. They have been attempting the impossible. It can’t be done. The gospels do not read like a patchwork album. They read like a consistent, unified record. (If you should think that modern scholars have shown that the gospels are in fact a patchwork album, please reserve your judgment until you have read Part Two of this book.)

这些人中从来没有两个人的结论是相同的,他们在做自己不可能完成的事情,所以不可能成功。福音书读起来并不像是一个拼凑的画册,它们是连贯的、一个整体的纪录。(如果你认为有些现代学者已经证实了福音书是拼凑出来的话,请在阅读本书第二部分以后再下结论)。

Our character study showed that the Jesus of the gospels had a character far above that of any other man. Take away all the passages that indicate a superhuman character for Jesus, and there is very little left. The four gospels are absolutely consistent in their message that Jesus was a uniquely righteous person; consequently, it makes sense to accept that He was.

福音书中耶稣的品德远远要高于其他任何一个人。去掉描写耶稣具有超人品德的部分,福音书中的内容就所剩无几。四本福音书在描写耶稣是一个独一无二的正直的人的时候,是绝对协调的,接受福音书所记载的耶稣是合乎情理的。

Once you grant this, everything else in the gospels follows naturally. Despite His quiet humility He had a serene confidence that He was sinless, that He was Messiah, that He was Son of God. All this ties up with His perfect character; it is what we might have expected.

一旦你能领会这一点,福音书中的其它一切事情都会显得自然起来。尽管耶稣是一个非常谦卑的人,但是他非常平静地相信他是无罪的,他就是弥赛亚,就是  神的儿子。所有这些都和他的完美的品德联系在一起,这也是我们可以预料到的。

So are the stories of His miracles. The very presence of the Son of God on earth was itself a miracle. Nothing could be more natural than that He should work some miracles for the good of mankind while He was here.

关于耶稣所作的奇迹也是如此。  神的儿子出现本身就是一个奇迹,如果他没有作什么奇迹的话,反而是奇怪的了。

If you have an old, worn-out Bible to spare, try this little experi­ment. Blot out all the miracles from your four gospels, and see what is left. You will find that the remaining fragments often fail to make sense. This clearly shows that the miracle stories are not something added as an afterthought, but are an integral part of the original record.

假如你有一本多余的圣经,将其中所有的奇迹( 神迹)除掉,你会看到剩余的部分通常不合情理。这说明圣经中的奇迹不是后来加上去的,它们和其余的部分一样是一个整体。

(Please don’t shut your mind to these facts because some people argue that it is unscientific to believe in miracles. We shall be looking at miracles from a scientific viewpoint in Chapter 21.)

 (有些人说,相信奇迹是不科学的,我希望读者在这个问题上要自己思考,我们将在本书的21章从科学的角度看待奇迹这个问题。)

(3) They did not keep on writing. These four books are the best sellers of all the world’s literature. Yet they are extremely brief. They occupy only twenty or thirty pages each, in the average printed Bible. No other writings by Matthew or Mark are known, and only about another thirty pages by Luke and twenty by John.他们并没有写续集。,四本福音书非常简练,可它们是世界上销售最多的书籍,每一本福音书只有二三十页,马太和马可没有留下其他的书籍,马可还留下另外30页左右的书籍,约翰留下大约20页左右。

If their writing were the product of their own genius, why didn’t they keep on writing? Creative geniuses cannot bear to stop after one short outburst. But since the gospel writers did stop so soon, they were evidently not men of genius eager to express themselves in creative work. Nor could they have been spurred on by the desire for fame.

如果这些书是书写者自己天才的想象物,为什么他们不继续写作呢?对于有创作天才的人来说,要他们在灵感爆发之后停下来时不可忍受的。但是这些书写者们在完成福音书之后很快停止写作。证明这些人所写的不是表达自己的创作,也不可能是他们自己的愿望。

Some unbelievers suggest that they did keep on writing, but that their other works were not preserved. But this only creates another problem: why did their readers not bother to keep the other works of these brilliant authors? Hundreds of pages of the writings of less gifted Jews and Greeks of that period have survived, but only a hand­ful of pages by Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. Why? 

一些不信圣经的人认为他们以后还写了一些书,但是没有保存下来。但是这种解释只能带来另一个问题:这些作品为什么没有保存下来?同时期有数百页的犹太人和希腊人所书写的其他书记被保存下来了,这些作品远远没有他们所写的具有价值。

If we regard these men as mere literary geniuses the problem is insoluble. Bestseller writers have seldom or never been known to burst into full flower with one brief work of superb artistry, and then stop. If only one gospel writer had done so, we might perhaps explain it as a remarkable exception to the general rule. But since two have done it, and the other two have added only a few more pages by way of sequel,29 we need some better explanation.

如果我们认为这些人仅仅是文学天才,依然解释不通。畅销书的作者很少或者是从来不会像花儿爆发开放之后就结束, 如果只有一个福音书的作者这样做,我们可以说这是例外。但是4位福音书作者中有两个人以后没有写过作品,另外两个人只是写了一些简单的续篇,我们需要更好的解释。

There is only one explanation that makes psychological sense. They must have been single-minded men with one purpose: to set down a few facts of tremendous importance. They told their tale briefly and accurately-and then stopped.

只有一种合理的解释:所有这些福音书是受同一个大脑、相同的目的支配,记载了这些重要的事实。他们受到短暂而准确地启示之后,就停了下来。

(4)   They do not tell us what Jesus looked like. Fiction writers almost always give us some sort of picture of their great heroes. If Matthew, Mark, Luke and John really were adding fiction to fact, surely one of them would have dropped some hint about the appear­ance of Jesus. Yet none of them gives us a clue.他们都没有告诉我们耶稣的模样。虚构小说的作者通常总是先给我们描写他心目中英雄的模样,如果马太、马可、路加和约翰是在虚构,他们中间总有一个人会描写耶稣的外貌。然而没有一个人这样做。

We have no idea whether He was short or tall, fat or thin, dark or fair, handsome or ugly. Why not? There is one obvious explanation which fits the facts. God said to an Old Testament prophet:

我们不知道耶稣是高还是矮,胖或者瘦,白或者黑,是不是很英俊。为什么福音书不告诉我们?只有一种解释符合事实,  神告诉一位先知说:

“The Lord seeth not as man seeth, for man looketh on the Out­ward appearance, but the Lord looketh on the heart.”30

 “耶和华不像人看人:人是看外貌;耶和华是看内心。”(撒母耳记上167

The evidence before us suggests that Jesus really was the Son of God. How very fitting that God should guide the pens of the four men who described His Son, to ensure that they gave us a perfect picture of His “heart”, but not the slightest idea of His “outward appearance”.

从这些事实来看,耶稣真的是  神的儿子。 神指导福音书的四位书写者最恰当地描写了他的儿子,让我们最好的了解的他的“内心”,而不是他的外表。

 

7

The Evidence of the Empty Tomb

空坟墓的证据

Before you read this chapter, let me give you a friendly warning.

If you are an unbeliever and want to remain one, don’t read this chapter. Or, if you do read it, forget it as quickly as possible. Don’t think about it. Whatever you do, don’t follow it up by studying in detail the evidence that Jesus rose from the dead.

在阅读本章之前,希望你能听听我的一些忠告:

如果你不相信  神,而且还打算继续这样做,你就不要阅读本章。或者是你已经读了,那就要尽快忘记它。不管你做什么,都不要思考耶稣复活的细节问题。

I say this because experience shows that it is a very perilous thing for unbelievers to do. Take two actual case histories, one ancient, one modern.

我这样说,是因为经验告诉我,对于不信的人来说思考这些问题是非常危险的事情。让我举两个实际例子来说明,一个发生在古代,一个发生在现代。

Two upper-class Englishmen of the eighteenth century were Lord Lyttleton and his friend Gilbert West. They were both trained lawyers. They knew how to weigh evidence and how to argue a case.

18世纪的英国,有一个名叫Lyttleton贵族,他和他的朋友Gilbert West都是经过训练的律师。他们知道在打官司辩论时如何衡量证据,如何在法庭上辩论。

As young men they were both unbelievers. It is said that in their early days they had hopes of publishing propaganda against the truth of Christianity. At any rate, it is known that they both set their agnostic minds to work studying the evidence for and against Christ’s resurrection.

两人年轻的时候都不相信  神。他们曾经打算出版一些抵制基督教的宣传册,并且准备否认耶稣的复活开始寻找证据。

The same thing happened to them both. Despite their early antagonism to the Bible, despite their deepest prejudices, the sheer weight of evidence made them change their minds. West and Lyttle­ton published the results of their separate studies in a joint book.1 They argued that Christ really did rise from the dead, and that Paul was converted in consequence. 

但是后来同样的事情发生在他们身上。尽管他们早期反对圣经,对圣经怀有很深的偏见,然而大量的证据却改变了他们的看法。WestLyttle­ton两个人联合出版了一本书,在书中他们承认耶稣真的从死亡中复活了,保罗从犹太教转变成基督徒也是因为耶稣的复活。

If I mention this to Norman, he brushes it on one side with the remark, “Oh yes, but that was all a long time ago.” This is a curious objection. Shakespeare was a long time ago, but his plays are still worth more than all the paperbacks on the station bookstall. The facts that Lyttleton and West faced are just as formidable in the twentieth century as in the eighteenth, as the following story shows.

如果我向罗曼提起这些事情,他总是不屑一顾地评论说:“是啊,但是这是很久以前的事情了。”这种反对意见很奇怪,莎士比亚也是很久以前的作家,但是他的戏剧仍然非常有价值,至今在舞台上演。18世纪WestLyttle­ton两个人所面对的事实和现在是一样强大的,正如下面的故事告诉我们的:

In 1930 Frank Morrison published a very unusual book.2 In his preface he stated:

1930年,弗兰克-莫里森(Frank Morrison出版了一本不同平常的书。在书中的扉页他声明:

“It [his book] is essentially a confession, the inner story of a man who set Out to write one kind of book and found himself compelled by the sheer force of circumstances to write another.”

  “这本书的本质是一份内心告白,是一个人在内心经历的故事,这个人想写某种书,但是却发现自己被一种纯粹的力量所牵引,被迫写成了另外一种类型的书”。

He explained what he meant in the first chapter, which was entitled, “The Book that Refused to be Written”. When he set out to write a book he did not believe that Jesus performed miracles, nor that He rose from the dead. His book was intended to be called, “Jesus, the Last Phase”. It was to be a study of the last week of Christ’s life. He intended to sift out the “fiction” from the gospel records, and report what was left.

    书中第一章的标题是:“写不下去的书”。他解释说,他开始写书的时候,他不相信耶稣,不相信耶稣的奇迹,也不相信耶稣的复活。本来他想给书起的名字是:“耶稣的最后时刻”。他想研究耶稣生命的最后一周,详细审查福音书中的“虚构成分”并向外公布。

So Morrison sat down to do his homework. He made a very thorough and scholarly study of all the available evidence. At the end of it all he wrote a very different book, which with irresistible logic leads up to a final paragraph:

Morrison这样开始自己研究工作。他对所有能够找到的证据作了一番完全的、学者式的研究,在后来他写成了一本非常不同的书,以无可辩驳的逻辑宣布:

 

“There may be, and, as the writer thinks, there certainly is, a deep and profoundly historical basis for that much disputed sen­tence in the Apostles’ Creed-’The third day He rose again from the dead.’

   “可能有(作者认为肯定有)更深刻更复杂的历史事实,支持使徒信经所宣布的备受争议的事实——耶稣在死亡后的第3天复活。”

In other words, Morrison declared, “Having studied the evidence, I now believe what I formerly denied: Jesus really did rise from the dead.”

用另外的话来说,Morrison是在宣布:“经过研究证据,我现在相信我曾经拒绝承认的:耶稣真的从死亡中复活了”。

 

 

How Do We Know? 我们怎么知道?

 

Well, what is the nature of this evidence that convinces so many people? How can anyone possibly know whether Jesus rose from the dead or not?

是一些什么性质的证据让这么多人相信耶稣复活?他们怎么可能知道耶稣是否真的复活?

There are several ways of tackling this question. One way is to begin with the broader question of what constitutes historical evidence.

有好几种方法可以确定这个问题。其中的方法之一就是,将问题放在更广阔的历史背景中。

How do we know any of the facts of history? For example, how do we know that the American War of Independence began in 1775 with the Battle of Bunker Hill, and that although the English won the battle the losses they suffered were disastrous?

我们怎样才能知道某个历史事实?例如,我们怎样才能知道美国独立战争是从1775年开始?而且在第一次战斗中,尽管英国人取得了胜利,但是他们的损失也是巨大的?

Nobody doubts these facts, although all the people who saw the battle have been dead for more than a hundred years. We rely upon the written accounts left behind by a few of those eyewitnesses.

尽管事情发生至少100年以前,而且所有经历过战争的人都已经去世,然而没有人会怀疑这个事实。我们能够靠一些亲眼见过这场战争的人遗留的书写记录相信这一点。

It is like that with the resurrection of Jesus. Four gospel writers give us a written account of it. Two of them were eyewitnesses, the others were intimate friends of eyewitnesses. Two more eyewitnesses, Peter and Paul, add their testimony in their New Testament epistles.

耶稣复活也是这样。四本福音书都记载了这件事,其中两个人是亲眼看见过,另外两个人都是目击者非常亲近的朋友。另外还有两个亲眼见证人——彼得和保罗,他们所写的书信也提供了证据。

Don’t make the mistake of looking upon the New Testament as “just a lot of books”. It was the product of a group of real, live men. We saw in the previous chapter that it is difficult to read the gospels without concluding that Jesus was a real person, with real disciples, who wrote the truth about Him.

不要仅仅将新约只看成是一系列书籍。它们是由一些真实存在的人所写的。在前面几章中我们不难看到,福音书中的耶稣是一个真实的人物,耶稣的门徒也是真实的人物,耶稣的门徒将真实的耶稣通过自己的写作介绍给我们。

We shall see in Chapter 16 that most of the New Testament was almost undoubtedly written while people who remembered Jesus were still alive. Its authors were certainly not men of the second century writing down legends. They were men of the first century writing about their own experiences.

我们在第16章中将看到,在书写圣经新约的大部分文章的时候,那些记得耶稣复活的人仍然活着。肯定不会是公元2世纪的人在写他们所听到的传说故事,他们是生活在公元1世纪的人写他们自己亲身经历的事情。

We must therefore treat the New Testament as the written testi­mony of a number of witnesses. The only question is: were those witnesses telling the truth or not?  

我们当然应该将新约看成是一系列亲眼目击者的书面证据。唯一的疑问是:这些证明是不是真的?

Before attempting to answer that question, we must consider a parallel question from modern history. How do we know that Sir Edmund Hillary and the Sherpa, Tensing, conquered Mount Everest in 1953?

在回答这个问题的时候,我想让大家回答一个现代的问题:我们怎么知道Edmund HillarySherpa Tensing1953年登上了珠穆朗玛峰?

There were no independent witnesses of their achievement, and Hillary and Tensing might be regarded as two very biased men. Yet nobody doubts the truth of their claim to have reached the summit.

没有独立见证人证明他们的行为,然而没有人声明怀疑他们真的爬上了珠峰的顶点。

Is it possible that Hillary and Tensing were bluffing? Could they have been beaten by the last stretch of ice and rock, and then decided to cover up their disappointment with a false tale of victory and a faked photograph?

这两个人有没有欺诈的可能性?他们有没有可能凿几块冰,带着假冒的照片冒充胜利?

Surely not. Mountain climbers have a very strong code of honour, and it goes against all past experience to suppose that two dedicated mountaineers would behave like that.

当然不会。登山运动员是非常光荣的职业,我们不可能违背过去的经验去猜测这两个献身于登山运动的人人会做出这样的事情来。

Well, then, is it possible that they were genuinely mistaken? Could the awesome majesty of their surroundings, or the bottled oxygen they were breathing, have given them hallucinations and made them think that some lesser needle of rock was the summit?

好了,那么有没有可能是他们不小心弄错了?有没有可能他们将一座小山峰看成了顶点?

This possibility, too, must be dismissed. These two hardened men of action were not the type to make a hysterical blunder like that.

这种可能性也可以排除。这两个顶尖的运动员不会犯这样的错误。

So the world takes their word for it, and firmly believes that they really did reach the top.

因此世界会相信他们的话,相信他们真的登上了山的顶点。

 

 

Reliable Witnesses可靠的证据

There are equally good grounds for accepting the apostles’ word and believing that Jesus really did rise from the dead.

同样有很多的理由让我们相信使徒们的话,相信耶稣真的是从死里复活。

Were Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Peter and Paul all deliberately lying?

马太、马可、路加、约翰,以及彼得和保罗有没有可能都在故意撒谎?

Of course not. Men only lie when they stand to gain something from it. What did the apostles gain from their testimony to the resurrection? Imprisonment, torture and death! Men do not lie for rewards such as these. And besides, the lofty moral tone of their New Testament writings shows that they were men of high principles.

当然不会。人们只有从撒谎中得到好处时才会这样做。使徒们见证耶稣复活得到了什么?他们被监禁、被折磨,甚至失去生命!人们不会为了得到这些而撒谎。新约高尚的言辞证实了使徒们具有高尚的道德规范和道德准则

What, then, of the possibility that they were genuinely mistaken? Could they have been the victims of a great delusion?

那么,有没有可能是他们不小心弄错了?是不是他们被幻觉所蒙蔽?

This suggestion goes right against the facts. On their own admission the apostles all had a marked prejudice against the idea of Christ’s resurrection. It took time to overcome this prejudice and convince them that Jesus really had risen.

这种猜想也不符合事实。在使徒们自己的陈述中,他们都曾经一度难以接受耶稣复活的事实,在经过一段时间以后才战胜了偏见,接受了复活的事实。

Wishful thinking might have led Mary Magdalene to mistake the gardener for Jesus, if she had been expecting Him to rise from the dead. But the record says that the opposite happened-she mistook the resurrected Jesus for the gardener.3

如果说,玛丽是因为过于急切盼望耶稣的复活,她有可能误将看守坟墓的人当成耶稣。但是圣经记载正好相反,玛利亚误将耶稣当成是看守坟墓的人。(约翰福音2015

Wishful thinking might have led the two disciples travelling to Emmaus to mistake a stranger for Jesus, if they had wanted to believe in His resurrection. Instead of that, they mistook the resurrected Jesus for a stranger.4

两个门徒走在通往以马忤斯的路上,如果他们出现幻觉的话,可能将一个不认识的人看成耶稣。但是实际情况是他们将耶稣看成了一位陌生人。(路加福音2413-18

When He appeared to His sorrowing apostles, even they thought He was a phantom-until they were invited to touch Him, putting their hands into the wound in His side, and their fingers into the holes where the nails had fastened Him to the cross.5

当耶稣出现在那些为他悲伤的人面前的时候,他们甚至认为耶稣是一个“魂”,直到耶稣让他们摸自己在十字架的伤口,他们才真正明白。(路加福音2439,约翰福音202025-28

They thought they were imagining His presence-until He joined them in a meal, and they saw food disappearing into His mouth.6 He spent many, many hours with them, enlarging their understanding of the Old Testament Scriptures.7 And finally they all watched Him ascend into heaven.8

他们以为耶稣是出现在他们的想象当中,直到他和他们一起吃饭,直到他把食物吞下去,这才相信是真实的耶稣。他和他们呆了很长的时间,帮助他们理解圣经(指旧约)。最后他们看着他升天。(路加福音2451,使徒行传19

No, all the evidence suggests that we must treat these contempor­aries of Jesus with the same respect as Hillary and Tensing. We have no reason to suspect them of lying. There are no grounds for thinking of them as poor, deluded simpletons.

不是。所有的证据显示,我们应该像尊敬这两个登上运动员那样,尊敬这些和耶稣同时代的人。我们没有理由怀疑他们在撒谎。没有任何理由让我们认为他们是在迷惑别人的傻瓜。

There is only one view of them that fits the facts. They were honest, intelligent men, reporting a very wonderful event.

    他们的观点是符合事实的。他们是诚实的,有智慧的人,他们向大家报道了这件非常奇妙的事情。

 

Cause and Effect原因和效果

In Chapter 2 we noted a fundamental law of science, that nothing ever happens without a cause. In Chapter 6 we saw how Christianity came into existence in a most unfavourable environment.

本书第二章中我们注意到一条根本的科学原则:任何一件事情都不可能是无缘无故地发生的。在第6章中我们看到了基督教是如何在最不利的条件下生存的。

Now these are two facts that simply cannot be denied. Even if you are not yet convinced that Jesus rose from the dead, you cannot reasonably disagree with the statements in the previous paragraph.

这两件事情是不可能轻易被否认的。即使你现在还不相信耶稣的复活,你不能够否定我们刚才的陈述。

Put those two statements together, and immediately a question arises. What was the cause that gave birth to Christianity? Whatever that cause was it must have been something tremendous, judging by the results it achieved.    

如果把这两个陈述放在一起,新问题马上会冒出来:基督教诞生的原因是什么?这个原因一定是非常巨大的,因为它的结果是如此不同凡响。

Remember, as Chapter 6 showed, what an unpopular religion Christianity was, among both Jews and Gentiles. Nevertheless quite a few Jews and Gentiles did accept it. And those few accepted it with such tremendous vigour that they changed the face of the world.

还记得在第6章我们讲过,当时不管是犹太人还是在非犹太人(外邦人)中间,基督教是非常不受欢迎的。然而还是有一些犹太人、外邦人接受了基督教,这一小部分人带着巨大的热情改变了世界的面貌。

The unbelieving Jews accused the early Christian Jews of having “turned the world upside down”.9 And from a Jewish point of view, they had. The Jewish religion was the oldest, strictest, narrowest, most self-confident religion on earth. It was a religion first given to their fathers by God Himself, and how they prided themselves on that fact!

那些不相信耶稣的犹太人指责早期的基督徒犹太人是“那搅乱天下的”。(使徒行传176从犹太人的观点来看,确实是这样。犹太教是世界最古老、严格、封闭、自信的宗教,而且是  神将这种宗教最早传给他们的祖宗,犹太人对此感到多么自豪!

True, they were not a united body. They had their various sects and schools of thought. But on certain things they were all agreed. These were such vital parts of the Jewish religion, and had been unchanged for so many centuries, that they clung fanatically to them. Their basic dogmas included:

犹太教确实不是一个整体,他们有多种门派,但是有一件事情是一致的,犹太人宗教的核心部分,多个世纪以来一直没有变化,他们的立场从没有改变。这些基本的教义包括:

(1) The belief that there was only one God. In a world where every other nation worshipped many gods, this was the great distinguishing mark of the Jewish faith.

他们相信只有一位  神。世界上的其他民族都相信有很多  神,这是犹太教和其它宗教最明显的区别。

(2) A superior attitude to the Gentiles. The God that the Jews believed in had no interest in the Gentiles, unless they were prepared to adopt the Jewish religion and way of life completely.

犹太民族对其他民族的优越感。他们认为犹太人信仰的  神对外邦人不感兴趣,除非他们准备结受犹太教,并且完全按照犹太人的生活方式生活。

(3) A fanatical insistence on keeping the Sabbath Day (Saturday) as a day of complete rest from work and a day of worship. 对坚持守安息日(星期六)特别狂热,将那一天看成是崇拜上帝的日子,完全不可以工作。

(4) A determination not to eat those foods (such as pork) that were forbidden by the Law of Moses. 坚决不吃摩西律法所禁止的食物,例如猪肉。

(5) A deep hatred of human sacrifice.

对于用人来献祭的想法深恶痛绝。

From among this ultra-conservative people sprang the leaders of a new faith. They were not irreligious men. They were men of the very highest moral principles. Yet their teaching cut right across the cherished dogmas of the Jews.

从这些特别保守的人中间产生了一种新信仰的领导人。他们不是不虔诚的人,他们是具有最高尚的道德准则的人。然而他们的新教导却使他们站在犹太人保守教条的对立面。   

The Christians claimed that they still believed in only one God. But most Jews regarded that claim as absurd. How could these Christ­ians say they had only one God, when their Lord Jesus was supposed to be sitting in heaven at God’s right hand? To the orthodox Jew, such a doctrine was blasphemous nonsense; it reminded them of the deified heroes that the pagans believed in.

基督教声称他们依然信仰只有一位  神,但是大部分犹太人认为这种声明是荒谬的。基督教承认只有一位  神,然而升天以后坐在  神的右边的耶稣如何也曾了  神?对于正统的犹太人来说,这种教条不仅仅是荒谬的,而且也亵渎了  神,他们将这种教条归纳于邪教之列。

Then there was that question of sacrifice. To the devout Jew, sacrifice could mean only one thing. A priest would slay an animal in the temple at Jerusalem, and offer it to God in the way that Moses had prescribed. These Christians had the audacity to say that Jesus Christ, who was executed as a criminal, was really a human sacrifice for sins. “Disgusting!” said the Jews.

其次就是有关献祭的问题。在虔诚的犹太人看来,献祭就是按照摩西律法所规定的,犹太人的祭师在耶路撒冷的神殿宰杀一个动物献给  神。然而基督徒却说,被当成罪犯处死的耶稣,是为了人的罪成了献祭的祭物。犹太人认为这种观点是令人厌恶的。

To the orthodox Jews the practices of the early Christians were as evil as their beliefs. They admitted Gentiles to full membership of their Church, without first making Jews of them. They dropped the Sabbath, and worshipped God on Sunday instead. They allowed people to eat whatever food they fancied.

按照正统的犹太人看来,早期基督教的活动和他们的信仰一样邪恶。基督教完全接纳外邦人,而且外邦人和犹太人完全平等他们抛弃了安息日,在星期天举行礼拜仪式,他们允许人们吃摩西律法禁止的食物。

But despite all these objections a fair sprinkling of Jews, including quite a number of priests,10 did join the early Church. What happened to cause this? What shook these people out of their deep-seated prejudices, based on a thousand years of national pride and tradition?

但是尽管存在着这些让犹太人拒绝的理由,还是有很多犹太人,其中包括一些祭司加入了教会。这是什么原因呢?是什么理由让这些人抛弃了由几千年的传统和自负所造成的根深蒂固的的偏见?

To produce such a staggering result, something extraordinary must have happened. What could it have been? The New Testament pro­vides an answer. It says that Peter stood up in Jerusalem and proved that Jesus had risen from the dead; in consequence 3,000 Jerusalemites were baptised.11

令人惊奇的结果后面一定有不同平常的事情发生。到底发生了什么?新约圣经为我们提供了答案。新约记载说,彼得在耶路撒冷向犹太人证明耶稣已经从死亡中复活,结果导致了3000耶路撒冷人受洗。

The New Testament’s explanation fits the facts beautifully. A tremendous Act of God like the resurrection of Jesus, if clearly estab­lished, could well have overcome the prejudices of so many devout Jews. It is hard to imagine what else could have produced such a dramatic result.

新约的解释完美地和事实相符。如果人们看到  神的奇妙作为,例如耶稣的复活,将会使他们克服犹太人固有的偏见。很难想象会有其它别的事件能够导致这样的结果。

One Jew to be converted was called Paul. Nowadays no one seriously doubts that he was a real historical character, who wrote at least some of the New Testament books bearing his name. He was a brilliant man, with a phenomenal understanding of the Old Testament. (Just study his epistles if you have any doubt about that.)

在从犹太教转变成基督徒的人当中,有一位名叫保罗的人。现在没有人否认保罗是一个真实的历史人物,新约中的大部分书信是他自己写的,他是一个有智慧的人,而且对圣经旧约有非常深刻的理解。(如果你对此有疑问,阅读保罗的书信就会明白。)

Full of zeal for the orthodox Jewish position, he began life as a persecutor of the Christian Church. Yet he changed abruptly, to become the most effective of all Christian preachers, and ended his days as a martyr for Christ.

What changed him? Let him explain in his own words:

保罗曾经是一个对正统的犹太教非常热心的人,早期曾迫害过基督教教会,然而突然之间他的生命发生了剧烈的转变,他成为最有成效的基督教传教士,最后成为基督的殉道者。

是什么使他发生了改变?他自己解释说:

 

“If Christ be not risen, then is our preaching vain and your faith is also vain.... But now is Christ risen from the dead.... He was seen of Cephas, then of the twelve; after that He was seen of above five hundred brethren at once, of whom the greater part remain unto this present . . . After that He was seen of James, then of all the apostles. And last of all, He was seen of me also, as of one born out of due time.”12

   “若基督没有复活,我们所传的便是枉然,你们所信的也是枉然;……但基督已经从死里复活…... 并且显给矶法看,然后显给十二使徒看;后来一时显给五百多弟兄看,其中一大半到如今还在,却也有已经睡了的。以后显给雅各布看,再显给众使徒看,末了也显给我看;我如同未到产期而生的人一般。(哥林多前书1514205-8

On two occasions he explained at length how he met the resurrected Jesus on the road to Damascus.13 It was this that changed the course of his life, he said.

他曾经两次详细地解释了他是如何在通往大马士革的道路上遇见了已经复活的耶稣。(见使徒行传22章,26章)他说,这一次经历改变了他生命的轨迹。

Either this was true, and Christ did rise from the dead. Or it was false, and we are left with a fact without an explanation. For how else can we account for Paul’s conversion, or for the epistles that he wrote?

   这些陈述如果是正确的,那么基督的复活就是真的。如果这些陈述是错误的,那么很多事实就无法解释。我们无法解释保罗为什么会转变成基督徒,也无法解释保罗所写的书信。

 

The Tomb was Empty 空坟墓

One thing is quite certain. The tomb in which the body of Jesus was buried was empty three days later. The dead body of Jesus was never seen again. If an unbeliever wants to dispute the resurrection story, he must take that fact as his starting point.

有一件事情可以肯定。耶稣死亡三天以后,埋葬耶稣的坟墓成了空的,从此以后再没有人看见耶稣的尸体。如果一个不相信的人怀疑耶稣复活,他必须首先解释上面的事实。

How can we be sure of this? Because it is obvious. The Jewish leaders who crucified Jesus would have loved to be able to say, “Look, this is the tomb, and here is the body-as dead as ever!” Had they done so, Christianity would never have been born.

我们为什么能够如此确信?因为事情是明显的。谋害耶稣的犹太人希望能够说:“看,这就是耶稣的坟墓,耶稣的身体和以前一样还在那里。”如果他们能够这样说,基督教就不会诞生了。

But they were powerless. The tomb was empty, and so they could not disprove the resurrection story. They could only make the best of a bad job, and try to explain the emptiness of the tomb.

但是他们不能够这样说。因为坟墓是空的,他们不能够证明复活没有发生。他们能够做的最坏事情,就是试图解释为什么坟墓是空的。

They put their wily heads together, and concocted the very best story they could. Matthew tells us:

这一群老谋深算的人开始聚集在一起编故事,马太福音告诉我们说:

“They gave large money unto the soldiers [that is, the soldiers who had been guarding the tomb] saying, ‘Say ye, “His disciples came by night and stole Him away while we slept.”’.. And this saying is commonly reported among the Jews until this day.”14

    “祭司长和长老聚集商议,就拿许多银钱给兵丁,说:「你们要这样说:『夜间我们睡觉的时候,他的门徒来,把他偷去了。』……这话就传说在犹太人中间,直到今日”(马太福音2812-15

Matthew’s statement is confirmed by two later writers. Both Justin Martyr15 and Tertullian16 were still meeting the same explanation from unbelieving Jews in the second half of the second century.

有两份后来的书面文件证实了马太的声明。公元2世纪的贾斯廷(Justin Martyr和德尔图良(Tertullian都从一些不信耶稣的犹太人那里看见过同样的解释。

The unbelievers’ favourite approach today is not to offer any explanation of the facts. They prefer to dodge the main issue completely, by raising all sorts of side issues: “But how do we know that our gospels are what the apostles wrote? How do we know that changes weren’t made in later years? Don’t the gospel writers contradict each other?” 

今天,不信耶稣的人最喜欢的方法是不作任何解释。他们喜欢躲避问题的主要部分,而从两个侧面的问题开始:“我们如何知道我们现在看的福音书就是由使徒所写的?我们怎么知道最近这些年它们没有改变?福音书之间难道没有相互矛盾的地方?”

All such questions are beside the point. They merely evade the main evidence for Christ’s resurrection, which is based upon the unassailable facts of history. And in any case, these questions are dealt with in Part Two of this book.     

所有这些问题都离题太远。他们仅仅逃避了基督复活的主要证据,而基督的复活是建立在牢不可破的事实基础上的。然而,我们要将这些问题留在本书的第二部分进行讨论。

The “Theft Theory” was the very best that the men on the spot, the unbelieving Jews, could produce. It stands to reason that, after this lapse of time, no modern unbeliever is likely to produce a better theory. And yet such is human nature that various modern unbelievers have tried.

“偷窃理论”是那些在现场却不相信耶稣复活的犹太人所能够炮制出来的最好的理论。因为后来没有任何不信仰耶稣的人能够制造出更好的理论。现代不信仰耶稣的人也尝试这种理论,这也是人之常情。

They have only managed to find three alternatives worth serious consideration. First, there is the “Wrong Tomb Theory”. According to this, the disciples looking for the body in the grey light of dawn blundered into some other tomb. It happened to be an empty one. “He is risen!” they cried impetuously-and convinced the world that they were right.

这种理论有三种选项:首先是“错误坟墓”论,根据这种理论,耶稣的门徒在寻找耶稣的尸体时,由于光线太暗,结果到了别人的坟墓,碰巧这个坟墓是一个空的,于是门徒们迫不及待地高呼:“耶稣复活了”,并且还让世界相信他们是对的。

Then there is the “Recovery Theory”. This suggests that the bleeding body of Jesus was not quite dead when they took it down from the cross, buried it, and partially embalmed it. Then the severely wounded Jesus recovered consciousness. He managed to free Himself from the embalming cloths, break the seal on the great stone that closed the mouth of the tomb, roll its vast mass to one side, and creep past the guards unobserved.

接下来的是“苏醒论”,这种理论说,当耶稣的身体从十字架上放下来的时候,他的身体在流血,但是没有完全死亡。门徒将耶稣的身体用裹尸布包起来以后放在坟墓,后来受伤严重的耶稣清醒过来,成功地从裹尸布脱身,并且打开封住洞口的大石头,在守卫的士兵没有发觉的情况下逃了出来。

But this tall story is not finished yet. It goes on to declare that the half-dead Jesus appeared to His disciples and managed to persuade them that He had been raised to splendid, glorious, all-powerful immortality. Then He managed to disappear for ever from the scene, so that none of them saw Him die.

但是这个夸张的故事还没有结束。它还得让接受他的人相信耶稣活着出现在门徒面前,说服他们他已经复活,得到了荣耀的永生,接下来他还得永远从舞台上消失,这样才能没有人看见他死亡。

Believe it or not, this improbable tale has been put forward by unbelievers time after time. Surely they must be in a bad way, if they can be satisfied with a theory like that.

不管你是否相信,这个不可能的故事竟然被那些不信耶稣的人反复提出来。如果这种理论都能让他们满足,这一定是一件不好的事情。

Finally, there is the “Hallucination Theory”. This says that dis­ciples gathered together for a meeting, and in a religious frenzy they all imagined that the risen Lord appeared to them.

最后的是“幻觉论”。这种理论说,门徒们聚集在一起的时候,他们在虔诚的幻觉之中,想象耶稣出现在他们面前。

Two of these four theories can be dismissed without a second thought. The “Wrong Tomb” and “Hallucination” theories suffer from the fatal objection that the Jews would certainly have produced the dead body of Jesus, and blown Christianity to bits.

我们可以轻易地打发掉这四种理论中的两种。“坟墓错误”和“幻觉论”最致命的缺陷是:根据这些理论,犹太人当然能够找到耶稣的尸体,如果是这样的话,他们就能粉碎基督教。

The “Recovery Theory” is so obviously far fetched that we are back at our starting point: the Jewish “Theft Theory” is the best of a bad lot. It is the only explanation worthy of further consideration.

而“醒过来理论”很明显远离出发点,犹太人制造的“偷窃理论”是这些站不住脚的理论中最好的,同样也经不起进一步的推敲。

Yet it still does not explain half the facts. It presupposes that the apostles were a bunch of brazen cheats. But they were obviously neither brazen nor cheats. They were thoroughly frightened men. On their own admission, when Jesus died they all forsook Him and fled17 and lost faith in His Messiahship.18

这种理论连事实的一半都解释不了。它假定耶稣的门徒是一群厚颜无耻的骗子,很明显他们既不是骗子,也不厚颜无耻。他们完全是一群小心翼翼的人,他们自己也承认,当耶稣受难的时候,他们因为害怕而没有信心,自己逃之夭夭。

And they were good men. Cheats do not write sublime religious literature like the New Testament, nor suffer martyrdom cheerfully for the sake of their faith.

但是他们都是善良的人。骗子是写不出新约这样崇高、严谨的著作,也不会为了信仰自愿地做出牺牲。

But worst of all, like all the unbelievers’ theories, it does not begin to answer the great question that unbelievers refuse to face:

最重要的是,这种理论和其它理论一样,都不能回答以下问题,这些问题是不信仰耶稣的人所不愿意面对的。

 What caused the sudden uprise of Christianity in an utterly hostile world? What caused a little band of devout, working-class Jews to overcome their deep-rooted religious prejudices; to challenge the religious leaders of their nation; to lay down their lives preaching an incredibly novel and unpopular faith?

在当时全然敌视的条件下,是什么原因造成了基督教的突然崛起?是什么原因让一小部分普通虔诚的犹太人战胜自己根深蒂固的宗教偏见,对抗自己国家的宗教统治者?是什么原因让他们为了传播一种高尚却不受欢迎的宗教宁愿牺牲自己的生命?

 It was the most extraordinary, unlikely occurrence in all history. What caused it?

这是人类整个历史上最不平常、发生几率最小的事件。原因何在?

 Only one explanation fits the facts.

只有一种解释可以符合事实。

There is no need for me to tell you what that explanation is.

然而,我没有必要告诉你这种解释是什么。

 

8

A Law Ahead of its Time

超乎时代的法律

Imagine one of those programmes where a man in a busy street with a microphone and a television camera stops passers by.

想象你正在一条繁忙的大街,带着摄像机和麦克风采访一位过路人:

“Excuse me, Sir, (or, Madam). I wonder if you can tell me who first spoke these words: ‘Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself’?”

 “很抱歉打搅您,您能不能够告诉我是谁最先说‘爱人如己’这句话?”

Leaving out the “Don’t know” and the “Don’t care” brigade, it is a fair bet that most people will answer, “Why, Jesus, of course!”

 如果抛开“不知道”,或者是“不关心”之类的话,我敢打赌到大多数人会说:“当然是耶稣拉!”

But they would be wrong. Those words first appear in the book of Leviticus,1 near the beginning of the Old Testament. All Jesus did was to remind people of their importance.

但这个答案是错误的。这句话最初出现在旧约利未记中,接近旧约的开头。耶稣重复这句话是为了强调它的重要。

The first five books of the Bible-Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy-contain the code of laws under which the children of Israel lived. Together they are called “The Law of Moses”, or simply “The Law”.

圣经最开始的几本书,包括创世记、出埃及记、利未记、民数记和申命记,包含着以色列人的生活的法律规范。这些书被统称为“摩西律法”,或者可以简称为“律法书”。

“Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself” illustrates how far the Law was ahead of its time. Jesus is regarded as a very advanced moral teacher, and, of course, He was. Yet one of His most famous sayings was a quotation from the Law of Moses.

“爱人如己”,这句话反映了摩西律法多么地超出了其时代,耶稣被认为是一个超前的道德大师,他也是,然而他最著名的教导之一是从摩西律法书中来的。

There is no need to spend much time discussing the Ten Com­mandments. No other document in the world has had so much influence on the legal and moral codes that civilised man lives by. Other men in the ancient world, like the famous Hammurabi, drew up their own codes of law. Yet none of these has had the lasting effect of the Ten Commandments.

我们在这里不用花费过多时间来讨论摩西律法中的十条戒命。对于人类文明生活所依据的法律和道德准则而言,世界上没有其它文件能够有摩西律法那么大的影响力。古代社会人们也存在其它法律,例如著名的汉摩拉比法典,它们为日常规范制定了准则。然而这些法律和摩西十戒相比,它们对后来的社会影响不大。

But at the moment I am more concerned with the Law of Moses as

a law of love. Men think of it as a stern, strong law, and it was so. It

had to be, in that far-off lawless age. But in many ways it was also

a tender, merciful law. And considering the age in which it was

written, that is little short of a miracle.

    但是此刻我更关注的是,摩西律法是一部爱的法律,有人认为它是一部严厉的法律,在当时没有法制意识的年代,确实是这样,当时必须有一部严厉的法律。但是从另外的方面来说,它也是一部充满仁慈的法律。考虑到其书写年代,说这部法律是一个奇迹一点也不夸张。

A little over a hundred years ago, a famous cartoon appeared in an English journal. It bore the following caption:

 

“Who’s ‘im, Bill?”

“A stranger!”

“‘Eave ‘arf a brick at ‘im.”2

 

This typifies the attitude of men to strangers all through history. Now contrast what Moses said:

几乎所有的人类历史年代都欺负外来者。100年以前,有一部嘲笑外来者的卡通画非常流行。然而摩西律法却说:

 

“The stranger that dwelleth with you shall be as one born among you, and thou shalt love him as thyself, for ye were strangers in the land of Egypt.”3

   “和你们同居的外人,你们要看他如本地人一样,并要爱他如己,因为你们在埃及地也作过寄居的。”(利未记1934

Not only your neighbour, but you must also love the foreigner as yourself! Here Moses was not only ahead of his time, but ahead of our time, too. Think how much racial strife would be avoided in the world today, if men would only do as Moses commanded.

不仅仅要把他们看成是自己的邻居,而且要爱这些外来者就像爱自己一样。摩西律法在这里不仅仅领先自己的时代,还领先我们的时代。如果人们能够遵守摩西律法的话,有多少种族冲突就可以避免。

 

The Law was concerned with little things as well as big. Think of all the mental suffering that has been caused by malicious, gossiping tongues. The Law clamped down on this:

摩西律法涉及的范围有大事,也有小事。我们经常被流言蜚语所伤害,摩西律法说:

 “Thou shalt not go up and down as a talebearer among thy people.”4

    “不可在民中往来搬弄是非,也不可与邻舍为敌,置之于死。”(利未记1916

Among the other ancient nations there was no end to man’s cruelty to his fellow men. Only among the Jews was cruelty kept in check. There was no death by prolonged torture in Israel. The only forms of capital punishment prescribed by the Law of Moses led to a quick death.

在其他古代民族,人们即使是对自己的同胞的残忍也是没有尽头的。只有以色列人将这些残酷收敛起来。在以色列没有长时间折磨的死刑,只有少数几种很快执行的死刑。

The Law also set a limit to the extent of corporal punishment. Other nations would flog criminals indefinitely, until often they died beneath the lash. But Moses said that forty strokes must be the maximum.5 The Law even ruled against cruelty to animals.6

摩西律法同样也对肉体的惩罚设定了限度。有些国家的法律会无限制地鞭打犯人,直到他们死在皮鞭之下。但是摩西律法规定鞭打犯人的最高次数是40次,(申命记253而且反对残忍地对待动物。(申命记254

All through history the moneylender has been the curse of primitive societies. Even today, in many underdeveloped countries starving peasants spend their whole lives in debt, while the moneylenders grow rich from disgracefully high rates of interest. Many Jews are among those who have made fortunes from moneylending. But they would not have been if they had appreciated the spirit of their Law.

人类社会从开始以来,高利贷一直是一种社会疾病。即使在今天,在很多发展中国家,有很多农民终身在高利贷的压力下生活,放高利贷的人却靠着不体面的高利息致富,很多犹太人也靠放高利贷发财。如果他们体会到摩西律法的精神就不会这样做。

For the Law set an example to all mankind by frowning on this practice. Israelites were allowed (though not encouraged) to take interest from foreigners. But three different books forbade Israelites to charge one another interest.7 At the same time Moses insisted that, if a poor citizen needed an interest-free loan or a gift, he must be given it.8  Although the lender was allowed to ask for the borrower’s coat as security for a loan, he must not keep it after sundown if the owner needed it for warmth.9

摩西律法为全人类设立了榜样。以色列人可以从其他国家的人收取利息,但是不能从自己的同胞那里收取利息。(利未记253637,出埃及记2225;申命记231920)摩西律法还规定,如果有穷人要向你借钱而且没有利息,你必须借给他。(利未记253637尽管借钱的人可以向对方要一件棉袄作为借款的证据,但是如果借钱的人需要这件棉来保暖,债主必须在太阳落山之前还给他。(申命记241-13

 

Pure Worship纯洁的崇拜

 

When Israel first became a nation, the religions of their neighbours were indescribably vile. The world was full of idols, in whose name the foulest deeds were done. Human sacrifice, black magic, ritual prostitution, witchcraft-there was no end to the evils perpetrated under the guise of religion.

当以色列人最初成为一个民族的时候,我们无法形容他们周围民族的宗教信仰是多么的堕落。世界充满了偶像,以这些偶像的名义下最肮脏的事情。将活人献给假神,巫术,神庙娼妓,在宗教的幌子下干出无数的邪恶的勾当。

Now and again some outstanding man-such as King Amen­hotep IV, who ruled Egypt during the fourteenth century B.C.-would try to reform his country’s religion. But none of them had any lasting influence on mankind. There was only one nation whose Law shone like a beacon in a dark world:

阿孟和蒂(公元前十六至十四世纪 古埃及的法老)曾经试图改革自己国家的宗教,但是在他死后他的改革最终对于人类没有影响。这个时候,只有一个国家,他们的法律就像灯塔一样照耀在这个黑暗的世界:

“I am the Lord thy God.... Thou shalt have none other gods beside Me.”10

“Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God is one Lord, and thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might.”11

我是耶和华你的神,……除了我以外,你不可有别的神。(申命记567)

以色列啊,你要听!耶和华我们神是独一的主。你要尽心、尽性、尽力爱耶和华你的神。(申命记645

 

There was only one God, not a thousand and one. Because of that, a man must be single-minded in his devotion to that One God. The idols of the other nations were as nothing; therefore they must not have the slightest influence upon a man’s thoughts or deeds.

   只有一位 神,不是一千零一位神。因此一个人应该尽自己全部的心思和意念来爱这位神。其他国家的偶像算不了什么,也不应该对一个人的思想和行为产生任何一点影响。

“Thou shalt not learn to do after the abominations of those nations. There shall not be found among you any one that maketh his son or his daughter to pass through the fire, or that useth divina­tion, or an observer of times, or an enchanter, or a witch, or a charmer, or a consulter with familiar spirits, or a wizard, or a necromancer. For all that do these things are an abomination unto the Lord.”12

   “你到了耶和华你神所赐之地,那些国民所行可憎恶的事,你不可学著行。你们中间不可有人使儿女经火,也不可有占卜的、观兆的、用法术的、行邪术的、用迷术的、交鬼的、行巫术的、过阴的。凡行这些事的都为耶和华所憎恶;因那些国民行这可憎恶的事,所以耶和华你的神将他们从你面前赶出。”(申命记189-12

Right up to the time of Christ there was not another nation that had followed Moses’ example, and banned all these hideous religious practices of the ancient world.

一直到基督的年代,没有任何一个国家的法律像摩西律法那样,禁止各种形式的邪恶宗教仪式。

 

Health is Wealth健康就是财富

 

“What’s he got that I haven’t got?” is a common human complaint. One reason for the Jews’ unpopularity is that men have often had cause to be jealous of them.

“他有为什么我没有?” 这是我们常常听到的埋怨。犹太人不受欢迎的原因是因为受到别人的嫉妒。

Professor Rendle Short, who was a surgeon as well as a Bible student, gives an interesting example from fourteenth-century Italy.13 Plague was sweeping the country, and the Italians noticed that the Jewish communities escaped much more lightly than themselves. They guessed, correctly, that the Jewish Law had something to do with it. So they adopted the Jewish system, and their death rate fell.

Rendle Short既是一位外科医生,也是一位圣经学者,他曾经列举十四世纪的意大利为例子。在瘟疫横行期间,意大利人注意到犹太人却很少受到影响。他们猜测,一定是犹太人有什么特别的地方。他们采纳了犹太人的系统,结果死亡率大幅度地降低了。(参考1964年出版的《圣经和医学》)

As a twentieth-century Italian doctor has written in an ordinary medical textbook:

正如一位20世纪的意大利医生在一本普通医学教科书中所写的:

 

“No-one can fail to be impressed by the careful hygienic pre­cautions of the Mosaic period. The extremely stringent quarantine rules very likely did a great deal of good.”14

“没有人不会对摩西时代采取的对疾病的预防措施感到惊奇。这些严格的隔离措施对于预防疾病大有帮助。”

Here are some of the provisions of the Law that helped to keep Israel healthy.

下面是一些可以确保了以色列人身体健康法律规定:

(1) Isolation. “Lepers” (the Biblical term includes a whole group of infectious diseases, along with the modern leprosy) were com­manded to live separately from the rest of the people.15 The modern practice of isolating sufferers from infectious diseases was derived directly from the Jews.隔离。“麻疯病”这个词汇在圣经中泛指所有的传染性疾病。这些病的患者被命令从其余的人中间隔离生活。现代人将传染病患者隔离起来,这种做法的根源直接来自犹太人。

(2)        Washing after handling dead bodies. When a Jew had handled a dead body he was regarded as “unclean”. He was to be quarantined for seven days, and to undergo an elaborate washing procedure before he was regarded as fit to mix with society again.16 Until about a hundred years ago surgeons used to handle the dead and the dying, and then go straight into the operating theatre without washing. Thousands of their patients died through infection. Many of them might have lived if those early surgeons had kept the Law of Moses.触摸了死人的尸体以后要洗手。犹太人在触摸了死人的尸体以后,他被看成是不洁净的。他要隔离7天以后才能参与社会活动。而其他国家100年以前,外科医生通常没有洗手就进行手术。数千名患者死于感染。如果他们的医生要是遵守摩西律法的话,他们也许还会活着。

(3) Sanitation. In 1969 I walked along the main street of a large African city and watched human excrement drifting along the open drains at the sides of the road. I reflected on the high incidence of disease in that city, and the low expectation of life. And then I won­dered how much better off the people would be if only they obeyed the Law of Moses:卫生设施:1969年,我在非洲的一个大城市里行走时,看见了大便沿着街道的排水沟漂流。这让我想起了这个城市为什么会有这么高的疾病发生率,而且居民的寿命却很短。那时我在想,如果他们遵守摩西律法,情况就会好很多。

 

“You must have a latrine outside the camp and go outside to it; you must carry a spade among your weapons, and when you relieve yourself outside, you must dig a hole with it, to cover up your filth.”17

“你在营外也该定出一个地方作为便所。在你器械之中当预备一把锹,你出营外便溺以后,用以铲土,转身掩盖。”(申命记2312-13

It was not until the eighteenth century that Western Europe began to see the life-saving wisdom of this part of the Law. And hundreds of millions of people have not seen the wisdom of it yet.

西欧到了18世纪以后才开始看清摩西律法在拯救生命方面的智慧。然而直到今天仍然有数百万人没有看到这种智慧。       

(4)     The food laws. Two chapters in the Law18 are filled with lists of the birds, beasts and fishes which may and may not be eaten. With a few exceptions the lists agree with what modern man regards as healthy and unhealthy food. The flesh-eating creatures, the rats, the reptiles and most insects are forbidden; the vegetarian bird and beasts are permitted.有关食物的法律。在法律中有两章(利未记11章和申命记14章)充满了不可以吃的鸟、兽、和鱼类的名单,而这个名单中与现代人认为的判断健康食品和非健康食品的标准是一样的。食肉动物、老鼠、爬虫以及大部分的昆虫是不可以吃的,而食草的动物和鸟是可以吃的。

The main differences from modern practice are that pork and shell­fish are forbidden by the Law, yet are eaten today. But there were good reasons for the Law’s strictness. Today public health inspectors backed by an elaborate laboratory service can ensure that pigs and shellfish are reared under healthy conditions. Israel had no such facilities.

律法中与现代生活相差最大的是:摩西律法禁止吃猪肉和甲壳类水生物,而现代人却没有这些禁忌。但摩西律法严格禁止这些食物也是有道理的。今天有专门监测食品卫生的检查机构来保证这些食物在健康条件下饲养,古代以色列没有这样的条件。

We know now that two serious diseases, cysticercosis and trichinia­sis, can be caught through eating the flesh of pigs infected by parasitic worms. In a primitive society the only safe way to avoid these diseases is to steer clear of pork.

我们知道如果猪肉被寄生虫感染的话,会导致两种严重的疾病,囊虫病和旋毛虫病可以由寄生虫通过猪肉传播。在原始社会里,唯一安全的方法就是不要吃猪肉。

As for shellfish, they are quite harmless if they grow in water free from sewage. But if human excrement is present they feed on it, and then may harbour the germs of typhoid and other intestinal diseases. Modern science takes precautions against this, but the only precaution open to ancient Israel was to abstain from shellfish.

至于贝壳类食品,如果生长环境没有污水,它们是安全的。如果人类的排泄物如果出现在周围,它们就会成为伤寒症和消化道疾病病菌的温床。现代医学号召人们对贝类食物保持警惕,但是对于古代的以色列人来说,唯一使他们保持警惕的方法就是不吃。

Even modern food science can sometimes slip up, and let an unsafe batch of shellfish on to the market. The last time (the very last!) that I ate oysters I was carried off on a stretcher at midnight. I had a week in hospital-ample time to reflect that Moses was wiser than I.

现代食品科技也有打盹的时候,让一些不安全的海鲜类食品进入市场。我曾经因为吃牡蛎而在半夜送上了救护车,住进医院的一个星期让我有时间体会摩西律法要比我聪明。

Cecil Roth has published some figures showing how the Jews have remained healthier than their neighbours right down to modern times.19 One year when statistics were collected for the death rates among infants less than a year old in Czarist Russia, the rate for Jews was 13.2 per cent and for non-Jews 26.0 per cent. In Vienna it was 8.3 per cent for Jews, 16.1 per cent for non-Jews. In New York in 1915 it was 7.8 per cent for Jews, 10.5 per cent for non-Jews. “Even today [he wrote in 1956] the infant death rate in Israel is the lowest in the world.”

  Cecil Roth先生曾经发表过一些数据,证明即使在现代社会,犹太人的健康状况依然比他们的邻居好。统计学家收集俄罗斯帝国时期一岁以下婴儿死亡率数据,犹太人的比率为13.2%, 非犹太人为26.0%。在维也纳,犹太人为8.3%,而非犹太人为10.5%。“即使是在今天(作者的写作时间为1956年),犹太人的婴儿死亡率依然是世界上最低的。”

 

Conservation of Resources对资源的保护

 

In 1966 a new body was formed in London by a group of eminent British citizens. It is called “The Conservation Society”, and its objects were defined as including:

1966年,伦敦的一些知名人士组成了“保护自然资源团体”,这个团体的目标包括:

“(iii) To promote the conservation in the interests of mankind of natural resources and animal life .3条:促进保护人类自然资源和动物生命

(iv) To promote the conservation of human cultures, skills and knowledge ...”20

     4条:促进保护人类文化、技能和知识。

It has taken the world all this time to realise that the world’s resources are limited and need to be carefully conserved. Meanwhile, human foolishness and greed has done untold harm to the beautiful world in which we live.

人类到了这个时候才知道自然资源是有限的,应该仔细保存。然而在同时,人类的愚蠢和贪婪给我们生存的世界已经造成了无法挽回的损失。

Much of this harm could have been prevented if more people had obeyed the Law of Moses. For this Law taught the necessity of con­servation of resources several thousand years before man seriously thought about it. Here are three examples:

如果更多的人遵守摩西律法的话,这些伤害中的很多本来是可以避免的。因为律法已经在3000多年以前就教导人们保护资源的必要性,远在人们意识到之前,下面就是三个例子:

(1)       Bird life. If an Israelite caught a mother bird sitting on a nest, he must not take both the mother and her eggs or young. He could take the eggs or young birds, but had to let the mother go free to perpetuate the species.21

对鸟的生命的爱护。如果一个以色列人抓住了正在孵蛋的鸟,他不能同时拿走鸟妈妈和小鸟(或鸟蛋):“你若路上遇见鸟窝,或在树上或在地上,里头有雏或有蛋,母鸟伏在雏上或在蛋上,你不可连母带雏一并取去。总要放母,只可取雏;” (申命记2267

If only modern man had listened to Moses, the museums of the world would not now be full of stuffed examples of extinct birds. We should not have a saying, “Dead as the dodo”. The beautiful passenger pigeon of North America, and the great auk of the North Atlantic, would still be thriving in their millions as they were at the beginning of the last century.

要是现代人听从了摩西的教导,现在博物馆就不会充满已经灭绝的鸟类标本。北美漂亮的信鸽、北大西洋海雀在上个世纪初依然飞翔在海面上。 

(2) Arable land. Every seventh year the Israelite had to let his arable land lie fallow (that is, uncultivated).22 Under modern farming methods this is not necessary. But with more primitive methods of agriculture, constant cropping was liable to destroy the fertility of the land.

耕地的轮休。每隔7年,以色列人要让自己的土地休息。在现代化的耕作条件下,这样做可能不必要。但是在原始耕作条件下,接连不断的耕作会破坏土地的肥沃。

The Law of Moses provided an effective method of preventing human greed from ruining the good earth. But mankind disregarded the Law. All over the world man-made deserts sprawl where once were fertile fields. The deserts of Iraq, the coastal belt of North Africa, the dust bowls of the United States-all these might still be rich farmland if the Law had been obeyed.

摩西律法提供了防止人类的贪婪毁灭地球的有效方法。全世界都有曾经是绿地变化成的沙漠。在伊拉克的沙漠、北非的海岸,以及美国的沙尘带,如果人们遵守摩西律法的话,它们应该是富饶的可耕作的地方。

(3) Fruit trees. In present day warfare anything goes-or almost anything. There are, it is true, a few “rules of war”, dating back to the first Geneva Convention in 1864. But they are limited in scope, and not all countries recognise them. Even those that say they accept them sometimes break the rules when the crunch comes.对果树的保护:在今天的世界上,战争会让一切消失,或几乎让一切消失。1864年的日内瓦公约制定了一些战争规则,但是它们的范围有限,并不是所有的国家都承认它。即使是接受公约的国家,有时也会违背。

In the Vietnam war America introduced a new military tactic. It is called “defoliation”. The U.S. air force has sprayed many thousands of tons of weedkiller over enemy-occupied territory. Vast areas of jungle where enemy troops once hid have been turned into a tem­porary desert. Rice crops and fruit trees have also been wiped out, and great numbers of Vietnamese have gone hungry in consequence. Such is “total war”, as it is practised today.

在越南战争期间,美国军队曾经采取了一项军事战略,他们称之为“落叶计划”。美国空军在敌方领土上喷洒了数千吨的除草剂,曾经能够隐藏军队森林的暂时变成了沙漠,稻米和果树受到了污染,结果使得大量的越南人挨饿。在今天,这样的“总体战争”仍然在继续。

But ancient Israel were forbidden to treat nature so ruthlessly. Even under the stress of war they were not allowed to chop down fruit trees to make defensive barriers. Though this might have reduced their own casualties, or even turned defeat into victory, they still must not do it. Moses told them why not: “for the tree of the field is man’s life.”23

但是在古代的以色列,残酷对待自然的方式是被禁止的。即使在战争期间也不允许砍掉果树制造防御堡垒,尽管这样做会增加他们的伤亡,甚至将胜利变成了失败。他们依然遵守这些律法。摩西告诉他们说:“你若许久围困、攻打所要取的一座城,就不可举斧子砍坏树木。”(申命记201920

Thus the Jewish Law of three thousand years ago was in this respect far wiser, far more civilised, than American law (or British law, for that matter) of today.

这样看来,三千年以前犹太人的律法在这些方面比今天的美国法律(或英国以及其它国家的法律)更加文明。

(4) Human strength. This was the most precious of all natural resources, in a world where machine power had not yet come to replace muscle power. The Law of Moses introduced a revolutionary new principle to conserve human strength-a compulsory day of rest, once a week.24

对劳动力的保护。在机器代替肌肉劳动之前,劳动力是最尊贵的资源。摩西律法引入了一条革命性的新原则来保护劳动力,即每个星期强制休息一天。

Those far-off days were not noted for any humanitarian tendencies. Yet the astonishing fact about the Sabbath law was this: it applied to everybody in the land, Israelite and foreigner, master and slave alike.25

安息日最明显的特征并不是具有人道主义倾向。尽管与安息日有关的事实是,这项制度适合于在这块土地的每一个人,不管是以色列人还是外国人,不管是主人还是奴隶

Such an act of generosity on the part of rulers towards their slaves is without parallel in history. Yet Israel’s Law commanded it, and, by and large, Israel obeyed.

The great medical historian, Karl Sudhoff, has said:

这种奴隶主对待奴隶的慷慨方式在历史上是没有匹敌的。然而在以色列的律法上清楚地写明了,大部分的以色列人也遵守了。

   Karl Sudhoff是一位伟大的医学历史学家。他说:

“Had Judaism given nothing more to mankind than the estab­lishment of a weekly day of rest, we should still be forced to proclaim her one of the greatest benefactors of humanity.”26

   “如果不是犹太人带给人类每周休息一天的制度,我们可能不得不称这项制度是人类最伟大的贡献之一。”

 

Family Life家庭生活

 

Jews have always been known for the happiness and stability of their home lives,

犹太人的家庭稳定性方面和家庭幸福举世闻名。

In the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, when wife-beating was expressly permitted by English law, the Jewish rabbis could say, “It is not the way of our people to beat their wives as the Gentiles do.”27

12世纪和13世纪的时候,丈夫殴打妻子的行为还被英国的法律所允许,那时犹太人的拉比就说:“我们犹太人是不会学这些外邦人殴打自己妻子的”。

In 1952 Jewish marriages involving divorced persons numbered 122 out of a total of 1,876, or 6.5 per cent. This was about half the comparable figure for the British people as a whole.28 Most Jewish wives regard homemaking as a full time job. In 1950-52 only 11 per cent of Jewish women went out to work, compared with 34 per cent of the overall population.29

1952年,犹太人的离婚率为6.5%,为英国整体的一半。大部分的犹太妇女从事全职的家务工作,在1950-1952年只有11%的犹太妇女出去工作,而这个比例在英国为34%

The secret of successful Jewish home life, like so many other things Jewish, lay in the Law. In the ancient world (as in primitive societies today) wives were often regarded as mere chattels, to be used, dis­carded and replaced at will. Children were nothing more than economic assets to the Gentile nations.

和其它事情一样,犹太人家庭幸福的原因在于律法。在古代社会(甚至在今天的一些原始部落),妻子被看成是牲口使用,如果不喜欢就抛弃。孩子被看成是和财产差不多。

But Israel’s Law was different. Jewish women had to be respected. Adultery, fornication and prostitution were very severely discouraged. Men had to treat their wives fairly, even if they disliked them.30 Although divorce was not forbidden it was not encouraged, but was carefully regulated.31 And the ideal Jewish marriage was clearly specified in the beginning: one man and one woman, joined together for life.32

但是犹太人的律法是不同的。犹太妇女受到尊重。通奸和卖淫是应该受到惩罚的行为。即使不喜欢她,男人也必须公平地对待自己的妻子。尽管没有律法并没有禁止离婚,但也没有鼓励离婚。离婚受到规范。犹太人婚姻的理想观点是:一对男女结合在一起,婚姻要维持终身。

The Law laid great stress upon the careful upbringing of children. It was a father’s responsibility to see that his children were well educated in God’s ways.33

律法非常重视孩子们的教育。教导孩子敬畏 神是父亲的责任。(例如:申命记4910673246

The Jewish religion would never have survived without this stress on religious education within every family. At the same time it has had a useful by-product for the Jews. They have always been more advanced than any other nation in every form of education. Without doubt, their success in the world is partly due to this.

如果不是他们在每一个家庭都强调宗教教育,犹太人的宗教决不会保留到现在。同时,这也是犹太人的一个非常有用的副产品。他们通常在每一种形式上拥有比任何民族更加先进的教育系统。毫无疑问,他们在世界上的成功可以部分归功于此。

Thus, for example, a census taken in 1861 revealed that more than half the adult population of Italy could not read or write, but that only one Italian Jew in 17 could not read or write.34 A census of university students in Britain in 1954-5 revealed that 2.8 per cent of students were Jews,35 although Jews form only 0.8 per cent of the country’s population.

例如,在1861年的一项统计显示,超过总人口一半的成年人不能读写,而意大利的犹太人中,只有1/17的人不能读写。而在1954-1955年英国大学的统计显示,犹太大学生占据英国大学生总数的2.8%,而犹太人的人口总数只占这个国家中人口的0.8%

 

How Did Moses Manage It?

 

Once more we have a remarkable fact to face. The Law of Moses (con­tained in the first five books of the Bible) was astonishingly advanced in its provisions. It was at least three thousand years ahead of its time. The rest of the world did not realise the wisdom of many parts of the Law until the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.

 我们还要面对一件增加重要的令人吃惊的事实:摩西律法要比书写它的人的思想更加先进。摩西律法至少领先当时的时代3000年。而在19世纪和20世纪之前,世界上的其它国家都没有意识到摩西律法中的智慧。

How are we going to account for this? How did Moses manage to give his people such a revolutionary and brilliantly successful law?

这些智慧应该归功于谁呢?摩西是如何颁布这样一部充满亮光的、成功的、革命性的法律?

Here is Moses’ own explanation:下面是摩西自己的解释:

“What great nation is there that hath a god so nigh unto them as the Lord our God is?...

What great nation is there that hath statutes and judgments so righteous as all this Law?...

The Lord spake unto you . . . The Lord commanded me at that time to teach you statutes and judgments.”36

    那一大国的人有神与他们相近,像耶和华我们的神、在我们求告他的时候与我们相近呢?又那一大国有这样公义的律例典章、像我今日在你们面前所陈明的这一切律法呢?……耶和华从火焰中对你们说话,……他将所吩咐你们当守的约指示你们,就是十条诫,并将这诫写在两块石版上。(申命记4781214

Moses took no credit for himself. He was not the greatest legalistic genius of all time. He was not a man 3,000 years ahead of his time. It was not his brain that anticipated so many discoveries of modern sociology, hygiene, medicine and economics. His Law, he says, came from God.

摩西并没有将摩西律法的功劳归于自己。摩西本人并没有领先自己的时代3000年,并不是摩西自己的大脑能够预测出3000年以后的社会、卫生、医疗和经济情况。摩西自己说,他的律法来自  神。

This explanation by Moses fits the facts. Is there an alternative explanation that fits them half as well? How do the unbelievers explain the stubborn facts?

 摩西的解释是符合事实的。还有其它任何解释能够符合事实的一半吗?那些不相信圣经的人如何解释这些不合情理的事实?

The answer is that they don’t. They cannot provide a rational explanation for the facts, so they fall back once more on the technique of side-stepping them.

他们不能找到合理的解释,因此他们采取了旁敲侧击的策略:

“Moses didn’t write the Law,” they cry. “It was compiled by other men, between five and ten centuries after the time of Moses.”

他们申辩说:“摩西并没有写下这些法律,这些法律是其他人在摩西时代之后5-10个世纪所编写的”。

As if that made any difference! If true, it would only make the Law two thousand-odd years ahead of its time, instead of three thousand. And in any case, as we shall see later, it is by no means proved that Moses did not write the Law.如果是这样,这部法律领先时代2000年,而不是3000年,那又有什么区别?不管如何,正如我们在本书后面所看到的,没有证据显示摩西并没有写这部律法。

So they try another tactic. “Pah, this is just a load of pro-Jewish propaganda!”

他们会尝试另外一种策略:“这只是一种亲犹太人的正面宣传!”

Again: so what? Facts are still facts, even if somebody throws dirty words like “propaganda” at them. And in any case, it is not true. My feelings are certainly pro-Bible, but they are not pro-Jewish. I have no particular liking, nor any dislike, for the Jews. I am just a neutral observer of what anyone can see to be an extraordinary people, with an extraordinary Law.

这又怎么样?事实终归是事实。从我个人的感情来说,我属于“亲圣经”的,但不是“亲犹太人”的。对犹太人,我个人并不是特别喜欢、也没有任何不喜欢。我只是占在中立的立场上,观察这一群独特的人以及他们独特的法律。

Ask yourself: how do you explain these facts? You know how Moses explained them. He said that he received his astonishing Law from God Almighty.

你可以问自己:你自己是如何解释这些事实?你也知道摩西是如何解释的。他说他是从全能的 神那里接受到这部令自己颤惊的法律。

If this is not true, how did he manage to produce such a Law?

如果不是这样,那么摩西如何能自己编制出一套这样的法律?

 

9

The Ring of Truth

真理的声音

 

I shall never forget the day my father showed me my first counterfeit coin.

“Look at this, son,” he said. “I’ve been done!”

He held it lightly between the fingers and thumbs of both hands, and bent it easily into a horseshoe shape. I gasped with surprise and watched, fascinated, as he bent it back to its original shape. He passed it to me and I examined it. It still looked like a genuine half crown.

“How did you know it was a dud, Dad?” I asked.

“Because of this,” he replied, taking it from me and dropping it on the shop counter.

“Hear that dull clonking noise? Now listen to the ringing note you get from a real one.” He dropped a genuine half crown beside the counterfeit. There was no mistaking the different sound.

Even my schoolboy ear could detect the ring of truth.

我永远也不会忘记父亲让我第一次看到假币的那一天。

“看着,孩子”, 他对我说:“我已经做好了”。

他用拇指轻轻地把假币从磨具中勾出来交给我,我仔细地查看,发现就跟真的一样。   

我问他:“你怎么知道这是一枚假币?”

“从声音就可以听出来”。父亲回答我说,接着他把假币轻轻地抛到柜台后面。

“听到了这种沉闷的声音吗?在来听听真币发出的声音。”我听出这是两种绝然不同的声音。

甚至连我这样毛手毛脚的男孩都能分辨出来。

 

 

Experience Counts经验的积累 

 

In every walk of life people learn to sense the difference between true and false.

通过生活的每一步,人们学会如何去辨别真假。

Old hands in the teaching profession can glance down an examina­tion room, and pick Out the one boy who is trying to crib. The customs officer gradually learns to spot which suitcases are worth opening. The experienced magistrate can nearly always tell when a witness is lying. In every walk of life things either ring true, or they ring false.

老练的监考官只需一眼就能够辨别出试图作弊的考生,海关官员现场就能够判断该不该开箱检查某个人的行李。有经验的法官当场就能看出证人是不是在说谎。生活中每一件事情都会发出声音,好让人辨别真伪。

But before you can detect the ring of truth with any certainty you need experience. It is therefore significant that those who know the Bible best trust it the most.

但是在你可以比较有把握地辨别出真相之前,你需要有很多经历。因此,谁更明白圣经,谁就更有发言权,就更值得我们信赖。

A Bible lover once told an anecdote about a pompous colonel at a dinner table.

一个牧师曾经向我讲述自己在餐桌上的一段经历。

“In my opinion,” he declared, “the Koran is vastly superior to the Bible.”

一位冒失的上尉对这位牧师说:“根据我的经验,古兰经要比圣经优越”。

“Excuse me, Colonel,” said a clergyman. “Do you mind if I ask you two questions? Have you ever read the Bible from beginning to end?”

牧师说:“那么,很抱歉,你介意我可以问您几个问题吗?你从头到尾读过圣经吗?”

The colonel admitted that he had not, and waited uneasily for the second question.

上校承认自己没有读过,而且对牧师的第二个问题同样感到紧张。

 “Have you ever even seen a copy of the Koran?”

“你曾经读过古兰经吗?”

When the colonel again answered that he hadn’t, the clergyman asked him what he thought of himself. “You publicly declare that a book you have never seen is vastly superior to a book that you have never read right through!”

这个上尉再次回答“没有”的时候,牧师要求他仔细思考一下自己的判断:“你在当众宣布一本自己从来没有阅读过的书比另外一本同样没有读过的书要优越得多!”

That story rings true. I have met dozens and dozens of people like the colonel, who condemn the Bible vigorously but have never read it. On the other hand I know people whose whole attitude to the Bible changed entirely when once they started to read it. As they read it, they could see that here was a book that rang true.

这个故事是真的,我遇见过的像这位上尉一样、没有读过圣经但却指责圣经的人不少于数十人,然而我也知道,如果他们开始阅读圣经,他们的态度就会完全发生改变。因为在他们阅读的时候,他们会明白这本书发出的真理的声音。

As an example, take the fourth book of Moses, called the book of Numbers. You will see that it consists of three main elements:

例如,我们来看摩西律法的第4本书:民数记。这本书由以下3个主要部分组成。

(1) Lists of names, places and statistics about the nation of Israel. (Hence the name, “Numbers”.)列出以色列人的支派、姓名、地点、人口统计数字,(因此这本书的名字叫民数记)。

(2) Detailed laws and regulations (mainly of a religious character).详细的法律规范和规章,主要是宗教方面的。

(3) Stories of things that happened to Israel, and things they did, during their forty years in the wilderness.以色列人在旷野40年中所经历的故事。

Now does this book ring true, or not? Many people who have studied it are convinced that it does. Those lists of names may make very dull reading today, but their very existence, scattered throughout the book, has the ring of truth about it.

那么这本书听起来像是真实的,还是伪造的书?很多研究过这本书的人相信它是真实的。书中的人物名单在今天读起来可能非常乏味,但是正因为这些名单分布在整本书中,使得这本书看起来具有真实性。

If those lists were written by Moses, we can see the reason for them. They were very important to the people named in them. But it is very hard to imagine why a forger, writing hundreds of years later, should bother to compile such lists.

如果这些名单是摩西所写的,我们就可以看出这些名单存在的理由,名字对于一个人来说是非常重要的。但如果这些名单是几百年以后编造的,就得费尽心机去想象。很难相信一本书的作者会故意编造不存在的名单。

The historical parts of the book also ring true. Nearly all the stories show up Israel in an unfavourable light. Some of them throw an unfavourable light upon Moses himself. But they all portray human nature just as we know it to be: generally weak, obstinate, prejudiced, ungrateful, hasty, faithless-but now and again rising above itself, and reaching heights of glory.

这本书的历史部分看起来也是真的。书中的大部分对以色列人做的事情持否定态度,还有不赞同摩西本人的地方。这些记载描绘了人的本性的真相,正如我们所知道的:软弱,固执、偏见、没有信心、忘恩负义,不过也有有超越自己达到荣耀高度的时候。

In the years between the two world wars the greatest living English­man spent a quiet life at Chartwell. Churchill was biding his time, waiting until his country needed him again.

在两次世界大战之间,英国的丘吉尔先生在静静地等待时机,要在他的国家需要他的时候东山再起。

In those days he had plenty of time to think, and his great mind did not shrink from reaching unpopular conclusions. He, almost alone, told the world the truth about the Nazi menace

他有足够的时间在这一段时间进行冷静思考。他几乎是独自一人,告诉世界关于纳粹威胁的真相。

And Churchill also told the world that the books of Moses rang true.

同样丘吉尔告诉世界,摩西律法发出的是真理的声音。

He wrote in his essay on Moses:

以下是他写的一篇关于摩西的评论:

 

“We must, at this point, examine briefly the whole question of the miracles . . . We [meaning himself] reject, however, with scorn all those learned and laboured myths that Moses was but a legendary figure upon whom the priesthood and the people hung their essential social, moral and religious ordinances. We believe that the most scientific view, the most up-to-date and rationalistic conception, will find its fullest satisfaction in taking the Bible story literally .. . We remain unmoved by the tomes of Professor Grad-grind and Dr Dryasdust. We may be sure that all these things happened just as they are set out in Holy Writ. We may believe that they happened to people not so ‘very different from ourselves, and that the impressions those people received were faithfully recorded and have been transmitted across the centuries with far more accuracy than many of the telegraphed accounts we read of the goings-on of today. In the words of a forgotten work of Mr Gladstone, we rest with assurance upon ‘The impregnable rock of Holy Scripture’.”1 (The italics are mine.) 

“我们必须简要地检查关于神迹的整个问题。我们(这里代表他自己)要抛弃那种认为摩西只是传说人物的观点:这些人认为是犹太人的祭司和老百姓将他们的社会、道德和宗教规范假冒成摩西这个人写的,我们相信最科学的观点、最现代、最理性的概念会将圣经的故事是看成是真实的。我对 Grad-grind教授和Dryasdust博士长篇大论中的观点持保留态度。我们相信当时事情的发生正如这本圣书所记载的那样,而且发生在那个时代的事情和我们今天的处境差别不大,我们相信那些跨越多个世纪流传下来的圣经要比今天我们阅读的电报更加准确。最后我引用Gladstone先生的话作为结论:我们信仰的基础是:圣经记载的可靠性不可动摇”(斜体字是我加上去的)。

 

Why did Churchill reach such an unorthodox conclusion? First, because he read his Bible thoroughly and carefully. And secondly, because he was never a man to be swayed by the weight of public opinion; he was prepared to think things out for himself.

丘吉尔为什么会得出这样一个非正统的结论?第一,因为他已经仔细完整地阅读了圣经。其次,他是一个不会受到公众意见左右的人,这是他自己思考得出的结论。

 

Ding and Dong叮咚声

 

It is easier to detect the clear “ding” of the true coin when you can compare it with the dull “dong” of the false.

将正确地声音和假冒的声音进行对照,这样可以更加容易地辨别真伪。正如真硬币会发出清脆的“叮”的声音,而假硬币只能发出沉闷的“咚”声一样。

You can apply this test to the gospels. In addition to the four gospels of our Bible, there are a number of so-called gospels. They were written in the second, third and fourth centuries.

你可以把这个方法应用在辨别福音书的真伪上。在历史上还存在着一些所谓的“福音书”,这些书是在公元2-4世纪写成的。

Here is a typical passage from the “Gospel of Nicodemus”, describ­ing the entry of Jesus into Pilate’s judgment hall:

下面的节选来自所谓的“尼哥底母福音书”(Gospel of Nicodemus),描写了耶稣在受彼拉多审判的情景:

 

And Jesus going in, and the standard-bearers holding their standards, the tops of the standards were bent down and adored Jesus. And the Jews seeing the bearing of the standards, how they bent down and adored Jesus, cried Out vehemently against the standard bearers . . . [It goes on for a whole page, with the Jews arguing about whether the standards really bent down miracu­lously. Then Pilate agrees to try and repeat the miracle.) . . . And the procurator ordered Jesus to come in the second time. And the runner did in the same manner as before, and made many entreaties to Jesus to walk on his cloak. And He walked on it, and went in. And as He went in, the standards were again bent down and adored Jesus.”2

   “耶稣被带了进来,有拿着旗帜的人,最上面的旗帜往下要垂,好像在向耶稣下拜。那些犹太人看见了这些旗帜向耶稣下拜,就对那些抗着旗帜的人大喊大叫。(接下来的描写占据了整整一页的篇幅,犹太人在争论这些旗帜是不是真地奇迹般地向耶稣下拜。彼拉多同意将刚才的过程重复一次),结果耶稣再次被带进来,这些旗帜又一次向耶稣下拜。

Now compare this with the simple dignity of the Biblical accounts:

    现在将这段话和圣经简单而庄严记载进行比较:

“And when they had bound Him they led Him away, and delivered Him to Pontius Pilate the governor.” (Matthew)

“And straightway in the morning the chief priests held a consul­tation with the elders and scribes and the whole council, and bound Jesus and carried Him away, and delivered Him to Pilate.” (Mark)

“And the whole company of them rose up and brought Him before Pilate.” (Luke)

“Then led they Jesus from Caiaphas unto the hall of judgment. (John)

“到了早晨,众祭司长和民间的长老大家商议要治死耶稣,就把他捆绑,解去,交给巡抚彼拉多。”(马太福音)

“一到早晨,祭司长和长老、文士、全公会的人大家商议,就把耶稣捆绑,解去交给彼拉多。”(马可福音)

“众人都起来,把耶稣解到彼拉多面前”(路加福音)

“众人将耶稣从该亚法那里往衙门内解去,那时天还早。”(约翰福音)

Another example. There are many ancient accounts of the creation of the world in the sacred books of mankind. Here are two typical specimens:

另外一个例子:很多民族都有自己创造天地的神话,下面是两个典型的例子:

(1) Berosus, a Babylonian priest, said that the god Belus came out and cut the woman Omoraka asunder, and of one half of her he formed the earth and of the other half of her the heavens. Later, Belus commanded one of the gods to take off his head and to mix the blood with the earth, and with this mixture to make men and animals

巴比伦祭司Berosus说,巴比伦的神Belus将一个女人切成数块,用她身体的一部分造天,一部分造地。过后,这个神又命令一个下属的神将自己的头砍下来,把自己的血和泥土混合,然后用这种混合物来制造人和动物。

(2) Manu, the reputed writer of the Hindus’ most sacred books, said that Brahma was hatched out of a golden egg. He lived in it for a time, and then made heaven Out of one part of the egg and earth out of the other.

Against these, the Bible gives us another alternative:

古印度最神圣的书《摩奴法典》(摩奴是印度神话中的人类祖先) 说,梵天(印度神话中宇宙最高的永恒的实体或精神)是从一个金蛋中孵化出来的。梵天在这个金蛋中生活了一段时间,然后从这个金蛋中的一部分制造出了天,从另外的一部分当中制造了大地。

    而圣经是这样告诉我们的:

“In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. And the earth was waste and void, and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. And God said, ‘Let there be light.’ And there was light.”3

   “起初,神创造天地。地是空虚混沌,渊面黑暗;神的灵运行在水面上。神说:「要有光」,就有了光。”(创世记11-3

There is obviously a tremendous gulf between the other books and the Bible. All other ancient creation stories sound like the product of a ‘vivid imagination running riot. The Biblical record still makes sense in this scientific age. It reads like a sober statement of some momentous facts.

这些书和圣经之间存在很明显的鸿沟,所有古代有关世界起源的书籍听起来都像是 “人类想象力纵情发挥”的结果。圣经即使在我们这个科技年代依然具有理性,读起来就像是在平静地叙述一些重大事实。

 

Truth is Often Painful真理通常是痛苦的

 

When the translators of the Bible into English produced their “Authorised Version” in 1611, they dedicated it to King James I. Their “epistle of dedication” is still printed in some editions of this version. It begins like this:

1611年圣经被翻译成英语“钦定版”,译者们将此书中的扉页献给当时的国王詹姆士1世,它的开头是这样写的:

 

 “Great and manifold were the blessings, most dread Sovereign, which Almighty God, the Father of all mercies, bestowed upon us the people of England, when first He sent your Majesty’s Royal Person to rule and reign over us...

    “颂赞归于我们至高无上的国王,最令人敬畏的统治者,他是全能慈悲的天父—上帝赐给我们的统治英格兰人的皇家统治者……

Talk about flattery! And it goes on and on in the same ‘vein for two whole pages. Obviously the translators knew which side their bread was buttered on.

这么多奉承的话!而且这些话用了整整个版面。很显然翻译家们知道是谁给他们面包和黄油。  

Doubtless King James had his good points. He must also have had some faults. But you will find no hint of them in this very human document. It portrays King James as perfection itself.

毫无疑问,詹姆斯国王有自己好的一面,但是他也肯定有缺点。人类书写的文档中总是没有暗示国王的缺点,它将国王描写成自身完美无缺的人。

How differently the Bible speaks of its greatest heroes. It gives a balanced picture of them all. It tells us what to admire in them, and why God blessed them. With equal frankness it informs us where each one fell down.

而圣经在谈起其中的英雄来却是另外一种方式。它不带任何偏见地记载了某个人的特点。圣经描写了这些英雄好的方面,为什么  神会喜悦他,同时也告诉我们他在那些方面犯过错误。

So we know that Abraham, the father of the Jewish race, betrayed his wife to save his own skin. That Jacob, whose other name Israel was given to the nation, cheated his twin brother. That David, Israel’s greatest king, was once so consumed with passion that he followed adultery with murder.

我们知道亚伯拉罕是犹太人的祖先,他曾经为了自己活命而不惜背叛自己的妻子。大卫是以色列最伟大的国王,他曾经勾引过别人的妻子,并且杀害了这个女人的丈夫。

Is there another ancient history book that makes no attempt to whitewash its heroes? That has the ring of honest truth about it when­ever it talks about the nation’s leaders? If there is, I have never known an atheist who could produce it.

有其它古代历史书这样平白地描写过他们的英雄吗?有其它如此诚实地描写自己国家领导人的书吗? 如果有的话,我不知道有哪一位不信仰  神的人可以做到这一点。

You may have seen a copy of Adolf Hitler’s book, Mein Kampf. This is an example of flattery in the reverse direction-an ambitious politician flattering his people. Hitler told the Germans that they were a superior race and they loved him for it. History might have been very different if he had told them they were a bad lot.

你可能看见过野心家希特勒写的《我的奋斗》,这是一本充满阿谀奉承的反面教科书。希特勒告诉德国人他们是优等民族,德国人喜欢听这些,如果希特勒告诉德国人他们是罪人,整个历史就会改写。

But the Jewish national book told the Jews the plain, painful truth. They were the most privileged nation on earth. And yet their Bible told them in nearly every book that they were utterly unworthy of their privileges.

Here are just a few examples:

但是这本犹太民族的书所写的历史是平白的、充满痛苦真相的历史。他们曾经是上帝拣选的民族,然而圣经的几乎每一本书都说,他们完全不配得到这种特权。

(1)     God delivered them from a life of cruel slavery in Egypt. But they kept wanting to go back.

神将他们从埃及作奴隶的痛苦中解脱出来,然而他们却一直想回去。

(2)    God fed them miraculously with “bread from heaven” in the desert. Yet they kept grumbling that it didn’t taste very good.  神在旷野中奇迹般地赐给他们“从天上降下来的粮”——玛拉,他们却一直埋怨味道不好。

(3)     God promised to bring them safely into the Promised Land. He said that He would use His power to drive out their enemies. But they were afraid to go in.   神应许要带领以色列人安全地进入应许之地,并且说他将用自己的力量赶走敌人,但是他们却不敢进去。

(4)     Once in the Land of Promise they promptly started worshipping idols.他们进入  神赐给他们的土地以后,马上开始偶像崇拜。

(5)     For the next thousand years their history was one long story of idolatry. interrupted by spells of comparative godliness when occasional good leaders were at the helm. 在接下来的1000年历史中这个民族充满了偶像崇拜,只有在少数几个虔诚的国王掌权的时候没有崇拜偶像。

(6)     Then God punished them with a spell of captivity in Babylon. When He gave them the opportunity to return home, many of them preferred to stay in idolatrous Babylon. 接下来  神惩罚了他们,让巴比伦人将他们俘虏,离开自己的土地。然而当  神给他们机会回到故土时,他们却宁愿留在巴比伦这个崇拜偶像的国家。

(7)  Those who did go home behaved badly, right until the end of the Old Testament period. The very last book of the Old Testament, on its last page, says, “Even from the days of your fathers ye are gone away from mine ordinances, and have not kept them.”4

那些回到了自己故乡的犹太人也好不到哪里去,一直到旧约的末期都是这样。旧约的最后一本书说:“从你们列祖的日子以来,你们常常偏离我的典章而不遵守。”(马拉基书37

There is the ring of truth about a book like this. No flattery, no suppression of unpleasant facts, but history as it ought to be told-clearly and objectively.

这样的书所描写的听起来是真实的。它没有阿谀奉承,对自己不喜欢的事情也没有隐藏,而是将历史的本来面目真实地告诉我们。

A hundred years ago s summed up his reasons for believing in the Bible like this:

100年以前,亨利-罗杰(Henry Roger在总结他相信圣经的理由时说:

 

“The Bible is not such a book as man would have made if he could-or could have made if he would.”

“圣经不是一本人类有能力写成的书,也不是一本人类愿意写的书”。

In Chapters 2 to 8 we saw the truth of the first half of this statement. Man (unaided by God) simply could not have produced a book like the Bible.

从本书的第2章到第8章,我们讲述这个声明的前半部分。如果没有  神的帮助,人类是不能写成圣经这样的书的。

Now we have seen the truth of the other half of Rogers’ statement. Man (left to himself) would not have produced a book as full of painful truth as the Bible.

现在我们看到的是声明的第二部分,人类是不愿意写圣经这样的书的,因为它包含着痛苦的真相。

 

A Perfect Match完美的匹配

 

Few people today seem to have heard of Professor J. J. Blunt, who was once the Margaret Professor of Divinity at Cambridge. Yet he was one of England’s most diligent Bible students.

今天只有少数人知道布朗教授的故事。他曾经是剑桥大学神学院的教授,也是英国最勤奋的圣经学生。

In 1847 he published a book5 reporting the results of many years of research. He specialised in comparing one part of the Bible with another, and finding what he called “undesigned coincidences” between two (or more) books. This is the sort of thing that he discovered.

1847年,一本凝结他多年研究成果的书出版了。他专门将圣经不同书之间的一些细节进行了比较,发现了很多他自称为圣经不同书之间“未加修饰的一致性”。以下是他的一些发现:

He brought together the three following passages, from the books of Numbers, Joshua and 1 Samuel respectively:

他将圣经的民数记、约书亚记和撒母耳记上的一些细节进行对比:

 

“There we saw the giants, the sons of Anak, which come of the giants. And we were in our own sight as grasshoppers.”6

“And Joshua came at that time and cut off the Anakim .

Joshua utterly destroyed them with their cities. There was none of the Anakim left in the land of the children of Israel; only in Gaza, in Gath and in Ashdod did some remain.7

“There went out a champion out of the camp of the Philistines, named Goliath of Gath, whose height was six cubits and a span (about 9 feet).”8

     “我们在那里看见亚衲族人,就是伟人;他们是伟人的後裔。据我们看,自己就如蚱蜢一样;据他们看,我们也是如此。”(民数记1333

      “在以色列人的地没有留下一个亚衲族人,只在迦萨、迦特,和亚实突有留下的。”(约书亚记112122

      “从非利士营中出来一个讨战的人,名叫歌利亚,是迦特人,身高六肘零一虎口(大约3)。”(撒母耳记上174

Now, says Blunt in effect, see what these three passages tell us. They were written by three different authors at three different periods of history. Yet they match each other just like a cup, saucer and plate from the same teaset.

  布朗教授实际上是说,这些经文是由不同的书写者在不同的历史时期所写的,但是如果将它们互相比较,它们就像是同一套茶具中的杯子、碟子和盘子一样和谐。

The first passage reveals that before Israel entered the Promised Land there were many giants there. These giants were called “sons of Anak”, or “Anakim” (which is merely the plural form of the Hebrew name “Anak”).

第一段告诉我们,在以色列人进入应许之地以前,那个地方生活着许多巨人。这些巨人被称为“亚衲族人”。

The second passage says that when Israel conquered the Promised Land, they destroyed nearly all this race descended from Anak. But they did leave a few of these giants in three towns: Gaza, Gath, and Ashdod.

第二段告诉我们,在以色列征服了这块土地以后,他们消灭了亚衲族人的后代,“只在迦萨、迦特,和亚实突有留下的”。(约书亚记1122

The third passage casually mentions that the giant Goliath’s home town was Gath. Is it likely that the writer of this third passage was a fiction writer who scoured the earlier books of the Bible, until he found the “right” town to put his giant in? Or was it just a fluke that he happened to pick one of the only three appropriate towns in all Israel?

第三段经文不经意地告诉我们歌利亚的家乡是迦特。好像这三段的作者是同一个小说家,已经在前面的书中埋下伏笔,然后他“发现了”这个城镇,将人物安置进去。难道有可能是虚构的故事,作者碰巧在以色列众多城市中刚好挑选了这个“恰当”的巨人出生的地?

No, there is the ring of truth about this set of passages. They sound much more like accurate history than cunningly contrived fiction.

   不可能。这一系列记载听起来是真实的,像是历史的本来面貌,而不是人为虚构的故事。

 

Ahithophel’s Treachery Explained亚希多弗为什么会叛变?

 

In another chapter Blunt brings together a whole string of apparently unrelated chapters from one book, with remarkable results. The Bible passages involved are too numerous to quote here in full. I shall just give the substance of them and quote the references.

在该书的另一章中,布朗教授将不同书的一些章节联系在一起,它们看起来是毫无关联,但是结果却令人大吃一惊。我们不打算将涉及到的所有圣经章节全部列举出来,只在这里给出一些问题的实质:

But first, a little background information. There were two great tragedies in the later part of King David’s life. The first was his terrible moral lapse, when he committed adultery with Bathsheba and then murdered her husband, Uriah the Hittite. The second occurred when his own son Absalom rebelled against him and temporarily seized his throne.

首先我介绍一下背景。大卫的晚年发生了两件悲剧性事件,第一件:大卫道德堕落,他勾引拔示巴,并且杀害了她的丈夫;第二件事情是,他的儿子押沙龙背叛了他,还一度夺取了他的王位。

The Bible tells us that the second incident was God’s punishment on David for the first. But it does not tell us that there was also a purely human connection between the two incidents. The Bible left that for some future student to dig out for himself.

圣经告诉我们,第二件事的发生是因为  神惩罚大卫作的第一件事。但是圣经没有告诉我们发生着两件事情的人为因素,这些因素需要后来的圣经学生们自己来挖掘。

This is what Blunt discovered.下面就是布朗自己的发现:

When Absalom decided to stage a rebellion, he sent for a man called Ahithophel the Gilonite to join him.9 Now this was a very surprising action. Ahithophel was David’s own right hand man, “mine own familiar friend in whom I trusted”, as David called him.10

当押沙龙决定造反时,他叫亚希多弗来帮助他。这是非常令人吃惊的举动,因为亚希多弗是大卫的亲信,大卫称他为“我知己的朋友,我所倚靠的人”(诗篇419

It was a remarkable act of treachery on Ahithophel’s part. It was so unexpected to David that he never could get over it.11  Yet Absalom clearly expected Ahithophel to change sides readily. Why?

亚希多弗的背叛不同寻常,大大超乎大卫的预料,他难以接受这个事实:“不是仇敌辱骂我,若是仇敌,还可忍耐;不料是你;你原与我平等,是我的同伴,是我知己的朋友!”(诗篇5512然而,押沙龙早就预料到亚希多弗会轻易改变立场。为什么呢?

Blunt found a clue to the answer in one of those long lists of names that many Bible readers skip over. In the list of the 37 officers of David’s guard occur two ‘vital names: Uriah the Hittite (the man David murdered), and “Eli am the son of Ahithophel the Gilonite”12

  布朗是从大多数读者容易忽视的一大串名单中发现线索的。大卫的37名勇士中有两个关键的人物:赫人乌利亚(被大卫谋杀的人),以及“基罗人亚希多弗的儿子以连” (撒母耳记下233439

-that is, the son of the traitor.也就是说,以连是背叛者亚希多弗的儿子。

So the son of the future traitor and the murdered man had been close colleagues, and probably friends. But this is not all. From an entirely different part of the book we learn that Bathsheba, the wife of the murdered man, was “the daughter of Eliam”.13 Uriah had evidently married the daughter of his fellow-officer. (It was common in those days for older men of the upper class to marry very young women.)

因此,亚希多弗的儿子和被杀者曾经是关系密切的同僚,很有可能是朋友。不仅如此,另外一本书告诉我们,拔示巴是“以连的女儿,赫人乌利亚的妻”(撒母耳记下113。乌利亚和他的一个同事的女儿结婚。(在那个年代,地位高的人找年轻的女人结婚是非常普遍的现象)

With these facts before us it is easy to see why Absalom anticipated Ahithophel’s treachery, while David was astonished by it. The girl that the elderly David had seduced was Ahithophel’s granddaughter. The man David had murdered was Ahithophel’s grandson by marriage.

我们知道了这些事情以后,就很容易地料到为什么亚希多弗会叛变,而大卫会感到惊讶。大卫勾引的女人是亚希多弗的孙女,大卫王谋杀的人是亚希多弗的孙女婿。

Blinded by his own passion, David could not see what effect this had upon Ahithophel. But Absalom was well aware that Ahithophel was seething with anger, and ready for revenge.

大卫被自己的欲望冲昏了头脑,没有看清自己的行为对亚希多弗造成的伤害,他的儿子押沙龙却很清楚亚希多弗的愤怒,并随时准备用来报复自己的父亲。

A later chapter confirms that revenge was one of Ahithophel’s motives. When they first captured David’s palace, Absalom asked Ahithophel what to do next. “Go in unto thy father’s concubines (wives)”14 was the reply. As much as to say: “Pay him back in his own coin. He stole another man’s wife; now you steal his!” The record continues:

接下来的记载证明了报复确实是亚希多弗反叛的动机之一。他们占领了大卫的王宫以后,押沙龙问亚希多弗下一步的行动,亚希多弗的回答说:“你父所留下看守宫殿的妃嫔,你可以与他们亲近”。这实际上就是说:“对他的行为进行报复。他偷了别人了的妻子,现在你偷他的妻子!”接下来:

“So they spread Absalom a tent upon the top of the house, and Absalom went in unto his father’s concubines in the sight of all Israel.”15

 “于是人为押沙龙在宫殿的平顶上支搭帐棚;押沙龙在以色列众人眼前,与他父的妃嫔亲近”。(撒母耳记下1622

Thus the wheel had turned full circle. It was upon his housetop that David was walking when he caught his first glimpse of Bathsheba washing herself and lusted for her.16 Now, in the selfsame place, her wily old grandfather arranges David’s public humiliation.

历史开始轮回。正是在这个房屋的屋顶上大卫第一次看见了拔示巴并且勾引了她。现在同样在这个地方,她老谋深算的祖父安排公开地羞辱大卫。

It goes without saying that this fascinating story-hidden-within-a-story could not have been deliberately contrived. No forger would hide his forgery so carefully that it remained undiscovered for nearly 3,000 years, as this did. Either these passages represent a whole series of lucky coincidences or-much more probably-they are an integral part of real history, told with meticulous accuracy.  

不用说,这样迷人的、深藏不漏的故事不会是故意编造的,编故事的人不会故意地隐藏3000年不让人发现,也不会有一系列的和谐。它们是真实的历史事件一部分,被非常严谨的人记载。

There are something like a hundred of these undesigned coinci­dences in Blunt’s book. Nearly every one of them has the ring of truth about it.

这本书还列举了大约一百个类似的不是故意安排的一致性,几乎每一个故事一看就像是历史真实的记载。

A somewhat similar book by Paley and Birks, restricted to New Testament history, lists many more.17 Bible students are constantly discovering still more of them for themselves.

类似的如PaleyBirks所写的书,列举了更多类似的和谐。研究圣经的学生一直都有更多的发现。

Try discovering large numbers of undesigned coincidences in any work of fiction you like to choose. You will not succeed. They are the hallmark of true history, not fiction.

如果你想在其它任何一本小说或虚构的书中寻找这样的不加修饰的巧合,你不会成功。这是真正的历史所具有的标志性特点不是虚构的故事。

 

 

 

 

10

Harmony Doesn’t Just Happen

和谐不会无缘无故地发生

Some years ago, at the time when I was still trying to convince Norman of the truth of the Bible, we went together to a symphony concert. Afterwards I kicked myself for missing an opportunity. On the way home I ought to have started up a conversation like this

多年以前,我一直在努力劝说让罗曼接受圣经真理。我们曾一起去参加一个音乐会,过后我感到很遗憾,我认为我失去了一个绝好的机会。我自己认为,在回家的路上我应该这样对罗曼说:

“Tell me, Norman, have you ever wondered what would happen if the conductor should be taken ill in the middle of a symphony?”

“罗曼,请告诉我,如果在演出中乐队指挥突然生病会怎么样?”

“I suppose they’d appoint another conductor from among the instrumentalists. If not, they’d just have to give up playing. They certainly couldn’t carry on without a conductor.”

“我猜他们会马上从乐队的成员指定一个人来担任指挥的职务。如果找不到,他们就不得不放弃演出。如果没有指挥,乐队肯定演不下去。”

“Quite so. Now suppose that you were to go blind, and someone took you to a concert. The orchestra are performing magnificently. Suddenly the man in the next seat tells you that they are playing without a conductor. Would you believe him?”

“确实是这样。现在假设你蒙着眼睛去听音乐会。乐队的演出非常棒。坐在你旁边的人突然告诉你说,这个乐队没有指挥,你会相信他的话吗?”

“Of course not. Even if I couldn’t see the conductor I should know that he must be there from the way the orchestra was playing. Harmony doesn’t just happen, you know. There must be a conductor to create it.”

“当然不会,即使我没有看到指挥,我也会知道他在以某种形式指挥乐队演出。因为和谐不会无缘无故地发生。肯定会有一个指挥来协调他们。”

And then I could have gone on to apply that principle to the Bible itself. Here we have a collection of sixty-six books, by about forty different authors, written over a period of at least a thousand years. (Much longer than a thousand years, if you accept what the Bible says about its own authors.)

然后我就会把这一条原则应用在圣经上。圣经是由大约40位书写者写成的,总共有66本书,书写的时间跨度要远远超过超过1000年。

Yet the harmony running through all these books is outstanding. They all teach the same great doctrines about life and death, sin and salvation. From Genesis to Revelation there is one steadily unfolding, consistent story: God has a plan for the earth and the human race, and is slowly but surely seeing it through to completion.

然而,和谐贯穿整本书的全部,而且非常突出。所有的书教导的是同样的教义:关于生命和死亡,犯罪和拯救。从创世记到启示录,一步一步地揭示了这些教义,所有这66本书是连续的、和谐的故事。 神对地球以及对人类的旨意,也随着圣书的完成缓慢地明确地完成。

Harmony doesn’t just happen. If the “orchestra” is playing well, we can infer the existence of a “Conductor”. We may be too blind to see the Hand that guided the forty Biblical authors, but their harmony is evidence that He exists.

和谐不是无缘无故地发生的。如果乐队演出的好,我们可以归功于指挥。我们可能看不见那位指导40多位书写者的“指挥”的手,但圣经中的和谐证明了他的存在。

 

Was It Done Deliberately?是故意安排的吗?

 

The unbeliever has a ready excuse. He cannot deny that a certain amount of harmony is there, and so he suggests that the Bible writers themselves deliberately created it. Each writer knew what the general teaching of the previous writers was, so he framed his own book to fall in line, says the unbeliever.

不相信圣经的人已经有现成的借口。圣经中的和谐已经摆在眼前,他不能否认,他会说这是圣经书写者故意安排的。每一位书写者已经知道了前面的内容,就故意按照以前的框架来写。

At the same time the unbeliever adopts his favourite method of defence. He sidesteps smartly. “And anyway,” he retorts, “there’s an awful lot of disharmony in the Bible, too!”

他们还会使用最拿手的防御手段,很聪明地说:“不管怎样说,圣经中也有很多不和谐的地方”。

If you press him to specify the “awful lot of disharmony” he generally becomes uncomfortable. Before long he has to admit that he has greatly overstated his case. There is not “an awful lot of dis­harmony”. In the end, if he tries very hard, he may manage to produce one or two examples of what he calls “contradictions”.

如果你要他明确指出圣经不和谐的地方,通常只会让他觉得不愉快。或许他会承认自己夸大其词,承认并没有大量“不和谐”存在。如果他做一些努力,或许会找到一些所谓“相互矛盾”的地方。

I shall deal more fully with this accusation that the Bible contradicts itself in Chapter 19. Meanwhile, here is just one very important point.

我会在本书第19章中讨论这些所谓的圣经互相矛盾。下面仅仅谈论一些要点。

The so-called contradictions all lie on the surface.

所谓的不和谐只是表面上的。

The harmonies are fundamental, deep-rooted.

而圣经的和谐之处是根本的,根深蒂固的。

And this is just what you would expect to find in a collection of books that are true.

由一系列的书籍组成的合集的和谐性应该就是表现出这个样子。

Ask any lawyer how he reacts if he hears two witnesses telling exactly the same story. He suspects collaboration between them. Their evidence is too good to be true. He cross-examines them closely. And when he probes deeply he soon discovers whether they are lying or not.

如果你问一位律师他听见了两个证人在陈述同样经历的反应。如果证人的证词太一致了,辩护律师会怀疑他们之间有预谋。证据太能说明问题反而有可能是故意编造的。辩护律师会非常仔细地检查证据,并且深入调查证人是否在撒谎。

But with truthful witnesses it is quite different. They may easily appear to disagree. If the crime took place at a street corner, one witness may say it happened in X Street, and the other in Y Street. In this case, cross-examination will soon establish that both were telling the truth. The more deeply the lawyer probes, the more he will uncover the harmony lying behind the two witnesses’ accounts.

真正的证据却不是这样,它看起来可能不协调。例如,如果犯罪现场在街角,有人说在街道甲,有人说在街道乙,综合分析很可能他们都正确。律师的调查越深入,他越能够揭示这些证人证据的和谐性。

Now to return to the unbeliever’s first line of defence. He argues that the harmony between the various books of the Bible is there because the writers deliberately produced it

现在回头看不信圣经者的第一道防线。他们说,圣经中的和谐,是因为圣经的各位书写者故意地这么做的。

Does this sound reasonable? Is it likely that all those authors-soldiers, kings, prophets, fishermen, a tax collector, a lawyer, a doctor, men from the dawn of civilisation and men from the sophisticated world of Rome-would all agree to tell the same tale? Is human nature like that?

这些理由合理吗?圣经的书写者包括士兵、国王、先知、渔夫、律法师、医生,而且生活在不同的文明环境中,他们有可能一致采取同样的格调诉说同样的事情吗?这和人类的本性相符合吗?

Try this experiment. Make a collection of prominent documents from Christian churches and sects today. Get a Roman Catholic missal, a Church of England Prayer Book, the Book of Mormon) the Christian Scientists’ textbook Science and Health, and a copy of the Jehovah’s Witnesses’ Watchtower.

找出一个样本。找出今天不同教会、派别的文件,例如罗马天主教会的弥撒用书,英格兰教会的祷告书,基督教科学会的的“科学与健康”杂志,摩门教派的摩门书,耶和华见证人的了望台杂志。

Put them all together, and look at them. What do you find? Complete, utter, indescribable chaos!

将这些书籍汇集在一起,你会发现什么?这些书不统一,不和谐,看起来完全一片糟!

 

Left to themselves religious writers always disagree, even when they supposedly share the same faith. If there really is harmony between 11 the writers of the Bible, it is absurd to argue that they themselves deliberately produced it.

At this point you would probably like me to prove that the harmony have been talking about really exists. But this is not altogether within my power. I cannot prove to a young “pop” fan that Beethoven’s music is enjoyable. I can only urge him to persevere with listening to it, until he is able to enjoy it for himself.

不同教派之间的人永远有不同的观点,尽管我们可以假定他们具有相同的信仰。如果圣经的作者中有11个人的著作存在和谐,那些声称和谐是故意制造出来的人的观点就是荒谬的。

在这一点,你可能希望我来证明圣经充满了和谐,但是这不是我能够证明的。我不能够向一位年轻的流行音乐爱好者证明贝多芬的音乐非常具有欣赏性,我只能够劝说他们耐心地听,直到他们能够自己欣赏这些音乐。

So it is with the Bible. If you want to know whether it is full of harmony or not, there is really only one way. You must read the Bible, right through, and then read it again.

对待圣经也是这样。如果你希望知道圣经是否充满了和谐,只有一个办法能够知道,就是你必须阅读圣经。完整地读,反复地读。

Here are some of the major themes of the Bible that you will find. They all run through the Bible from beginning to end:

你会发现下面就是圣经中的一些主要的线索。这些线索贯穿圣经的始终:

(1)  The rottenness and hopelessness of human nature left to itself. 人类有犯罪的天性。

(2)  How human sin can be forgiven, and human nature changed. 人类所犯的罪是如何才能够得到赦免。人的本性如何才能得到改变。

(3)  God’s offer of eternal life, and the terms on which He offers it. 神赐给人类永生的盼望,要得到永生的条件。

(4)  God’s promise and plan to fill this earth with His glory.  神的应许和计划:让全地充满他的荣耀。

(5)  The Son of God as the centre of all God’s work’.  神的儿子耶稣是  神的整个工作的中心。

These themes are so great that you can only follow them through he Bible for yourself. Nevertheless, the rest of this chapter will be devoted to a few of the lesser themes of the Bible. They illustrate its harmony on a small scale, small enough for you to grasp at a first look.

这些主题是如此广大,只有你自己阅读圣经才能够领会。尽管如此,在本书的后面简述了圣经中一些主题,通过一些例子证明了圣经的和谐性,这种和谐是你一眼就能看出的。

 

The Failure of the Firstborns 长子的失败

 

in the early years of this century there lived in South Wales a working man known far and wide as “Brother Joe”. His friends used to say that he knew the Bible better than anyone else in the world. Whether that was true or not, he certainly had a remarkable grasp of the Bible. You could name almost any chapter, and he would instantly tell you what it was about, what lessons could be learnt from it, and how it linked up with other parts of the Bible. All this despite a complete lack of education, and despite being tied to long hours of heavy manual labour in a steelworks.

上世纪初,在英国南威尔士有一个工人,人们称他为“乔(Joe弟兄”。他的朋友们常说,他比世上其他人懂得的圣经都多。只要你说出圣经的章节,他马上就会告诉你讲的是什么内容,从中有什么教训,以及同其它部分的联系。尽管他没有受过高深的教育,每天还要到钢铁厂从事繁重的体力劳动,却能够做到这一点。

Because of his intense love of the Bible, and the way he spent every spare minute reading it and thinking about it, he made many interest­ing discoveries. One of the most fascinating was what he called, “The story of the failure of the firstborns.”

他非常专注地阅读圣经,几乎将自己所有的业余时间都用在阅读和思考圣经上。他在圣经找到了很多有趣的发现。其中最有趣的事,他自己称之为“失败长子”的故事。

To the Jews, the firstborn son of a family was very important. He had special privileges over his brothers. Under the Jewish laws of inheritance, he was entitled to a double portion.

对于犹太人的家庭来说,长子的地位是很重要的。他对家庭中的其他弟兄有特权,在犹太人的继承法中,长子可以继承双份的产业。

When God wanted to stress the high calling of His chosen nation, He said, “Israel is My son, My firstborn.”1

Yet despite all this stress on the importance of being a firstborn, not one of the successful men of the Old Testament is said to be a first­born. Every firstborn of the Old Testament who might have had a position of honour was in some way a failure. Every single one dis­appointed God, and was passed over by God in favour of a younger brother.

 神在强调以色列人是  神的选民的时候,他说“以色列是我的儿子,我的长子”(出埃及记422。尽管强调头生子的重要性,然而旧约从来没有说那一位成功者是长子。尽管长子应该得到尊荣,旧约中每一位长子都有不同程度上的失败;每一位长子都曾令  神感到失望,神将长子的地位给了他的弟弟。

The first man, Adam, had a firstborn son called Cain. He was a murderer. God rejected him, and the “chosen line” (that is, the line of descent of the Messiah) passed to a younger son, Seth.

第一个人亚当的头生子是该隐,他杀了他的弟弟, 神拒绝了他,选择了他弟弟这一系。(也就说,弥赛亚将会是他的后裔)。

Noah had three sons. They are always listed in this order: Shem, Ham and Japheth. To a casual reader it looks as if Shem must have been the eldest.2

挪亚有3个儿子,圣经记载他们的次序是:闪、含、雅弗。很多粗心的读者据此以为闪是长子。

But if we compare a series of verses giving the ages of Noah at various times in his life, and then do a little arithmetic, we soon see that this was not so. Noah’s first son was born when he was 500 years old,3 whereas Shem was born when Noah was 503.4  Ham is specifically said to be a younger son.5

但是,如果我们将圣经中记载诺亚年龄的几段经文作比较,根据数学常识就能够知道雅弗不是长子。圣经说诺亚的头生子出生的时候诺亚已经500岁,闪出生的时候诺亚是503岁,创世记924说含是挪亚最小的儿子。

Hence we know that Japheth must have been Noah’s firstborn. But for some reason God passed him over, and the chosen line passed to Shem, a younger brother.

我们因此可以知道,雅弗肯定是挪亚的长子。但是不知道为什么, 神在选择自己的选民的时候跳过了他,而是选择了闪,

There is a similar story with Abraham and his brothers. They are listed in this order: Abram, Nahor and Haran.6 But Abram (better known as Abraham) was not the firstborn. He is listed first because he is the chosen one of the family.

亚伯拉罕和他的弟兄之间的故事也很类似。圣经记载他们的次序是:亚伯兰、拿鹤、哈兰。(创世记1126但是亚伯兰(亚伯拉罕)并不是长子,他被排列在最前面,因为他是这个家庭中唯一被  神选择的人。

The Bible does not state directly that Abram was not the first­born. This fact only emerges when we compare three different verses, and again do a few sums.7

圣经中并没有明确地指出亚伯兰并不是长子。我们只有比较一系列圣经经文并总结以后才能得出结论。

Abraham’s firstborn son was Ishmael, “a wild man”,8 who was passed over in favour of Isaac. Isaac’s firstborn was Esau. He was a “profane person”,9 and the chosen line passed to his younger brother, Jacob.      

亚伯拉罕的长子叫以实玛利,他的为人“像野驴”, 神没有挑选他,而是选择了以撒。以撒的长子叫以扫,他是一个“贪恋世俗” 的人。 神选择了他的弟弟雅各这一系。

Jacob’s firstborn was Reuben, but he sinned grievously.10 So the honour of delivering the family in its hour of need went to one younger brother, Joseph, and the chosen line passed to another younger brother, Judah.

雅各的长子是流便,但是他犯了严重的罪。家族长子的荣耀归给了他的弟弟约瑟,而  神选择雅各另一个小儿子犹大这一条系作为耶稣基督的祖先。

Joseph’s firstborn was passed over in favour of a younger brother, despite Joseph’s protests.11 Judah’s firstborn was so wicked that he was slain by God,12 and the chosen line was continued through a much younger brother.

约瑟长子的地位给了小儿子,尽管约瑟表示不满。犹大的长子在  神的眼中是邪恶的,  神使他死了。 神又一次选择了小儿子。

When the two brothers Moses and Aaron are mentioned together it is usually in that order. Moses comes first, because he was the more important and the stronger character. (Aaron once slipped into idol­atry.) But Aaron was 3 years older than Moses,13 and presumably (since no other brothers are mentioned) the firstborn of the family.

当提到摩西和亚伦两弟兄的时候,摩西总是在前面,因为摩西比亚伦更重要,亚伦有一次犯了拜偶像的罪, 但是亚伦要比摩西年长3岁,因为没有提到这个家庭中还有别的儿子,可以假定亚伦是长子。

Many years later, God sent the prophet Samuel to a man called Jesse. God said: “I have provided me a king among his sons.”14 Samuel was very favourably impressed with the elder sons. But God made him pass them over, and appoint the youngest son, David, as king. 

多年以后, 神差遣先知撒母耳到耶西家中去。  神说:“我在他众子之内,预定一个作王的”。(撒母耳记上161撒母耳对于耶西的几个大儿子印象深刻,但还是  神却让他跳过了他们,选择了最小的儿子。

The first six sons of David are listed like this:

    圣经中这样列举了大卫最早的6个儿子:

“His firstborn was Amnon... second Chileab... third Absalom ... fourth Adonijah... fifth Shephatiah . ..sixth Ithream.”15

   “长子暗嫩…… 次子基利押……三子押沙龙……四子亚多尼雅……五子示法提雅……六子以特念。”(撒母耳记下32-5)

Amnon the firstborn seduced his own sister and then cast her aside. This so angered his brother Absalom that he murdered him. Chileab, Shephatiah and Ithream are never mentioned again; presumably they died in infancy.

This left Absalom as the heir apparent; he tried to take the throne by force and was killed. Adonijah was next in line. He also tried to take the throne by force, and was killed.

子暗嫩勾引自己同父异母的妹妹,然后又将她抛弃,他的弟弟押沙龙对此非常愤怒,押沙龙杀害了他的哥哥。基利押、示法提雅、以特念从来没有被提起过,可以假设他们在年幼的时候就夭折了。幸存下来的押沙龙应该是王位继承人,他试图靠武力夺取王位,结果被杀。 接下来是,亚多尼雅成了长子他同样也想靠武力夺取王位,结果被杀。

Why did these two princes give their lives trying to grab what appeared to be theirs by right? Because God had already made it plain that He had passed them over in favour of a younger son, Solomon.16

为什么这两位王子试图靠武力来夺取王位,而王位看起来本来就应该是他们的?因为 神已经明确要将王位给年纪更小的儿子——所罗门。

Part of the wonder of the Bible is that what it omits to say is often just as significant as what it does say. Some of Israel’s good kings may actually have been firstborn sons. Josiah may well have been, since he was born when his father was only sixteen.17 But none of them is said to be a firstborn.

让人有一点感到惊奇的是,以色列的好国王中实际上是长子,但是圣经省略了这一点。约西亚很可能是,因为当他出生的时候,他的父亲只有16岁。但是圣经没有说他们中间的任何一人是长子。

Thus the thirty-nine books of the Old Testament present us with one consistent harmonious theme. Not one acknowledged firstborn is ever a success in God’s sight.

因此,圣经旧约中的39本书中有一条连续的主题。圣经中从来没有提到哪一位长子在  神的眼中是成功的。

To the believer, the reason for this remarkable harmony is obvious. It points forward to the two great lessons of the New Testament.

对于一个信仰圣经的人来说,理由是非常明显的,也是与圣经的主题相统一的。它揭示了圣经新约中的两个大的原则:

The first lesson is that all ordinary human firstborn-the cream of the race, so to speak-are failures in God’s eyes. The world had to wait for God’s own firstborn Son to be born before it could see a successful firstborn.18

第一,所有普通人类的长子,在  神的眼中是失败的。这个世界必须等待 神自己的长子出现,才能看到一个成功的长子。

The second lesson is that God’s “firstborn nation”,19 Israel, would be a failure. They would have to be replaced by a younger nation, “The Israel of God”,20 which is the New Testament name for all those, whether Jew or Gentile, who truly follow Christ.

第二个教训,是神所选择的第一个民族,以色列,将来也会是失败的。他们将来会被更加年轻的民族取代。“神的以色列民”(加拉太书616代表着那些相信并且跟随基督的人,不管他们是犹太人,还是外邦人。

The unbeliever is faced with one more extraordinary fact that demands an explanation. If the writers of the Old Testament were not inspired by God, what made them all combine to produce this instructive piece of harmony?

那些不相信圣经的人必须寻找理由来解释:如果圣经旧约不是  神启示的,这些书写者是如何制造出这些和谐?

They certainly did not do it deliberately, because none of them draws attention to it. In two cases (Abraham and Shem) the fact that the firstborn is the unsuccessful son is hidden; to establish it we have to compare several verses and make some calculations.

这些肯定不是圣经书写者故意编造的,因为没有人注意到这些和谐。有的时候圣经的和谐是隐藏起来的,需要我们进行比较才能做出结论。

Indeed, the whole story of “the failure of the firstborns” is carefully concealed, buried deep in the pages of Scripture. We might still be unaware of it if a horny-handed working man who loved his Bible had not unearthed it for us.

实际上,整个“失败长子的故事”就是深深地隐藏在圣经的书卷之中的。如果它们没有被这些孜孜不倦地探求圣经真理的人发现,我们可能依然不知道。

What sort of book is this Bible, that contains such wonders for us to find? Does it make sense to believe that unaided human beings produced such harmony by accident?

圣经包含这如此多的奇妙让我们来探求,难道会是不同书写者在没有帮助的情况下碰巧写出来的这些和谐的书吗?

 

The Story of Sweat汗水的故事

 

The word “sweat” is found in only three places in the Bible. Those places are widely separated. One is at the beginning of the Old Testament, one near its end, and one in the New Testament. Yet between them they summarise the whole Christian gospel.

“汗水”这个词在圣经中只出现了三次,而且非常分散。一次出现在旧约的开始部分,一次出现在旧约的结尾部分,还有一部分出现在新约。

The first mention of sweat is in the Garden of Eden. Adam has just sinned, and God is passing sentence upon him, in these words:

汗水这个词第一次出现在伊甸园里。亚当犯了罪不久, 神在对亚当的宣判中宣布:

“In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground. For out of it wast thou taken; for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.”21

   “你必汗流满面才得糊口,直到你归了土,因为你是从土而出的。你本是尘土,仍要归於尘土。”(创世记319

This sums up the penalty the whole human race pays for its wicked­ness. First sweat; then dust. First a difficult, tiring life. Then death, the final “wages of sin”22 as Paul describes it.

神的宣判总结了整个人类为自己的邪恶所付出的代价。首先要流汗,其次要归于尘土。首先要经过生活的艰难困苦,接下来要归于死亡,正如保罗所说的,死亡是“罪的工价”,是犯罪的总后果。

For the next passage we must turn to the New Testament. There we are introduced to a second “Adam”.23 Whereas the first Adam was to eat bread by the sweat of his brow, the second Adam provided bread-the “Bread of Life”, to use the words of John’s Gospel.24 Luke describes Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane, on His way to the Cross. This is part of what it cost Jesus to provide the Bread of Life:

    接下来的段落我们要看看新约。那里为我们介绍了第二个“亚当”。第一个亚当要靠自己的汗水来吃粮食,用约翰福音的话来说,第二个亚当提供“生命的粮”,路加描写了耶稣即将被钉死在十字架上之前在客西马尼的一座花园里的情景,这是耶稣提供“生命的粮”所付出的部分代价:

“And being in an agony He prayed more earnestly. And His sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground.”25

   “耶稣极其伤痛,祷告更加恳切,汗珠如大血点滴在地上。”(路加福音2244

By likening his Master’s sweat to “drops of blood”, Luke is evidently hinting that His sacrifice was already beginning. And so it was, for Jesus had just said to his Father, “Not my will, but Thine, be done.”26 This is the very essence of sacrifice, to do God’s will, however much it hurts.

路加通过描写耶稣“生命的粮”,暗示耶稣的牺牲已经开始了。正如耶稣向他的父所祷告的那样:“然而,不要成就我的意思,只要成就你的意思”。这就是牺牲的本质,按照  神的意愿去做,不管对自己的伤害有多大。

Two gardens, Eden and Gethsemane. They are related to each other like the positive and negative of the same photograph. Sin appeared in Eden, and the sweat of suffering and the dust of death were the consequences. The sweat of sacrifice began to appear in Gethsemane. And the forgiveness of sins and the gift of eternal life were the consequences.在这里,伊甸园和客西马尼园,通过同样的画面相反地联系在一起。罪开始于伊甸园,结果导致了流汗(痛苦)和死亡。而流汗的牺牲开始于客西马尼园,导致了对罪的宽恕和永生。

The third mention of sweat is at the end of Ezekiel’s prophecy. This describes a temple the like of which has never been built on earth. If we follow the guidance of the New Testament,27 this is a symbolic picture (a kind of parable, if you like) of Christ’s redeemed disciples, enjoying immortality in the eternal Kingdom of God.

"They shall have linen bonnets upon their heads, and shall have linen breeches upon their loins; they shall not gird themselves with anything that causeth sweat."28

第三段提到汗水的经文出现在以西节的预言当中。它描写了一座神殿,这座神殿从来没有在地上建立过。如果我们根据新约圣经的指导,以西结的描写的是象征性(也可以说是一种比喻),表现了被基督赎买的门徒,享受永恒的神国。

“他们头上要戴细麻布裹头巾,腰穿细麻布裤子;不可穿使身体出汗的衣服”。(以西结书4418

The Bible tells us what linen stands for. It is a symbol of righteousness.29 So in Ezekiel's picture the redeemed are at last freed for ever from sin, and from the "sweat" (suffering, leading to death) that Adam brought into the world.

圣经(启示录19:8)告诉我们细麻布代表了什么。细麻布是正义的象征,因此,在以西结的画面当中,这些被赎买的人将不再犯罪,不再流汗(这是亚当犯罪以后所带到世界上的结果)。

The single theme linking these three passages, the only ones in the whole Bible where sweat is mentioned, is too remarkable to be accidental. It is impossible that Ezekiel and Luke could have pro­duced it deliberately, because Ezekiel's passage only makes sense in the light of Luke-and Ezekiel wrote long before Luke was born.

段经文被同一条线索联系起来,线索就是整本圣经中只有三次提到的汗水。如果这种和谐是碰巧形成的,那么就太不可思议了。以西结和路加不可能是故意这么安排的,因为以西结的经文只有根据路加福音的解释才有意义,而以西结的书早在路加出生以前就存在了。

The three passages fit together as if they had been designed to do so. How can we explain this, unless we accept the Bible's own explana­tion-that one Designer guided the pens of all three writers?30

这三段经文彼此协调,好像他们经过了设计的。除非我们接受圣经的解释:有一位设计家指导这三位书写者的笔,我们还有别的解释方法吗?

 

Four Remarkable Women四位了不起的女人

 

Both Matthew and Luke give us a genealogy (that is, a line of descent) of Jesus Christ. There are some interesting problems connected with these genealogies, but they must wait until Part Two.

马太福音和路加福音都描写了耶稣基督的家谱。(关于耶稣家谱的另外一些有趣问题将在本书的第二部分中讨论)。

For the present we are only concerned with one remarkable feature of Matthew's genealogy. He traces the line of ancestors from Abraham down to Jesus. Mostly he follows the Jewish custom of mentioning only the male ancestors. But not altogether. In four instances he mentions the wife also. Matthew gives no explanation for this. He leaves us to do our own Bible study and draw our own conclusions. If we do so the results are quite exciting.

现在,我们仅仅涉及到马太福音家谱的一些显著特征。马太记载了从亚伯拉罕一直到耶稣本人的祖先,在大多数的情况下,他按照犹太人的传统仅仅记载了男性,但是有4个例外,他提到了4位女性,马太没有解释为什么,他让读者自己研究圣经找到答案。如果我们这样做的话,会发现结果相当有趣:

The four women are Tamar, Rahab, Ruth, and "her that had been the wife of Uriah".31 Here is a summary of what the Old Testament tells us about them.

个女人是:他玛、喇合、路得以及“乌利亚的妻子” 拔示巴。以下是旧约对她们故事记载的概述:

Tamar, a Canaanitish girl, was Judah's daughter-in-law. Her husband died young because of his wickedness. Judah then promised to give her his younger son, Shelah, for a husband. But he broke his promise.

他玛是一个迦南女子,她是犹大的媳妇。她的丈夫因为做坏事,很年轻就死了。犹大答应她,当她的小叔子示拉长大的时候就会让他们结婚。但是犹大却没有兑现自己的承诺。

As a protest against being let down Tamar disguised herself, pre­tended to be a prostitute, and seduced her father-in-law. From this illicit union a child was born, from whom all the Jewish kings were descended.

他玛对此表示抗议,她伪装成一个妓女,并且勾引自己的公公。然而这一次不同平常的结合导致他玛怀孕生了一个小孩,所有犹大国王都是这个孩子的后代。  

Rahab was another Canaanite with a sordid background. She began life as a prostitute. When Israel invaded Canaan she recognised that they really were the people of the one true God. She went over to Israel's side, became (it would appear) a reformed character, and married an Israelite.

喇合也是一个有着肮脏背景的迦南女子,她曾经是一名妓女,在以色列人进攻迦南的时候她认识到以色列人是真神的选民,因此她投靠到以色列这一边,后来嫁给了一位以色列人。

Ruth was a Moabite woman. Although she was reared in a land full of idolatry she was a fine character. She became converted to the Israelitish faith, emigrated to Israel’s land, and found a husband there.

路得是一个摩押女子,尽管她自己的家乡充满了不道德的行为,她却是一个品德非常高尚的人。她后来接受了犹太人的宗教信仰,随着自己的婆婆移居到以色列,并且嫁给了一位以色列人。

“Her that had been the wife of Uriah” (Bathsheba) was mentioned in Chapter 9. King David violated her, murdered her husband, and married her. Since Uriah was a Hittite this was presumably her nationality also, until David married her.

本书第9章中曾经提到了被称为“乌利亚的妻子”的拔示巴。大卫王勾引了她,而且还谋杀了她的丈夫,后来她嫁给了大卫。因为她的丈夫是赫人,可以假定在她和大卫结婚之前也是赫人。

By mentioning these four women Matthew draws our attention to another very unexpected piece of Bible harmony. Each woman’s story is told in a different book: Tamar’s in Genesis, Rahab’s in Joshua, Bathsheba’s in 2 Samuel, and Ruth’s in the book that bears her own name. But they all have several things in common:

通过马太提到这4个女人,我们的注意力集中到圣经中意料之外的和谐。这4个女人的故事记载在不同的书中:他玛出现在创世记当中,喇合出现在约书亚记当中,拔示巴出现在撒母耳记下,但是她们的故事有以下的共同点:

(1) They were all Gentiles.她们都是外邦人。

(2) They were all the subject of a special dispensation of mercy. If the law had been enforced, none of them would have married into Israel. The immorality of Tamar and Bathsheba was punishable by death under Jewish law. Rahab should ordinarily have perished with all the other inhabitants of Jericho. Ruth was a Moabite, and mem­bers of that race were expressly barred from adopting Israelitish nationality.32

她们都受到了特别的恩惠待遇。如果严格按照以色列的律法,她们中间没有人能够嫁给以色列人。而且按照犹太律法,他玛和拔示巴会因所犯的不道德行为应该被判处死刑。喇合是迦南人,以色列的律法强调了迦南人不能加入到以色列人中。(申命记233

(3) Yet despite these barriers they were all links in the ancestry of all the Jewish kings-and of Jesus Christ.

尽管存在这样的障碍,她们都成为了犹太国王的祖先,也是耶稣基督的祖先。

Thus, running like a golden thread through Jewish history, the stories of these women condemned the rulers of the Jews for their narrow-mindedness. Throughout their history God had been far more merciful than they were.

因此,就像一根金线条贯穿整个犹太人的历史一样,这些女人的故事是对犹太统治者的狭隘观点的指责。通过这些故事可以看出,  神远远要比犹太人所认为的要仁慈。

They regarded the Gentiles as little better than animals. They were meticulous about keeping the Law of Moses, and severely punished wrongdoers. Yet they could not deny that their own Scriptures declared these four Gentile women, to whom they would have shown no mercy, to be in their Messianic line.

一些犹太人认为外邦人仅仅要比动物好一点,他们特别热心于遵守摩西律法,对违反者实行严厉的惩罚。然而他们也不能否认圣经关于这些外邦女人的记载,这些女人是将来弥赛亚的祖先,尽管他们认为这些女人应该受到惩罚。

One thing we can be quite sure of. This particular piece of harmony was so embarrassing to the Jews that they would not have created it deliberately. They must have wished that they could have deleted it from their history.

有一件事情我们应该是可以确定的。这些特别的和谐决不是犹太人所故意编造的,因为这些故事只会令他们感到尴尬。他们甚至希望将这些故事从他们的历史当中删除。

How, then, can we explain its existence, unless we attribute it to the hand of God?

   那么,如果不是  神的手在掌控,我们该如何解释这些存在于圣经中的记载?

 

The First Iron Curtain人类最早的铁幕

 

The first iron curtain in recorded history is probably the one described in the Old Testament. Like the present wall across Germany, this one also split a nation into two pieces.

人类最早的铁幕可能记载于圣经的旧约之中。就像二十世纪存在的柏林墙将同一个德意志民族分成两部分一样,它也将以色列民族分为两个部分。

After 120 years as one united kingdom, the ten tribes in the north of Israel broke away from the two tribes in the south. The larger northern kingdom was called Israel, and set up its capital at Samaria. The smaller southern kingdom was called Judah, and retained the original capital, Jerusalem.

在以色列成为一个统一的王国120年以后,北部的10个支派从王国中分离出去,国名依然称为以色列,首都在撒玛利亚。在南方比较小的王国被称为犹大,首都依然在耶路撒冷。

The northern kingdom of Israel never had one godly king. For nearly three hundred years it lived in idolatry. Then the Assyrians conquered it, and carried its people into captivity. They were never heard of again.

北部的以色列王国从来没有出现过一位虔诚的国王。这个王国有将近300年历史,一直都生活在崇拜偶像之中。它后来被亚述国所征服,以后就不存在了。

The southern kingdom of Judah had a mixture of good and bad kings. Its people were carried into captivity by the Babylonians about a hundred years after the northern kingdom fell to the Assyrians. But their grandchildren were allowed to return to their homeland. Their descendants were still populating the land of Israel under the name “Jews” in the time of Christ.

南方的犹大王国中,有好的国王,也有坏的国王。这个国家的人民后来被巴比伦人俘虏去了。但是70年以后,他们的后代又被允许回到了自己的土地上。在耶稣基督的时代,他们被称为“犹太人”,而且人口繁多。

The people of the northern kingdom are often referred to as “the lost ten tribes”. This is very curious, because there is a thread of harmony running through many books of the Bible which shows that the ten tribes were not lost at all.

北方以色列王国的10个支派常常被一些人称为“失去联系的10个支派”。这是一种奇怪的称呼,因为圣经中存在一条和谐的线索,告诉我们有关这10个支派的线索从来没有断。

This thread is obviously not deliberately contrived. It is so un­obtrusive, in fact, that many people still cannot see it-hence that strange popular misconception that the ten tribes were lost. But the thread is there, none the less.

很明显,这条线索不会是故意编造的。因为它隐藏得非常深,很多圣经读者看不出来,因此出现了一种普遍的看法,认为这10个支派的线索失传了。但是关于这10个支派的线索一直在圣经里。

It starts in the First Book of Kings, where we read of a very early king of Israel, Baasha, making his iron curtain. He fortified the border, “that he might not suffer any to go out or come in to Asa, king of Judah”.33

故事从在列王记上15:17开始:以色列国王巴沙在边境“修筑拉玛,不许人从犹大王亚撒那里出入”。他打算在以色列国和犹大国之间建立铁幕。

Why did he do that? Other books of the Old Testament supply the answer. Like the builders of the Berlin wall he was not concerned about keeping an enemy out, but with keeping his own people in. All the Godfearing people in the idolatrous north wanted to emigrate to the south, where the Temple in Jerusalem kept true worship alive.

巴沙为什么要这样做?圣经的其它部分告诉给我们答案。就像柏林墙的目的不是为了防止敌人进入,而是为了阻止自己的老百姓逃跑一样,过去的堡垒也是为了阻止自己的人民外逃。因为北方所有敬畏  神的人都想到南方耶路撒冷去敬拜 神,那里有神的殿。

Baasha’s iron curtain was inefficient. He lacked the barbed wire and minefields beloved of modern dictators. The Second Book of Chronicles tells us that when good king Asa purged all the idols out of the Kingdom of Judah, this was the result:

    因为缺乏现代人所发明的铁丝网和地雷,他制造铁幕的效果不佳。当犹大的一位非常敬 神的国王亚撒  在犹大清除掉各种偶像崇拜时,结果:

“He gathered all Judah and Benjamin, and them that sojourned with them out of Ephraim and Manasseh and out of Simeon. For they fell to him out of Israel in abundance, when they saw that the Lord his God was with him.”34

   “有许多以色列人归降亚撒,因见耶和华他的神与他同在”。(历代志下159

A later chapter in the same book tells of another good king of Judah, Jehoshaphat, who also received a wave of immigrants from Israel.35 They must have been very numerous, because Jehoshaphat4~ is actually called “King of Israel” in one place,36 as if to indicate that men from all twelve tribes owed him allegiance.

同一本书接下来的一章告诉我们,在犹大的另外一个敬拜 神的约沙法在位期间,大批的以色列人从北方移居到犹大国。移民的数量一定非常巨大,圣经有一次称约沙法呼为“以色列的王”,似乎暗示所有12个支派都有人在他的管辖范围之内。

The result of all this immigration was a rapid increase in the size of Judah’s army. At the time of the split, King Rehoboam had only 180,000 men.37 The next king, Abijah, had 400,000;38 his successor, Asa, 580,000;39 and Jehoshaphat had 1,160,000 men.40

因为移民人口的增加,犹大国军队的数量也急剧增加。在王国分裂的早期,犹大国只有180000军队。在亚撒时期有580,000人,而后来约沙法时期高达1,160,000人。

About a hundred years after the Kingdom of Israel had been wiped Out, and the ten tribes were supposedly lost, King Josiah of Judah was receiving tribute from “Manasseh, and Ephraim and of all the remnant of Israel, and of all Judah and Benjamin.”41 Just before they were carried captive into Babylon, Ezekiel described the inhabitants of Jerusalem as “all the residue of Israel . . . the house of Israel and Judah”.42

在北部以色列王国灭亡大约100年以后,北方的10个支派好像是断了线索,但是圣经记载说:犹大的国王约西亚曾经从“从玛拿西、以法莲,和一切以色列剩下的人,以及犹大、便雅悯众人,并耶路撒冷的居民” 收税以修理神殿。在他们被俘虏到巴比伦以前,以西结称耶路撒冷的居民为“以色列所剩下的人”,包括“以色列家和犹大家” 以西结书989)。

Jeremiah hinted that both Judah and Israel would return from captivity in Babylon.43 A modern translation of 1 Chronicles makes it plain that the “Judah” who returned from captivity included men of Israel, and especially of its two leading tribes, Ephraim and Manasseh.44

而且耶利米暗示了犹大国的人和以色列国的人都将从巴比伦回来。历代志上记载从巴比伦回来的犹太人当中,特别提到了北部的两个代表性支派:以法莲和玛拿西。

Finally, so far as the Old Testament is concerned, the book of Ezra describes the return of the Jews from their Babylonian captivity, around 500 B.C. Those Jews are described several times as “Israel”, and on two occasions when they offered sacrifices these comprised twelve animals “according to the number of the tribes of Israel”.45

以斯拉记记载了大约公元前500年犹太人从巴比伦回来的情景。其中数次将这些犹太人称为“以色列人”,他们“又照以色列支派的数目献公山羊十二只,为以色列众人作赎罪祭”。

Quite clearly, then, the Old Testament tells us that only the dregs of the “lost ten tribes” were ever lost. The cream of the ten tribes were absorbed into the two-tribed Kingdom of Judah, which later became called the Jewish nation.

非常明显,圣经告诉我们,那些北方剩下来的10个支派一直没有失去联系。他们后来熔于犹大王国中,一起成为后来被称为犹太民族的组成部分。

Our thread of harmony has so far run through six different Old Testament books, and covered some 500 years of history. It now jumps the 500-year gap between Ezra and the New Testament, and reappears in the gospels.

这条和谐的线索贯穿了旧约中6本不同的书当中,跨越的历史年代大约为500年。现在跳过了从以斯拉记到新约的500年,这条线索又重新出现。

Matthew takes a prophecy that Jeremiah made about the children of Rachel (the ten-tribed kingdom), and says it was fulfilled among the Jews of his day.46 Luke reports Jesus as quoting a prophecy from Hosea about the ten-tribed kingdom, and applying it to the Jews in Jerusalem.47 He also mentions that a woman in Jerusalem, Anna, was of the tribe of Asher (one of the ten).48

马太福音引用了先知耶利米关于“拉结的儿女”(属于北方的10个支派)的预言,并且说这个预言在当时应验了。耶稣曾经引用了何西阿书107-9中的预言:“人要向大山说:倒在我们身上!向小山说:遮盖我们!”并且说,这句预言要应验在整个犹太民族身上。(见路加福音2330,路加福音236还提到在耶路撒冷有一位妇女名叫亚拿,属于亚设支派(北方10个支派中的一个)。

Peter addresses the Jews as, “Men of Israel . . . all the house of Israel.”49 Paul said that John the Baptist had preached to “all the people of Israel”.50 On another occasion Paul called the Jews “our twelve tribes”.51  James also addresses “the twelve tribes”.52

彼得称呼犹太人说:“以色列人,”(使徒222保罗说,施洗约翰曾经向“向以色列众民”传福音。保罗还称呼犹太人“我们十二个支派”。雅各也向“十二个支派”的以色列人问好。

The thread of history has now passed through 25 different passages of the Bible, in ii different books. It covers a period of a thousand years. And a perfect harmony prevails.

这一条历史线索通过25段不同经文串联起来。它出现在不同的书中,覆盖的历史长达1000年,而且特别和谐。

Once more the question has to be faced: what caused this harmony? Did it “just happen”? Or is it evidence that one Master Mind was behind the writing of the Bible?

我们再次要面临这样的问题:是谁制造了这些和谐?是“碰巧发生的”,还是在圣经的书写者后面,有一个更加伟大的智慧在指挥人们书写圣经?

 

11

It Can’t All be Coincidence

不可能所有的事情都是巧合

The trial had been a long one, and everyone concerned was glad that the end was in sight. Lord Justice Swingingham was summing up the evidence for the prosecution.

这是一场漫长的审判,所有相关人员都感到高兴,因为审判马上就有了结果。审判长正在就起诉证据作总结性发言:

“First, we have the evidence of several witnesses that the accused had for years shown a strong dislike for the victim of the crime, and on the evening before the murder he quarrelled violently with him. As he left the public bar of the Royal Oak, several witnesses heard him shout, ‘I’ll get even with you yet!’

首先,我们有好几位证人证明,被告最近几年一直非常讨厌本案的受害人,案发的当晚还与被害人吵过架。原告离开酒吧后,好几个证人听见他喊:“我要让你完蛋!”

In a corner of the jury box a small elderly lady scowled at the judge. “Coincidence! Pure coincidence!” she muttered under her breath.

在陪审团的一个角落,一位上了年纪的老太太面带愁容盯着法官,并且不停地嘀咕说:“这只是巧合!完全的巧合!”

“Next we must note that the following morning, when the murder took place, the accused was unaccountably absent from work,” the judge continued. “He has been identified by six witnesses as the man who was seen running away from the victim’s house at 10.45 a.m., just after the sound of two shots was heard.”

“More coincidences,” muttered the old lady.

法官继续陈述:“其次我们注意到,案发的第二天被告没有去上班还不能说明原因。有6个证人辨认出是被告从被害人的家里跑出来,时间为早上1045分,正好在两声枪响之后”。

老太太又叨叨说:“还是巧合”。

“Moreover the accused has admitted buying a double-barrelled shotgun at The Sportsman’s Emporium at 9.30 that morning. The wounds in the victim’s head are consistent with such a weapon having been fired. When seen running away, the accused was carrying a lengthy object in a sack. He disappeared in the direction of the River Thames, and the police have since recovered the accused’s shotgun from the bed of the river. The accused was not seen again until the next afternoon, when he was arrested at Rotherhithe Docks, trying to stow away on a Spanish ship bound for Venezuela.”

“更重要的是,被告已经承认在案发当天早上930分在The Sportsman’s Emporium购买过一支手枪。手枪的弹道痕迹和死者伤口的痕迹相吻合。还有人看见被告逃跑的时候带着一只麻袋,从泰晤士河边的方向逃走,警察随后从河床打捞出被告所使用的手枪,随后被告人们的视线中消失了,直到在一条开往委内瑞拉的西班牙轮船上被逮捕。”

“Coincidences, all the lot of them,” muttered the elderly lady.

“They don’t mean a thing to me.”

可是这位老太太还是叫喊:“巧合,巧合,所有这些都是巧合。这些事情不能说明任何问题”。

Another juror glared at her. “Coincidences be blowed!” he said.

   另一个陪审团成员瞪着她说:“别再说什么巧合了!”

 

Facts to be Faced不可逃避事实

 

Now let’s look back over the previous nine chapters, and list the evidence that has to be faced. As you look at it, take care not to make the little old lady’s mistake. Some of the evidence on its own might be the result of coincidence. But it can’t all be coincidence.

现在让我们回过头来总结本书前9章的全部证据。面对这些证据的时候,我们要小心不要犯这位老太太同样的错误。证据当中有一些可能是巧合,但是不可能全部都是巧合。

Chapter 2 looked at some of the Bible’s many prophecies about the Jews. Their scattering all over the world, their long years of exile, their unpopularity, their frequent persecution, their continued existence despite attempts to exterminate them, and, at long last, their return to their homeland in an ungodly state-all these things were foretold in detail.

在第2章我们看到了圣经关于犹太人预言,他们被散布在世界各地,他们长时间的在外流放,尽管有人想消灭他们,但是他们却生存下来。并且,最终他们回到了自己的土地,这些事情都在发生之前详细地记录告诉了我们。

And it has all come to pass, exactly as the Bible said it would. The promise that those who blessed the Jews would be blessed, and those who cursed them would be cursed, has also been fulfilled many times.

正如圣经所说的,随着时间的流逝,所有事情都按照圣经的语言准确地实现了。圣经还说,诅咒以色列人的,他也要被诅咒,为以色列祝福的,他也要蒙福,这句话也多次实现了。

Chapter 3 began with prophecies about two great cities, Babylon and Tyre. A very different doom was foretold for each city. In each case the Bible’s words came true, centuries after the prophecies were written.

3章谈到有关巴比伦和推罗这两大城市的预言。圣经提前告诉我们这两个城市非常不同的结局,在预言书写下几个世纪后,关于每个城市的每一个预言都实现了。

This chapter went on to discuss Daniel’s concentrated summary of the future history of the world. There were to be four, and only four, great “world empires”. After that, the world would remain divided until the time of Christ’s return to the earth. Historians (unbelievers included) agree that the Roman empire was the fourth world empire, and that there has never been another since.

这一章接着讨论了但以理关于世界历史的概括性总结。世界会有(只有)4个世界性帝国。而且以后,世界会保持分离状态,直到耶稣回来。历史学家(包括不信 神的历史学家)一致同意罗马帝国是第4个帝国,从此以后不会还没有出现过这样的帝国。

Chapter 4 listed some of the prophecies made about Jesus, long before He was born. The exact place and the approximate date of His birth were prophesied. His altogether unique, righteous life was prophesied. So were His resurrection from the dead and His ascension to heaven.

在第4章列举了关于耶稣的一些预言,而这些预言在耶稣出生之前几个世纪就写下了。耶稣出生的准确时间被预言了,耶稣独特、完美的生活道路也被预言了,同样圣经也预言耶稣的死和复活、升天。

But, most of all, the Old Testament foretold His crucifixion. Not just the fact, but many of the detailed circumstances of Calvary, were written in advance.

最重要的是,旧约预言了耶稣受难。不仅陈述事实,还提前写出很多细节来。

Chapter 5 showed that Jesus had an uncanny foreknowledge of the twentieth century. He foretold the worldwide preaching of God’s Word; the return of the Jews to the land of Israel; and the insecurity, the loss of moral sense, the fear of the future, and the sense of impend. mg doom that overshadow our world today.

5章告诉我们耶稣关于二十世纪的奇妙预言。他预言福音要传遍世界,预言了犹太人会回到以色列,他们不会得到安宁,他们缺乏道德感受,对未来感到恐惧。今天,中东危机的阴影正笼罩着全世界。

The apostle Peter also foretold how our generation would scoff at the idea of the Second Coming, and described the particular scientific principle that educated men quote as their reason for scoffing. He also foresaw the kind of destruction (by fire) that another world war would bring upon our cities.

使徒彼得同样提前告诉我们,这个时代有很多人会讥笑耶稣再次降临的观点。他还描写了这些讥讽者的理论基础(或科学根据),一些受过教育的人会以此为根据。彼得还提前看到,未来世界战争中毁灭性武器是火,另外一场世界性战争迟早会降临并毁灭这个世界。

Chapter 6 described how the gospels portray Jesus, and argued that nobody in the world He lived in could have invented such a character. He did things and said things that no normal man of the age would have dreamed of saying or doing.

6章告诉我们福音书是如何描写耶稣的。通过对耶稣这个独特人物的描写,证明了世界上没有任何人能够发明这样一个人物。他所说的话和所作的事情,是当时世界上任何其他普通人连做梦也想不到的。

Consequently, if the gospel records are true, Jesus was a super. human Man, the Son of God. If they are fiction, then the gospel writers must themselves have been superhuman in their powers, to create such an extraordinary “uninventable” character as Jesus.

因此,如果福音书的记录是正确的,那么耶稣就是一个超人,是人,也是 神的儿子。如果福音书是虚构,这些作者肯定也拥有超人的力量,这样才能发明这样一个人类不可能发明的人物——耶稣。

Chapter 7 examined the evidence that Jesus rose from the dead.

7章检查了耶稣复活的证据。

According to the written testimony of many eyewitnesses, Jesus did rise from the grave. Those eyewitnesses were neither cheats nor simpletons. All the evidence points to the conclusion that they were honestly reporting the wonderful truth.

根据许多亲眼看见过复活后的耶稣的证人的亲眼见证,耶稣真的从死亡中复活了。这些证人既不是骗子,也不是傻瓜。所有这些证据都指向同一个结论——他们诚实地报告了耶稣复活这个令人惊奇的消息。

The birth and growth of Christianity in a world that did not want it, the sudden swing from the Jewish sabbath to the Christian Sunday, the bigoted apostle Paul’s sudden conversion-all these facts need explaining. There is only one adequate explanation for them: that Christ rose from the dead.

基督教的诞生和成长在一个不受欢迎的环境中。从遵守安息日的犹太教徒突然转变成为在星期天休息的基督徒,还有使徒保罗的突然转变,这些事实都需要解释。只有一个原因可以解释这一切:耶稣从死亡中复活了。

Chapter 8 looked at the Law of Moses. We saw that it was thousands of years ahead of its time. In many respects the world has not caught up with it yet.

在第8章中我们回顾了摩西律法。我们看到摩西律法要领先其时代数千年。在今天世界依然还没有抓住摩西律法很多方面的要害。

More than a thousand years before Christ it taught Christian love, love of neighbour and of stranger alike. In an evil idolatrous world it condemned idolatry, and insisted that there was only one God. While other nations worked their slaves to death, the Law made the Jews give both their slaves and themselves a day’s rest every week.

在基督诞生以前一千年,摩西律法就教导基督徒般的爱,要爱人如己,爱陌生人和寄居的。在当时邪恶崇拜偶像的年代,摩西律法坚持只有一个上帝,谴责偶像崇拜。摩西律法使奴隶和奴隶主一样享受每星期休息一天的权利。

The Law of Moses anticipated many modern discoveries: isola­tion of infectious diseases; the principles of hygiene and sanitation; the avoidance of disease borne by unsuitable foodstuffs; the conserva­tion of resources; the importance of a stable family life and sound education.

摩西律法提前告诉我们许多现代人的发现:对传染病人实行隔离,建设卫生设施的原则,要避免疾病通过食物传播,对资源的保护,强调稳定的家庭和健康教育的重要性。

In Chapter 9 we looked at a more subtle kind of evidence. We saw that the Bible “rang true”. It reads like a true book, not a book full of falsehoods. The contrast between it and other ancient religious books is tremendous.

我们在第9章看到了更多微妙的证据。我们看出圣经发出的是真理的声音。它听起来真实的,不是一本充满谬误的书。古代其它宗教书和圣经比起来反差太大了。

It makes no attempt to whitewash its heroes or to flatter its readers. Ordinary writers try to cover up the truth when it is unpleasant. But the Bible tells the honest truth, however painful that may be to its readers.

We also saw some examples of the “undesigned coincidences” that abound in the pages of the Bible. They are another mark of the simple truthfulness of its writers.

圣经从来没有打算粉饰其中的英雄,或奉承读者。如果真像会让人感到不快的话,普通作者往往会掩盖。但是圣经告诉的是最诚实的真理,不管真理会让读者感到多么痛苦。 

同样在圣经中我们看到了大量的未经修饰的和谐,这也是圣经的作者讲真话的一个标志。

In Chapter 10 we saw how the sixty-six separate books in our Bible have a common theme. Threads of harmony join them all together, into one complete unit.

在第10章我们看到,圣经中66本独立的书是如何拥有共同的主题的。一条和谐的线索将它们联系在一起,成为一个完全的整体。

This harmony is far too remarkable to have occurred by accident. It is so deep-rooted that the authors could not possibly have created it on their own. This is evidence that one Master Mind must have guided the pens of all the forty authors of the Bible.

圣经和谐是如此不同凡响,决不是碰巧才形成的。它是那么根深蒂固,证明了一定有一种大师般的智慧,指导和协调所有40多位书写者。

 

What Does This Prove? 这又能够证明什么?

 

A diehard unbeliever would say that it doesn’t “prove” anything. In one sense this is right. The truth of the Bible is not something that can be proved like a theorem in mathematics. But the guilt of a criminal cannot be proved mathematically either. Yet we still say that a criminal is “proved guilty” when there is so much evidence of his guilt that it is unreasonable to doubt it.

坚持不信圣经的人会说,这些事实“证明”不了什么。从某种意义上来说来他们是对的。圣经真理并不能够像数学定理那样被证明。但即使有足够的证据,法庭同样无法像证明数学定理一样证明一个人有罪。尽管如此,如果有足够的合理的证据让人们不会怀疑被告有罪的话,我们依然可以说,被告被“证明”有罪。

This book has marshalled some of the evidence that the Bible is what it claims to be. If you have digested this evidence it will stay with you for the rest of your life, whether you finally accept the Bible or not.

本书编辑了一些支持圣经的证据,表明圣经是 神的话语。不管最终你是不是能够接受圣经,如果你能将这些证据消化掉,他们就会伴随着你余下的一生。

The evidence is not something that can be explained away. To put it all down to coincidence would be as silly as the behaviour of the little lady in the jury box. However you look at it, one fact is inescapable. There is a very great deal of evidence to support the Bible’s claim to be a message from God.

这些证据不是可以通过解释打发掉的。将所有的证据都归于巧合就像那位在陪审团的那个老太太愚蠢。不管你怎样看待这个问题,有一件事情不可逃避:有大量的证据支持圣经是来自 神的信息这一圣经声明。

This is where faith comes in.

这就是信心的来源。

Faith is not, as a cynic once said, “believing in something you know to be untrue”. Faith comes when evidence convinces you that some­thing must be true. The New Testament defines it like this:

    信心并不是说:“相信你知道是不正确的某些事”,信心来自你有坚信不疑的证据。新约圣经这样说到信心:

“Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.”1

   “信就是所望之事的实底,是未见之事的确据。”(希伯来书111

If you can accept the evidence put before you, and say, “Yes, I am convinced that there must be a God, that the Bible must be His Word, and that Jesus must be His Son”-if you can say that, then you have what the Bible calls faith.

如果你接受摆在你面前的证据,并且说:“是的,我相信一定有 神,圣经肯定是  神的话,并且耶稣肯定是  神的儿子”。如果你肯承认这些事情,你就有了圣经中所说的信心。

But perhaps you cannot say that yet. Perhaps you can only go half. way, and say something like this:

但是也有可能现在你还不能够接受这些。也有可能你在中间,心里面这样认为:

“Yes, the evidence is impressive. It does seem as if there might be something in it. But I don’t know. There are so many things to be said against the Bible, as well as for it.”

“是啊,这些证据给人的印象非常深刻,真的好像有什么东西在里面。但是我也不知道,因为有很多人在说圣经的坏话,然而为圣经辩护的理由也有很多。”

If that’s how you feel you have no need to be depressed about it. Many other men and women have felt like that. We read of one such man who came to Jesus, asking for his epileptic child to be healed.

如果这就是你自己的感觉,你不必泄气。很多人也有这样的感觉。圣经就记载了一个人,他来到耶稣面前,请求耶稣医治他患癫痫病的孩子:

Jesus told him, “If thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth.”

The man replied, “Lord, I believe; help Thou mine unbelief.”2

耶稣告诉他说“你若能信,在信的人,凡事都能。”

这个人回答:“我信!但我信不足,求主帮助(原文是帮助我这个不信的人。)”。

(马可福音92324

This sounds rather a contradictory statement to European ears. But it was evidently a Hebrew’s way of saying, “Lord, I almost believe. I want to believe. But I find it hard to believe unreservedly. Lord, help me to believe with all my heart!”

这段话对于欧洲人来说听起来非常矛盾,但是这是希伯来人的说法,用我们的话来说就是:“主啊,我基本相信,我希望能够有信心,但是我觉得有困难,请帮助我,让我全心全意地信靠你!”

Jesus apparently did help him, because there was a happy outcome. The man’s prayer was answered; his child was healed.

很显然耶稣帮助了这个人,因为最终的结果是快乐的。这个人的祷告被答应了,孩子的疾病也得到了医治。

 

 

How to Read On如何坚持阅读圣经

 

There is good practical advice in this story. Part Two of this book will try to deal with all the main obstacles to wholehearted belief in the Bible. Now you know the best way to tackle Part Two.

本书的第二部分是关于一些好的实用的建议。这一部分打算帮助那些打算全心全意相信圣经的人扫清最主要的障碍。

Read it with this prayer in your heart:  

请用心阅读下面的祷告:

 

“Lord, I (want to) believe; help Thou mine unbelief!”

“主阿!我(希望)信!但我信不足,求主帮助。”

 

This will help you to have an attitude of respect for the Bible. It does not mean that you should suppress your reason. Far from it; God invites you to “gird up the loins of your mind”3 (that is, to use every ounce of intelligence you possess) when you study the Bible.

这样做将帮助你树立尊敬圣经的态度。它并不意味着你要抛弃自己的想法。 神邀请你阅读圣经的时候“要约束你们的心”(彼得前书113),意思是说,在研究圣经的时候要用自己的全部心智。 

What God wants us to suppress is our pride. We can come to the Bible, and to Part Two of this book, in two very different ways.

神希望我们抛弃的是自己的骄傲。在阅读圣经以及本书第二部分时,我们可以采取两种不同的方式。

We can say: “The Bible is probably a man-made book. I shall feel free to treat it with contempt, to ridicule it, or to ignore it. I don’t think the Bible has anything for me.” And we shall be right; the Bible will not have anything for us, if we approach it like that.

我们可以说:“圣经可能是人编造的书籍。我可以随便地看不起它,嘲笑它,或者是忽略它。圣经和我没有任何关系。”如果我们用这种方式对待圣经,我们真的与圣经没有关系,我们不会从中得到任何好处。

Or we can say: “The Bible might possibly be what it claims to be

-a message from God Almighty. In case it is, I must treat it thought­fully, humbly, respectfully, to see what I can learn from it.”

或者我们可以说:“圣经真的有可能像它自己所声明的那样,是从全能的 神哪里来的,如果是这样,我就应该带着谦卑和认真思考的态度对待它,看看自己能够从其中学习到什么。”

That way, you are sure to benefit. Even if you finally decide the Bible is not the Word of God, you will still learn more by adopting the humble approach.

这种态度肯定会让你获益非浅。即使你后来断定圣经不是 神的话,谦卑的态度依然使你获益。

And if-as I believe-the Bible is the Word of God, you will gain an infinitely greater blessing. For God has said:

“This is the man to whom I will look: he that is humble and contrite in spirit, and trembles at My Word.”4

   我相信圣经是 神的话。如果你也信,你也会得到无穷的祝福。因为  神曾经说过:

   “但我所看顾的,就是虚心痛悔、因我话而战兢的人。”(以赛亚书662

 

PART TWO

第二部分  问题部分

But What About. . .?

 

12

Problems? Of Course!

有问题是当然的

So now it’s the unbelievers’ turn to bat. We have looked at the main reasons why believers believe. Now we are going to look at the main difficulties which (so they say) prevent unbelievers from believing.

我们已经看到了那些圣经信仰者相信圣经的主要理由,现在轮到不相信的人来发言了。我们要看看使他们不相信的主要困难。(是他们自己这样说的)。

But before we begin, I want to make one thing quite clear. I am not the least bit embarrassed by these difficulties. Neither need you be. Every branch of human study bristles with problems. It would be very strange if the most profound subject of all-the study of the Word of the Almighty-were free from problems.

首先我想明确一点。我对这些困难并不感到尴尬,你也不必。人类研究的每一个分支都会有问题。如果我们研究意义最深刻的全能者的话没有遇到问题,这反而是一件奇怪的事情。

Of course there are problems connected with the Bible. It is exactly what you would expect.

   在学习圣经中当然会遇到很多困难。这也是你可以预料到的。

 

A Parallel with Science

与科学的平行关系

In my circle of acquaintances there are many science graduates who believe implicitly that the Bible is the Word of God. I could not name nearly so many arts graduates who believe the Bible. This may just be because I happen to know more science graduates. But in fact I think my experience is fairly general. Several friends from different universities have told me that there seem to be more Bible believers in their science departments than their arts departments.

在我熟悉的社交圈子中,有很多毕业于理工科大学的毕业生,他们相信圣经是  神的话。但是我却不能列举出很多艺术院校毕业又相信圣经的人。这可能是因为我毕业于理工科院校的缘故。实际上我的体验是很平常的。来自不同大学的好几个朋友告诉我,似乎毕业于理工大学相信圣经的人要比毕业于艺术院校的人要多。

One reason for this may be that science graduates are aware of the vast number of unsolved problems in science.

其中的原因之一可能是,毕业于理工科大学的学生知道,科学界存在着大量没有解决的问题。

Take physics, for example. At school you are taught how Sir Isaac Newton laid the foundations of modern physics. You learn the various basic laws he propounded, and you accept them as absolute truth. You appreciate their beauty and simplicity, and you realise why

Alexander Pope wrote:

就拿物理学来说吧,在学校里老师教导说牛顿奠定了现代物理学的基础。你学习了牛顿物理学基本定律,并将它们看成是绝对真理。你欣赏这些定律的简单与和谐,明白为什么亚历山大-保罗会写下这一首诗来赞美牛顿:

 

“Nature and Nature’s laws lay hid in night

God said, ‘Let Newton be!’ and all was light.”

   自然和自然的法则隐藏在黑夜之中。

  神说:“让牛顿来!”于是一切都是光明!

 

Then you go to university, and are taught that Newton’s laws don’t explain everything. Problems arise that can only be explained by Einstein’s theories. These work in circumstances where Newton’s laws break down. But they are very much more complicated, and you realise why Sir John Squire capped Pope’s lines with:

以后你上了大学,老师教导你牛顿的法则不能解释所有的事情。这些问题只能够用爱因斯坦的理论来解释,它可以解释牛顿的理论解释不了的地方。但是这些理论非常复杂,你会体会为什么John Squire 爵士会套用保罗的诗歌这样说:

 

“It did not last: the Devil howling, ‘Ho!

Let Einstein be!’ restored the status quo.”

  “然而一切却没有结束。魔鬼还在叫喊。

“让爱因斯坦来”!于是一切又恢复了光明!”

 

Then you finish your university course and start doing research. Very soon you realise that there are lots and lots of problems you weren’t told about as an undergraduate. Einstein’s propositions nowadays look almost as incomplete as Newton’s did a half-century ago.

大学毕业以后,你开始做自己的研究工作,很快就会发现有很多问题存在,就像你在大学毕业以前一样。爱因斯坦的理论同样不完全,像当年牛顿的定律一样。

Strange problems have arisen in modern physics that were unheard of until recently. Is there such stuff as “antimatter”? If so, how much of it is there in the universe? Does it weigh less than nothing? Can atomic particles travel backwards through time?

现代物理学领域到现在依然有奇怪的问题冒出来。存在着反物质吗?如果存在,在宇宙中有多少?反物质的重量是负的吗?原子能够向后穿过时间隧道吗?

These are only some of the problems that atomic physicists are debating today. It may take many years to answer them. And in answering them, many other unanswered questions are bound to arise.

这些仅仅是当今原子物理学家讨论问题的一部分。要回答这些问题需要好多年,就在科学家回答问题的时候,很多没有答案的问题又冒出来了。

And therefore . .  ? Therefore we can’t trust atomic physics, because of all these unsolved problems? Obviously that does not follow. Atomic power stations work. That is proof enough that atomic physics is on the right lines. The existence of unanswered questions merely shows that many more exciting discoveries lie around the corner.

因此?…. 因为他们不能解决这些问题,我们就不再相信物理学家了?很显然不能。原子能发电站正常工作,就足以证明了原子物理学家是可以信赖的。存在问题只能证明还有很多更加令人感兴趣的问题有待科学家去发掘。

In just the same way, it would be absurd to dismiss the Bible just because there are some unsolved problems connected with it. Instead, we should study it eagerly, wondering what interesting discoveries lie in store for us. 

同样,因为我们在阅读圣经的时候存在疑问,就把圣经打发掉,这样做也是不明智的。相反,我们应该更加急切地阅读圣经,争取找到一些隐藏在圣经中有趣的发现。

The evidence of Part One of this book has shown that the claims of the Bible are solidly backed by evidence. As you read through Part Two you will see that very many of the problems connected with it have already been answered.

这本书的第一部分已经向我们展示,圣经声明是 神的话语是有很坚实的证据的。在本书的第二部分当中,你会看到很多问题,其中的很多问题已经有了答案。

Every solved problem strengthens the case for the Bible. For if so many of the unbelievers’ objections can be answered already, it is reasonable to suppose that all the rest could in time.

   每一个问题的解决,都是我们更加相信圣经。那些不相信圣经的人提出来的问题已经能够得到解决,我们有理由假设其余的问题也能够得到解决。

 

Another Parallel另外一条平行线

 

A small boy once had a conversation with an eminent university professor. Afterwards he told his father:

有一个小男孩和一个著名的大学教授交谈,过后他回去对父亲说:

“I couldn’t understand everything that man said.”

“我听不懂这个人对我说的话”。

“That doesn’t surprise me!” replied the father, with a smile.

“这有什么奇怪的呢?”他的父亲笑着回答。

Now the Bible tells us that Jesus of Nazareth was the Son of God. He was called “the express image of God’s Person”.1 The words that He spoke were said to be the very words of God.2

现在,圣经告诉我们拿撒勒人耶稣是  神的儿子,他被称为“神本体的真像”。他所说的话就是  神的话。

Consequently the gap between Jesus and the rest of mankind was far, far greater than the gap between the professor and the small boy. Naturally there were many things about Jesus that the Jews could not understand. But they reacted most unreasonably. They used these problems as an excuse for their unbelief.

耶稣与人类的其它人的差别非常大,远远超过大学教授和这位小男孩。犹太人不明白很多关于耶稣的事情,这是很自然的。但是这些犹太人对于耶稣的反应是不合理的。他们利用一些问题作为他们不相信耶稣的借口。

To begin with, none of the “best people” followed Him. “Have any of the rulers or of the Pharisees (religious leaders) believed on Him?” was their snobbish excuse.3

开始的时候,没有任何一个“社会精英”跟随他。“官长或是法利赛人岂有信他的呢?”(约翰福音748,这也成为一些势利小人责难耶稣的借口。

Then again, He was such an unpredictable person. He never would behave as they thought the Son of God ought to behave.

他还被看成是一个不可预测的人物。他们从来没有猜测到  神的儿子会是那个样子。

When they wanted to honour Him and make Him king, He went away.’ When a faithful disciple risked his own life to protect Jesus, instead of thanks he received a rebuke.5

当人们想让耶稣得到荣耀,并且让他成为他们的王的时候,他离开了他们。当他的门徒想用自己的生命来保护他的时候,他的回应不是感谢,而是斥责。(见马太福音2652

On the cross, He was given a plain challenge to prove Himself: “If He be the King of Israel, let Him now come down from the cross, and we will believe Him!”6 But He made no attempt to answer them.

在十字架上,他面临挑战:“他是以色列的王,现在可以从十字架上下来,我们就信他”。(见马太福音2742)但他没有打算回答他们。

It is easy for us to see the reason for His actions. We know now that “the cross must come before the crown”. But the Jews then did not. To them, Christ’s behaviour sometimes did not make sense.

对于现在的我们来说,很容易看出耶稣这样做的理由。我们现在知道“十字架是得救的必须”,但是对于当时的犹太人来说,这不是一件容易的事情。对于他们来说,基督在某些时候的行为不可思议。

Also, His background seemed all wrong for a preacher. The gospels tell how men sneered at His lower-class origin,7 His lack of education,8 and the short interval between His parents’ wedding and His birth.’

同样的,对于一个传道者来说,他的背景似乎也不受到欢迎。福音书告诉我们,人们是如何讥笑他卑微的出生。他没有受过高深的教育,而且他的母亲在结婚之前就怀孕。

Looking back, we can see now that there was a simple solution to all these problems. But at the time the disciples were not able to answer them all. They could only say: “We believe and are sure that Thou art the Holy One of God.”10

对于这些问题,我们有一个简单的办法来回答。在使徒们的时代,他们也不能回答所有的问题。他们只能说:“我知道你是谁,乃是神的圣者。”

Imagine that someone had said to them:

想象某人对他们说:

“Why are you so sure of your beliefs, when there are so many problems connected with this man Jesus?”

“为什么你对于自己的信仰那么确信,即使存在这么多和耶稣有关的问题?”

They probably would have replied like this:

他们可能这样回答:

“Because there is so much positive evidence that He is the Son of God. That’s what convinces us. We are not bothered about the prob­lems. Of course there are some things we don’t understand-yet. But we shall understand them, one day.”

“因为有很多证明耶稣是  神的儿子的积极证据,这些证据让我心服口服。我不会为谢谢问题感到担忧。虽然现在还有很多我们不懂的问题,但是终究有一天我们会明白的”。

And they would have been right. Most of the problems did sort themselves out. The books of the New Testament give us the solution to them.

这种回答应该是正确的。大部分问题已经得到解决,新约已经给出了问题的解答。

It is like that with the Bible itself. The positive evidence is very convincing. It is far too weighty to be dismissed by crying, “Yes, but what about the problems connected with the Bible?”

这就是说,关于圣经的问题圣经自己能够回答。正面的证据是非常令人信服、非常具有分量的。

For in the first place there is the point made already, that we would expect to find problems connected with a Book given to mankind by God. If there were no problems, people would rightly say, “This is altogether too simple. It is kids’ stuff. It can’t possibly come from a Supreme Being.”

首先,我要强调已经强调过的观点。圣经是一本  神所赐给与人类的书籍,人当然可以发现问题。如果没有问题,人们可能说:“这本书太简单了。不可能从一位超自然的存在那里来的。”

Secondly, many of the so-called problems are not really problems at all. They are silly little objections raised by men who have never really studied the Book they condemn. And finally, as we shall see as we go on, most of the major problems can be answered quite satisfactorily.

 其次,很多所谓的问题其实并不是真正的问题。他们是那些没有真正的研究圣经却有指责圣经的人提出来的;最后,随着本书的深入,你会看到,大部分的问题能够得到满意的回答。

So we are going to look at those problems that worry so many people, but we are not going to worry about them. It is the most natural thing in the world that they should be there.

 因此,我们要看看那些使得很多人感到不解的问题,但是我们不要为这些问题担心。这些问题存在是很自然的事情。

The Bible believer is not afraid to look those problems squarely in the face. He knows that he is arguing from a position of strength. (He only wishes that the unbeliever was equally willing to face the facts!)

相信圣经的人不怕当面遇到这样的问题。他知道如果要辩论,他会站在一个有利的位置。(他只希望那些不相信的人愿意面对事实)

One last suggestion before you set out on Part Two. Don’t keep say­ing to yourself: “But this can’t possibly be right. Hardly anybody believes this, so it must be wrong.”

我想对准备阅读本书第二部分的读者提最后一个建议。不要总是对自己说:“这些事情不可能是对的。人们很难相信,因此它肯定是错误的。”

We shall see the answer to that objection, too, before we’ve finished.

最终我们会看到对于这些异议的回答。

 

13

Can We Trust the Experts?

我们能够相信专家吗?

Of course we can trust the experts. We have to. Nowadays we have no choice. This is the age of the experts.

当然我们可以相信专家,我们也不得不相信专家。我们别无选择,这是一个专家的时代。

I cannot fly an aeroplane. Yet I travel by air dozens of times every year. I fasten my seat belt and then relax in my seat, trusting the pilot to do his job properly.

我不会开飞机,但每年我都坐飞机旅行几十次。系好安全带我就轻松地坐在椅子上,相信飞行员会圆满地完成任务。

In his turn the pilot has to trust lots of other experts, upon whom his own safety depends. Fifty years ago, pilots took apride in flying by the seat of their pants, as they called it. They meant that they depended entirely on the feel of the plane, and the’ sight of their own two eyes. They were even their own mechanics and checked their flimsy craft for airworthiness before taking off.

然后又轮到飞行员将自己的安全依托给其它方面的专家了。50年以前,飞行员是一项令人羡慕的职业。当时飞行员在飞行依赖自己的双眼和对飞机的感觉。他们甚至是飞机的机械师,起飞之前必须自己检查飞机是否适合飞行。

Those days are gone for ever. Nowadays it takes a large team of experts to design and build an aircraft. Aerodynamicists, electronics engineers, stress analysts, and hosts of other narrow specialists all work together. None of them can do the jobs of the others. They all trust their colleagues to do their own jobs properly.

这样日子已经一去不复返,现在设计、制造飞机是一大堆专家所做的事情。空气动力学者、电子工程师、压力分析师、还有其它专业性很强的专家在一起工作。没有人能够做其它行业的工作。他们相信自己的同事能够恰当地完成自己的工作。

Before the plane takes off one set of experts is needed to service the engines, another the hydraulics Systems, another the radar equipment. Even in the air the pilot is not the master of his own aircraft. He obeys the instructions of a whole army of air traffic controllers whom he trusts to keep him free from mid-air collisions, and takes advice from weather forecasters.

飞机起飞以前,一组专家会维修引擎,另外一组专家会检查各类供水系统,还有人维护雷达系统。即使在空中,飞行员也不完全是飞机的主人。他必须接受空中控制台的飞行指令,避免空中撞机事件,还要听从气象预报员的建议。

All these experts do their jobs well. They are trustworthy. They have to be. Otherwise planes would come crashing down in all direc­tions like roofing tiles in a hurricane, and the airlines would never get any passengers.

这些专家的工作做得很好,他们值得信任,别人也只能信任他们。否则,飞机就像飓风中的瓦片一样找不到方向,再也没有乘客敢坐飞机了。

Even if you never go by air, you can’t live in the modern world with­out relying on experts. You may take for granted services like water supply, gas, electricity, telephones, television and transport. But they all depend on experts to keep them functioning. Even the food we eat and the medicines we take might poison us unless lots of experts in the food and drugs industries and the Public Health Departments were reliable.

即使你没有坐过飞机,在现代社会如果你不依靠专家就无法生活。你需要水、煤气、电、电话、电视和交通工具,这些机构都靠专家来维护。甚至是我们吃的食物和药物,如果没有专家在工作,没有可靠的公共健康部门,我们有可能中毒。

In the same way, I could never have written this book without trusting a great many experts. Every quotation of the Bible in English accepts the work of many scholars. Some of them have compared large numbers of ancient Hebrew and Greek manuscripts of the Bible to produce the best possible Hebrew and Greek texts, and other scholars have translated these into English. I have been forced to quote experts in history, archaeology, biology, geology, anthropology and many other fields where I have no expert knowledge of my own.

同样,如果我不信任一些专家的话,我就不可能写成这本书。我引用圣经的每一句话都是很多学者的翻译成果。他们中的一些人在对照了大量的古希伯来文和希腊文手稿以后,总结出最好的希伯来和希腊文圣经,而其他学者将它们翻译成英文。我在这本书中已经引用了历史学、考古学、生物学、生态学、人类学以及很多其它方面的专家的话,而我自己在这些方面没有专门的知识。

 

Experts are Only Human专家也是人

 

Without a doubt it is very useful to have a world full of experts. But it also brings some very real dangers. It is easy to forget that experts are just as human as the rest of us. But they are. And in their common humanity lies a great danger.

毫无疑问,充满专家的世界会更美好。但是这种情况也会带来一些危险。我们常常会忘记这些专家也是人,和我们一样。专家们的人性与普通人的一样,同样存在巨大的危险。

I am not merely referring to the fact that even experts can make mistakes. There is a more serious danger than this. Lord Acton put his finger upon a deep-rooted characteristic of human nature, when he said:

我在这里并不是想仅仅提醒大家,即使是专家也会犯错误。而且还有更严重的事情。 阿克顿(Acton勋爵曾经一针见血地指出人性的这个根深蒂固特征,说:

“Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.”1

“权力导致腐败,绝对的权力导致绝对的腐败”。

He was thinking mainly of political power. But it is true of every kind of power. Experts today wield a kind of intellectual power over the man in the street. And there is every sign that they are in danger of being corrupted by that power.

他思考的主要是政治权力的问题。但是在其它权力方面也是如此。今天的专家比普通人有更大的权力,这种权力也存在导致腐败的危险。

The whole purpose of this chapter is to sound a very necessary warning. Don’t let the experts pull the wool over your eyes. In many respects your opinion may be worth as much as theirs-even in some matters where they might reasonably claim to know better than you.

本章的目的为了给您一些必要的警告,不要让专家蒙蔽你的眼睛。在很多方面你自己的意见可能和他们的一样有价值,即使我们相信专家比你有更多专业知识。

Perhaps you think that this is a very negative matter with which to occupy a whole chapter. If so, it may help to look at it this way. When good King Josiah came to the throne of Israel he found Jerusalem full of idols. Before he could begin to restore the true worship of Jehovah, he had first to destroy all those idols.2

可能你认为用一章的篇幅讲这个问题是不合适的。如果是这样的话,让我据理来说明为什么要这样做。当约阿斯(他是一个很好的国王)做犹大王的时候,他发现耶路撒冷充满了偶像。在树立对耶和华的敬拜以前,他首先要毁灭所有的偶像。(历代志下341-7

“The experts” are the false gods of our age. They pretend to have an authority, a near-infallibility, that they do not possess. And most people are taken in by them.

今天的“专家”就是我们这个时代的偶像。他们假装具有权威,认为自己几乎不会放错,其实并不是这样。大多数的人被他们所欺骗。

For example: “Fornication won’t hurt you-it will do you good!”, say many psychologists. (With my own ears I once heard a psychiatrist proclaiming this.) Millions of people have lapped up this teaching, and now the foundations of family stability are tottering throughout the western world.

例如,心理学家说:“婚外恋不会对伤害到你,甚至对你有好处”(我亲耳听到过一位精神病学家说过这样的话)。数以百万的人听从了这些建议,现在在整个西方世界,家庭的根基被毁坏。

Worse still, “the experts” have undermined people’s faith in the Bible. If you doubt this, take any unbeliever you happen to know, and ask him exactly why he does not believe the Bible. Press him hard. Don’t let him evade the issue. Keep on until he states his real reasons.  

更坏的是,“专家们”会破坏人们对圣经的信仰。如果你对此有疑问,可以问问你知道的任何一个不相信圣经的人,追问他们真正的原因。不要让他们逃避这个问题,直到他告诉你真正的理由。

Will he say, “Because I have made a very careful study of the Bible, and have proved it to be quite inaccurate.”? Will he? Not likely!

他会说:“因为我已经对圣经作了非常仔细的研究,证明圣经的内容是不太准确的”?会有这样的回答玛?不太可能。

It is almost certain that, if he is honest, his real reasons will begin like this: “Because they say that . .

如果他是诚实的,在大多数的情况下,他真正的理由可能是:“因为他们是这么说的……..

“They say.” They. The experts. He has a vague notion that “the scientists” say the Bible is unscientific, “the historians” say the Bible is historically inaccurate, and “the leaders of religion” say that the Bible is not what it makes out to be.

“他们说,”此时的“他们” 含糊的说是专家。一些“科学家说”,圣经不符合科学。“历史学家”说,圣经记载的历史不准确。“宗教领导人”说,圣经并不是自己所声明的那样。

And that’s enough for him. If “they” condemn the Bible, why should he look any further? They are the experts. They are bound to be right. The Bible is dead-long live the experts! Thus our friend justifies his unbelief.

这些理由已经足够了!如果“他们”谴责圣经,为什么他不会看得更远?他们是专家,他们肯定是对的。圣经已经成为过去,而专家是活着的。我的朋友们认为不相信圣经是有道理的。

So before we can safely begin to look at the objections raised against the Bible, we must first take a look at the people who raise them. Who are “they”? Are they really as wise as they like us to think? Are we really being foolish if we dare to question the experts’ conclusions?

  在我们还能够安稳地看待这些反对圣经的质疑的时候,首先我们必须看一看谁是提出这些问题的人。谁是“他们”?他们真的像我们所认为的那样有智慧,很聪明吗?如果我们质疑专家的结论,我们就成了傻瓜?

 

A New Look at the Experts 重新看待专家

To see the matter in perspective it is necessary to note a number of points that are often overlooked. Because of their importance I shall list these points first, and then go back and expand them.

要对事物进行透彻的观察,我们就有必要注意到有很多要点被忽视了。因为它们的重要性,我将列举出来,在后面对他们进行扩张分析。

(1)       Experts deal with both facts and opinions.专家既要处理事实,也要提出意见。

(2)       Experts in some fields are much more reliable than experts in other fields.某一方面的专家比另外一些方面的专家的建议更可靠。

(3)       Experts disagree enormously among themselves.专家之间经常会有不同的意见。

(4)       Experts in every field are very unreliable when they speculate about the future, or (under some circumstances) the past. 不管是哪一方面的专家,在预测未来的时候都是非常不可靠的,在某些情况下,对过去也不了解。

(5)       A surprisingly large number of experts have been caught deliberately deceiving the public.有很多专家在故意地欺骗公众。

(6)       Experts have very frequently been led astray when their emotions have become involved.专家经常被自己的感情所蒙蔽。

(7)       Experts have a regrettable tendency to exaggerate their own importance, and to persuade the public that they know more than they really do. 专家常常夸大自己的重要性,欺骗公众他们知道的比他们实际知道的更多。

(8)       Non-specialists very often can-and do-make better decisions than experts, once the experts have stated the facts requiring a decision.没有一个专家能够一直比其他专家作的更好,得出来的结论更准确。

 

 

(1)  Facts and Opinions  事实和意见

 

A philosopher might not agree that experts deal with both facts and opinions. He might say that there are no such things as facts, only opinions of differing degrees of probability.

哲学家可能不赞成专家应该同时与事实和意见打交道。他可能说,事实之类的东西并不存在,只有可能性大小不同的建议。

For practical purposes, however, the distinction between facts and opinions will serve us quite well, so long as we remember that there is no sharp line of distinction between the two. Now and again we might meet a borderline statement, one that Mr. A would call a fact and Mr. B would call an opinion. But most statements can safely be classified as one or the other.

在实践中,事实和意见的差别是如此明显,二者之间存在着不可逾越的界限。我们可能会遇见一个边界问题,A先生声称是事实,而B先生声称是意见。但是大多数的陈述都可以比较明确地划分为事实或意见。

For example, suppose that in 1968 you had asked a chemist, “If I spray my kitchen with DDT, will it keep the flies down?” He would have answered, “Yes”. That would have been a fact.

假如你在1968年问一个药剂师:“如果我在厨房喷洒一些DDT,会不会赶走苍蝇?”如果药剂师回答:“可以”。那么这就是一个事实。

If you had gone on and asked, “But is DDT harmful to man?” he would probably have replied, “No.” That would have been an opinion. And it would have been wrong. Yet if you had disagreed with him, he would probably have thought you were a cheeky ignoramus.

但是如果你继续问他:“DDT对人体有害吗?”如果他回答:“不会”,那么这就是意见。意见是可能出错的,尽管如果你不同意专家的意见,他可能会认为你是一个无知的家伙。

This illustrates the first pitfall we must avoid. Because they are generally right on their facts, the experts nearly always attach too much weight to their opinions. And so does a gullible public.

这举例说明了我们首先要避免的误区。因为专家通常在事实方面是正确的,专家通常过分强调自己的意见,容易受骗的公众也是如此。

 

(2)   Experts in Different Fields不同领域的专家

 

Whatever the man in the street may think, many intellectuals are well aware of the unreliability of experts. For example, the Australian philosopher Alan Wood has stated:

不管普通人是如何思考的,很多聪明人已经意识到了专家的不可靠性。例如,澳大利亚的哲学家阿兰-伍德(Alan Wood这样说:

“Subjects should be arranged in a kind of hierarchy-for instance, Mathematics, Physics, Biology, Economics, Politics, Psychology-in which experts are more and more likely to be wrong.”3

   “不同的领域应该按照可靠性排列次序,例如数学、物理、生物、经济学、政治、心理学,越往后面,专家犯错误的可能性也越来越大。”

He does not state where his own subject, philosophy, comes in the pecking order. But he obviously has no illusions about philosophy, because he reveals in the same book that Bertrand Russell, the most famous philosopher of the century, said when he was in his late seventies:

他自己却没有将他自己所研究的课程——哲学排列进去。但是他对于哲学的可靠性没有抱任何幻想,因为他引用了二十世纪最伟大的哲学家罗素在70年代晚期的讲话:

“…philosophy is nonsense. I am now left regretting my ill-spent youth. . . . nine-tenths of what is regarded as philosophy is humbug.”4

   “哲学是毫无意义的。 我现在为我自己所浪费的青春而惋惜。十分之九的被认为是哲学思想的东西都是骗人的”。

When I first heard those words quoted, I felt sure that they must have been taken out of context, so as to misrepresent Russell’s views. So I obtained the book, only to find that Russell undoubtedly did mean what those words imply-that most of the subject that had occupied his great brain for so long was a load of old rubbish.

Wood’s list of subjects is well chosen. Mathematics comes top, because provided that a careful mathematician starts with the right assumptions he is almost bound to arrive at the right conclusion. Physics is on rather more shaky ground, because it is based on a mixture of experiment, mathematics and deduction. Experiments can go wrong, and deductions can be false.

当我第一次看到这些话的时候,我觉得是自己读错了,或书中没有正确表达罗素的观点。因此我特地去找到这本书,发现这些话确实是罗素自己的观点。他认为长时间占领他大脑的观点只是一些垃圾。

    伍德(Wood提出的名单是经过了仔细推敲的。数学的可靠性被排列在第一位,因为如果假设正确,推理正确,那么结论也一定正确。物理学排列在第二,因为物理学是建立在实验、数学和推理的基础上,而实验可能会出错,在推理的时候也有可能犯错误。

Biology is one rung further down the ladder. This is because living things are vastly more complex than atoms and molecules. Biological experiments are therefore much more likely to give misleading answers than experiments in physics.

生物学被排列在后面,因为活着的生物要比原子或分子更复杂。生物试验因此要比物理学试验更容易得出错误的结论。

Then come economics, politics and psychology. These all deal with the behaviour of that highly unpredictable creature, Man. Lots and lots of scope for making mistakes here!

接下来的是经济学、政治学和心理学。这些专业讨论的是人这个最难以预料的生物---人的行为,因此这些方面的错误层出不穷。

Unfortunately the experts in the high-mistake-rate subjects (like biology and psychology) try to bask in the reflected glory of the low-mistake-rate subjects (like mathematics). They say, for instance, “We’ve installed a big computer in our laboratory, so we shan’t make nearly so many mistakes in future.” In fact the possession of a com­puter would not make the slightest difference to the accuracy of their conclusions. It would merely enable them to turn Out their dubious results a lot faster than before.

不幸的是,错误率很高的学科(如物理和生物学)方面的专家,也想让公众相信这些学科和数学一样准确。例如有人说:“我们在实验室新安装了一台先进的电子计算机,将来不会犯过去的错误”。事实上拥有计算机并不会提高他们结论的准确性,只能够让他们更快地得出结论,其准确性依然令人怀疑。

 

(3)    Disagreements Among Experts专家们之间的不同意见

 

In 1954 I took a first-aid course at the laboratory where I work. We used the latest textbook, published only a few months before. This is how it told us to treat a shocked patient:

1954年我在实验室里参加了一次自我急救培训。我们使用的是刚出版的最新教材。教材告诉了我们怎样对待受惊吓的病人:

 

“The application of warmth is the first of the measures to be applied to a shocked patient. Cover the patient with blankets; place hot-water bottles round him...”5

Some years later I enrolled in a refresher course. Again the latest textbook (published in 1965) was used. But this time the advice on treatment for shock began with a warning in heavy black type:

  “对于受惊的病人来说,第一是让他们感到温暖。给病人批上毛毯,在病人的周围放一些热水。”

   几年以后我又参加一次新的培训,然而最新的教材却这样告诉我们,用黑色的大写字体:

“WARNING: DO NOT OVERHEAT A SHOCKED PATIENT. Heat causes the superficial blood vessels to dilate and so increase their capacity. The amount of circulating blood thus becomes even more inade­quate for the needs of the body.”6

  “警告:对于受惊的病人来说,不要让他们过热!热量会使病人的表面血管扩张,增加血管的容积,导致血液不能够满足身病人身体的需要。”

Thus in 1954 the experts said, “Keep ‘em warm!”; in 1965 they said, “Keep ‘em cool!” But it would be naive to imagine that at some fixed date between 1954 and 1965 the whole medical profession changed its views overnight. There must have been a period of controversy, while the Coolists gradually conquered the Warmists.

我们可以看到,1954年专家们说:“让病人感到温暖些”, 1965年他们却说:“让他们凉快一点”。我们不能因此认为,从1954年到1965年,医学界一夜之间就改变了观点。这其中一定有很多争论,最后主张让病人凉快的观点占了上风。

Similar differences of opinion among experts are going on all the time. Biologists argue bitterly about whether certain drugs and pes­ticides should be banned. Educationists disagree violently about comprehensive education and corporal punishment. Space scientists cannot agree whether men or machines should be used to explore the moon. The list of disagreements could go on until it filled this book.

类似的,专家们意见不统一的情况一直存在。生物学家一直在争论是否要禁止某些药物和杀虫剂,教育理论家在综合教育和体罚等方面一直都有不同的意见。航天科学家对于人类是否应该探测月球有不同的意见。有很多领域都存在争议,如果要把它们列举出来,恐怕一本书也写不完。

The lesson is clear. Very often, “The experts say . . .” means nothing more than, “The opinion of the side that happens to be winning at the moment is . .

   教训是明确的。当我们听见“专家意见”的时候,并不意味着有什么特别,只是代表“当时占上风的某些人的意见是:”

 

(5)      When Experts Speculate about the Future or the Past

当专家预测未来或计算过去的时候

Physicists come near the top of Alan Wood’s reliability league. Yet even physicists can go hopelessly astray when they try to predict the future. A scientific journal in 1968 published an article, “How Fallible Can you Get?”7 This showed how wrong physicists had been about the future of atomic power. 

在阿兰-伍德(Alan Wood的可靠性排列顺序中,物理学接近了可靠性高的最顶层。然而即使是物理学家在预言未来的时候也会绝望。1968年出版的一本科学杂志上写道:“你得到的结果有多么可靠?”,这篇文章揭示了物理学家在预言原子弹的威力的时候犯了多么大的错误。

Lord Rutherford, perhaps the greatest atomic physicist of the early twentieth century, was convinced that there never would be any prac­tical application of atomic research. Around 1950, leading atomic scientists in France, Russia and America all declared that atomic power stations would not become commercial propositions until the end of the century.

卢瑟福(Rutherford可能是20世纪早期最伟大的原子物理学家,他相信有关原子的研究决不会有任何的实际应用。在1950年左右,法国、俄罗斯和美国的顶尖科学家都宣布原子能是不会应用到商业用途上,这种论断直到20世纪的后期。

What happened, to make these wise men such false prophets? Simply this: they took the present as a guide to the future. Unfortu­nately for them some completely unforeseen events occurred, which made the future very different from what they had envisaged.

这些聪明人为什么会对将来做出如此错误的预言?答案其实很简单:他们将现在作为将来的指导。很不幸的是,他们中的一些人完全没有预见将来事情的发展方向,事情的发生根本不是他们所想象的那样。

There are two lessons in this. The first is obvious: it is very dan­gerous to use the present to predict the future.

这些事情告诉我们两个教训,第一个是很显然的:根据现在预言未来是要冒很大风险的。

The second lesson is much less obvious, but just as true: it is equally risky to assume that the present is a sure guide to the past. Unknown events in days gone by can upset a scientist’s deductions about the past, just as surely as an unforeseen event in days to come can upset his predictions.

第二个教训不那么明显,却同样正确:用现在来指导过去同样要冒巨大的风险。推测过去我们不知道的事情,与我们预见将来的事情一样存在风险。

This is a very important lesson indeed. Experts of all sorts-astronomers, geologists, biologists, anthropologists, physicists and others-often make sweeping statements about the past. Some of these statements, if true, would make nonsense of the Bible. It is therefore most necessary to remember two things:

   这些都是非常重要的教训。所有的天文学家、地质学家、生物学家、人类学家、物理学家都针对过去发表声明。其中的一些声明如果是正确的话,圣经就成了荒谬的。在这里要牢记两件事情:

(a) They are statements of opinion, not fact. 这些声明是个人意见,不是事实。

(b) They are always based upon the very shaky assumption that no unknown events have occurred to upset their deductions. 他们的结论通常是建立在一个不牢固的假设之上:不会有他们不知道的事情发生,这些事情会让他们的结论站不住脚。

 

(5)  Experts Who Cheat 骗子专家

 

The popular conception of a scientist is of a man in a pure white coat with a pure white conscience. He could no more tell a lie than a computer could make a mistake. Deceive the public? No, not he!

公众普遍认为,科学家是道德的化身,他们的话甚至比电脑还要准确。欺骗公众?不可能!科学家决不会做这样的事!

Consequently, when a politician makes a promise everybody knows to take it with a grain of salt; but if a scientist states something, every­body accepts it as truth, perfect truth. But honest scientists have no desire to be set on a pedestal like this. We know that we cannot live up to it.

结果,当听到政客承诺时,公众知道应该有所保留。但如果是某位科学家声明某件事,大家都把它看成真理,完全的真理。诚实的科学家是不希望别人这样来看待自己的。我们知道自己无法做到这一点。

Recently the editor of one of the world’s leading scientific journals warned the public:

一家顶尖的科学杂志的编辑告诫公众说:

 

“There is no evidence that scientists always tell the truth, and the chances are that they are only marginally more honest than, say, politicians.”8

   “没有证据表明科学家永远都讲真话,他们仅仅比某些人,比如说,政客要稍微诚实一点。”

Another well known scientific journal published an article by Den­nis Rosen of London University on scientific frauds.9 After dealing with some famous frauds, like the Piltdown Man, Rosen considered the problem of widespread scientific cheating. He suggested that up to five per cent of scientific papers submitted for publication contain material that the authors know to be false. Fortunately editors are good at spotting frauds, and only a minority of these deceitful papers get published.

伦敦大学的Den­nis Rosen曾经在一份知名的科学杂志上发表文章,披露在科学界日益普遍的科学欺诈现象。他甚至认为在向科学杂志投稿的文章中,有5%作者知道自己的文章不是真实的。幸运的是,编辑们通常会发现问题,只有少数欺诈性的文章得以发表。

It would be wrong to make too much of this. Scientists are no less truthful than their non-scientific colleagues. But it is as well to re­member that they are no more truthful than the average man, either. And the same applies to every other kind of expert.

过分强调这点也有可能是错误的。我并不是说科学家比其他人更不值得信赖。但是我们要记住,他们同样并不比其他普通人更值得信赖。任何方面的专家都是这样。

 

(6)  What Emotional Pressure Can Do在情感压力之下

 

Although only a small minority of scientists would deliberately deceive others, a much larger number are liable to deceive them­selves when under emotional pressure. There is plenty of proof that this is so. Here are three examples.

尽管故意骗人的科学家只是一小部分,但是有更多的人在情感的压力下很容易欺骗自己。在这方面有很多例子,下面就是3个:

Well into the 1960s, when the evidence that smoking caused lung cancer was absolutely overwhelming, quite a few research scientists were still fighting a desperate rearguard action. Even when it looked a hopeless task, they kept on trying to find some other explanation for the evidence.

20世纪60年代,吸烟会导致肺癌的证据是非常明显的,但是还是有少数的科学家在孤军奋战,反对这个结论。即使是面对非常明显的证据,他们依然在不断地寻找其它的解释方法。

Why did they waste their time and energy in this way? In most cases because their scientific judgement was warped by emotional pres­sures. Some of them had well paid jobs with tobacco companies. Some were young men addicted to smoking who did not want to give it up. Others had been heavy smokers for many years, and were pathetic ally trying to reassure themselves that they were not in danger of death.

他们为什么要这样浪费自己的时间和精力?在大多数情况下,是感情因素蒙蔽了他们作为科学家的判断能力。有些人享受了烟草公司提供的高工资待遇,还有一些年轻人已经喜欢上了吸烟,而且还不打算放弃。还有一些是已经养成了很多年抽烟习惯的老烟民,他们声称吸烟不会增加死亡的可能性,这样让自己能减轻恐惧的压力。

A second example comes from Russia. As the translator of a Russian book on the Lysenko affair10 has said in his foreword:

2个例子发生来俄罗斯,与李森科事件有关。这本书的译者在书的前言中说:

 

“The story of Soviet genetics in the period 1937-1964 is, perhaps, the most bizarre chapter in the history of modern science.”

“在1937-1964期间的苏联遗传学可能是现代科学历史上最黑暗的一章。”

Briefly, the story goes like this. Lysenko was an ambitious young Russian with very little scientific knowledge but a flair for politics. By mixing the two he became one of Stalin’s favourites. In 1937 Stalin gave him supreme control of all research in agriculture and biology in the Soviet Union, and he hung on to this position for twenty-seven years.

The results were disastrous for Russia. Lysenko directed agricul­tural research along so many unscientific paths that Russian agricul­ture practically stood still, or even slipped backwards, for a quarter of a century. 

简单地说,故事是这样的:李森科(Lysenko)是一个科学知识甚少却对政治很有野心的人。这两方面的特点让他受到斯大林的宠爱。1937年,斯大林让这个人控制苏联所有有关农业和生物方面的研究,而且李森科占据这个职位长达27年。这是俄罗斯的灾难。他采取政治手段而不是科学的态度来对待科学研究,结果导致俄罗斯的农业研究长期停滞不前,甚至倒退几十年。

Worse still, he outlawed the whole modern science known as genetics. This science is concerned with the way in which characteris­tics are passed from parents to offspring (in both the animal and the vegetable kingdoms) by invisibly small objects known as “genes”. By 1937 there was already a great deal of experimental evidence that genes existed, although nobody had ever seen one. In 1953 Watson and Crick in England showed what genes were evidently made of, and in 1958 were awarded a Nobel prize for their discovery.

其中糟糕的是,李森科宣布整个现代基因科学为非法。基因科学研究动物或者是植物的父母代,如何通过某些看不见的被称为“基因”的物体,将某些特征传递给下一代。到了1937年,已经有很多事实证明基因确实存在,尽管没有人看见过。在1953年,英国两位科学家Watson Crick通过证据告诉我们基因的组成部分,他们的发现还使他们获得了1958年的诺贝尔奖。

All through this period Lysenko laid down the law to Russian biologists: “There are no such things as genes. They are a capitalist myth. Heredity works on entirely different principles. Toe the line ~ go to jail!”

在李森科掌权的整个期间,他给俄罗斯的科学家颁布的命令是:“没有所谓基因这些东西,这些都是资本主义神话。他们工作的原理和我们的完全不同。所以你们要么排好队,要么进监狱!”

Some strong-minded scientists, including Vavilov, one of the greatest agriculturists in history, went to prison and died there. A few others formed a kind of “scientific underground”. But the great majority of Soviet biologists and agriculturists were swept along by the tide, and accepted Lysenko’s crazy ideas. Textbooks were re­written, and research programmes into the most ridiculous subjects were set up.

一些坚持自己意见的科学家,包括Vavilov被送进监狱并且死在监狱,还有一些科学家从事“地下科学研究”。大多数的前苏联生物学家和农业专家跟随潮流,接受了李森科的理论。教科书被改写,很多荒谬的课题被列入了研究范围。

Three hundred higher degrees were granted for research into “vegetative hybridisation by grafting’ ‘-something that has long been known to be impossible.11 A Stalin Prize of 200,000 roubles was awarded to a lady called Lepeshinskaya, for (allegedly) discovering how to create living animal cells out of vegetable cells and vice versa! 12

It was the heyday of quacks and crackpots, but the dark night of Soviet biology. And all this at a time when in some other fields (astron­autics, for instance) Soviet science was leading the world.

300多位高级人才开始研究“通过嫁接法实行植物与动物的杂交”,而我们现在知道这是不可能的。20万卢布的斯大林奖金给了名叫Lepeshinskaya一位女士,她自称发现了如何从蔬菜细胞中提取活的动物细胞,而且反过来也可以。这是前苏联生物学界黑暗的时代。但当时在某些领域,例如航天方面,前苏联的科技处于世界领先地位。

The most alarming feature of the story is the way in which the great majority of Soviet biologists were genuinely deceived. In 1964 Lysenko was at last sacked, and for one year (1965-66) biology teaching was suspended in all Russian schools while textbooks were rewritten. Yet in 1966 Medvedev (the writer of the Russian book about Lysenko’s activities) lamented that so many Soviet scientists had been brain­washed for so many years that Lysenko still had many supporters.13

最让人感到不解的是,大多数前苏联生物学家真的被骗了。李森科终于在1964年下台,1965-66年,俄罗斯暂停所有学校的生物课教学,教科书被重新改写。然而, Medvedev1966年悲伤地说,很多苏联科学家在经过多年的洗脑教育之后,李森科依然有很多支持者。

It is clear from this story that scientists-whole regiments of scientists-can be led hopelessly astray. In the early years Lysenko suppressed his opponents by force. But afterwards a whole new generation of Soviet biologists grew up, genuinely believing that Lysenko was right. They were taught that way at school and college, and hardly any of them questioned it.

从这一段经历我们可以清楚地看出,整个行业的科学家可能会集体走弯路。在李森科年代的早期,他采取权力手段压迫反抗他的人,但随后俄罗斯新一代生物学家成长起来了,他们真的相信李森科的观点是正确的,因为过去学校的老师一直是这么教导的。他们很少质疑这一观点。

In his concluding chapter Medvedev makes two very wise observations:

Medvedev在书的结尾总结说:

 “The false doctrine of Lysenko is by no means an isolated instance. . . . Many theoretical branches of science and the well. known and flourishing system of homeopathy fall, no doubt, into the category of false doctrine.”14

“Monopoly in science by one or another false doctrine, or even by one scientific trend, is an external symptom of some deep-seated sickness of a society.”15  (The italics are mine.)

李森科的故事并不使一个单独事件。很多科学理论方面也是如此。例如曾经流行一时的同种疗法就被证明是错误的”。

“科学界被一种或其他的错误的教条所垄断,只是我们这个病态社会的一种外在的表现形式”。(斜体字是我加上去的)

 

These vigorous warnings by Medvedev are a fitting introduction to the third and last example. A friend of mine is a professor who holds a science chair in a famous British university. Like a number of my scientist friends he rejects the Darwinian theory of evolution as a piece of guesswork based on inadequate evidence.

我们再来看看第三个,也是最后一个例子。在这里,Medvedev的警告同样起作用。我有一位教授朋友,他曾经担任英国一所著名大学的科学学会的主席。他拒绝达尔文的进化论,因为他认为这种理论只是建立在不充足的证据基础之上的假设。

One day in 1968 I went to see him, and outlined a novel programme of research that would fall right inside the scope of his department. If successful it would have thrown new light on some aspects of evolutionary theory, and would probably have exposed some impor­tant weaknesses in the Darwinists’ case. I suggested that he might like to set a Ph.D. student to work upon it. (A Ph.D. student is a young graduate who stays on at university for an extra three or four years doing research, to gain a doctorate.)

1968年的一天我去看他,并准备和他讨论一些他分管的系要进行的研究工作的大概。如果成功的话,他就在进化论理论方面有新的突破,并可能揭示达尔文理论的缺陷。我建议他可以让一位博士后研究生协助从事这项工作。

He shook his head sadly. “I couldn’t possibly do that.”

“Why not? Don’t you like the suggestion?”

“Yes, I do. I think it’s a good idea, and if I have time I’d like to work on it myself. But I wouldn’t dare to let a student work on it.”

This mystified me. “Why not a student?” I asked.

他很伤感地摇着头说:“我可能作不到这一点”。

“为什么做不到?难道你不想接受一些建议吗?”

“不是,我也认为这是一个好主意,如果我有时间的话,我会好好自己探讨这个问题。但是我不敢让一个学生自己来从事这样的课题”。

他的话让我感到迷惑:我问他:“学生为什么就不可以呢?”

“You obviously have no idea of the prejudice that exists in British universities. No matter how brilliant the research, or how sound the conclusions, a research thesis exposing the weaknesses of Darwinism would never get a fair hearing. The scales would be so heavily weighted against him that the poor student would be most unlikely to get his doctorate.”

“很显然你对于英国大学存在的学术歧视缺乏了解。不管你从事的研究多么有才气,或者是你得结论多么有理由,那些揭示达尔文理论局限性的论文一直没有得到公平注意的机会。现在天平偏向在进化论者这一边,那些想通过揭示进化论错误的人的到学位的可能性不大”。

What did Medvedev say? “Monopoly . . . by one scientific trend is an external symptom of some deep-seated sickness of a society.”

这让我想起为什么Medvedev(俄罗斯作家)为什么会说:“科学界被错误的教条所垄断,只是我们这个病态的社会的一种外在的表现形式”。

Hmmm.

确实如此。

 

(7)   Experts Exaggerate Their Importance专家们夸大他们的重要性

 

Every so often some far-sighted expert tries to warn the public. In 1950 an American scientist, Anthony Standen, published his best-selling book, Science is a Sacred Cow. But by 1969 his warning had been forgotten, and another scientist, David Horrobin, had to say it all over again in his book, Science is God.16

即使是这样,还是有一些充满预见能力的专家试图向公众提出警告。1950年,一位美国科学家Anthony Standen写了一本书:科学如何被神话的?(Science is a Sacred Cow?)1969年以前,他的警告一直被人们所忽视,于是另外一位科学家,David Horrobin,不得不在自己的书中重复强调这一观点。

Despite the rather flamboyant title, there is nothing blasphemous about the book. Horrobin’s title means that modern man has turned science into a false god, and given it far more respect than it deserves.

尽管书名将科学与神话相提并论显得有一点过分,但作者David Horrobin其实是想告诉我们,现代人已经将科学变成了一种假神,得到的尊重远比应该得到的多得多。

Horrobin, like Standen before him, tries to cut science down to size. He is a professor of medical physiology, and is particularly severe about his own branch of science. He lifts the lid off, and shows the layman what lies underneath all the pronouncements of the experts. Here are a few quotations from his book:

   HorrobinStanden一样,试图让科学回到本来的面目。Horrobin本人是一位医学教授,对自己的学科采取特别严谨的态度。他不怕揭老底,向外行展示了这些所谓专家背后的秘密。以下是他书中的一些摘录:

“The history of science is littered with so-called facts which were later found not to be facts at all.... Anyone who has ever worked in a laboratory, particularly a biological laboratory, is fully aware of the vulnerability of experimental fact. Experiments are always going wrong..”17

“科学的历史上充满了所谓的事实,后来发现这些事实根本不成立。任何一个曾经在实验室工作过的人,特别是在生物实验室,都知道根据实验得出的结果是有很大的缺陷的,样本常常会出错。”

“The scientific study of man is a myth, perhaps the most dan­gerous of all the myths of modern civilisation. Ultimately the psychologist, the psychiatrist, the sociologist must each confess that his work must be prefaced by ‘I believe’ and not by ‘I have proved scientifically’. The intellectual basis for what the scientist says of man is no stronger than that for what the theologian says. By means of a gigantic confidence trick, by pretending that the study of man is science) by hanging on the coat tails of solid) successful, reliable physics and engineering, an army of atheists and agnostics has forced many theologians to turn and flee.”18

   “研究人的科学是一种神话,也有可能是现代文明中最危险的神话。从根本上说,心理学家、精神病学者以及社会学家必须承认他们的工作是建立在“我相信”的基础上,而不是“科学证明”的基础上。科学家对于人的看法并不比神学家对人的观察更加有智慧。”

“In a manner of which any unthinking nineteenth-century bishop would have approved, many scientists are defending with untoward vigour positions which seem to me and probably to most people to be untenable.”19

“很多科学家就像19世纪的那些没有独立思想的主教一样,很多科学家在用过分的精力捍卫不应该捍卫的立场。”

“Five equally clever men may have access to precisely the same information, and yet may express five different opinions about a particular issue. Their answers depend more on their preconceived ideas than on the facts available.”20

“如果有5个同样智商相同的人看到同样的信息,他们表达的观点可能也有5种。他们的回答更多是根据自己的观点而不是事实。”

“Science is the modern god.... Twentieth-century scientists, like nineteenth-century theologians, make the wildest claims on behalf of their god.... Twentieth-century charlatans of a myriad varieties offer their panaceas for society and attempt to mislead the people by calling their misbegotten ideas scientific. And bewildered twentieth-century common men have a crude faith in their god which they do not care to have questioned too closely…”21  (The italics are mine throughout.)

   “科学家就是现代的神…..二十世纪的科学家就像十九世纪的神学家一样,站在他们自己神的立场上说话。二十世纪还有无数的吹牛者通过伪装成为科学来吸引人们的注意。而二十世纪的普通人狂热地信仰所谓的科学,却从来不关心、质疑。”

Very well. We have been warned. The experts (scientists in parti­cular) thrust their opinions at us with the zeal of false prophets. And ordinary people lap it up, like devoted worshippers of some false god.

这个评论是中肯的。我们有理由要重视这个警告。专家们(特别是科学家)将他们个人的意见强加给我们的时候,普通老百姓总是乐于带着崇拜的心情接受,就像过去崇拜偶像一样虔诚。

Compare that last quotation from Horrobin with some words from the Old Testament, written about 2,500 years ago:

Horrobin最后引用了2500年以前所写的圣经旧约中的一段经文作为结尾:

“A wonderful and horrible thing is committed in the land. The prophets prophesy falsely and the priests bear rule by their means, and My people love to have it so”22

“国中有可惊骇、可憎恶的事:就是先知说假预言,祭司藉他们把持权柄;我的百姓也喜爱这些事”。(耶利米书53031

Human nature doesn’t change much, does it? People always have liked to listen to the voice of “Authority”. People positively love to be led astray by false prophets and dogmatising experts. That is the way we are all made.

人的本性并没有多大的改变,难道不是吗?人们总是喜欢听见“权威”的声音。人们喜欢被假先知和武断的专家引导。这是人的本性。

Yes, we have been warned!

是的,我们已经被警告过了!

 

(8)  You Can Decide For Yourself你可以为自己做决定

 

Who decides whether a man accused of murder is guilty? A panel of legal experts? Certainly not. The legal experts set out all the evidence, and then a jury of ordinary men and women-folk like you and me-make the vital decision.

Who decides whether Britain shall invest hundreds of millions of pounds in developing a proposed new aircraft? A group of aircraft engineers? Certainly not. The decision is made by civil servants and politicians who couldn’t tell a jet engine from a brass trumpet except by its size.

谁来决定受到指控的人是否有罪?法庭专家?不。法庭专家只是陈列事实证据,是那些由普通人组成的陪审团来决定结果。是谁来决定英国是否投资数亿英镑来发展一种新型的飞机?是由一些航天工程师吗?不,是由公仆和政治家来决定,而这些人连分辨引擎与喇叭的声音都不会。

Who decides whether to ban certain chemicals from foodstuffs, or to limit the use of x-rays in hospitals? Again it is not the chemists or the doctors, but the civil servants and politicians that decide.

是谁来决定禁止在食物中禁止使用某种化学添加剂?同样,不应该是化学家或者是医生,而是由平民或者是政治家做出决定。

This is the one redeeming feature in the present situation. We are not yet governed by the experts. Top decisions are still made by non-specialists, who listen to their expert advisers, weigh the evidence, and then reach a conclusion.    

在当今社会,我们的生活并不是在专家的统治下。最高级的决定依然是由那些不是专家的人做出的,他们听取专家的意见,衡量证据,然后作出决定。

This is enough to show that you do not have to be an expert to make up your mind about some important subject. Like a jury, like a civil servant, you are well able to consider the evidence and decide for yourself.

我们已经给出足够的例子,证明专家并不能够在一些重大的事情上替你做决定。就像你是一位陪审团成员,你应该独立地考察证据,自己做决定。

So don’t be overawed by “the experts” as you read on. Do not let anybody bluff you into thinking that the majority view is the only view, or that those who accept the minority viewpoint taken in this book are feeble-minded.   

因此,当你继续阅读本书的时候,不要让任何专家的意见吓倒,也不要认为大多数人的意见是唯一正确的意见。

Weigh up the evidence for and against the Bible as honestly as you can. Then make up your own mind, without worrying about what “they” say.

你要尽最大的努力诚实地衡量那些与圣经有关的证据。然后自己做出决定,而不要担心“他们”怎么说。

Remember that all through history, in every branch of knowledge, minority opinions have often proved right in the long run.

要记住,在整个人类的历史进程当中,在知识的每一个方面,在大多数情况下,少数人的意见被证明是正确的。

 

 

 

 

14

All-or Nothing

不要三心二意

About twenty years ago I went to a big conference at London University. The theme was “Evolution and Religion”, and the open­ing address was given by a world-famous theologian.

His subject was “Evolution and Theology”. He spent his time tear­ing the first three chapters of the Bible to pieces. According to him there never was any such place as the Garden of Eden, nor any such people as Adam and Eve. What “the experts” said was sacred; and therefore what Genesis said was false. And so, he concluded triumph­antly, we must now regard Genesis as a collection of myths and legends.

大约在20年以前,我去参加一次在伦敦大学举办的大型学术会议。会议的主题是“进化论与宗教”,由一位世界知名的神学家作开场白。他的题目是“进化论与神学”,他花了三个小时打算粉碎圣经的前3章。根据他的论述,根本就没有所谓的伊甸园,亚当和夏娃从来就不存在 “专家们”所说的是神圣的,创世记的记载当然就是假的。最后专家带着胜利的口气宣布:我们必须将创世记看成是一系列的神话故事和传说。

Among the eminent people present was one of Britain’s best-known scientists, the late J. B. S. Haldane. There was also a young science student that nobody had ever heard of.

出席这次会议的知名人物当中,有英国著名的科学家霍尔丹(J. B. S. Haldane,也有一位大家连名字都没有听说过的年轻科学工作者。

As soon as the meeting was thrown open to discussion, the young student stood up and quoted the following Bible passages:

会议刚进入公开讨论程序,这个年轻人马上就站起来,引用一段圣经为开场白:

“Since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.”1

“As by one man sin entered into the world and death by sin, and so death passed upon all men - . . death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over them that had not sinned after the likeness of Adam’s transgression... For if by one man’s offence death reigned by one; much more they which receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ”.2

“死既是因一人而来,死人复活也是因一人而来。在亚当里众人都死了;照样,在基督里众人也都要复活。”(哥林多前书152122

“然而从亚当到摩西,死就作了王,连那些不与亚当犯一样罪过的,也在他的权下……若因一人的过犯,死就因这一人作了王,何况那些受洪恩又蒙所赐之义的,岂不更要因耶稣基督一人在生命中作王吗?”(罗马书512-17

“I should like to ask the speaker,” he said, “how he thinks we ought to regard the New Testament’s teaching about salvation? Those two passages (and others) show that Paul regarded Adam as a real man who brought sin and death into the world, and Jesus Christ as another real man who brought back righteousness and a way of eternal life.

 “我想请教发言者一个问题”,年轻人说:“您是如何看待新约关于拯救的教义?这两段经文告诉我们,保罗认为亚当是一个真实的人,他将死亡带入世界,耶稣也是一个真实的人,他将公义带回世界,将永生的道路带入世界”。

“If Paul was mistaken about the very foundation of his teaching, how can we rely upon anything he wrote about salvation? If one of Paul’s two key men-Adam-was a myth, how can we be sure that the other key man-Jesus-wasn’t a myth also?”

   “如果保罗在圣经教义的基础方面就犯了错误,我们又怎样相信他写的关于拯救的其它文章?如果保罗陈述的两个关键人物之一——亚当是一个虚构的人物,那么我们怎敢确定另外一个关键人物——耶稣不是神话人物?”

The world-famous theologian looked most uncomfortable. He got up, muttered something about this being too big an issue to deal with in the time at his disposal, and sat down again.

这位世界知名的神学家感到很不舒服。他站起来含混地说,这个课题太大,他没有足够的时间来叙述,然后又坐下了。

He looked even more uncomfortable when the atheist J. B. S. Haldane began to rub salt in his wounds.

然而当霍尔丹(Haldane)这位相信无神论的科学家站起来在他的伤口撒盐的时候,他的脸色看起来更难受。

“I should like to underline the commonsense remarks made by this young man,” said Professor Haldane. “It is high time that orthodox theologians like our speaker today took a critical look at themselves. They are struggling to defend an absurd, impossible position.

“我非常欣赏这位年轻人具有常识性的评论”,这位教授说。“现在是正统的神学家——例如刚才那位发言的先生作自我批评的时候了。他们正在为一种荒谬的、不可能的立场辩护。

“They are trying to adopt a compromise in circumstances where no compromise is possible. The Bible claims, from beginning to end, to be the inspired, infallible, Word of God. Either this claim is true, or it is false. There is no half-way position.

“他们在试图作出妥协,而妥协是不可能的。圣经从开始到结束,一直都在声明是  神的话语,是  神的启示,是不可更改的。这种声明要么是正确的,要么是错误的。没有中间道路。

“If it is false (as I believe) then there is no foundation for Chris­tianity at all. If it is true (as this young man believes) then Christians are obliged to accept all the Bible. There just isn’t any logical alternative.”

“如果这种声明是假的(我本人就这么认为),那么基督教的基础就是错误的。如果这种声明是正确的(就像那位年轻人认为的),那么基督徒就必须接受圣经的全部内容。在逻辑上没有任何妥协的道路”。

There was a hush for a few moments as the audience pondered the great scientist’s words.

   听众对于这位伟大的科学家的讲话发出一阵掌声。

 

No Compromise 没有妥协

 

Haldane was right, of course. There are some situations where com­promise is a good thing, and some situations where compromise just doesn’t make sense.

    霍尔丹的观点是对的。有的时候妥协是一件很好的事情,但是在某些情况下,妥协是没有意义的。

Suppose that you say to the filling station attendant who has just filled your tank, “Six gallons at thirty-six and a half, that’s two pounds nineteen, isn’t it?” and he replies, “Afraid not, Sir, two twenty-nine, please.” 

例如你想在汽车加油站和收费员讨价还价,这显然是不合情理的。因为那里不是讨价还价的地方。

Do you say, “All right, let’s compromise; call it two twenty-five”?

Of course you don’t. Compromise is absurd in a situation like that. You know that there is only one right answer-your answer-and you stick out for it.

妥协在那种情况下显得很荒谬。如果你要加油,你就得接受他们的价格。

In the same way, as Haldane’s penetrating intellect saw so clearly, there is only one right answer for the Christian.

正如霍尔丹在这个问题上非常具有洞察力,同样对基督徒来说,只有一种正确的答案。

Jesus Christ taught His followers to call Him “Master”.3  The word He used did not mean “boss”; it meant “schoolmaster”. He called His followers “disciples”-a word that meant “students”. He made it quite clear what the relationship between Him and us should be:

    基督耶稣教他们门徒称他为“夫子”,这个词的含义不是“上司”,而是“老师,先生”。耶稣称自己的跟随者为“门徒”,意思是“学生”。他非常明确地表达了他自己和我们之间的关系:

“The disciple (student) is not above his Master (teacher) ... And why call ye me Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say?”4

   “学生不能高过先生;凡学成了的不过和先生一样…….你们为什麽称呼我『主啊,主啊,』却不遵我的话行呢?”(路加福音64046

The lesson is quite clear. Our place is to sit at the feet of Jesus and learn, as Mary did.5   If we have the nerve to set ourselves up as judges over Jesus and try to decide where He went wrong, then we are courting disaster. 

道理是非常明确的。我们的地位应该是坐在耶稣的脚下学习,像马利亚那样。如果我们认为自己高于耶稣,可以评判耶稣,决定耶稣的行为是否正确,那么我们就会有大麻烦。

Yet this is just what so many modern theologians do, when they say that the Bible is a mixture of truth and error. For Jesus taught just the opposite.

然而这恰恰是很多现代神学家所作的事情。他们说,圣经是真理和谬误的混合物。耶稣教导的和他们正好相反。

When Jesus lived on earth about four-fifths of our Bible was already written. We now call this “the Old Testament”, but in those days the Jews called it “the Scripture”, or “that which is written”, or “the Law”, or “the Law and the prophets”, or “Moses and the prophets”.

Jesus used the same terms, and this is what He said about it:

耶稣在世上的时候,已经有了部分圣经。我们现在称它们为“旧约”,犹太人用“经”,或“经上所记载的”、“律法和先知”、“摩西和先知”等来代替。

耶稣也使用了这些词汇。他这样说:

“The Scripture cannot be broken.”6

“It is easier for heaven and earth to pass away, than for one tittle of the Law to fail.”7 (A tittle is a small stroke on a Hebrew letter, rather like the crossing of our letter t.)

“Had ye believed Moses, ye would have believed me, for he wrote of me. But if ye believe not his writings, how shall ye believe my words?”8

“They have Moses and the prophets; let them hear them . . . If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded, though one rose from the dead.”9

    “经上的话是不能废的;”(约翰福音1035

“天地废去较比律法的一点一画落空还容易。”(路加福音1617

“你们如果信摩西,也必信我,因为他书上有指著我写的话”(约翰福音546

 “他们有摩西和先知的话可以听从……若不听从摩西和先知的话,就是有一个从死里复活的,他们也是不听劝。”(路加福音1629-31

 

Actions Speak Louder than Words  行为比声音更有力

 

Jesus was a preacher who lived up to His own message. He not only said that the Old Testament was true and authoritative; He showed by the way He used it that He really believed it to be so.

耶稣是一个传道人。他遵守自己所传的生活准则。他不但是说旧约圣经是正确的、权威性的,而且在实际生活中通过自己的行为来显示他真的相信。

Look at the way Jesus conquered temptation. Three times the tempter came to Jesus in the wilderness, and three times Jesus defeated him. Each time He used the same method. “It is written ...”, He said, quoting an Old Testament passage that disposed of the tempta­tion.10

我们来看看耶稣是如何战胜试探的。耶稣三次遇见试探,每次都战胜了试探。每一次他都使用同样的方法:“经上记著说”。

The tempter did not stop to argue. He did not say to Jesus, “Yes, but that verse wasn’t really written by Moses. It was only attributed to him by the scribe who wrote it, hundreds of years after Moses was dead.” It was well known that Jesus accepted the first five books of the Bible as the Word of God given by Moses.11 To Jesus, if something was “written”, that settled the matter.

然而,试探者并不会轻易让步。他并没有对耶稣说:“是的,但是这些经文并不是真的有摩西所写的。而是摩西几百年后的人用摩西的名字写的。”大家都知道耶稣将律法书看成是  神的话,是通过摩西宣布的。(约翰福音536719;路加福音2037

Similarly, Jesus frequently silenced the Pharisees and Sadducees by appealing to Scripture. “Ye do err, not knowing the Scriptures”,12 was His complaint.

耶稣的解释经常让那些法利赛人和撒都该人哑口无言。“你们错了;因为不明白圣经,也不晓得神的大能。”(马太福音2229

Six times in Matthew’s gospel alone He asked a question with the devastating opening: “Have ye not read ...?” or, “Did ye never read ...?”13  Each time the introductory words were followed by a quotation, one from Genesis, one from Exodus, one from 1 Samuel, one from Numbers, and two from the Psalms. Each time He appears to have rendered His opponents speechless.

单是马太福音就6次记载了耶稣这样发问:“这经你们没有念过吗?” 每一次他都接下来介绍了圣经的内容,其中创世记一次,出埃及记一次,撒母耳记上1次,民数记1次,诗篇2次。每次他都让对手哑口无言。

Many times He settled disputes once and for all by quoting Scrip­ture. When Jesus said to His religious opponents, “It is written . or, “What is written . . .”, as He did on at least six occasions,14 that always finished the argument.

很多时候,耶稣用 “经上记著说”或“经上说”来解决争端。这种情形最少出现了6次。(例如马太福音2113;马可福音76,最后都是以圣经为结论。

Jesus could, of course, have relied on His own authority to settle disputes. He claimed that His own words were the words of God.15 Often He did speak on His own authority, with a “Verily, I say unto you”.16

耶稣当然也依靠自己的权威来解决争端。因为他所说的话就是道。耶稣也以自己的权威说话,说:“我实实在在的告诉你们”。(例如约翰福音519

But when a really big issue arose-resisting the tempter, or halting the attacks of the Pharisees and Sadducees-Jesus generally appealed to Scripture. To Him this was the ultimate authority. This was absolute Truth. There could be no gainsaying Scripture.

但是在抵制试探,或反击法例赛人攻击的时候,耶稣都使用圣经为证据。对于耶稣来说,圣经就是最终的权威、绝对的真理。圣经是不可否认的。

 

 

Route Map to the Cross通向十字架的道路

 

Jesus did not drift through life like most of us, taking each emergency as it comes. From the beginning He knew exactly where He was going to the Cross. During the last part of His mortal life He made this clear to His disciples:

    耶稣没有像我们大部分人那样,在紧急关头赶紧逃命。一开始他就知道自己要上十字架。他在世上生命的最后时刻快来到时已经明确地告诉自己的门徒们。

“From that time forth began Jesus to show unto His disciples how that He must go unto Jerusalem, and suffer many things of the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised again the third day.”17

   “从此,耶稣才指示门徒,他必须上耶路撒冷去,受长老、祭司长、文士许多的苦,并且被杀,第三日复活。”(马太福音1621

This road to the Cross was not easy to walk. It took all His iron determination to follow it to the end. An hour or two before His arrest He had one last chance to run away, and the temptation to escape was enormous.

通往十字架的道路不是容易走的。他下了很大的决心才坚持到底。在他被抓起来的一两个小时以前,他还有最后的机会逃走,而且逃走的诱惑是非常大的。

Luke tells us how He prayed for strength to go through with it. He was in “an agony”, and “His sweat was as it were great drops of blood, falling down to the ground.”18 Come what may, He knew that He must go forward. He expressed His determination to do so in the words: “Father. . . not My will, but Thine, be done.”19

路加告诉我们耶稣是如何通过祷告走过这一段艰难历程的。他“极其伤痛”,并且“汗珠如大血点滴在地上”。2244不管要面对什么,耶稣知道自己必须往前走。他这样表达了自己的决心:“父啊!……不要成就我的意思,只要成就你的意思。”2242

With this resolve to conquer His own human feelings and to do God’s will, He went to a terrible death.

通过这种决心,他战胜了自己人类的情感,服从了  神的意愿。他走向死亡。

But how did He know that it was God’s will for Him to die by slow torture? He would have had to be very, very sure that it was necessary before He could go willingly to the horrors ahead of Him.

耶稣是如何知道自己要受折磨并且死亡是  神的意愿?在耶稣自愿地奔赴这个可怕的死亡之前,一定非常非常确信这一点。

Yet He was sure that it was God’s will. He had known all along what He must do. Time and again He had told His disciples how He knew. Here are four examples, one from each gospel:

尽管他能够确信这一点,他同时还必须知道他必须这样做。以前他多次将自己所知道的事情告诉他的门徒,以下就是4个例子,分别来自4本不同的福音书。

 

“And He took unto Him the twelve and said unto them, ‘Behold, we go up to Jerusalem, and all things that are written by the prophets concerning the Son of Man shall be accomplished. For GOD’S TRUTH

   “耶稣带着十二个门徒,对他们说:「看哪,我们上耶路撒冷去,先知所写的一切事都要成就在人子身上。他将要被交给外邦人,他们要戏弄他,凌辱他,吐唾沫在他脸上,并要鞭打他,杀害他;第三日他要复活。」” (路加福音18:31-33

 

He shall be delivered unto the Gentiles, and shall be mocked, and spitefully entreated, and spitted on. And they shall scourge Him and put Him to death; and the third day He shall rise again.”20

“人子将要被交给祭司长和文士,他们要定他死罪,交给外邦人。他们要戏弄他,吐唾沫在他脸上,鞭打他,杀害他。过了三天,他要复活。”(马可福音10:3334

 

“The Son of Man goeth as it is written of Him; but woe unto that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed!”21

“人子必要去世,正如经上指著他所写的;但卖人子的人有祸了!那人不生在世上倒好。”(马太福音2624

“He answered and told them...how it is written of the Son of Man that He must suffer many things and be set at nought.”22

   “耶稣说:……经上不是指著人子说,他要受许多的苦被人轻慢呢?”(马太福音912

“Search the Scriptures - . . they are they which testify of Me.”23 Had there been no crucified Saviour there would have been no Christianity. And the Saviour would never have been crucified un­less He had believed-implicitly-that the Old Testament revealed exactly what sufferings He must endure. What sort of disciples (the word means “pupils”, remember) of His should we be, if we thought that He was sadly mistaken in His view of the Old Testament?

“你们应当查考圣经,……..给我作见证的就是这经”约翰福音5:39。如果没有十字架上的耶稣,就没有基督教。除非耶稣已经自己相信旧约中显示的苦难就是他要承受的,否则他不会上十字架。如果我们认为耶稣对待旧约的观点是错误的,那么我们还是耶稣的门徒吗?

Yet there are, unhappily, many would-be “pupils” of His who do think Him mistaken. They have even invented a complicated theological explanation for His “mistakes”, and have given it a Greek name24 which makes it sound much more clever than it really is. But even this so-called explanation only covers the period of Christ’s mortal life; those who teach it admit that the Son of God could make no mistakes after He rose from the dead to glorious immortality.

然而,很多自称是他的“学生”的人却认为他是错误的。他们发明了一些列复杂的神学理论来证明他的“错误”。但是,即使是他们认为这些所谓的解释仅仅覆盖了耶稣在世上的日子。这些人承认耶稣在复活得到永生以后不会犯错。

And consequently it is a waste of words for them to argue that Jesus could hold wrong notions while He was still a mortal man. Because Jesus held exactly the same views after His resurrection as before it.

我们不会浪费口舌解释耶稣在世上的时候是否会犯错,因为耶稣在复活以前和复活以后他的观点是一致的。

The resurrected Jesus, who could say, “All power is given unto Me, in heaven and in earth”,25 could also say:

复活以后宣告“天上地下所有的权柄都赐给我了” (马太福音2818的耶稣,同样也可以说:

“O fools, and slow of heart to believe in all that the prophets have spoken! Ought not Christ to have suffered these things, and to enter into His glory? And beginning at Moses and all the prophets He expounded unto them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself - ..All things must be fulfilled which were written in the Law of Moses, and in the prophets, and in the Psalms, concerning Me.”26

  “‘无知的人哪,先知所说的一切话,你们的心信得太迟钝了。基督这样受害,又进入他的荣耀,岂不是应当的吗?’于是从摩西和众先知起,凡经上所指着自己的话都给他们讲解明白了摩西的律法、先知的书,和诗篇上所记的,凡指着我的话都必须应验。(路加福音2425-2744

“Fools,” the resurrected Jesus called them, because they did not believe all that was written in the Old Testament. Fools! You can’t help feeling sorry for those poor disciples. It must have been a very humiliating experience, being called fools by the Son of God.

“无知的人”,耶稣这样称呼他们,因为他们不相信所有记载在圣经旧约的书中的话。我们不由得对于这些可怜的门徒感到同情。被  神的儿子成为“无知的人”,这是一件非常羞辱的事情。

 

Claims of the Old Testament  圣经旧约的声明

 

It is easy to see why Jesus regarded the Old Testament in the way He did. He took it at its face value. Time after time the Old Testament claims to be an authoritative message from God to men.

我们很容易明白为什么耶稣会这样看待旧约。他相信圣经的真实性。圣经旧约中多次声明是  神给人的权威信息。

Jesus accepted that claim. Commonsense says that one can either accept the claim, or reject it altogether. There is no sensible middle course.

耶稣接受了这种声明。常识告诉我们,一个人要么接受,要么拒绝这个声明,当中没有妥协的道路。

According to one writer,27 the Old Testament makes this claim in 3,808 places-an average of about four per page. Even if this is an overestimate the number must run into thousands.

根据一个作家的统计,旧约圣经有3808次这样的声明,大约平均每页4次。

The prophets are particularly rich in such claims. For example, Haggai says, “Came the word of the Lord by Haggai” in his first verse, and again in his third verse, while in the second verse he says, “Thus speaketh the Lord”. Haggai uses expressions like this more than twenty times, in a book that occupies only two pages in the average Bible.

先知书中这样的声明特别多,例如:哈该书11-3节说:“耶和华的话藉先知哈该向犹大省长撒拉铁的儿子所罗巴伯和约撒答的儿子大祭司约书亚说:万军之耶和华如此说:「这百姓说,建造耶和华殿的时候尚未来到。」那时耶和华的话临到先知哈该说……”尽管哈该书只有两页,但是却有20多次这样声明。

Even the legal code given to the nation of Israel (the Law of Moses) is spattered with phrases like “Moses wrote all the words of the Lord”, and “The Lord spake unto Moses”.28 Similar phrases are less common in the historical books, but they still occur many times. For example:

即使是以色列的国法(摩西律法)也充满了“摩西将耶和华的命令都写上”(例如出埃及记244,“耶和华对摩西说”(例如利未记171这样的话。这些类似的话在历史书中出现的次数不如前面,但是依然有很多。例如:

“The Lord spake unto Joshua”,29 “Thus said the Lord”,30 “The Lord revealed Himself to Samuel in Shiloh by the word of the Lord”.31

  “耶和华晓谕约书亚,说:”(约书亚记11),“耶和华又在示罗显现;因为耶和华将自己的话默示撒母耳……(撒母耳记上321

The writers of the Old Testament books not only tell us that God spoke to them, or through them. Sometimes they go into more detail, and give us a glimpse of what it was like to be the mouthpiece of God. 

旧约圣经的书写者不仅仅告诉我们是  神向他们讲话,或者通过他们说话。有的时候他们告诉我们更多的细节,让我们知道  神的代言人的一些细节:

Thus:例如:

 

David:       “The spirit of the Lord spake by me, and His word was in my tongue.”32

Isaiah:      “He laid it (a burning coal from a heavenly altar) upon my mouth, and said, ‘Lo, this hath touched thy lips, and thine iniquity is taken away and thy sin purged.’ Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, ‘Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?’ Then said I, ‘Here am I, send me.’ And He said, ‘Go, and tell this people ...’”33

Jeremiah:      “Then said I, ‘Ah, Lord God! Behold, I cannot speak, for I am a child.’ But the Lord said unto me, ‘Say not, “I am a child”, for thou shalt go to all that I shall send thee, and whatsoever I com­mand thee thou shalt speak.’  . . Then the Lord put forth His hand and touched my mouth, and the Lord said unto me, ‘Behold, I have put My words in thy mouth’... (much later) Then I said, ‘I will not make mention of Him, nor speak any more in His name.’ But His word was in mine heart as a burning fire shut up in my bones, and I was weary with forbearing, and I could not contain.”34

    因此:

大卫说:“耶和华的灵藉著我说:他的话在我口中。”(撒母耳记下232

以赛亚记载:“(有一撒拉弗) 将炭沾我的口,说:「看哪,这炭沾了你的嘴,你的罪孽便除掉,你的罪恶就赦免了。」我又听见主的声音说:「我可以差遣谁呢?谁肯为我们去呢?」我说:「我在这里,请差遣我!」他说:「你去告诉这百姓说:”(以赛亚书67-8

      耶利米说:“我就说:主耶和华啊,我不知怎样说,因为我是年幼的。耶和华对我说:你不要说我是年幼的,因为我差遣你到谁那里去,你都要去;我吩咐你说什麽话,你都要说。你不要惧怕他们,因为我与你同在,要拯救你。这是耶和华说的。於是耶和华伸手按我的口,对我说:我已将当说的话传给你。”我若说:我不再提耶和华,也不再奉他的名讲论,我便心里觉得似乎有烧著的火闭塞在我骨中,我就含忍不住,不能自禁。”(耶利米书16-9209

 

As you might expect, the apostles of Jesus took exactly the same line about the Old Testament as their Master. They supported it right up to the hilt. Here are five examples:

正如你可以料到的,耶稣的门徒们和他们的老师对旧约采取同样的态度。下面就是5个例子:

“Lord, Thou art God... who by the mouth of Thy servant David hast said . .”35

“The Holy Spirit was right in saying to your fathers through Isaiah the prophet. . 36

“In many and various ways God spoke of old to our fathers by the prophets.”37

“So worship I the God of my fathers, believing all things which are written in the Law and in the prophets.”38

“I continue unto this day, witnessing both to small and great, saying none other things than those which the prophets and Moses did say should come.”39

“主啊!…..你曾藉著圣灵,托你仆人我们祖宗大卫的口,说:”(使徒行传425

  “圣灵藉先知以赛亚向你们祖宗所说的话是不错的。”(使徒行传2825

“只等真理的圣灵来了,他要引导你们明白(原文作进入)一切的真理;因为他不是凭自己说的,乃是把他所听见的都说出来,并要把将来的事告诉你们。”(希伯来书11

“然而我蒙神的帮助,直到今日还站得住,对著尊贵、卑贱、老幼作见证;所讲的并不外乎众先知和摩西所说将来必成的事。”(使徒行传2622

Notice what is implied in those first three quotations. (1) What David (who wrote many of the Psalms) said, God said. (2) What is written in the Book of Isaiah is what God’s Holy Spirit said. (3) The words of the prophets were really spoken by God.

No wonder that in the last two quotations Paul said he believed all that was in the Old Testament, and preached nothing else!

请注意上面前面3个引文中所暗示的:(1)大卫(诗篇中有很多是他写的)所写的是  神的话。(2)以赛亚书所记载的话是神的灵所启示的。(3)先知们所说的话真的是  神的话。

难怪在最后的引文中,保罗说他相信旧约中所有的话,他传的道“不外乎众先知和摩西所说将来必成的事”。

 

Claims of the New Testament 新约圣经的声明

 

Of course, there are two possibilities about these claims made in the Bible. They may be true, or they may be false. Later on we shall have to try and decide which. For the present, however, let us leave it as an open question. It will be sufficient in this chapter to concentrate on trying to understand just what those claims are. According to the writers of the New Testament, God spoke through them, too. John says that Jesus promised to use His apostles in that way:

当然,这些声明存在两种可能性,它可能是对的,也可能是错的。稍后我们将讨论这些问题。然而现在我们将它看成是一个疑问。我们首先看一看这种申明是什么。根据新约书写者的记载,他们所写的也是  神在通过他们说话。约翰福音说:

“Howbeit, when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth…”40

“The Comforter, which is the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance) whatsoever I have said unto you.”41

“只等真理的圣灵来了,他要引导你们明白(原文作进入)一切的真理” (16:13)

“但保惠师,就是父因我的名所要差来的圣灵,他要将一切的事指教你们,并且要叫你们想起我对你们所说的一切话” 14:26

So Matthew, Mark, Luke and John would not have to rely on a hazy recollection of what Jesus had said. When they wrote their four gospels the Holy Spirit would cause them to recall the exact teaching of the Master. Or so, at least, John’s gospel said.

因此,马太、马可、路加和约翰在书写福音的时候并不依靠耶稣给他们留下的朦胧印象。当他们写作的时候,圣灵使他们能够回忆起耶稣的每一个细节。至少约翰福音这样说过。

Peter and Paul also claimed repeatedly that they were being moved to preach and write God’s words. Here are two examples from each:使徒彼得和保罗也多次声明他们是被感动写下了  神的话。以下就是几个例子:

 

Peter: “Those [the apostles] who preached the good news to you

through the Holy Spirit sent from heaven.”42

“Be mindful of the words which were spoken before by the holy

prophets [the Old Testament], and the commandment of the Lord  P

and Saviour through your apostles [the New Testament].”43

Paul:  “When ye received the Word of God which ye heard of us, ye received it not as the word of men, but, as it is in truth, the Word of God.”44

“But I certify you, brethren, that the gospel which was preached of me is not after man. For I neither received it of man, neither was I taught it, but it came to me through revelation of Jesus Christ.”45

 

“那靠著从天上差来的圣灵传福音给你们的人,现在将这些事报给你们;”(彼得前书112

“叫你们记念圣先知预先所说的话和主救主的命令,就是使徒所传给你们的。”(彼得后书32

“你们听见我们所传神的道就领受了;不以为是人的道,乃以为是神的道。这道实在是神的”(帖撒罗尼迦前书213

“弟兄们,我告诉你们,我素来所传的福音不是出於人的意思。因为我不是从人领受的,也不是人教导我的,乃是从耶稣基督启示来的。”(加拉太书11112

Evidently the apostles believed that they were being used by God just like His prophets of old. First, God’s prophets were moved by God’s Spirit to speak His words. Then the Spirit caused them to write down God’s words, and thus create the Old Testament. Similarly the apostles were first caused by God’s Spirit to preach His words. Later, the Spirit made them write God’s words, and so produce the New Testament. Or so the apostles claimed.

这些证据表明,使徒们相信他们是被  神使用,就像  神通过旧约中的先知讲话一样。第一,  神的先知被圣灵所感动,接下来,圣灵驱使他们写下  神的话。这就是圣经旧约的来源。同样,使徒们首先是被圣灵感动去传福音。其次,圣灵感动他们,让他们写下了 神的话语,因此就有了新约圣经。这也是使徒们所申明的。

 

Inspiration 圣灵的启示

 

Most people would agree that if there is a God, He must be able to do things on earth invisibly. As Cowper’s well-known hymn puts it:

大多数人会同意,如果存在一位 神,他肯定会在做我们看不到的一些事情。

“God moves in a mysterious way

His wonders to perform.”

 

正如约伯记423所说的:

这些事太奇妙是我不知道的。

 

The Bible has a name for the invisible work of God on earth. It calls it the doings of “the Spirit of God”, or “the Holy Spirit”, or for short, just “the Spirit”.

对于这些我们看不见的  神的工作,圣经称之为“  神的灵”,或者是“圣灵”,有的时候简称为“灵”。

This is a good name for it, because it is the translation of Hebrew and Greek words meaning “wind”. In this age of weather forecasts we understand what the wind is. But in the ancient world wind was something strange, mysterious, powerful. It made men think of the invisible power of God working on earth.

这是一个很恰当的名称。因为“灵”在希伯来文或者是希腊文的原文当中,其含义是:“风”。在存在天气预报的年代,我们知道风是什么。但是在古代世界,风是一种奇怪的、神秘的、有力量的东西。这些特征可以使人想起  神在地上做工时的那一种看不见的力量。

It is fitting, therefore, that most of God’s great miracles were said to be performed by His Spirit. So was the giving of His Word-which was, of course, a kind of miracle. When men spoke-or wrote-the Word of God, it was the Spirit that moved them. Again and again in the Old Testament it says that the Spirit of the Lord came upon so-and-so, and he prophesied.

这种称呼是非常恰当的。  神所作的大部分的奇迹都是通过圣灵来做的,圣灵的启示也是一种奇迹。当有人说出或者是写下 神的话时,是圣灵感动他们。圣经的旧约多次说过,神的灵在某位先知的身上,这位先知就写下 神的话来。

When the Old Testament was practically complete, a thousand years or so after Moses had begun it, another prophet, Nehemiah, summed up the situation:

   当旧约书即将完成,也就是在摩西开始之后大约1000年,另外一个先知尼希米总结说:

“Thou [God] gavest also Thy good Spirit to instruct them [Israel] .  . Many years didst Thou forbear them, and testified against them by Thy Spirit in Thy prophets... But we have done wickedly, neither have our kings, our princes, our priests or our fathers kept Thy Law.”46

   “你( 神)也赐下你良善的灵教训他们……但你多年宽容他们,又用你的灵藉众先知劝戒他们……我们所做的是邪恶。我们的君王、首领、祭司、列祖都不遵守你的律法,不听从你的诫命和你警戒他们的话。”(尼希米记920303334

As the apostle Peter put it, several hundred years later still: 在几百年以后,使徒彼得说:

“No prophecy of Scripture is a matter of one’s own interpretation, because no prophecy ever came by the impulse of man) but men moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God.”47

  “第一要紧的,该知道经上所有的预言没有可随私意解说的;因为预言从来没有出於人意的,乃是人被圣灵感动,说出神的话来。”(彼得后书12021

In the same way, according to the verses quoted earlier in this chapter, the New Testament also was written by men who were moved by the Holy Spirit. As Jesus told them before they began, “But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you shall be My witnesses.”48

这就是说,新约圣经同样是人被神灵感动写出来的。正如耶稣说:“但圣灵降临在你们身上,你们就必得著能力,并要…….作我的见证”。(使徒行传1:8

The Bible uses a special word to describe this work of the Holy Spirit. The word is inspiration. Paul used it in this way: “All Scripture is given by inspiration of God.”49

圣经使用了一个特别的词来形容圣灵的工作,这个词就是“感动”,或“默示”、“启示”。保罗说:“圣经都是神所默示的”(提摩太后书316

Inspiration. It is not a bad description, because it makes you think of “in-spiriting”, of putting God’s Spirit into a man chosen to convey God’s words to the world. And yet it is not a particularly good word, because it does not really convey Paul’s meaning.

“感动”这个词是一个褒义词,  神的灵进入  神所选择的一个人,将 神的话语向世界 。然而这个词并没有完全表达保罗的意思。

The whole phrase, “given by inspiration of God”, is actually a translation of one long Greek word. That word means “Godspirited” or “Godbreathed”. (Remember that, in Greek, the word for “spirit” also means both “wind” and “breath”.)

神所默示的”这个词(given by inspiration of God),实际上是从一个很长的希腊文单词翻译过来的。这个词的意思是“Godspirited”,或“Godbreathed”,意识是 神的灵示,或  神说呼出的气。(在希腊文中,“灵”与“”是同一个词。)

So although it is less elegant it is more accurate to translate Paul’s words like this: “All scripture is breathed out by God.” 

保罗话语的更加准确的翻译应该是:“所有的圣经都是从  神的口中出来的”。

In other words, the Bible is expired by God rather than inspired. In a figurative sense it came out of God’s mouth, just as our breath comes out of our mouths.

换句话说,圣经是神说的,圣经是从 神的口中出来的,就像气息从  神的口中出来的一样,而不仅仅是  神所启示的。

About a thousand years earlier a Jewish hymnwriter had made a similar point. He wrote in the book of Psalms:

     此前大约1000年,有一个犹太人在赞美  神的诗歌中表达了类似的观点。他写道:

“By the word of the Lord

Were the heavens made

And all the host of them

By the breath of His mouth.”50

   “诸天藉耶和华的命而造;万象藉他口中的气而成”(诗篇336

He was referring to the first chapter of Genesis, where God created the heavens and the earth. The words, “And God said, ‘Let there be ...’“ keep recurring in that chapter like a refrain. The words of God were spoken; the deeds of God were done.

   在这里他谈论的同创世记第一章有关,是  神创造天地的故事。“神说…..事就这样成了”, 神的话就是 神的行为。

 

Every Word Counts每一个字都算数

 

All this adds up to a vital conclusion. If the Bible’s repeated claim is justified-if there really is a sense in which the Bible is “breathed out of God’s mouth”-it must mean that the very words of the Bible come from God, not just the ideas.

这些附加的非常重要的结论。如果圣经中的多次声明是正确的,圣经就是“ 神口中所出来的话,”这就意味着圣经中的每一个字都来自  ,不仅仅是其中的观点。

At first this sounds a staggering claim. And yet the more you think about it, the more it makes sense. In an unimportant piece of writing-say, a magazine article, or a novel-it doesn’t matter much what words are used, so long as the general sense is what the author intended.

这种声明听起来好像友一点令人惊奇。然而,只要你认真思考,就会明白这句话的意义。对于一片文章、一本小说,如何用词无关紧要,只要能够表达出作者的意图就可以。

But in an important document, like an Act of Parliament, or a man’s will, the words are terribly important. A wealthy old man once wrote a very short and simple will: “I leave all my money to my nephew Percy.”

但是对一些重要的文件,例如议会的法案、或一个人的遗嘱来说,措词就非常重要。例如一位富翁写下了一份遗嘱说;“我将我所有的金钱都留给我的侄子。”

Poor Percy. He only got a few pounds. It was quite clear what Uncle meant. But Uncle had not said what he meant. “Money,” said the lawyers, means pound notes and coins of the realm. Uncle’s fortune was in the form of bank deposits, stocks and shares-and that’s not “money”. The real wealth went to Uncle’s next of kin, while all Percy received was the contents of Uncle’s trouser pockets.   

然而他的侄子最后却非常可怜,只收到了几个英镑。这是因为他叔叔没有非常清楚地表达自己的思想。律师们说,“钱,只代表现金和硬币”,但是他叔叔的财富绝大部分是银行存款、股票,房地产,而不是“钱”。大部分的财产都留给了富翁的另一个亲戚,这位可怜的侄子只得到了从他叔叔口袋中掏出来的几个英镑。

We might expect that if the Bible really is what it claims to be-the most important document in the world-the words it uses are tremendously important. And this is exactly what it claims. No Bible writer ever says, “God gave me a message in vague terms, and left me to write it down in my own words.”

如果圣经的声明是真的,那么圣经就是世界上最重要的文件,圣经的措辞也非常重要。圣经的书写从来没有这样声明:“  神给我的信息是含混不清的,让我用户自己写下这些话来”。

On the contrary, many of them emphasise the precise nature of the message God gave them. For example: 相反,他们中间有很多人强调神给与他们的信息是非常明确的,例如:

 

David: “Ml this the Lord made me understand in writing by His hand upon me.”51

Jeremiah:   “Thus saith the Lord . . . speak unto all the cities of ....... all the words that I command thee to speak unto them; keep not back a word . . . Take thee a roll of a book and write therein all the words that I have spoken unto thee.”52

Jesus:   “The words that I speak unto you, they are spirit and they are life.”53

Paul:      “And we impart this in words... taught by the Spirit.”54

John:   “If any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life.”55

   大卫说:“这一切工作的样式都是耶和华用手划出来使我明白的。”(历代志上2819

   耶利米:“耶和华如此说:你站在耶和华殿的院内,对犹大众城邑的人,就是到耶和华殿来礼拜的,说我所吩咐你的一切话,一字不可删减。”262362

   耶稣:“我对你们所说的话就是灵,就是生命” (约翰福音663

   保罗:“并且我们讲说这些事,不是用人智慧所指教的言语,乃是用圣灵所指教的言语……(哥林多前书213

   约翰:“我向一切听见这书上预言的作见证,若有人在这预言上加添什麽,神必将写在这书上的灾祸加在他身上;”(启示录2219 

 

Needless to say, these statements do not apply to the words of the Bible in English. The dear old lady who said, “If the Authorised Version was good enough for St Paul, it’s good enough for me!” has been dead a long time. The men who wrote the original books of the Bible were said to be inspired by God, not the men who afterwards copied those books and translated them into other languages. (Just how accurate were those copyists and translators? We shall look at that question in Chapter 17.)

不用说,这些声明不适合英语(或者是汉语)圣经的每一个词。有一位可敬的老太太说:“如果圣经英语钦定版对于圣保罗已经够好,那么对于我来说也是足够好。”写圣经原文的人受到了  神的启示,并没有说后来抄写圣经、翻译圣经的人也受到了  神的启示。至于圣经抄写和翻译的准确程度,我们将在第17章讨论。

 

Writers -Not Typewriters圣经的书写者不是打字员

 

There is something almost uncanny about the sight of a big electronic computer working. The heart of the computer is so delicate that it has to be boxed away in an air-conditioned chamber, like a premature baby in an incubator. Wires connect the delicate central part to other machines, through which the operators feed in the problems for solu­tion. Other wires connect the computer to an electric typewriter, which types out the answers.

看见一台巨大的计算机工作,有的时候觉得它们真的很神奇。计算机的心脏部位是那么的精巧,以至必须安置在一见有空调的房间里,就像是早产儿放在育婴室一样。有很多电线从计算机中进去又出来,有一些和其它计算机联在一起,有一些和电脑打字机联系在一起,这些打字机将我们所要的结果打印出来。

It is a strange sight to see one of these typewriters typing away at breakneck speed, as if some invisible typist were using it. Those sheets of typed paper are being dictated by the electronic machine in its glass case, and once the machine is set to work on a problem no human being has any control over that typewriter.

如果我们没有看见打字员,但是看见打字机以飞快的速度工作,好像有一位我们看不见的打字员在后面操作,这有一点奇怪。打印好了的纸张被放置在塑料盒子里,并且打印机一旦开始工作,就不需要人来控制。

Now this is not-repeat, NOT-the way to think of God inspiring the Bible. The writers of the Bible were not just human typewriters, setting down automatically the words that God dictated to them. They were individuals with a style of their own, each writing his inspired message in his own particular way.

我在这里重复一下,这种方式不是 神启示人们书写圣经的方式。圣经的众多书写者并不仅仅像电脑打字员一样,自动地将 神的话写出来,他们都是有自己的特点的人,每一位在书写  神启示的信息的时候,都用自己的方式写出来。

At first, this statement may seem to contradict all that has gone before. If God did not dictate His words to the writers of the Bible, but gave them freedom to write in their own style, how could their writings possibly turn out to be the exact words of God?

这份声明看起来似乎与刚才的申明相矛盾。如果  神没有见自己的话交付给圣经的书写者,而是给他们用自己的方式书写的自由,那么他们所写下的怎样才能够证明确实是  神的话?

This problem is not nearly so difficult as it seems. Try looking at it this way. A crack shot with a rifle can still hit the target when a strong wind is blowing. His skill enables him to estimate the force and direction of the wind, and then allow for it when he points his gun. If the wind is blowing strongly from the left, he aims to the left of the target. He knows that his bullet will follow a curved path, and end up on target. But if there is no wind he aims directly at the target, and expects his bullet to travel by a shorter path to it.

这个问题没有看起来那么复杂。我们可以这样来看问题:高明的射击手即使在强风的天气下也能准确地命中靶心。因为他具有识别风向和风力的技巧,然后在射击的时候做一下调整一下枪的准星。如果强风是从左边吹来的,那么瞄准的时候就稍稍向左偏。他知道子弹会沿着一条曲线命中目标。如果没有风的干扰,他就直接瞄准目标。

In other words, the wind has no effect on the final result. A brilliant marksman’s bullet will always end up where he wants it. What the wind does is to decide the path by which the bullet will get there.

用另外的话来说,风对于射击最终的结果可以是没有影响的。高明的射手总能够射中自己希望的目标。风所起的作用是让射击手对射击曲线做一些调整。

It is rather like that, only much more complicated, with the work­ings of God. He knows exactly what end result He wants to achieve, and with infinite skill He is able to achieve it. He can allow for the effects of human free will-or of the literary style of individuals-as easily as a marksman can allow for the wind.     

神所作的工作和这一点非常相似。 神知道他所作一切事情的结果,他能够知道如何取得应该的结果。他同时允许人的自由,就像是射击手能够考虑到风的存在一样。

When He wanted a book written in the characteristic style of Jeremiah, He raised up exactly the right man to write it. He told Jeremiah that He began shaping him for his work as a prophet even before he was born.56 When the time came for Jeremiah’s great work to begin, he was exactly the right man for it. Even his nervousness and humility helped to fit him for the job.57

      神希望有一本像耶利米书风格的书出现的时候,他就让耶利米这个人出现。他告诉耶利米,在他出生之前就已经选择耶利米作先知(第1章)。当耶利米伟大的工作开始的时候,他就是正确的人选。甚至耶利米过于敏感和谦卑的性格对于他从事自己的工作都是有帮助的。

The resulting book was therefore truly Jeremiah’s book. No other man, perhaps, could have written it in quite the same way. But be­cause God had made Jeremiah what he was, and then caused him to write what he did, Jeremiah’s book was filled with the very words of God. The same applies to all the other books of the Bible.

结果耶利米这本书就真的出现了。没有其他人能够用同样的方式写出这一本书来。但是因为  神创造了耶利米这个人,让他写下这本书,于是耶利米书就充满了  神的话,同样的道理适合于圣经的每一本书。

  

What This Chapter Has Proved 这一章所证明的事情

 

This subject of the Bible’s claim to be “Godbreathed” (inspired) is a very big one. It really needs a book to itself. In just one chapter I have only been able to outline it. If you wish to examine it in depth, you will need to read one of the standard works on the subject.

有关圣经声明是  神的启示是一个非常大的课题,必须通过圣经自己才能够证明。本章只能够描述一个大概的轮廓。如果你想要从很深刻地检查这种声明是否正确,你需要阅读关于这个课题的一系列书。

The finest book ever written on this topic is probably that by Gaussen.58 More recent books by Warfield,59 Young60 and Pache61 are also useful. 可能有关这个课题出现的最好的书是Gaussen所写的,最近Warfield, Young Pache写的一些书同样会有帮助。

Like this chapter, none of these books proves that the Bible is inspired by God. It is always wrong to reason in a circle; we must beware of making that mistake here.

和本章的标题一样,这些书中没有一本能够“证明”圣经是  神所启示的。循环论证永远是错误的。我们在这里不要犯这样的错误。

I have not tried to argue that because the Bible makes certain claims, those claims must be true. What I have tried to show is that the Bible’s claims are so emphatic, so clear cut, that they must be either true or false.

我并不是说,因为圣经是这样声明的,这样的声明一定是正确的。我想做的是说明,圣经中的声明是如此强调,如此明确,这个声明要么是正确的,要么是错误的。

The Bible writers all say with one accord:

圣经的书写者都用同样的格调说:

“What we have written are not our own words. God miraculously took control of us, and caused us to write His words. Consequently, everything we have written has the authority of the Almighty behind it. Everything we have written is true.”

“我们所写的并不是我们自己所要说的话。而是  神奇迹般地控制了我们,使我们写下这些话。结果,我们所写的每个字的后面都有全能的  神在后面。我们所写的每一个字都是真的。”

It stands to reason that there are only two possibilities. Either the Bible’s astonishing claim is true-or the book is the biggest confidence trick in all history!

结果只有两种可能性,要么圣经的声明是正确的,要么圣经是人类历史上最大的欺骗!

But as we saw at the beginning of this chapter, many leaders of religion refuse to accept that these are the only alternatives. They adopt a third point of view. They say that the Bible is sort-of-true and sort-of-false.

正如本章开始所看到的,很多宗教的领导者拒绝接受只有一种选择。他们采纳了第三方的观点,他们说圣经有正确的,也有错误。

Of course, they don’t put it like that. They express their views in language that is almost impossible for the man in the street to under­stand. But that is what it comes down to. Unlike the prophets, unlike Jesus Christ, unlike the apostles, these Biblical scholars believe in a Bible that is neither true nor false, but something in between.

当然,他们没有这样直接表达。他们用大多数人听不懂的语言来表达自己的观点。但是这就是他们传达自己意思的方式。他们和旧约时代的先知、耶稣、耶稣的门徒不一样,这些圣经学者相信圣经即不是真理,也不是谬误,而是在二者之间。

There are many of them and their views are widely known. So we cannot ignore them. The next chapter will take a look at their position and see where it leads us.

   其中有很多观点已经广泛地为人所知,因此我们不能够忽视。下一章我们将看看这些观点的后果。

 

15

Falling Between Two Stools

两头落空

Charles is a typical middle-aged Englishman. Most people like him, because he’s a friendly sort of chap. Good hearted, good living and public spirited, too.

查尔斯先生是一位典型的中年人。和大多数的人一样,他待人友善,心肠好,富有公益心。

He stood for the local council last year, but failed to get in. He never goes to church, but he would be hurt if you suggested he was not a Christian. He believes in keeping the Ten Commandments (or at least, as many as he can remember), and in being kind to other people.

去年他是当地的行政委员会的代表,但是今年没有被选上,他从来不去教堂,但如果你说他不是基督徒,他会感到受了伤害。他相信应该遵守摩西律法的十条戒命(至少包括他所记得的),相信应该友善地对待他人。

Of course, he doesn’t believe in the Bible, except for a few bits that he approves of. Like most people, he follows the fashion and assumes that the Bible has been shot full of holes by scientists and other experts. And anyway, he says he can live a perfectly good life without the Bible, thank you.

他不相信圣经,除了他自己赞同的一小部分以外。和大多数人一样,他跟随潮流,认为科学家和各方面的专家已经将圣经驳斥得千疮百孔。如果你劝他了解圣经,他会说,没有圣经他一样会过得很好,谢谢。

Yet Charles has suddenly become a worried man. His tranquil life has recently taken a very nasty knock. He has two teenage sons who are worrying him stiff. They stoop to every kind of petty dishonesty they can get away with, and the way they behave with girls makes Charles’ hair go grey.

然而查尔斯最近开始担忧起来。他平静的生活受到打击。两个青春期的儿子认为他太刻板,而他们玩世不恭的态度,和女孩子之间的关系让查尔斯先生的头发都变成了灰白色。

The worst of it is that Charles feels so powerless. Whenever he says anything, he comes up against a stone wall. “But why not, Dad? We’re not hurting anybody. Why shouldn’t we do what we like?”

最糟糕的是查尔斯感到软弱无力。不管他说什么,他的两个儿子都会顶撞他:爸爸,我们为什么不可以这样做?我们有没有伤害到别人,为什么我们不能够做我们所喜欢的事情?

Poor Charles has no answer for them. If he says, “Because I say so!” they merely retort, “And who do you think you are?”

可怜的查尔斯先生无法回答他们的问题。如果他说:因为我这样说,他的儿子们就会反击:你以为你是谁?

He knows how his father made him toe the line, forty years ago. The old man simply said, “Charles, pack this up! It’s wrong. The Bible says so.” In those days Charles knew that to his father the Bible was authoritative. So Charles did as he was told.

查尔斯先生知道他的父亲是怎样让他听从命令的。四十年以前,他的父亲只要说:查尔斯,收起你的那一套!圣经是这样说的。在那些时期,查尔斯知道对于他的父亲而言,圣经就是权威。因此查尔斯总是按照父亲的要求去做。

But Charles cannot talk to his own sons like that. They know he doesn’t accept the authority of the Bible. Charles believes in keeping the Commandments, and it upsets him to see his sons breaking them. But he doesn’t know why he keeps them. So how can he hope to persuade his sons to keep them?

但是查尔斯却不能用这样的态度对儿子们说话。他们知道他不接受圣经的权威,查尔斯相信应该遵守十条戒命,看到自己的儿子违反时感到难过。但是连他不知道为什么要遵守这些命令,他又怎样能够劝说儿子们来遵守呢?

Charles is not alone in this. There are hundreds of thousands, per­haps millions, of fathers in the same uncomfortable position.

查尔斯遇到的情况并不是个别的,有数万甚至数百万的父亲面临这样的尴尬状况。

The fact is that there always was only one good reason for keeping the Commandments. They are introduced by the statement: “And God spake all these words, saying...”1

事实是,永远只有一种最好的理由来说明为什么要遵守这些命令。因为它们是“神吩咐这一切的话”(出埃及记201)。

And they are immediately followed by a passage that says:

这段经文的声明后面还有下面的记载,它说:

 

“And all the people saw the thunderings, and the lightnings, and the noise of the trumpet, and the mountain smoking... And the Lord said unto Moses, Thus thou shalt say unto the children of Israel, Ye have seen that I have talked with you from heaven.”2

   “众百姓见雷轰、闪电、角声、山上冒烟,就都发颤,远远的站立,……耶和华对摩西说:「你要向以色列人这样说:『你们自己看见我从天上和你们说话了。”(出埃及记2018-22

That is why a hundred generations of God-fearing Jews have respected the Ten Commandments. They believed that the whole book of Exodus was true. They believed that God really did appear on Mount Sinai and thunder out those commandments to their ancestors.

这就是为什么有一百代敬畏神的犹太人尊敬摩西十戒的原因。他们相信出埃及记这本书的全部内容都是真的。他们相信  神真的在西奈山向他们的祖先显现,在雷声中将这些命令交给他们的祖先。

Jesus Christ endorsed that belief. Several books of the New Testament refer directly to it as a historical fact.3 That is why many generations of Bible-believing Christians like Charles’ father have had a profound respect for the Commandments.

    耶稣基督认可这些命令。新约将这些命令看成是历史事实。所以有很多基督徒(例如查尔斯的父亲)祖祖辈辈都尊敬这些命令。

  

Thin End of the Wedge 从小看大

 

There is a big lesson to be learnt from this.

从这个故事中我们可以汲取取很大的教训:

If you believe that God led Israel to Mount Sinai by a succession of mighty miracles, and there gave them His Law, the Commandments will have supreme authority. They will be a power in your life. They cannot be anything else, if you really believe they came down from heaven.

如果你相信  神奇迹般地带领以色列人到西奈山,将律法交给他们,那么这些命令就有无上的权威,它将成为你生命中的力量。如果你相信这些命令是从天上来的,就不会将它们看成是普通法律。

But suppose you listen to the wrong kind of expert. Suppose you lap up the misguided philosophy that says: “Miracles are imposs­ible. Much of the book of Exodus is fiction. The Commandments were made up by a group of pious men, not thundered out from heaven.”

但如果你听从一些专家的话,听从一些迷惑人的哲学说:奇迹是不可能的。出埃及记这本书的大部分都是编造的。所谓的十条戒命是信 神的人编造出来的,而不是从天上随着雷声下来的。

Then what? All the power and authority is gone. “Keep the Com­mandments if you want to; break them if you don’t. If God didn’t give the Commandments He won’t punish you for breaking them.” This is the inevitable reaction.

然后呢?这些命令全部的力量和权威都会消失:你想遵守就遵守,你不想遵守就可以不遵守。如果这些命令不是  神颁布的,你不遵守 神也不会惩罚你。这是必然的反应。

Where moral standards are concerned there is no permanent half­way house. The whole Bible stands or falls together, and moral standards stand or fall with it. If it is what it claims to be, inspired by God and authoritative from beginning to end, then it demands our obedience. But if not, there is no real reason why we should not do what we like.

与道德标准相关的事情是没有任何妥协的。如果圣经能够站立,圣经中的道德也能站立。否则亦然。如果圣经的申明是正确的,从头到尾都是  神的启示,那么我们必须遵守。如果不是,那么我们就找不到我们为什么会按照圣经去做的理由,

More and more people are realising this now. That is why more and more people are casting off all restraint. We ought not to be sur­prised by the rocketing statistics of crime, immorality, drug-addiction and violence. Far-sighted men and women saw it coming, more than a hundred years ago. They knew the thin end of a wedge when they saw it.

越来越多的人意识到了这一点,所以越来越多的人正试图摆脱束缚。我们不应该对越来越高的犯罪率、暴力和吸毒事情感到惊奇。在100年以前,很多人就清楚地意识到这一点。他们从事情出现苗头开始就预见到了。

Until about the middle of the last century practically all Christian scholars accepted the Bible’s own claim to be the words of God. There were some scholars who attacked the Bible, but generally they made no claim to be Christian. For some time their attacks on the Bible had little effect. But soon after the middle of the nineteenth century they made a breakthrough.

19世纪中叶之前,所有基督教学者都承认圣经是  神的话。当时也有一些攻击圣经的学者,但他们没有称自己是基督徒,对圣经的攻击效果不大。19世纪中叶以后,他们找到了突破口。

Around that time there was a great leap forward in human knowledge. The foundations of modern science were being laid. The two great offshoots of science, medicine and engineering, were working wonders undreamed of a few years before. Historians and archaeologists were busy unravelling the secrets of the past.

从那个时代开始,人类知识的积累为现代科学打下了良好的基础。在两个大的科学分支领域:医学和工程学,发生了以前梦到不到的奇迹,历史学家和考古学家忙于发掘过去各个时代的奥秘。

The result of all this was a great epidemic of swollen heads in the universities of the world. Few scholars had the humility to think, “Now we are a little less ignorant than we were before.” The general reaction was, “Look how wise we are now! Within a few years we shall know practically everything worth knowing.”

所有这些事情的发生导致了人类知识的膨胀。只有很少的学者肯谦卑地想:我们现在知道的东西只比以前多一点点普遍的反应是:,我们现在多么聪明!将来我们会知道任何值得知道的事情

Swinburne captured the spirit of the age in verse:

诗人Swinburne这样描写这个时代的特征:

 

“Glory to Man in the highest!

For Man is the master of things.”

最高的荣耀应该归于人!

因为人是万物的主宰!

In this climate of opinion scholars jumped recklessly to conclusions, without waiting for proper evidence. And a large part of the general public jumped blindly after them.

在这种信念的影响下,很多学者在没有得到恰当证据的情况下,鲁莽地下结论。大部分公众也盲目地跟随他们。

Darwin’s Origin of Species was sold out on the day of publication. Before they had even read it, some people started to believe that Darwin had disproved the existence of a Creator.

达尔文的物种的起源这本书今天依然在出版。很多人在阅读这本书之前,就相信达尔文已经证明了没有造物主的存在。

Archaeologists decided that writing was not invented until after Moses was dead, and that consequently Moses could not possibly have written any part of the Bible. Historians decided that nearly all the books of the Bible were full of historical blunders, and therefore could not have been written by eye-witnesses.

 一些考古学家下结论说,圣经是在摩西死后才出现的,摩西不可能书写过圣经的任何一部分。而历史学家则断定几乎所有的圣经都充满历史性的错误,不可能是由亲眼目击者写的。

We know now that all these gentlemen were, in fact, talking through the back of their learned necks. Modern scholars regard nineteenth-century scholarship as a hotchpotch of truth and error. But this realisation came too late to avert a tragedy. Very many Christian ministers of that time were taken in by the great flood of over-confident nineteenth-century scholarship. They accepted the view that the Bible was a collection of pious forgeries, written at a late date and palmed off on an ancient public as the works of famous men.

  我们现在知道这些绅士到底是一些什么样的人,他们以自己的知识为标榜。现代学者认为19世纪的学术界是充满真理和谬误的大杂烩,但是这种认识来的太晚了。如果早一些的话本来可以避免一场灾难。当时很多基督教传教士被潮流欺骗,他们相信圣经是一些非常虔诚而尽责的人自己编辑的书集,是在圣经中的人物出现之后写的。

By the turn of the century this view was held by the majority of Christian scholars. By then it was being taught in many theological colleges as if it were the unquestionable truth. And, of course, the young students at those colleges lapped it up without question. (They had to, if they wanted to pass their exams.) The fact that a very different viewpoint was still being taught at other colleges was quietly overlooked. 

19世纪末和20世纪初,大部分基督教学者也持有这样的观点。这种观点在大多数神学院被看成是不可置疑的真理来传授。年轻的学生当然会毫无疑问地接受。如果希望考试及格的话,他们不得不这样做。)尽管别的大学讲授的内容和他们的非常不一致,他们采用沉默的方式来忽视其他的观点。

 

From Bad to Worse越来越糟

 

It took a little time before it dawned on the average man what these views meant. If the Book of Isaiah did not even contain the words of Isaiah, you could hardly expect it to contain the words of God. If the four gospels were not written until long after Matthew, Mark, Luke and John were dead, you could not rely on what they said about Jesus. Some of it might be true, some untrue. Each man was free to choose how much he would believe.

对于普通人来说,要理解这些观点意味着什么是需要一点时间的。如果以赛亚书不包括以赛亚本人写的内容,你很难相信以赛亚书包含着  神的话。如果四本福音书都是在马太、马可、路加、约翰死亡以后才开始写的,你很难相信其中关于耶稣的记载是真的。如果是这样,有可能一些记载是正确的,一些记载是错误的,每一个人都可以决定自己可以相信什么,相信多少。

It was obvious where this would lead. Gradually men would choose to believe less and less of the Bible, until finally they believed nothing at all.

很显然这些会导致什么事情的。人们会一步步地越来越不信圣经,直到他们完全不相信为止。

What was a little more unexpected was the way religious leaders gradually became more and more extreme in their statements. At first they expressed their views moderately. In the nineteen thirties Arch­bishop Temple wrote:

    令人感到有一点惊奇的是,一些教会的领导人在声明中越来越走极端。最开始的声明还比较温和,例如19世纪的坦普尔(Temple大主教就这样写到:

“There is no single deed or saying of His [Christ’s] of which we can be perfectly sure that He said or did precisely this or that.”4

    没有任何迹象表明任何一种耶稣的言行就是福音书所准确记载的,是我们可以完全相信的

Though this makes sad reading, at least the language is restrained. It contrasts strikingly with a more recent statement by another religious leader. In ig6~ Dr. Leslie Weatherhead, one-time President of the Methodist Conference, was reported as saying that he would like to go through the Bible with a blue pencil and blot out various portions. He called the Old Testament out of date and completely outmoded. He described many of the Psalms as nonsense.5

尽管这种观点是错误的,但至少其措辞是有约束的。最近某位宗教领导人发表的言论与之形成了鲜明的对照。 Leslie Weatherhead博士曾经担任过卫理公会的主席,有报道说,他说要用蓝色铅笔将圣经的很多部分去掉。他称圣经旧约已经过时,他称很多诗篇是无稽之谈。

The end of the road was reached in 1966, when the following letter appeared in a leading British newspaper.6

    最终结果是在1966年出现了,那一年英国一家大报上出现了一份声明:

“Sir,各位先生

I do not believe in the existence of God; I believe that love, or ‘agape’, as exemplified in the life of Jesus, is the key to human relationships.

我不相信  神的存在,但是我相信在耶稣生活中体现出来的(或‘agape’,是人类相互联系的关键。

 (Methodist Minister) 卫理公会传教士

 John Smith 约翰-史密斯

Wallsend.” 沃尔森德[英国英格兰东北部城市]

 

What a sad confession. The “Reverend” John Smith (the name has been altered) admits he does not believe in God.

这是多么令人伤感的告白。“可尊敬的(同时含有牧师的含义)”约翰-斯密斯先生(这里姓名已经被更改)公开承认自己不相信  神。

At least you have to admire his courage. In the same newspaper a week before, a well known unbeliever, John Gilmour, had thrown Out a challenge. He declared that many leaders of the Church no longer believed in God. All they had, he said, was a general belief in Christian love as the key to human relationships. He dared them to come clean, and admit it. This Methodist minister accepted the challenge and owned up.

但是你至少得佩服他的勇气。一个星期以前,同样是在这份报纸上,著名的无神论者John Gilmour向圣经信仰者发出挑战。他声称很多教会领导人并不信仰  神。他们只是泛泛的相信,例如认为基督徒的爱是人类维持正常关系的关键。他鼓励这些人勇敢地站出来承认。卫理公会的这位牧师接受了挑战,公开承认这一点。

And why not? He has only gone one short step further than many of his colleagues. The existence of God was just about the only Bible teaching left that had not been denied by some minister of religion.

他为什么不可以这样做?他只是向前面迈出了一小步而已。在某些传教士看来,圣经教导中只有  神的存在是不可否定的。

 

The Unhappy Medium令人不愉快的媒体

 

Of course, not all those Biblical scholars who reject the Bible’s claims go to such wild extremes. There are still many who take a more moderate position. Between them they hold many different shades of opinion. Some think the Bible contains a lot of truth and only a little error; some think it is the other way round. It would be impos­sible in a single chapter to do justice to all their views.

当然,不是所有圣经学者都采取极端的方式拒绝圣经。有很多人采取温和的、中间的方式。他们中间有很多不同的意见。有人认为圣经包含很多真理,也有一少部分的错误,有人认为圣经的错误多于真理。我们不可能在一章的篇幅里评论所有这些观点。

But their most common approach to the Bible can be expressed quite simply. They say that the Bible is “reliable in matters of religion, but unreliable in historical matters”.

这些人对待圣经最普遍的态度,简单地说,圣经在宗教信仰方面是可靠的,但是在历史事实方面是不可靠的。

What does that mean? Simply this. That when John wrote that Jesus said, “A new commandment I give unto you, that ye love one another”7-and suchlike thing-we can accept them as true. But that when we read how the baby Moses’ life was saved because his mother hid him in the bulrushes,8 we are at liberty to say, “A likely story!”

这意味着什么?约翰福音记载了耶稣的话:“我赐给你们一条新命令,乃是叫你们彼此相爱;我怎样爱你们,你们也要怎样相爱。”(约翰福音1334我们将它看成是真理接受下来。当我们阅读时看到,摩西的母亲将摩西隐藏在芦苇丛中,后来被救上来,我们可以不受拘束地说:“可能是编造的!” 

If we hold these views, we shall believe that this story about Moses 

-and hundreds of other Bible stories-are fiction, not fact. We shall say, “What does it matter, anyway, whether these things happened or not? We can learn useful lessons from these stories, just as we can from the parables of Jesus. Nobody regards His parables as true stories.”

如果我们持这种态度,就会将圣经像摩西这样的人物及数百个故事都看成是虚构的,而不是真实的。我们会说:“这些事情有什么关系呢?它们是不是曾经发生过?我们从这些故事中能够得到有益的教训就够了,正如我们能够从耶稣的比喻中得到教训一样。没有人会把耶稣的比喻看成是真实的故事”。

Several things are very wrong with this approach. First of all, Jesus presented his parables as parables. Many of them are introduced by the words, “He spake a parable unto them.” Every one of them is worded in what you might call “a parable style”.

这种方法有好几种错误。首先,耶稣自己将自己的比喻就看成比喻。福音书好几次这样记载讲比喻,而且从耶稣讲话的措辞来看,他讲的就是比喻。

If the parable of the Good Samaritan had begun, “Last week Simon Peter’s cousin was going down from Jerusalem .. .” we should have known that Jesus was telling a true story. But it didn’t. It began, “A certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho . .”Everyone knew at once that this was a parable.

如果耶稣讲撒马利亚人的故事时这样开头:上个星期,西门彼得的堂兄要到耶路撒冷去..我们就知道耶稣讲的是真的故事。但耶稣故事的开头是:“有一个人从耶路撒冷下耶利哥去”路加福音10:30,在场的每个人都知道它是比喻。

Now when Jesus and the apostles referred to Old Testament history, they never spoke about it in “parable style”. They always treated it as accurate history. True, they did draw lessons from it, but they made it plain that these were lessons drawn from real life. When Paul based some lessons on a series of episodes from the history of Israel,

he said:

耶稣和门徒们谈论旧约时,他从来没有把它们看成是比喻,耶稣总是把它们看成是真实的历史故事。确实他们从中得到历史教训,但是这些教训是从真正的现实生活中得来的。保罗在总结以色列的历史教训时,他说:

“These things happened unto them by way of example, and they were written for our admonition.”10

    他们遭遇这些事,都要作为监戒;并且写在经上,正是警戒我们这末世的人。(哥林多前书10:11)

These things happened. Actually happened. Could words be plainer than that?

他认为这些事情是真的发生过的。还有更直接的表述吗?

As for Jesus, He spoke of many incidents in the Old Testament, including:

耶稣多次提到过旧约的故事,其中包括:

The story of Adam and Eve11

The murder of Abel by Cain12

Noah and the flood13

The destruction of Sodom and the death of Lot’s wife14

Moses and the burning bush15

The manna that fell from heaven16

Solomon and the Queen of Sheba17

Elijah and a miracle18

Elisha and another miracle19

Jonah and the whale20

关于亚当和夏娃的故事

该隐杀害他的兄弟亚伯的故事

诺亚和大洪水的故事

从天上降下来的吗拉的故事

所罗门和示巴女王的故事

以利亚和他所作的奇迹

以利沙和他所作的奇迹

约拿和大鱼的故事

Turn up these passages in your own Bible. See for yourself how Jesus obviously believed that all these events really did occur.

请自己找到这些圣经段落,看看耶稣是如何相信这些事情真的发生过的。

There is another big snag about saying the Bible is “religiously true but historically unreliable”. The historical and religious strands of the Bible are intertwined like the threads in a Persian carpet. How are we going to separate them? In fact, no two scholars seem to agree on which bits are “historical” and which are “religious”.

有人说,圣经从宗教方面来说是正确的,从历史方面来说确不是可靠的。圣经的历史记录和宗教思想波斯地毯中的经线和纬线一样是互相交织的。我们怎样将它们分开?事实上,对哪些是圣经中的宗教思想,那一部分是历史事实,没有任何两个人的观点是相同的。

Take the story that Jesus rose from the dead. We meet it in all four gospels, in the books of Acts and Revelation, and in several of the epistles. It is presented to us in these books as a historical fact. For this reason many scholars feel free to reject it as a myth.

再来看看耶稣从死亡复活的故事。在四本福音书、使徒行传、启示录以及使徒写的一些书信中,它们都被当成历史事实出现在我们面前。很多学者认为,将这些记载看成是荒诞神话就太过随便了。

But it is more than a historical fact. It is also presented to us as a foundation stone of the Christian religion. Listen to the apostle Paul:

耶稣的复活不仅仅是一个历史事实。它还是基督教的基石。正如保罗说的:

 

“How say some among you that there is no resurrection of the dead? But if there be no resurrection of the dead, then is Christ not risen, and if Christ be not risen then is our preaching vain and your faith is also vain.... If Christ be not raised your faith is vain; ye are yet in your sins!”21

   “既传基督是从死里复活了,怎麽在你们中间有人说没有死人复活的事呢?若没有死人复活的事,基督也就没有复活了。若基督没有复活,我们所传的便是枉然,你们所信的也是枉然;……基督若没有复活,你们的信便是徒然,你们仍在罪里”哥林多前书15:12-17

Then there is the problem that if Christ really was wrong in His teaching about the Old Testament, how can we be sure of anything else He taught? He backed up His claim to be the Son of God with a quotation from the Psalms, saying as He did so, “And the Scripture cannot be broken!”22 If He was wrong about Scripture, how do we know that He was not wrong about being Son of God?

如果耶稣关于旧约的教导存在错误的话,我们对于耶稣的其它教导如何有把握?耶稣声明自己是  神的儿子,诗篇早就有预言,他自己引用了这些经文并且说:经上的话是不能废的;(约翰福音103536)。如果他对待圣经经文的态度存在错误的话,我们怎么才知道他声明是  神的儿子没有错误?

He said that resurrection and eternal life could be relied upon because of what the book of Exodus said.23 If He was wrong about the book of Exodus, how do we know that He was not wrong about eternal life?

他说他的复活和永生是可信的,因为在出埃及记中就有记载。如果他对出埃及记这本书的态度就存在错误,我们怎样知道耶稣对待永生的问题上没有错误?

Lots of Bible-believing theologians have asked this kind of ques­tion.24 But so far as I know, nobody has ever given them a reasonable answer.

很多信仰圣经的神学家提出这样的问题。就我们目前所知道的,没有人能够给出一个合理的回答。

It is not surprising there has been a steady drift away from this “half and half” position. The drift has mainly been in the direction of complete unbelief, but quite a number of scholars have moved in the opposite direction towards complete belief. There may be some difficulties connected with wholehearted belief. But there are far greater problems facing those who try to believe only parts of the Bible. There is an increasing awareness of this fact among thinking Christians today.

毫不奇怪,他们最终会从中间线路上漂移。大多数人会朝着完全不相信圣经的方向前进,也有一少部分人最终完全相信圣经。完全相信圣经可能会遇到一些困难,但是只相信部分圣经面临的问题会更多。认真思考的基督徒应该意识到这是一个日益紧迫的问题。

 

cleverness and Commonsense 聪明与常识

 

Everybody has heard of absent-minded professors. But in fact there can’t be very many of them about. Quite a few of my friends are professors, and none of them is what I would call absent-minded. They are all men of very keen intellect.

大家可能都听说过缺心眼教授的故事。事实上这样的教授并不多。我的很多朋友是教授,但是他们中间没有一个人可以称得上是缺心眼的人。他们都是非常聪明的人,也非常敏锐。

Yet there is a certain element of truth underlying the legend of the absent-minded professor. Brilliant men are often lacking in plain common sense. Many an uneducated wife has said to a husband with twenty letters after his name, “But even I wouldn’t do a silly thing like that, darling!”

缺心眼的教授的传说背后包含着一些合理成分,那就是聪明的人常常缺乏常识。他们的妻子也要经常说:亲爱的,就是我也不会做出这样的傻事。

So it behoves us to remember that in everyday matters, very learned men often do silly things. And the Bible tells us that in religious matters also they often do silly things. The apostle Paul was a man of tremendous intellect; this is very obvious to anyone who studies his writings. But he had the humility to admit that cleverness can easily become more of a liability than an asset to a would-be Christian.

这些故事提醒我们,在日常生活中,非常聪明的人可能会做非常傻的事情,并且圣经也告诉我们,在信仰方面,他们也会做很傻的事情。使徒保罗是一个非常聪明的人,每一个看过他的书信的人都会知道这一点。但是他是一个非常谦卑的人,他承认,作为一个基督徒,自己的聪明更容易成为自己的负担,而不是帮助。

The highest social class in Israel consisted of the highly educated religious leaders. Paul belonged to that class. But he was no snob. He became ashamed of his own class, and left it to become a Christian, when he realised that this intellectual elite had crucified the Son of God.

以色列人的领导者是由受过高深教育的宗教领导人组成的。保罗属于这个阶层,但他不趋炎附势,他为这个阶层感到羞耻,后来他离开了他们,成为一个基督徒,因为他认识到了,正是这群聪明人杀害了耶稣基督。

So he warned his own age-and our age, too-not to be overawed by the learning of the learned:

    因此他警告了和他时代的人,,不要被有学识的人所吓怕了,这也是对我们这个时代的警告:

“Where is your wise man now, your man of learning, or your subtle debater-limited, all of them, to this passing age? God has made the wisdom of this world look foolish. As God in His wisdom ordained, the world failed to find Him by its wisdom . . . Divine folly is wiser than the wisdom of man, and divine weakness stronger than man’s strength. My brothers, think what sort of people you are, whom God has called. Few of you are men of wisdom, by any human standard; few are powerful or highly born. Yet, to shame the wise, God has chosen what the world counts folly, and to shame what is strong, God has chosen what the world counts weakness.

. . And so there is no place for human pride in the presence of God.”25

   “智慧人在那里?文士在那里?这世上的辩士在那里?神岂不是叫这世上的智慧变成愚拙吗?世人凭自己的智慧,既不认识神,……因神的愚拙总比人智慧,神的软弱总比人强壮。弟兄们哪,可见你们蒙召的,按著肉体有智慧的不多,有能力的不多,有尊贵的也不多。神却拣选了世上愚拙的,叫有智慧的羞愧;又拣选了世上软弱的,叫那强壮的羞愧。神也拣选了世上卑贱的,被人厌恶的,以及那无有的,为要废掉那有的。使一切有血气的,在神面前一个也不能自夸。”哥林多前书1:2-29

 

Jesus said much the same, but more briefly:

耶稣也曾用更加简洁的话表达出同样的思想:

“At that moment Jesus exulted in the Holy Spirit, and said, ‘I thank Thee, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, for hiding these things from the learned and wise, and revealing them to the simple. Yes, Father, such was Thy choice.”26

   “正当那时,耶稣被圣灵感动就欢乐,说:「父啊,天地的主,我感谢你!因为你将这些事向聪明通达人就藏起来,向婴孩就显出来。父啊!是的,因为你的美意本是如此。”(路加福音1021

In view of these warnings it should carry very little weight that the majority of Christian scholars view the Bible as a mixture of truth and error. They do not form an overwhelming majority, although they sometimes try to give that impression. Nevertheless they are a large majority. But what of that? A large majority of the leading Biblical scholars in Israel voted to reject Christ.

看待这些警告的时候,我们应该注意到大多数的基督教学者将圣经看成是正确与错误的混合。他们并不是压倒性的多数,尽管他们试图给人们造成这一种印象。他们的人数占多数,这又怎么样?在犹太教学者的带领下,大多数以色列人站在反对耶稣的那一边。 

If we had lived in the first century and had chosen to follow the great bulk of scholars, we should have joined the mob and shouted, “Crucify Him!” Christians who choose to take the majority path today are in danger of making a similar tragic mistake. “Tear up the Bible!” is the modern counterpart of “Crucify Him!”

如果我们也生活在公元1世纪,并且相信这些聪明人,我们也会加入他们之中并且叫喊:「把他钉十字架!」。今天选择服从多数人的基督徒也有可能犯这样的错误。叫嚣粉碎圣经现代人,就是呼喊把他钉十字架!古代

 

Why They Do It 他们为什么这样做?

 

It would be interesting to know why so many Biblical scholars take the line they do. There must be many reasons. The desire to conform, the fear of seeming ridiculous, too much uncritical respect for what “the experts” say, an exaggerated view of the difficulties of accepting the Bible wholeheartedly, a failure to appreciate the limitations of subjects outside their own sphere (such as history and science)-all these must play their part.

为什么很多圣经学者会这样做,这是一个很有趣的问题。和多数人的认同感、害怕被人嘲笑,过分地看重“专家”的意见,夸大完整学习圣经的难度,不承认自己研究领域(例如历史和科学)的局限性,都可能是其中的原因。

But there is a more important reason than any of these. So much depends upon the attitude a scholar has towards the object of his studies.

但是还有一个更重要的理由。它很大的程度上的取决于学者们对待研究对象的态度。

Dr. Jane Goodall, while still in her twenties, came to know more about chimpanzees than anyone else in the world. Her brilliant re. search work is one of the great scientific success stories of the 1960s. She succeeded where others had failed because she adopted an entirely new attitude.    

Jane Goodall博士在她只有二十岁时,就能比世界上其他人更了解小猩猩。她的研究成果是20世纪60年代最伟大的成功事例之一。她能够取得其他研究者没有取得的成功,是因为她采取全新的研究态度。

Previous research workers had brought chimpanzees into their laboratories and studied them from every conceivable point of view. They taught them tricks and observed how they solved puzzles. They studied the effect of drugs and surgical operations upon them. They killed them, cut them up into little bits, and looked at the pieces under the microscope. And still they had a poor understanding of chimpanzee behaviour, and quite a few wrong notions about them.

以前的研究人员总是习惯将小猩猩带进实验室,根据自己的观点对它们进行研究。他们教育小猩猩很多技巧,观察它们是如何解决难题的。他们还研究对小猩猩使用药物和进行外科手术的效果。他们杀死小猩猩,解剖它们的尸体,在显微镜下观察它们。但是他们对于小猩猩的行为还是不甚了解,还犯过很多错误。

Then Dr. Goodall tried a different approach. She went into the heart of the African bush and camped Out for several years among a colony of chimpanzees. After a while they accepted her almost like one of themselves. For the first time a scientist was able to observe chimpanzees behaving absolutely naturally. She was able to see things from a chimp’s point of view.   

Jane Goodall博士采取的是一种全新的研究方法。她深入非洲森林的核心地带,并且在那里扎营居住了好几年。小猩猩接受了她,将她看成是它们的一分子。这是科学家第一次能够看见小猩猩自然状态下的行为。她甚至能够从黑猩猩的视野看待事情。

She came home at last and published her findings. The title of her report is revealing: My Friends the Chimps.27  Instead of standing detached from the objects of her studies, looking down upon them with a superior air, she came down to their level. She met them on their own terms. Hence her remarkable success.

最后,她终于回到了自己的家乡,出版了自己观察结果。她的题目是:我的黑猩猩朋友。她没有使观察对象和观察结果相分离,也没有居高临下观察这些动物,而是和这些黑猩猩站在同样的水平线上,因此她的观察是成功的。 

Similarly, there were two very different ways of approaching Jesus of Nazareth. On one occasion, what we should call a commission of enquiry came to watch Him at work. Its members were eminent scholars, drawn from all over the country.28 They studied Him critic­ally for a while, no doubt conscious of their own scholarship and full of confidence in their ability to judge Him. Then they announced their decision. “Who is this which speaketh blasphemies?”29

类似地,有两种不同的方式来接近拿撒勒人耶稣。第一种,其成员包括著名的学者,他们采取挑剔的方式研究耶稣,没有意识到认为自己有权力判断耶稣是过于自信。他们宣布自己的结论说:“这说僭妄话的是谁?” (路加福音521

The other way was the way of Mary of Bethany. She “sat at Jesus’ feet and heard His word.”30 Where the committee of scholars had looked down on Him, she looked up at Him. From their different viewpoints they beheld the same man. But the scholars saw a “blasphemer”; the humble woman saw the Son of God.

另外一条方法就像伯大尼的马利亚那样,在耶稣脚前坐著听他的道(路加福音1039 他们从不同的角度来看同样一个人。学者们看到的是亵渎者,谦卑的马利亚却看到的是  神的儿子。

There are the same two alternative ways of approaching the Bible. Some scholars-all too many of them-look down at the Bible with a cool, detached air. A “scientific” attitude they like to call it, just as the biologists who studied chimpanzees in cages thought their methods were the height of good science. They dissect the Bible into little bits, and examine each bit under the microscope of their specialist knowledge.

同样有两条方式走进圣经。一些学者(他们中间有很多人)居高临下看待圣经,带着事不关己、无动于衷的态度。他们喜欢称这种态度是“科学的”态度,就像他们喜欢观察笼子中的大猩猩一样。他们将圣经分裂成很多碎段,用他们的专业知识在显微镜下研究每一个片断。

But there are other men, just as scholarly, as well as a whole host of ordinary folk, who look up at the Bible instead of down at it. They follow the Jane Goodall technique, by studying the Bible on its own terms. Because she was a friend to the chimps, she quickly became the world’s foremost chimpanzee scholar.

 但是另外一些人,其中有学者,也有普通人,他们仰视圣经,而不是是居高临下地看待圣经,他们也采取了Jane Goodall的办法,按照圣经的方式研究圣经。Jane Goodall成为猩猩的朋友以后,很快就成为世界最好的猩猩研究学者。

Similarly, the wisest Bible scholars-those whose conclusions are most likely to be right-are those who can speak of “my friend, the Bible.” They follow the example of Mary, who sat at the feet of Jesus to hear Him. They sit down before the Bible to learn from it, not just to learn about it.

类似地,最聪明的圣经学者(他们的观点通常是正确的),是那些将圣经看成是自己的朋友的人。他们以马利亚为榜样,坐在耶稣的脚下听从耶稣讲道。这些学者坐在圣经下面虚心学习,不仅仅是想了解圣经。

Think how different things might be if all scholars had possessed the spirit of Dr. Goodall and of Mary of Bethany. It would have made them no less scholarly, no less scientific. But it would have made them far more humble and far more balanced. It would have preserved their common sense. And thus this strange, incredible idea of a “true-false” Word of God would never have come to undermine the founda­tions of the Christian faith.

如果学者都有Goodall博士和马利亚的精神,今天的情景就会有很大的不同。可能没有这么多的学派,这么多的学科 ,但是他们的态度就会有更多的谦卑,看待问题没有那么多的偏见,他们也更加具有常识性。圣经是不是  神的话本身就是一个奇怪的、不可思议的问题,如果今天所有的学者都有Goodall博士和马利亚的态度,这个破坏基督教信仰根基的问题绝不会出现。

 

16

When were the Books Written?

圣经是什么时候写的?

Just when were the sixty-six books of the Bible written?

那么,圣经66本书是什么时候写成的呢?

This is an absolutely crucial question. If the Bible is what it claims to be, its sixty-six books must have been written by the men named as their authors. The authors of a few books are not stated, but the Bible tells us who wrote all the others. And they cannot have been written by those men unless they were written in their lifetimes.

这绝对是一个关键问题。如果圣经所声明的是正确的,这66本书的书名肯定是书的作者。圣经有时没告诉我们少数书的作者是谁,但告诉我们其余的作者。圣经不可能全部都是这些已知姓名的人写的,除非这些人写了好几辈子。

Well, were they or weren’t they written at the right time?

那么,这些书是否就是在那个时候写的呢?

The short answer is that scholars differ in their opinions. About the books of the Old Testament they differ very much indeed. About the books of the New Testament there is very much less difference of opinion.

对于这个问题,简单地回答是:不同的学者有不同的意见。实际上对旧约的书写年代,专家们之间的意见分歧较大,对新约的分歧就比较小。

Let me warn you of a common fallacy. Some people seem to think that with all this difference of opinion about the Old Testament, the situation is well nigh hopeless. How can the ordinary Bible-believer ever hope to establish the genuineness of the Old Testament books, if even the scholars do not really know the facts?

首先我要警告一种谬论。有些人似乎认为由于专家们对旧约的分歧是令人绝望的,对希望接受圣经的普通人来说,如果学者也不知道旧约的真实情况,他怎么相信这些书是真的?

Don’t worry. There is no need to look at it like that. Every time you receive a letter in an unknown handwriting, do you say, “Perhaps this letter is a forgery”? Of course not. You assume that a letter is genuine unless there is some reason to think otherwise-just as, in English law, a man is deemed innocent until he is proved guilty.

请你不要担心,也不必这样看问题。每次收到一封你不知道笔迹的时候,你会说这封信可能是伪造的吗?当然不会。你会假定这封信是真实的,除非自己有让自己相信是伪造的原因。正如按照英国的法律,除非有证据证明一个人有罪,否则这个人就是清白的。

It is not up to you to prove that each letter you receive is genuine, not even if a friend asks you to do so. If he says that a certain letter is a forgery, it is up to him to prove it a forgery. Unless he provides convincing proof of this, you are entitled to go on assuming the letter’s genuineness.

不是你来证明收到的每一封信是真的,即使是你的朋友要你相信这封信是伪造的,你会要他自己拿出证据来。除非他能够证明这一点,你大可放心地假定这封信是真的。

The Bible-believer is in a similar position. He has many good reasons for thinking that the Old Testament is part of the Word of God. (Some of these reasons were given in Part One of this book.) With evidence like that before him, there is no need for him to prove that each book was written at the right time, by the right author. He is fully entitled to assume that they were.

相信圣经的人也处在相似的环境中。他有很多理由认为旧约是  神的话语的一部分。(本书第一部分已经给出了一些理由)。既然有这些证明,他就没有必要证明每一本书是由哪些人写的,是在什么时间写的。他完全可以假定事情就是那个样子的。

Keep that fact always in mind as you go through this chapter. The Bible-believer is the man in the position of strength. There is no need to ask, “Can we prove that the Old Testament books were written by the men whose names they bear?”  

在阅读本章的整个过程中都要想到这一点,这样我们就会处在一个有力的位置。我们没有必要问自己:“我们能够证明圣经旧约所有的书是由那些人写的吗?”

The only legitimate question is this: “Can those who criticise the Bible prove that its books were not written by the men named as their authors?”

真正的问题应该是这样的:“批判圣经的人能够证明圣经不是这些人写的吗?”

That is the question at issue. Now let us look for an answer.

    这才是问题的本质。现在让我们来寻找答案。

 

The Attack on the Old Testament有关对旧约的攻击

 

The great scholarly attack on the Old Testament was mounted just over a hundred years ago. But it did not spring into existence overnight. Many of the arguments used were first put forward in the eighteenth century, or even earlier. It was only in the middle of the nineteenth century that those arguments began to lead to a great popular move­ment.

100多年以前,学术界对圣经发动了一次大攻击。这次攻击并不是在一夜之间就发生的。很多攻击论据在18世纪甚至更早就提出来了,但到了19世纪中叶这些攻击才逐渐盛行成为时尚。

This movement was associated with a literary technique known as “higher criticism”. This was a perfectly legitimate form of study which had been in use for a long time. It was devoted to studying the sources used by the authors of ancient books-not just Biblical books but any ancient books.

这些活动和当时盛行的“高度批判主义”流行不无关系。“高度批判主义”奉行超级完美,喜欢从古代开始研究事物的起源。这种思潮不仅仅针对圣经,目标也对准任何古代书籍。

Unfortunately, in the days of the great attack on the Bible, higher criticism was used in a most unbalanced way. Many higher critics chose to ignore what Jesus taught about the Bible, and to let their imaginations run riot. Fierce controversies took place, with both sides sometimes expressing themselves in a less-than-Christian fashion.

很不幸的是,高度批判主义者用此方法对圣经的批判有失偏颇。很多批判主义者无视耶稣关于圣经的教导,任由自己的想象力自由发挥。论战中有很多激烈的辩论,双方在表达自己的观点时都有失基督徒的形象。

These wordy battles had an unhappy sequel. The world’s Biblical scholars became divided into two camps, and the split has continued right down to the present day. Those who continued to regard the Bible as true were the smaller group. They reacted violently against the way their opponents used the methods of higher criticism to undermine people’s faith in the Bible, and they began to use the term “higher critic” as if it meant “someone who pulls the Bible to pieces.” 

这场口舌之争导致了不愉快地结局。世界上的圣经学者分裂成两大阵营,这种分裂一直持续到今天。依然认为圣经是真理的人成了少数派。他们激烈地反对高度批判主义者使人们丧失信心的做法。他们也对批判主义者实施更加严厉的批判,好像批判主义者意味着“要将圣经撕毁”似的。

At the time this was not far from the truth. Even today most higher critics reject the idea that the whole Bible is true, and most Bible-believers refuse to have anything to do with higher criticism. There are a few scholars who use the methods of higher criticism in a sensible way and remain staunch Bible-believers. But for simplicity’s sake I shall disregard their existence, and use the terms “higher critic” and ‘‘critical scholar’’ to mean the general run of higher critics, who argue that the Bible is, at best, only partly true.

在那个时代,他们并没有远离真理。即使在今天,大多数批判主义者拒绝承认全部圣经都是真理,大部分的圣经信仰者拒绝和批判主义者发生任何联系。有一些学者明智地采用“批判主义者”的方法,但他们仍然是坚定的圣经信仰者。为了陈述方便,我忽略他们的存在,我这里只是讨论那些认为圣经只有部分正确的批判主义者的观点。

Most of the heat has gone Out of the controversy nowadays. Many of today’s critical scholars are much more moderate than those of the last century. But the underlying problems are still there, and so we must have a look at the critics’ point of view. We shall under­stand this better if we begin by considering how their ideas first developed.

这场论战已经不再是今天的热点问题。很多批判家的态度要比上个世纪温和得多,但是问题依然存在,因此我们有必要来看看批判主义的观点。首先我们来看这些观点是如何形成和发展的。

A very brief summary of the nineteenth-century critical scholars’ case runs like this:

十九世纪批判主义者的主要观点总结如下:

(1) Moses could not write’. Archaeologists had found evidence that writing went back to nearly 1000 B.C., but beyond that there was nothing. The idea of Moses writing a code of laws hundreds of years earlier was clearly absurd. Therefore there must be another explana­tion: some other person, or persons, must have written the Jewish law long after Moses was dead. 摩西时代没有文字,摩西不可能写作。考古学家曾经认为最早的文字出现在公元前1000年,除此以外世界上没有任何文字记录。一些人因此认为摩西在公元前1500年就写下律法条文的观点是荒谬的,摩西律法的作者应该有别的解释,是另外的人或者是某些人在摩西死后很多年才写的。

(2)        Evidences of multiple authorship. Many of the books of the Old Testament do not read like the writings of one man. There is a fair amount of repetition, and sudden changes from one style of writing to another. Therefore it can be inferred that lots of unknown authors wrote little bits of the Old Testament books, and unknown editors welded these bits together into complete books. Eventually the Jewish public were persuaded that long-dead men, like Moses, and David, and Solomon and Isaiah, had written these recently compiled books. 多位作者的证据 旧约中的很多书阅读起来好像不会是一个人写的,有很多重复的部分,而且写作风格也存在突然变化。应该是有一些不知名的作者写完后插于进去的,然后又一位不知名的编辑将它们汇编成完整的书。最后,犹太人公众假定这些书是一位已经在很久以前就去世的人,例如大卫、所罗门以及以赛亚写的那些书。

(3) Historical errors. The Old Testament, it was thought, was riddled with historical errors. Eye-witnesses would never have made these blunders. Therefore the Bible was not a book of history written at the time things happened, but a collection of legends handed down by word of mouth for generations, and put in writing long afterwards. The people and places mentioned often did not exist, and when they did were often spelt wrongly or set in the wrong period of history. Even the words used were words from the wrong period-as if some­one had tried to write a fake Shakespeare play, but had foolishly included some modern American slang.

3)历史性的错误。这种思想认为,旧约存在着很多历史性错误。亲眼见过的人决不会方这样的错误。因此圣经不是一本在事情发生时写下的历史书,而是一系列一代一代传递的传说。圣经中提到的人物和地点并不存在,即使是存在的人物或地点,也有拼写错误,或者是被放置在错误的历史时期。圣经使用的词汇也不符合当时的历史特征。就像有人假冒莎士比亚的作品,却将一些现代美国俚语包括进去一样。

 

The Turn of the Tide潮流的转变

 

It would be an exaggeration to say that the new wave of critical theories about the Old Testament swept all before it. There were a great many Bible-believing scholars who remained unconvinced by the new theories. Nevertheless the critical movement did have a tremendous success. 

如果说,批判主义理论浪潮曾经横扫圣经旧约,那么就太夸大其词了。很多相信圣经的学者不相信他们的新理论。然而批判主义运动确实取得了很大的成功。

In one way this success was short-lived, in another, long-lived. In its original form it was short-lived because it had no sooner reached its peak, around the turn of the century, than some of its foundations were shown to be false.

从某个角度说,他们的成功是短命的。这种理论达到顶点之后,在下一个世纪,很多作为批判主义理论基础的东西被证明是错误的。

Archaeologists who had been looking for evidence of the dawn of civilisation made an uncomfortable discovery: for many years they had been digging in the wrong place! They had concentrated their efforts in the land we now call Iraq, in the territory of ancient Assyria in the valleys of the Tigris and Euphrates. This earlier work had convinced them that writing was invented less than three thousand years ago.

   一直在寻找人类文明曙光的考古学家发现一件令不愉快的事实:多年来他们一直在错误的地点挖掘!过去他们将注意力放在现代伊拉克这块地方,(古代亚述国所在的幼发拉底和河与底格里斯河两河流域谷地)。早期的工作成果让他们相信人类的书写历史不超过3000年。

Then they moved down the rivers to the coastal plain. They dug up a number of cities in the area once called Babylonia, and made some startling discoveries. At Nippur, Ashur, Ur and Kish they found thousands of clay tablets covered With writing, far older than any written material previously known. Many of them were dated at about the time of Moses; some of them went back to far earlier periods, perhaps even as much as a thousand years before Moses was born.

后来他们顺着河流来到一块靠海的平原。他们挖掘了很多古巴比伦地区的一些城市,并且有惊人的发现。在Nippur, Ashur, Ur(即吾珥,亚伯拉罕的故乡)和Kish这些城市,他们发现了数千件有文字记载的泥板,比从前知道的更早。很多属于摩西时代,有一些则更早,甚至在摩西出生之前一千年。

Some of these ancient records consisted of codes of law drawn up by various kings. The earliest law code known today is probably that of the Sumerian king, Ur Nammu. He lived about four thousand years ago. A more famous law code was compiled by Hammurabi, sixth king of the first dynasty of Babylon, in about 1700 B.C. 

这些古代记录中包括不同国王起草的法律。今天我们已经知道的最早的成文法典可能是Ur Nammu国王颁布的,他生活在4000年以前(公元前2000左右)。更有名的汉摩拉比法典颁布时间为公元前1700年。(汉摩拉比是巴比伦第一个王朝的第6位国王)。

Since Moses lived around 1300 B.C. it was clear that the early higher critics had made a fundamental blunder. Writing in general, and writing books of laws in particular, was already a very ancient art when Moses was born. So Moses certainly could have written the law that bears his name.

摩西生活的年代大约为公元前1300年,非常明显,早期的批判主义者犯了根本性的错误。前面提到的法律在摩西出生时就成了古董,摩西当然有可能写下以他的名字命名的律法书。

Not only so, but large numbers of people would have been able to read what he wrote. The earliest form of writing was “picture writing”, in which a different little diagram is used for every word. The great breakthrough in human communications - even more important than the invention of printing-was the invention of the alphabet. And this occurred long before the time of Moses.

不仅仅如此,当时有很多人能够阅读他写的作品。早期的“象形文字”可以表达每一个词的意思,这是人类交往过程中的巨大突破。字母的发明甚至比印刷术更加伟大,这些事情的发生都在摩西时代之前。

Consequently writing was already in common use by quite ordinary people. Not only legal documents by kings have been found in these ancient cities, but personal letters, records of business deals, lists of stores held by merchants, and so forth.

书写对很多人来说是很平常的事情。这些古代城市不仅发现了很多国王颁布的书面法律文件,还有个人书信,商业事件记载,商人记录的商品库存名单,等等。

There is a very interesting passage in the Revised Standard Version (a Bible translation published in 1952) of the book of Judges. It des­cribes an event occurring about a hundred years after the time of Moses:

圣经士师记8:14中有一段很有趣的记载。它描写了摩西去世后大约100年所发生的事:

 

“Then Gideon the son of Joash returned from the battle by the ascent of Heres. And he caught a young man of Succoth and ques­tioned him; and he wrote down for him the officials and elders of Succoth, seventy-seven men.”1

“约阿施的儿子基甸由希列斯坡从阵上回来,捉住疏割的一个少年人,问他:「疏割的首领长老是谁?」他就将首领长老七十七个人的名字出来”。

 

When the Revised Version (another Bible translation) was pub­lished in 1884 the translators could not bring themselves to say that the young man “wrote”. Their translation says he “described” the men in question (although they pointed out in a footnote that the Hebrew word does really mean “wrote”). Evidently the scholars of the late nineteenth century could not conceive of an ordinary prisoner of war in Gideon’s day being able to write. But in the light of modern knowledge it seems altogether possible.

1884年出版的钦定修订版中,译者认为当时的人不可能“”,就这个年轻人“描绘”了这些名字,尽管在旁边标明,希伯来原文的意思是“写”。这就证明,19世纪晚期的学者没有意识到,在基甸生活的时代,普通人会写字。现代人知道这是可能的。

 

Who Compiled What?谁是编辑?编辑了些什么内容?

 

There is no doubt that a great deal of compiling has occurred in the writing of the Bible. Authors always have made a habit of quoting earlier authors. The Bible makes no secret of this. Moses admitted that he used material from the book of The Wars of Jehovah,2 and two other authors said they borrowed from the book of Jasher.3 Other writers refer to at least eight more lost books that they used as sources of information.4 The question upon which scholars disagree is this:  who did the compiling?

毫无疑问,编辑圣经的过程中经过了大量工作。一本书的书写者通常会引用另一本书的话。圣经也对此毫无隐瞒。摩西承认他的书中包括《The Wars of Jehovah》这本书的内容,还有两本书的作者说,他们引用过《book of Jasher这本书的内容。此外还有至少8本书被引用。学者存在争议的地方在于:谁在做这些编辑工作? 

When the nineteenth-century critics reached their premature con­clusion that Moses could not write, they were led on a false trail. Naturally, they said, the Law of Moses must have been compiled in the days when men could write. So they produced a theory that it was produced roughly halfway between the times of Moses and Christ.

19世纪,批判主义者认为摩西时代不存在书写的时候,他们陷于了两难困境:他们不能够说是磨西抄写了别人的书籍,因此他们说,摩西律法一定是在人们掌握了文字以后才编辑成的。他们制造了一种理论,认为摩西律法大约出现在摩西与基督中间的年代。

They had no hope of establishing the actual identities of their supposed authors and compilers. So they gave them fictitious labels. One imaginary gentleman was known as J, because he always called God “Jehovah”. Another was called E, because he preferred the Hebrew word Elohim for God. Then there was D; he was largely responsible for the book of Deuteronomy. P was a priest; you could tell the bits he wrote (or so they said) by his priestly leanings.

他们不可能确定这些假定的作者和编辑者,所以自己虚构了很多名字。他们猜测有一位作者是J先生,因为他总是称  神为“Jehovah”;他们称另一位为E先生,因为他喜欢用希伯莱的“Elohim”来代表  神;接下来还有一位名叫“D”先生,因为他主要负责申命记》“Deuteronomy”的编辑工作;还有一位P先生,从他写的书可以看出它对犹太人的祭司(Priest)制度具有非常渊博的知识。

There were quite a lot of other members of the critics’ Editorial Committee. Some of them were formed by splitting up men like D into D The First, D The Second, and so on. Another view is that some of the JEDP family should be regarded as different traditions rather than as individual men. But we need not concern ourselves with the finer points of the theory. J, E, D, and P always have been the Big Four; it will simplify matters if we concentrate on them.

批判者组成的编委会还编造了很多人物。有人将D先生划分为D先生第一,D先生第二等等。还有人将作者看成是不同的年代人物,而不是单个的人。但是我们不想涉及他们理论的细节问题,在各种理论中,J, E, D,P四个大人物是一致存在的,我们讨论重点集中在他们身上可以更简单一些。   

After years of arguing about who wrote which bits, the critics finally reached something like unanimity. They published an edition of the Bible which, if not intended to be the last word in Biblical scholar­ship, was at least supposed to be somewhere near it. So that the reader could see who was supposed to have written what, J’s contribu­tions were printed in one colour, E’s in another, D’s in a third, and so on. Since the colours sometimes switched about from verse to verse, or even from line to line, the result looked more like a Scotsman’s kilt than a holy book.

批判学者对谁写圣经的哪一部分争吵了好多年之后,最终似乎达成了一致。他们出版了自己的圣经,并且希望以圣经的最终权威说话,或假定可以用接近圣经的最终权威说话。为了让读者明白自己的用意,他们将所谓J先生的书写内容用一种颜色来标注,D先生用另一种颜色。因为颜色从一节到另一节经常要变化,甚至行间就有变化,结果这本书更像是苏格兰男人的裙子,而不是一本圣洁的书。

The fact that they could issue such a book as this shows how very self-confident the early higher critics were. It never seemed to occur to them that their work was highly speculative, based on very slender evidence. Like fond parents they could see nothing wrong with their own offspring. “Critical scholars” they called themselves; but where their own work was concerned they were some of the most uncritical people on earth.

从他们出版这样的一本书就可以看出,早期的批判主义者是多么自大。他们从来没有想到自己的工作充满了猜测,是建立在薄弱证据的基础上。就像溺爱孩子的父母看不到自己孩子的错误一样。他们称自己为“批判家”,却认为自己的工作是世界上最不应该受批判的。

If it were not for this, they might have had a fresh look at their subject when their mammoth boob about Moses being “unable to write” was exposed. Unfortunately this did nothing to shake their self-confidence. By this time they were so sold on J, E, D, and P that they pressed on regardless, refining their ideas of which of these mythical gentlemen wrote what.

当他们认为摩西时代没有文字的的错误被揭露以后,他们应该改过自新,然而不幸的是,错误没有动摇他们的自信,他们依然我行我素,继续销售他们的J, E, D,P理论。

Meanwhile a considerable number of other men were looking at the Old Testament from another point of view. As Bible-believers they failed to see how the JEDP school could possibly be right, because that would mean that Jesus Christ had been wrong. Because of this their opponents called them biased. Perhaps they were biased, but no more so than the higher critics themselves. And they were certainly not ignoramuses. Many of them were scholars of international renown.

与此同时很多其他人在寻求用另外的观点来看待旧约。作为圣经信仰者,他们没能看出批判主义理论没有正确的可能性,批判主义理论意味着耶稣基督犯了错误。他们仅仅称批判主义者的理论有偏差。也有可能他们自己的观点也有偏差,但要比批判主义者小一些。他们绝对不是不学无术的人,其中很多人具有国际声望。

These Bible-believing scholars of seventy years ago published many books and papers opposing the critical theories of the day. Some of these are classics, still worthy of study today.They made four main points:

这些相信圣经的学者出版了很多书和杂志反对当时盛行的批判主义理论。其中有一些巨作非常经典,在今天依然值得一读。他们的主要观点有4点:

(1) That archaeologists were constantly making discoveries that revealed the unsoundness of many of the critics’ assumptions.考古学家的发现经常揭示了批判主义者的假设是错误的。

(2) That other theories to explain the evidence of compilation in the Old Testament could be produced; these fitted the facts just as well as the JEDP theories, and had the overwhelming advantage of not conflicting with the views of Christ and His apostles.还有很多关于旧约的理论同样符合批判主义提出的事实,而且与圣经的新约的观点没有冲突。

(3) That the critics’ arguments based upon style and vocabulary were far from watertight, especially in the light of our rapidly increas­ing knowledge of ancient languages.批判主义的论据建立在过去对古代的语言了解不多的基础上。而现在人们对古代语言的了解越来越多。

(4) That Old Testament history was far more reliable than the critics had thought. Every year new discoveries were coming to light that necessitated some rewriting of our history books. And frequently, where the older versions of the history books pronounced the Bible ‘wrong, the newer versions agreed that the Bible had been right after all.  圣经旧约中的历史部分要远远比批判主义者所认为的要基础牢固。几乎每一年都有新的发现,足以改写某一部分的历史。结果,旧版本的历史书认为圣经记载的历史是错误的,而新版本的历史书宣布圣经记载是正确的。

This last point, the accuracy of Bible history, is covered in Chapter 18. I shall deal briefly with the other three points here.

   我们将在本书的第18章探讨圣经历史准确性的有关问题。这里我要讨论其余的三个问题。

 

Why Not Moses?为什么不是摩西?

 

If JEDP ~ Co. did not compile the first five books of the Bible, who did?如果圣经的律法书不是J, E, D,P合作写的,那么是谁做的?

The obvious answer is, Moses. There is no proof that it wasn’t Moses. Since writing was known long before his time, there would have been plenty of existing writing for him to work with.答案很明显,是摩西写的。没有证据表明不是摩西。因为文字早在摩西时代之前很久就已经被发明,在摩西的时候就有很多文字材料可以参考。

God made some tremendously important promises to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the ancestors of Moses.’ According to both the Christian New Testament7 and the Jewish Talmud8 these promises implied a hope of resurrection and personal immortality for Abra­ham, Isaac and Jacob. Since writing was in use in Abraham’s day, it seems highly likely that he and his family would have kept a record of these promises. Perhaps they kept accounts of God’s other dealings with them, too.  神向摩西的祖先亚伯拉罕、以撒和雅各做出了庄严的承诺,不管是犹太人的律法书还是基督徒的新约都承认,这些应许中包含复活和永生的盼望。既然在亚伯拉罕时代就有了文字,当然亚伯拉罕家族有可能将 神和他们打交道的故事记载下来,其中包括  神对他们的应许。

One archaeologist has suggested that there may even have been some written records dating back to the time of Adam.9 (The ques­tion of whether Adam was a real man, and if so, when he lived, is discussed in Chapter 23.) This startling suggestion may sound highly improbable, but P. J. Wiseman supplies a surprising amount of evidence for it. Don’t dismiss the idea out of hand without first reading his book.

甚至有一位考古学家认为在亚当时代就有文字。(本书的第23章将讨论亚当是否是真实的人;如果是,他生活在什么年代等问题)。这个让人吃惊的论断听起来是不可能的,但P. J. Wiseman提供了大量令人惊讶的证据,阅读这本书之前请您不要轻易地下结论排除这种可能性。

Although they may not have gone back as far as Wiseman suggests, there were undoubtedly many written documents available to Moses. If, as seems almost certain, he made use of these, this could account for all the evidences of compilation in his five books.

尽管人类掌握文字的历史可能没有P. J. Wiseman认为的那样久远,但是有确凿的证据显示在摩西时代就有很多文字资料。我们几乎可以肯定,摩西使用了这些材料来编辑摩西律法书。 

For example, some people make a great song and dance about what they call “the two contradictory records of creation” in Genesis 1 and 2. This is a most misleading expression. There are two records, but they are not contradictory. They describe some of the same events, but from two very different points of view.

例如,有人在声称创世记第一章和第二章相矛盾。这其实是误导。它们是两种记录,但是并不矛盾;描写的是同样的事件,但是角度不同。

As Wiseman pointed out, the phrase “these are the generations of so-and-so” occurs eleven times in Genesis, and always at or near the end of the story of so-and-so. It does not mean, “these are the children of”. It means, “that was the story of”. It appears to be Moses’ way of acknowledging that the material he had just included in Genesis was taken from a written record about so-and-so. The writing, by the way, would not have been on paper, but on a baked clay tablet.

正如Wiseman所指出的,在创世记中“创造(某某)…..的来历”这样的词出现了11次,通常出现在事情的结尾。摩西用这种表达方式来告诉大家,这些包含在创世记的材料是从其它书面记录中来的。顺便说一下,当时的书写材料是不是纸张,而是要经过烘烤的粘土片。

The first occurrence of “these are the generations of -. .” is unique. Here in Genesis 2, verse 4, “so-and-so” is not a person but “the heavens and the earth”. It concludes the first creation story, which gives a birds-eye view of the whole of creation. Perhaps, if I may use the expression reverently, a “God’s-eye” view would describe it better.

第一次出现“创造…..的来历”这种表达方式时是非常独特的。创世记24被创造的不是一个人称,而是“天和地”。它以“老鹰的视野”总结了第一次创造天地的故事,可能“ 神的视野”这个词更虔诚一些。

The second creation story runs from Genesis 2, verse 5, to the end of the chapter. It forms the first section of “the generations of Adam”, which end, with that phrase, in chapter 5, verse 1. So this second narrative is concerned with creation from Adam’s point of view. It is not concerned with the creation of the world, but only with the creation of Adam and his homeland, the Garden of Eden.

第二个创造的故事从创世记25一直到这一章的结尾。这次是按照亚当的视点来叙述的。涉及的并不是创造世界,而仅仅与创造亚当和他自己的故土---伊甸园。

The “earth”, whose creation is referred to in verse 5, is almost certainly the land of Eden. It is a translation of the Hebrew word eretz, which can mean “earth” but is more frequently translated “land”-as in Eretz Israel, the Land of Israel. This is why there is no mention of “the heavens” in the second creation narrative. 在第5节中提到的“地”,几乎肯定是指“伊甸园”。这个词是从希伯莱文“eretz”来的,它的意思是以色列的“地”,所以在第二次的描写中没有提到创造“天”的故事。  

We do not know why God chose to give these two separate, comple­mentary stories of creation. We don’t know when He revealed them, or to whom. The internal evidence indicates that He did give them, that they were written down, and that Moses brought them together. In the present state of our knowledge we can go no further than that.

我们不知道为什么  神会选择让两个独立的、互相补充的创造世界的故事出现。我们也不知道  神什么时候、向谁显示了这些故事。一些内在的证据显示   神真的向人显示了这些事情,然后有人记录下来,摩西将这些故事汇集在一起。在目前这个阶段我们的知识还是有限的。

And what about the evidence of compilation in the later books of Moses? Here again we cannot go very far, but it is possible to make some reasonable guesses.

是否有证据说明是摩西律法中包含前人所写的故事?在这个问题上我们依然不能走的太远。当时如果可能的话,我们可以做一些合理的推测。

Writing in those days was a very laborious business. Moses was a very busy man, and he would have needed some help. In those days great men dictated to professional writers - called “amanuenses” -  just as business men dictate to their secretaries today. We can almost take it for granted that Moses used secretaries, just as Paul did.

书写在当时是一件非常辛苦的工作。摩西是一个非常忙碌的人,有可能需要一些帮助。在当时的年代,一些大人物有专门抄写的人为他服务,这些人被称为“amanuenses”,就象是今天的公司总裁吩咐自己的秘书一样。我们当然可以认为摩西也有这样的吩咐“amanuenses”,保罗的一些信也是吩咐别人写的。

We do not know how much freedom Moses gave his secretaries. Paul evidently allowed his a certain amount of liberty, because in one of his epistles this verse appears:

    我们不知道摩西给了他手下的人多少自由。但是保罗给为他写信的人很多的自由的。例如在一封书信中有:

“I, Tertius, who wrote this epistle, salute you in the Lord.”10

    “我这代笔写信的德丢,在主里面问你们安”。(罗马书1622

A German scholar11 has shown that ancient Greek authors generally gave their secretaries a fair amount of freedom. The author would dictate while the secretary wrote on a wax tablet; this allowed him to write very rapidly. Later, the secretary would copy his text on to papyrus (the ancient equivalent of paper), perhaps tidying up the grammar as he went. Then the original author would read his sec­retary’s handiwork, and correct it himself where he thought necessary. Finally he would add a farewell greeting in his own hand.12

有一位德国学者指出,古希腊人写作时候通常会给自己的秘书一些自由。通常作者在口授时秘书将这些话写在蜡板上,这样会让秘书写得快一些。随后,秘书会用草纸抄写 ,可能自己整理语法,随后,口授人会阅读秘书的抄写本,并且亲自修改。最终一切工作都由口授者亲自完成。

Very tentatively, let us suppose that Moses used several secretaries. Suppose that he allowed each one a certain freedom of style. Suppose that Moses gathered all their writings together, incorporated as much of the already-existing writings as he wanted to use, and then gave the whole job a final editorial polish.

让我们暂时假定摩西雇佣了好几个秘书。假定摩西被他们每个人一定的自由。假定摩西将这些已经存在书写材料汇集在一起,并编辑成为我们今天所看到的律法书。

If this is what happened, it would account for all the little peculiari­ties that the higher critics have pointed out. Moreover, if God was supervising the whole operation and guiding all concerned by His Spirit, the result would be the inspired, infallible book that Jesus and the apostles believed it to be.

如果事情真的就这样发生了,圣经评判家所指出的事情就没有什么可以大惊小怪的了。更重要的是,如果  神通过圣灵在指导所有的工作,那么结果就是  神所启示的、可靠的,正如耶稣和使徒所相信的那样。

Guesswork, conjecture, did you say? Yes, of course it’s all conjecture. How could any theory of the composition of an ancient book be any­thing else? The JEDP theories are only conjecture. And it is very doubtful whether the critics’ conjectures fit the facts any better than this conjecture.

你可能说,我在猜测,当然这些都是猜测。除此之外,一本古书的形成还会有别的方法?JEDP理论纯粹是在猜测,只是这种批判理论成立的可能性有多大?

In much the same way, any compiling that has occurred in the later books of the Old Testament could be the work of the men named in the Bible as their authors.

同样,旧约其它书的汇编工作都是由圣经指明的作者完成的。

 

Direct Evidence for Early Dates 早期时间的直接证据

 

As a research worker myself, I know what a temptation it is to turn a blind eye to uncomfortable facts. A scientist has said that the fre­quent tragedy of science is a beautiful theory killed by an ugly fact. Naturally, when it is my own beautiful theory that is in peril, I should not be human if I didn’t shy away from the menacing facts.

作为一名研究人员,我知道最大的诱惑就是逃避自己不愿看到的事实。一位科学家说,科学界最容易发生的悲剧是华丽的理论被丑恶的事实所谋杀。从本性来说,在我自己的漂亮理论遇到危险的时候,我没有去想回避不愿意看到的事实,那么我就不是一个人。

To an outside observer it rather looks as if many critical scholars are reacting like that. Having committed themselves to late dates for the Old Testament books, they now find it very hard to give due weight to the evidence for an early date.

从外界旁观者的角度来看,批判学者的表现就是这样。他们喜欢研究那些“证明”圣经旧约成书年代往后的数据,而不喜欢那些能够证明圣经形成年代往前的数据。

Many of the place names in the early chapters of Genesis, for example, have never been explained by the critical scholars.13 One verse says:

例如,创世记前面的一些章节提过的很多地名,而批判学派从来没有做出过解释。有一节经文说:

“And the border of the Canaanite was from Zidon as thou goest towards Gerar unto Gaza as thou goest towards Sodom and Gomorrah.”14

“迦南的境界是从西顿向基拉耳的路上,直到迦萨,又向所多玛、蛾摩拉、押玛、洗扁的路上,直到拉沙。”(创世记1019

Sodom and Gomorrah? According to the Bible they were wiped out in the days of Abraham. No factual record of their continued existence occurs anywhere, in the Bible or out of it. How come, then, that we have this geographical instruction based on the location of Sodom and Gomorrah? This is almost overwhelming evidence that these words were written in or before the time of Abraham, and incorporated in Genesis by Moses.

所多玛和蛾摩拉?根据圣经的说法,这两个城市在亚伯拉罕的年代就已经被毁灭。不管是在圣经或者是别的书中,都没有记载表明它们继续存在。那么,为什么要以所多玛和蛾摩拉为路标?这几乎可以证明了这一段话写于亚伯拉罕的时代,或之前,后来被摩西编辑加入到创世记中。

And this evidence is not alone. Genesis 14 is about Abraham. It contains a number of ancient place names used nowhere else in the Bible. None of the readers would have known where those places were. In the same way as a modern writer might say, “Petrograd (now called Leningrad)”, Genesis 14 says:

  然而这并不是唯一的证据。创世记14章记载了亚伯拉罕的故事。其中包含了很多古代的地名,除了在圣经以外别的地方都没有提到过。没有人知道这些地方在那里。正如我们经常说“彼得格勒(现在称为列宁格勒)”一样。

“Bela (which is Zoar)”-verses * and 8.

“Vale of Siddim (which is the Salt Sea)”-verse 3.

“En-mishpat (which is Kadesh)”-verse 7.

“Hobah (which is on the left hand of Damascus)”-verse 15.

“Vale of Shaveh (which is the King’s Dale)”-verse 17.

   8节提到:比拉就是琐珥

   3节提到:西订谷就是盐海

   7节提到:安密巴,就是加低斯

   15节提到:大马色左边的何把

    17节提到:沙微谷就是王谷

Which is more likely: that Abraham, or someone of his day, wrote the original account using the place names as they were then, and that Moses, compiling Genesis, added his “modern” equivalents? Or that, as the critical theories imply, some scribe a thousand years after Abraham invented all those unknown names for no apparent reason?

哪一种可能性更高一些:1,亚伯拉罕或那个时代的人写下了当时的地名,摩西后来在编辑创世记的时候,加上了摩西时代的地名。2,或者如某些批判学者所说的,是亚伯拉罕之后一千年某位文士不知道为什么发明了这一些未知的地名?

The critical scholars reply to these arguments by pointing Out that the opposite condition sometimes applies. That is, that some places are called in the Bible by names that were not used at the time the book concerned was said to be written. This is a poor argument. It does not weaken the force of the argument given above, and carries little weight on its own. How do we know that the names used in the Bible were not in use at an early date? Tomorrow some archaeologist may dig up evidence that they were! In any case, there is already archaeological evidence that some cities in Old Testament times had two, three and even four different names, all in use at one time.15

而批判主义者在回应这些证据的时候回答说,圣经中提到的地名并不是圣经书写时代的地名。然而这个回答是站不住脚的。我们这么才能知道刚才圣经提到的地名并不是圣经书写时代的地名?可能明天考古学家的新发现能够证明他们就是当时的城市名称!不管怎样说,已经有证据表明某些圣经旧约的城市拥有两个、三个甚至四个名称,而且在同时使用。

Higher critics have always based a lot of arguments on the nature of words. For example, some words entered the English language suddenly, at a known date. “Blitz” and “quisling”, for instance, were never used in English until 1940.

有些批判学者常常根据词汇的性质来寻找证据。例如,某些单词会非常突然地进入英语的词汇当中,例如,“Blitz” “quisling” 这两个单词是在1940年才进入英语词汇表。

This is fine, but there are not very many words, even in modern English, that can be dated so accurately. Trying to do this sort of thing with a language three thousand years old is a very chancy business.

这种方法当然很好。但是即使是在现代英语中,也有很多单词我也不知道去确切的使用时间。将这种方法用在三千年前的语言上,成功的概率非常小。

Dr. R. D. Wilson was a Bible-believer. He was also a Professor of Semitic Philology. Philology means “the science of language”; Semitic means Hebrew and related languages. In short, he was a leading expert in this field. He spent a vast amount of time-probably as much as almost any critical scholar-analysing the vocabulary of the Old Testament. His findings18 “proved” the early dates for the Old Testa­ment, just as clearly as critics had used the same methods to “prove” late dates for them.

R. D. Wilson博士是一位相信圣经的人,也是闪族语言学的教授,(研究希伯来语言以及相关语言)。他是这一方面的权威。他花费了大量的时间来研究圣经旧约使用的词汇,他的发现“证明了”这些词汇属于旧约的早期年代,而批判学者却用同样的方法“证明了”这些词汇属于晚期年代。

What this really means, of course, is that neither party had really proved anything - except, perhaps, the power of prejudice over the human mind! The real value of Dr. Wilson’s work was to show the uselessness of basing any conclusions on this sort of argument.

  这就意味着,双方都不能证明任何东西,除非他们被自己的偏见所控制!Wilson博士工作的价值在于:根据自己的结论寻找证据是毫无益处的。

 

Style 写作风格

 

Up to a point you can tell a writer from his style. But only up to a point. I write scientific papers, and I write Christian tracts. It would surprise me very much if any reader ever connected one of my un­signed tracts with my scientific papers. Because I am writing in a different field, for a different readership, I deliberately employ a different style.

从某种程度来说,你可以通过作品的风格来区别不同的作家。但是这样做是有某种程度的。我自己写科技论文,也写基督教小册子。我自己写的这两样东西的风格不可能相同的。因为我写的领域不同,阅读对象也不同。我故意采取了不同的写作风格。

Authors change their styles unconsciously, as well as consciously. Sometimes their style changes as they grow older. The poems written by Wordsworth at the end of his life are in quite a different style from his earlier poems. Some of Milton’s works are in a very different style from his other writings, perhaps because of changes in his health.17

有的时候,作家会在不经意之中改变自己的风格。有的时候他们的风格会因为年纪便老而又变化。Wordsworth早期诗歌作品的风格就不同于晚期。密尔顿一些作品的风格与另一些不同,可能是因为他的身体健康状态有了变化。

Because of this, it is surprising to find anyone drawing definite conclusions from variations in literary style. Yet this is just what higher critics tend to do. They say the Book of Deuteronomy “could not” have been written by the same author as the Book of Leviticus, because the style is different. Some of Paul’s epistles “could not” have been written by the same man as the others, because the style is different.

因此,如果有人声称能够根据充满变数的写作风格得出肯定的结论,那真的是令人感到奇怪了。他们说,申命记这本书的作者“不可能”与利未记的作者是同一个人,因为两本书的写作风格不一样。一些保罗书信的作者“不可能”是保罗另外一些书信的作者,原因也是因为写作风格不一样。

Recently the whole question of style has gained a new significance, because computers are now used to analyse literary style. In fact it is all a lot of fuss about nothing, because the computers are not doing any­thing new. They are merely being used to do a lot of tedious arith­metic. They count the average length of sentence in a book, the aver­age length of word, the frequency with which certain words and phrases occur, and so on. Thus they enable a statistical measure of the author’s style to be obtained.

最近,有关写作风格的问题又有了新的意义,计算机被应用到写作风格的研究中来。事实上这件事情并不值得大惊小怪,因为计算机并不能做出什么新鲜的东西了。计算机仅仅能够被用来做一些很枯燥的数学工作。

But painstaking men were doing this many years ago, long before computers were invented. All that computers do is to make the process easier, and faster. In an article on the use of computers to analyse authors’ styles, a famous scientist concluded with a very sound warning:

    但是早在发明计算机以前,就有很多不辞辛苦的人在做这样的工作。计算机能够做的是让过程更加容易一些,更加快一些。在一篇介绍使用计算机分析作者的写作风格的文章中,有这样的一些结论:

“No statistical analysis ever proves anything to be absolutely true. When given the necessary data, however, it can say which of the two alternatives is the more likely to be correct.”18

  “统计分析不能够证明任何事情是绝对正确的。根据在给定的数据可以得出两种不同的可能性结论”。

In other words, this sort of thing cannot establish facts. It can only estimate probabilities.

换句话说,计算机这样的东西并不能够确定事实。它只能够估计概率(可能性)。

By drawing conclusions from arguments based on style, higher critics are not only disregarding this warning. They are committing a much more serious error. This is their method:

在确立作品的风格方面,批判主义者不仅仅无视上述警告。他们还犯了另外一种更加严重的错误,那就是他们看待问题的方法。

First, they assume that the Bible is not verbally inspired. They have to assume this before they can start. Nobody knows what the operation of the Holy Spirit would do to a man’s literary style, so if you want to base conclusions on an analysis of style you simply must rule out the possibility of the Spirit affecting your results.

首先,他们假定圣经不是  神所启示的。他们以此作为分析问题的开端。没有人能够知道圣灵对一个人写作风格的影响。因此,如果你的结论中包含着前提,你已经排除了圣灵对写作风格的影响。

Right. You assume “no inspiration”. You do your analysis. You find differences in style between the Letter to the Galatians and the Letter to the Ephesians. You say: “Therefore Paul didn’t write them both. But the Bible says he did. Therefore the Bible can’t be verbally inspired.”

是的。你假定“没有 神的启示”。你自己做你自己的分析。你发现了加拉太书的写作风格同以弗所书的写作风格不同。你自己下结论说:“因此这两封信不可能都是保罗写的。但是圣经说这两封信是保罗写的,因此圣经不可能是  神所启示的。”

This is merely arguing in a circle. Starting with an assumption, you end up by concluding what you had first assumed. Any scientist doing that sort of thing would soon find himself looking for another job

这实际上是循环论证。从自己的假设出发,结论又回到了假设上。如果某位科学家用这种方式来分析问题,他可能不得不另谋高就。

Surely there is only one sane approach to the question of style in the Bible. Leave it alone. It proves little in an ordinary book, and proves nothing at all in a book claiming to be inspired.

对于圣经写作风格这个问题,只有一种好办法,就是不要管它。它只能够用在普通书上,而且也证明不了什么。而对于圣经这一本声明是  神所启示的书来说,什么也不能够证明。

 

A Critic Takes a Tumble 一个批判学者翻了跟头

 

In the early days, higher critics spoke with boundless confidence of their methods. Instead of admitting that they were mixing a little evidence With a lot of guesswork and a sprinkling of prejudice, they made claims like this:

早期的批判主义者对于自己的研究方法非常自信。他们拒绝承认自己的工作建立在猜测和一点点证据的基础上,而是这样声明:

“Higher criticism itself is neutral; it has no bias; it is a scientific process.”19

  “批判主义是中立的,没有偏向性,它自身是一个科学的过程”。

Since those days most of them have mellowed a bit. But as recently as 1943 one of them could still write about critical theories:

   以后,他们中间的大多数人收敛了一点点。但是最近1943年,他们中间的一个人依然这样谈论批判主义:

“These things are not in doubt; they are not hypothetical recon­structions or tentative suggestions, but truths as assured as anything ever can be in the sphere of literary research.”20

   “这些事情都是毫无疑问的,它们不是假设,也不是试验,而是确定的真理。”

Over-confident assertions like these are astonishing, when you think of all the hard knocks that various higher critics have had to take. The sad story of a professor who tried to win a lawsuit by using the methods of higher criticism has been told by A. J. Pollock:

尽管面临如此多的反驳,像这样过于自信的声明是非常令人震惊的。A. J. Pollock曾经告诉我们一位大学教授输掉官司的故事,这位教授在法庭上使用的正是批判主义使用的方法。

“A literary lady in Canada, Miss Florence Deeks, wrote the story of the part women have played in history, under the title of ‘The Web’, and lodged her manuscript in the keeping of the Canadian branch of the well-known publishing house of Macmillan in Toronto.

Florence Deeks女士是一位加拿大作家,她写了一本关于妇女在历史中的作用问题的书,书名叫《The Web》,后来她将这部书的手稿世界知名的麦克米伦出版社在多伦多的办事机构。”

“A few months later appeared ‘The Outline of History’ by Mr H. G. Wells, published also by Macmillan, but from their London office.

过了几个月,H. G. Wells(韦尔斯)编写的《历史纲要》(‘The Outline of History’)出版了,同样为麦克米伦出版社,但是是该出版社在伦敦的办事处。

“When Miss Deeks read the ‘Outline of History’, she was struck by the fact that Mr Wells had introduced ideas and incidents, which also appeared in her book, and that many of the phrases were common to both. She came to the conclusion that Mr Wells must have had access to her manuscript and was guilty of gross plagiarism.

Deeks女士看到了《历史纲要》这本书以后感到非常吃惊,因为这本书所介绍的一些事件和观点在她自己的书中也存在,而且很多词语相同。她于是下结论说,韦尔斯先生一定看过了她的手稿,并且剽窃了她的劳动成果。

“Seeing that there was no proof that Mr Wells had seen the manuscript of ‘The Web’, a means of convincing a court of law that plagiarism had really happened must be discovered. Why not try the methods employed by the Higher Critics? Why not get an expert of wide experience on these lines? So Miss Deeks took her case to the Rev. W. A. Irwin, M.A., B.D., PH.D., at that time an associate professor of Ancient and Old Testament Languages and Literature at Toronto University, afterwards Professor of Old Testament Languages and Literature at Chicago University. The Professor in accepting the task said:

“但是她并没有证据表明韦尔斯先生曾经看见过《The Web》这本书的手稿,必须通过某种方法向法庭证明剽窃确实发生过。为什么不采用批判主义者的方法呢? Deeks女士就自己的官司咨询W. A. Irwin教授,这位教授研究古代圣经旧约的语言,曾经在加拿大和美国多所大学担任教授职务。他在接受这个案子的时候说:

‘I consented in considerable measure because this is the sort of task with which my study of ancient literature repeatedly con­fronts me, and I was interested to test out in modern works the methods commonly applied to those of the ancient world.’

“我非常同意你的看法,因为在我从事的古代语言的研究过程当中,经常要遇到这样的任务。现在我有兴趣将研究古代的方法应用在现代的这个案子当中”。

“So he diligently pursued his task, and at length formulated his ‘assured results’ in much detail, proving, as he claimed, that Mr Wells had access to Miss Deeks’ manuscript, that he had made free use of it, and had been guilty of considerable plagiarism.

“因此,他非常努力地开始了案件的准备工作。他写下长篇大论“证明”韦尔斯先生曾经看见过Deeks女士的手稿,并且未经许可地使用了这些手稿,因此构成了剽窃。

“Miss Deeks then brought action against Mr H. G. Wells and the Macmillan publishers in a Canadian court, claiming ~5oo,ooo, or about £100,000 damages.

    Deeks女士接着在加拿大的一家法庭起诉了韦尔斯先生以及迈克米伦出版公司,并索赔50~100万英镑。

“This court dismissed the case. Miss Decks, not satisfied, carried her case to a Court of Appeal, but with the same result. Miss Deeks then carried the case to the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council, London, the highest legal tribunal in the British Empire. Again and finally the case was given in favour of Mr H. G. Wells and the Macmillan publishers.

法院拒绝受理此案。然而Decks女士并不甘心,将案件提交到上诉法庭。但是结果还是一样。Decks女士将案件申诉到伦敦上诉法庭,这是英联邦的最高法庭,然而这一次判决的结果有利于韦尔斯先生以及迈克米伦出版公司。

“At these trials it was sworn on oath that Miss Deeks’ manuscript had never been in the hands of Mr H. G. Wells, that it had remained in secure custody in the safe of the Macmillan Company in Toronto, that no copy of the manuscript in part or whole had been made, that in short no leakage of information had taken place, and that Mr H. G. Wells did not even know of the existence of the manuscript. The verdict of the House of Lords was unanimous in dismissing the case.

“在法庭上后者宣誓,Decks女士的手稿从来没有落在韦尔斯先生的手中,而是存放在迈克米伦出版公司在多伦多办事处的一个安全保管箱内,并且从来没有对手稿的部分或整体进行复印,这就是说,关于手稿的信息不会存在泄漏,而且威尔先生从来不知道存在这样一份手稿。陪审团对此案的宣判是意见一致的。          

“What must have been the feelings of the Rev. W. A. Irwin, M.A., B.D., PH.D., when he heard one of the Canadian judges, The Hon. Mr Justice Riddell, a well-known legal luminary, famous throughout Canada and the United States, describing his ‘assured results’ with such epithets as the following, ‘Fantastic Hypotheses’, ‘Solemn Nonsense’, ‘Comparisons without significance’, ‘Argu­ments and conclusions alike puerile’. Professor Irwin was in a splendid position to arrive at ‘assured results’ when he had before him both documents in question, and both of recent dates; whereas the critics deal with very ancient documents, generally written in dead languages. If Professor Irwin failed so lamentably in the case of what was comparatively easy, what chance have the ‘assured results’ relating to the Ancient Scriptures of being anything else than ‘solemn nonsense’ and ‘fantastic hypotheses’?”21

   我们一定想知道Irwin这位在美国和加拿大都很知名的批评主义教授们的感受,他输掉了官司,而且法院判定他“假设离奇”,“非常荒谬”,“进行毫无意义的比较”,“证据和结论幼稚”。宣布案件最终结果的是Riddell大法官,他在美国和加拿大都具有很高的声望。如果Irwin教授在处于一个非常有利的位置上都做出了如此错误的判断,因为他能够将两份最近的手稿进行比较,那么他在判断年代非常久远的、使用的是一种失传的语言写的手稿的时候,是不是有更大的可能性“假设离奇”,“非常荒谬”,“进行毫无意义的比较”,“证据和结论幼稚”?

 

A Last Look at the Old Testament Scene最后来看看旧约的背景

 

Since World War II, critical scholars have generally been less con­fident and more humble about their field of study. One of the most eminent and most moderate of them, Professor H. H. Rowley, has summed up the situation like this:

第二次世界大战结束以后,批判主义者对他们的研究采取了稍微谦虚一点的态度,也没有以前那样过于自信了。其中最著名的是H. Rowley教授,他总结说:

“When the Society for Old Testament Study was formed, during the First World War, there was a broad agreement amongst the scholars of the world on a large number of questions concerning this book. . . Today the whole scene is changed, and the student of the Old Testament is living in a very different climate.

当专门研究圣经旧约的团体在第一次世界大战期间成立的时候,大家比较一致地认为这本书存在很多很多的问题。但是今天的风向变了。研究圣经旧约的学生处在不同的环境当中。

We have passed through a generation of activity, and even of excitement, in the study of the Bible that could not have been foreseen. Many of the conclusions that seemed most sure have been challenged, and there is now a greater variety of view on many questions than has been known for a long time. It is therefore much more dangerous and misleading today to speak of the consensus of scholarship on many questions than it was . . . 经过了一代人的活动,甚至兴奋,我们没有预见到,很多过去肯定的结论现在受到了挑战。在很多问题上一直都有不同的见解。In contrast to the large measure of unity that prevailed a generation ago, there is today an almost bewildering diversity of views on many questions . . . contrary tendencies have appeared in various quarters leading to a greater fluidity in the field as a whole than has been known for a long time. In the field of Higher Criticism various tendencies have appeared. . - . It is here that the greatest fluidity in the whole field of Old Testament Study is to be found today, though it can­not be said that any agreed pattern is emerging from the welter of challenge to the older views.”22 (The italics are mine.)几十年前批评学者之间的观点大致相同,但是今天的情况与过去相反,几乎每个问题上都存在巨大的混乱的分歧,……在批评主义研究的领域,已经出现了不同的趋向,….今天研究圣经旧约的变化性是整个领域的是最大的,尽管我们不能说过去的任何的观点都受到挑战。 (斜体字是本书作者加上去的。)                        

Thus Professor Rowley was refreshingly frank and honest. He warned his readers that there were bags of exciting ideas and sug­gestions floating around, but not so many facts. The Bible-criticising scholars could not agree on much -except to disagree with the Bible-believing community. And they were not even so sure about that as they used to be, for the professor also said:

从上面的话可以看出,Rowley教授非常直率和诚实。他警告读者说,有很多新观点、新想法出现,但是并没有如此多的事实出现。除了他们都不相信圣经以外,批判主义者之间有很多分歧,他们现在也不是那么自信了,正如Rowley教授还指出:

“In general, it may be said that there has been a tendency towards more conservative views on many questions than were common at the opening of our period. These more conservative views are not shared by all scholars, though they are widespread . .

   “一般来说,我们在很多问题上比起初更保守。并不是所有的学者都采取这种保守态度,但是这种保守的风气确实是非常普遍的”。

Twenty years have passed since Professor Rowley made these frank admissions. But the position today is still more or less the same. Old Testament higher critics still disagree vigorously and accuse each other of bad scholarship. The following remark by A. Sperber, Pro­fessor of Hebrew at The Jewish Theological Seminary of America, is typical of the present situation:

Rowley教授发表如此坦率的声明以后20年,今天的批判主义者现状依然是老样子。那些针对圣经旧约的批判主义者依然矛盾重重,相互指责。美国犹太神学院希伯来文教授A. Sperber就当时的情况发表评论说:

“It is high time that Bible scholars . . . approach the Bible not as schoolmasters teaching the prophets how Hebrew sentences should be formed and Hebrew words spelled, but as humble students of these great masters of Hebrew.”23

     “现在不是圣经学者像老师对待学生那样,教导先知们希伯莱文语法和拼写的时候,而是他们应该谦卑地向这些伟大的希伯莱文大师学习的时候。

Critical scholars of the Old Testament are evidently still groping in the dark. To use Professor Rowley’s word, the situation is still “fluid”, with no solid facts that could overturn the faith of a Bible­ believer.

针对圣经旧约的批判主义者至今还在黑暗中摸索。用Rowley教授的话来说,情况依然“不确定”,他们没有明确的事实可以推翻圣经信仰者的信心。

 

The New Testament新约圣经

 

With the New Testament the situation is much simpler. These books belong to the first century A.D. Historians know a great deal about this period. Here we have a great many more facts, and there is far less scope for guesswork.

新约圣经的情况要简单得多。这些书都是在公元1世纪写成的。历史学家对这个时期知道的很多。因此我们有更多的事实,而猜测工作少很多。

In the nineteenth century it was not so. In those days the oldest manuscripts available had been written in the fourth century. The critics were able to speculate that at least some of the original books could have been written after the supposed authors were dead. Need­less to say, they made the most of their opportunity. All sorts of fancy theories about various New Testament books were trotted out.

但是在19世纪,情况却不是这样的。在那些时候,最古老的新约手稿属于公元4世纪。批判学者这样能够猜测这些书是在作者死亡以后完成的。不用说,他们最大限度地利用了这个机会。各种各样的想象力的理论纷纷出笼。

Today the situation is very different. A number of much more ancient manuscripts have come to light, which have killed many of the nineteenth-century theories stone dead. Of course, boys will be boys, and critics will be critics; nothing will stop the critical scholars from speculating entirely, but today their speculations about the New Testament are mainly directed into other channels. The dates of most of the New Testament books are now regarded as fairly well fixed.

今天的情况有了非常大的不同。很多圣经古代手稿被发现,让很多19世纪的理论不功自破。当然,孩子终归是孩子,批判主义者终归是批判主义者。这些事实依然不能改变他们愿意猜测的习惯。但是今天对圣经新约的猜测进入了正常的轨道。大家对于新约的书写年代有了比较一致的看法。

For example, R. M. Grant is an eminent scholar of critical leanings. Yet he states as a fact that Paul’s First Epistle to the Corinthians was written “about A.D. 54.24  Jesus was crucified in about A.D. 30. Con­sequently, 1 Corinthians, with its very powerful testimony to the resurrection of Jesus25 was written within a third of a lifetime of the crucifixion-while a large proportion of the eye-witnesses of Christ’s resurrection were still living!

例如,R. M. Grant是一位非常著名的批判学者。但是他承认哥林多前书“大约写于公元54年”,耶稣大约在公元30年被钉死在十字架上。结果,哥林多前书中包括很多耶稣复活的证明,其中很多人当时依然生活在世界上!

The change has been brought about largely by the discovery of several New Testament manuscripts written in the second century. We need not bother with the reasons that have led scholars to decide on the dates of these manuscripts. Archaeological dating is a highly technical subject. It involves studying the ink, the “paper” (or rather, its ancient equivalents), the style of writing, and other features of the manuscript. In addition, modern physics enables radiocarbon tests to be made on tiny portions of the manuscript, and these help to confirm the archaeological studies.

这些改变大部分归功于很多写于公元2世纪新约手稿的发现。有专家来确定手稿的年代,不需要我们操心。考古学家测定年代是一件非常专业的工作。它们涉及到古代书写使用的“墨水”/“纸”,“书写风格”。除此之外,现代物理学还可以测定放射性炭的比例还确定年代。

It would be a waste of time to discuss this evidence, because there is nothing very controversial about it. The evidence is so clear that all scholars are agreed on the date of these manuscripts to within a few years or so.

花费太多的时间来讨论这些证据可能属于浪费时间。因为专家们之间的争议并不多,而且证据确凿,学者们一致同意的这些手稿的年代差别在几年之内。

The first of the new manuscripts came to light in 1931. They are called the Chester Beatty Papyri, after the man who acquired most of them. Three of them contain fifteen of the twenty-seven New Testament books. Unfortunately they are in a rather tatty condition, like most ancient books. Many bits and pieces are missing. But there is more than enough material to date them accurately. One of them was written about A.D. 200; the other two were written not long after.

新约圣经的第一件手稿在1931年被发现。这个手稿被称为“Chester Beatty Papyri”,以发现手稿的人命名的。不幸的是,手稿非常破旧,很多片断已经丢失,但是科学家依然可以确定其年龄。其中一件写于公元200年,另外2件手稿的时间稍微靠后一点。

This discovery was soon followed by news of an even older manu­script. It was found in Egypt and had lain in the John Rylands Library, Manchester, since 1920. But nobody realised what a treasure it was until C. H. Roberts studied it, and announced his findings in 1935. It was only a little scrap of papyrus, three and a half inches long by two and a quarter inches wide, with a few verses of John’s Gospel ‘written on both sides. It was evidently all that was left of a complete Gospel of John. And it was written before A.D. 150.

很快就有了更新的发现。这一次是在埃及,手稿现在收藏在英国曼彻斯特市的John Rylands图书馆。在C. H. Roberts先生研究它之前,没有人能够意识到它是多么珍贵的宝物。手稿片断非常小,只有3.5英寸长,2.25英寸宽,两面都抄写约翰福音的一些经文。这是约翰福音在公元150年以前就存在的证据,

This was, and still is, the oldest piece of New Testament ever dis­covered. The John Rylands Librarian, Dr. Guppy, went wild with excitement. He declared that it must have been written “when the ink of the original autograph can hardly have been dry” (!) It is easy to forgive him for his slight exaggeration.

这个手稿至今依然是已发现的最古老的圣经新约手稿之一。John Ryland博物馆的管理员Guppy对此非常兴奋。在1935年他甚至宣布:“这些手稿是在原文几乎墨迹未干的情况下抄写的”!我们应该原谅他因为激动而出现的一点点夸大!

Also in 1935 some scholars in the British Museum published details of a much larger papyrus fragment. This was not a piece of the Bible, but a collection of early Christian writings. It included a portion of a “Life of Christ”, sometimes called “the fifth gospel”. This was obviously written by a man who had access to copies of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John and used all four of them in his own writings. It also was written before A.D. 150.

同样在1935年,英国博物馆的一些学者透露了他们所发现的更大的手稿草纸片断的细节。这一次不是圣经手稿,而是早期基督徒的书写材料。其中包括“基督的生平”的片段,有的时候被称为“第5福音书”。很明显,写这些材料的人阅读过马太、马可、路加和约翰福音,在文章中引用过所有的福音书。这个手稿的书写时间大约在公元150年。

These finds are of tremendous importance. Books had to be copied laboriously by hand in those days. They spread very slowly from land to land. During the first half of the second century men were reading the Gospel of John in Egypt, and they were studying all four gospels in at least one place. Consequently the originals simply must have been written before the end of the first century; perhaps quite a long time before.

这些发现具有非常重要的意义。在那些时候,已经开始了对圣经新约的抄写。在公元2世纪的上半期,已经有人在埃及阅读约翰福音,而且他们已经学习了4本福音书。因此这些福音书的原文一定是在公元1世纪末就已经写好了。

The evidence of these twentieth-century manuscript discoveries is strongly supported by two other lines of evidence: (1) ancient trans­lations into other languages and (2) quotations from early Christian ‘writers. Much of this supplementary evidence was already available in the nineteenth century, but it was brushed under the carpet by those who did not want to see it. Nowadays, however, it is recognised at its true worth.

20世纪发现的手稿证明:1,圣经已经被翻译成多种古代语言。2,从早期基督徒“作家”的作品对圣经的“引用”中可以看出这一点。而这些证据中很多在公元19世纪就已经存在,但是到现在却被那些不想看到的人所忽视。

Although we have no very early manuscripts of the New Testament in languages other than Greek, we have evidence that very early translations did exist. In A.D. 180 the Christians in North Africa were being persecuted. We possess the record of the trial of some Christians in the town of Scillium. They admitted keeping some “books, and letters of Paul”. Since their language was Latin it appears that the Latin New Testament was already widespread by A.D. 180.

尽管我们没有发现比圣经希腊文更早的其他语言版本的手稿,但是有证据显示已经由很早的翻译版本出现。在公元180年,在北非的基督徒曾经受到迫害。我们现在有这些基督徒在一个名叫Scillium的小镇受审判的记录。他们承认他们保存了一些“书,还有保罗写的书信”。因为他们使用的是拉丁语,因此可以推断拉丁文新约圣经在公元180年就已经开始传播了。

We also possess many documents in Syriac, which refer to a docu­ment called the Di atessaron. They tell us that this was written in Syriac by a man called Tatian in about A.D. 170. It was a book in which all four gospels were woven together into one continuous narrative. So it seems that Syriac translations of the gospels were in use well before A.D. 170.

我们现在还拥有很多采用叙利亚文的书写的材料,其中有一文件名叫“Di atessaron”,它告诉我们这份文件写于公元170年,是由一个名叫Tatian的人用叙利亚文写的。这本书将4本福音书汇编成为一本书,采用连贯的方式进行叙述。因此,在公元170年以前,4本福音书应该都已经被翻译成了叙利亚文。

A Christian leader in Rome called Clement wrote a letter to the Corinthian church in about A.D. 96. In it he referred to the letter that “the blessed Paul the apostle” had previously written to them (our 1 Corinthians). He quoted from this and other New Testament books.

大约在公元96年,一位名叫Clement的基督教领导人曾经写信给哥林多教会的领导人。他在信中提到了“保罗”曾经写过信给他们(也就是我们今天的哥林多前书)。在信中他还引用了新约的其它部分。

Two other Christian documents written just after A.D. 100 quote extensively from New Testament books. They are called, “The Epistle of Barnabas”, and, “The Teaching of the Twelve Apostles”.26

还有写于公元100年稍后两件基督教文稿,文稿中大量地引用了新约。这些书被称为《巴拿巴的书信》“The Epistle of Barnabas”,以及《十二门徒的教导》(The Teaching of the Twelve Apostles)。

These lines of evidence point to an unmistakable conclusion. Most of our New Testament books must have been written in the first cen­tury; the remainder could have been.

这一系列的证据让我们可以明确地得出结论。大部分的新约书一定是在公元1世纪写成的。少数其它的书可能在公元2世纪写成的。

In a book devoted to the New Testament manuscripts, an inter­nationally respected scholar, Professor F. F. Bruce, sums up the situation like this:

F. F. Bruce教授是一位在国际上受到尊重的学者,他曾经在一本专门研究新约手稿的书中总结说:

 “The New Testament was complete, or substantially complete, about A.D. 100, the majority of the writings being in existence twenty to forty years before this. In this country [Britain] a majority of modern scholars fix the dates of the four Gospels as follows:

新约圣经完成于大约公元100年,其中大部分的文字记载在公元60-80年就已经完成。在英国,大多数学者认为4本福音书完成的年代如下:

Matthew, about 85-90; Mark, about 65; Luke, about 80-85; John, about 90-100. I should be inclined to date the first three Gospels rather earlier: Mark shortly after A.D. 6o, Luke between 6o and 70, and Matthew shortly after 70....

马太福音:大约85-90年,马可福音:大约公元65年,约翰福音:大约90-100年。而我自己认为有三本福音书成书的年代要比前面的估计更早一些,马可福音:公元60年,路加福音:公元60-70年之间,马太福音在公元70年。

“But even with the later dates, the situation is still encouraging from the historian’s point of view, for the first three Gospels were written at a time when many were alive who could remember the things that Jesus said and did, and some at least would still be alive when the fourth Gospel was written.

从历史学的角度来看,即使是比较晚的日期依然是令人鼓舞的,因为最早的三本福音书写完成的时候,很多人还活着,他们还能够记住耶稣,其中有些人依然活着到第4本福音书完成。

 

“The dates of the thirteen Pauline epistles can be fixed partly by internal and partly by external evidence. The day has gone by when the authenticity of these letters could be denied wholesale. There are some writers today who would reject Ephesians; fewer would reject ~ Thessalonians; more would deny that the Pastoral Epistles (1 and 2 Timothy and Titus) came in their present form from the hand of Paul. I accept them all as Pauline. The remaining eight letters . . . [he goes on to imply that these eight are now accepted generally as actually written by Paul].”27

   “保罗书信的写作时间可以根据内在的证据,也可以根据外在的证据来确定。现在已经找不到能够完全否定保罗书信的证据,但是 有人否定以弗所书是保罗写的,也有人否定提摩太前后书的,我认为它们都是保罗写的……接下来,他继续论证其余的8封信是保罗写的。”

 

But I will reserve the last word on this subject for another scholar whose opinions carried weight throughout the world, the late Sir Frederic Kenyon, former Director of the British Museum:

 Frederic Kenyon爵士是前英国博物馆的馆长,他在这个问题上的观点具有举足轻重的分量,我愿意借他的观点做最后发言:

“The New Testament books stand in a very strong position, the strength of which has been increased by recent discoveries and investigations. Short of the discovery of first-century manuscripts, their traditional first-century dates are confirmed by as strong evidence as is reasonable to expect.”28

   “有很多具有说服力的证据支持新约的证据,而且随着调查和发现的深入,这样的证据越来越多。公元一世纪的传统也与圣经新约的记载相吻合。”

 

Summing Up总结

 

So there, very briefly, are the facts.

在这里我简要地总结一下将本章阐述的事实:

There are two schools of thought about the Old Testament. The majority of scholars think it was written at a relatively late date, by men other than the authors named in the Bible. A smaller body of scholars, some of them eminent in their field, take the opposite view. They think that there is reason to believe what the Old Testament tells us about its authors.

对于旧约圣经的看法有两种不同的意见,大部分学者认为圣经旧约是后来写的,并且不是圣经所声明的人写的。只有以小部分人,其中很多是非常著名的学者持相反意见,他们认为没有理由怀疑圣经关于其书写者的声明。

The evidence is nearly all of a vague and inconclusive character. There are few really solid facts bearing on the question. The wisest verdict for anyone to give at the present time is, as we say in Scotland, “Not proven”.

几乎所有的证据都是模糊的,没有说服性的意义。少数的事实也存在疑问。对于任何时代的聪明的人来说,他的判断应该是:“无法证明”。

In view of this we can well afford to give the Lord Jesus Christ the casting vote. He accepted that the Old Testament was written by the men named as its authors. There is no reason why we should not do the same.

正因为如此,我们应该给耶稣基督最终决定权。耶稣认为旧约已经告诉我们其作者的姓名。我们没有理由怀疑这一点。

With the New Testament there is much less uncertainty. The bulk of modern scholars agree that most of it was written in the first century. Some think a few books were not written until the second century, but the evidence for this view is not at all conclusive.

新约圣经的不确定性要小的多。大量的现在学者同意大部分的书写于公元第一世纪,有一些人为有一部分写于公元2世纪,但是他们提出的证据根本没有说服力。

This means that most of the New Testament books were almost certainly written by the men whose names appear on them. And there is no real reason to deny that the remaining books were written by their stated authors, either.

这表明,大部分的作品是由圣经所记载的作者写的,也没有真实的证据可以否认其它的作品是不是圣经声明的人写的。

 

17

How did the Bible Come Down to Us?

圣经是如何传导给我们的?

Mentioning the Bible to some people is like waving a red rag at a bull.

对某些人提起圣经就像是对公牛挥舞红布。

“The Bible!” snorted one such gentleman. “Who cares about the Bible? Why should we take any notice of a book like that?

有这样一位先生曾经讽刺地说:“圣经!谁关心圣经!为什么我们要注意这样的一本书呢?”

“Just look at its history. Written so long ago that nobody knows who wrote it. Copied and re-copied until no one knows how much it has changed with time. Translated so often that you can take your pick of a dozen English versions-all different. And when you’ve got it, you can interpret it to mean almost anything you like.”   

“看一看这本书的历史就够了,是很早以前、没有人知道是谁写的一本书。这本书一直有人在抄写、再次抄写,没有人知道随着时间的流逝会有多少改变。这本书被多次翻译,光英语版本就有十多种,每一种版本都不一样。你看到圣经的时候,你可以按照你自己的认识来理解。”

“In any case,” he said as an afterthought, “how did they choose the books to go into the Bible? Pick them out with a pin?”

“而且,他们是如何从很多书中挑选圣经的?难道是用针把它们挑出来的吗?”

Although his language was not very courteous, this man was expressing some very real problems. I have dealt with his first question

-authorship-in the previous chapter. That leaves the following problems:

尽管这个人说话的语气存在问题,但他表达了他的真实想法。我首先和他讨论了第一个问题:也是我们在前一章所讨论的圣经权威性问题。这个问题牵涉到以下几个方面:

(1)     Copying. Our oldest manuscripts are, at best, only copies of the original writings. Much more probably they are copies of copies, or maybe copies of copies of copies of copies. Some of the more recent copies may have come down through ten or twenty copyists’ hands. What guarantee have we that our best copies are not full of copyists’ mistakes? And what’s the use of believing that God inspired every word of the original writings, when we certainly cannot rely upon every word of our existing copies? 圣经的抄写。我们现有的最古老的圣经手稿仅仅是原始手稿的手抄本。很多手稿可能经过了多次抄写,而近代的一些手稿可能经过了十几次、甚至是二十几次抄写。我们怎样能够确保今天我们看到的手稿没有充满错误?如果我们相信圣经原稿的每一句话都是  神的启示,而我们现在看到的圣经并不是原文,这些手稿又有什么用?

(2)     Selection. Our Bible contains sixty-six books, beginning at Genesis and going on to Revelation. Why those sixty-six and no others? Who chose them, and when, and how? And the Roman Catholic Bible contains some extra books; why are they not included in the Protestant Bible?  圣经的选择。今天的圣经包含66本书,从创世记到启示录。为什么是66本书呢?是谁选择了这些书?什么时候选择的?如何选择的?罗马天主教会圣经中的一些书,为什么没有包括在新教徒的圣经中?

(3)     Translation. Most of us have to read the Bible in English and cannot understand the Hebrew and Greek in which it was written. Millions of other people rely on translations into Chinese, or Swedish, or Swahili, or some other of the thousand-odd languages in which the Bible is available. But books lose something when they are trans­lated. What was the point of God’s inspiring the words of the Bible, when those words have all had to be changed in translation? 圣经的翻译。我们中间大部分人并不懂希伯来文或希腊文。我们依赖圣经的翻译版本,例如中文版、英文版、韩语版,甚至一千多种很奇怪语言的版本。一本书被翻译的时候,总是会失去了某些东西。  神的话会不会被翻译成别的语言的时候被改变?

(4) Interpretation. There is only one Bible. Yet there are dozens of different sects, all interpreting the Bible to prove themselves right. What use is a book that is supposed to be inspired of God, if it is worded so vaguely that men can make it mean what they like?  对圣经的解释。只有一本圣经,但是却有很多教派,这些教派都引用圣经来证明自己是正确的。如果圣经真的是  神的话,而 神的话可以按照自己的意思理解的话,又有什么用? 

These are all perfectly reasonable questions. We must face them honestly and see how far we can go towards solving them.

这些都是非常好的值得关注的问题。我们必须诚实地看待,看我们在多大的程度上解决这个问题。

 

 

How Good were the Copyists?  圣经抄写者的工作有多完美?

 

Take first the Jews who copied the manuscripts of the Old Testa­ment. There is only one word to describe the quality of their work:

首先看看犹太人是如何抄写圣经的旧约部分的。只有一个词可以形容他们工作的质量,那就是:

magnificent.

完美。

A group of Jewish officials called the Massoretes drew up a set of rules for copying out Bibles (that is, Old Testaments). Their work was in full swing by the sixth century A.D., but we know that Jewish copyists were incredibly painstaking long before those days. It just happens that we have details of the rules of the Massoretes.

犹太教设置了专门的官员负责抄写圣经(圣经的旧约),这些官员被称为马所拉学士。虽然这项工作在公元六世纪完全停止,但是我们知道这些犹太人的抄写工作时特别的辛苦,因为我们现在有马所拉学士抄写工作规章制度的一些细节。

Another service the Massoretes performed for us was to fix the pronunciation of the Old Testament. Even in English there are some words whose meaning depends upon the pronunciation. The word, LEAD, for instance. This has one meaning in “Lead me to it”, and another meaning in “heavy as lead”. We decide from the way the word is used whether to pronounce it “led” or “leed”, and that decides the meaning.

这些抄写人员从事的另外一项工作是给圣经的旧约的每一个词汇标上音标。即使是在英语(或汉语)当中,也有一些词的意思与发音有关。这些人的工作可以让阅读的人领会到正确的含义。在英语中,同样拼写的单词,如果读音不同,含义也不同。汉语也有多音字。

There are many more pronunciation problems in Hebrew, because the language has hardly any vowels. If there were a word, LEAD, in Hebrew it would just be spelt LD. So we should not only have to decide between the two forms of “lead”; we should need to consider the possibility of “lid”, “lad”, “laid”, “load”, and “loud”, also.

但是希伯来文中的发音问题更多。因为这种语言几乎没有元音。例如,LEAD这个词,在希伯来文中仅仅拼写成LD,如果没有标注音标,读者可能理解成为“lid”, “lad”, “laid”, “load”, “loud”,等。

When Hebrew is your mother tongue this creates very few difficulties. The inhabitants of Tel Aviv read their Hebrew newspapers without vowels quite happily. But the Massoretes left nothing to chance. They added pronunciation marks (called “vowel points”) to every word.

如果你的母语是希伯来文,这个问题对于你来说不是什么困难。例如,特拉维夫的居民阅读他们没有元音的希伯来文报纸就不存在任何困难。但是马所拉学士(Massoretes)不希望任何发生错误的可能性发生,他们在每一个单词上面加上了发音标志。

In 999 words out of a thousand their pronunciation marks are obviously right. In the thousandth case, scholars sometimes wonder if the Massoretes got the pronunciation, and hence the meaning of the word, wrong.

1000个发音标志当中有999个标志明显是正确的。在千分之一的可能性当中,有些学者怀疑马所拉学士(Massoretes)是否标注了正确的发音,因为不正确的发音会影响这个单词的含义。

The Jews had always recognised the importance of having one standard copy of the Old Testament from which they worked. There are a number of references to this standard copy in ancient Jewish books,1 as well as in the Old Testament.2

   犹太人一直都认识到拥有标准的圣经正典的重要性,现在有很多关于古代的犹太圣经的标准抄本的参考书,还有关于圣经旧约的参考书。

In earlier days the Jews had kept their standard copy of the Scriptures in the temple in Jerusalem. We have a standard weight in London called the Imperial Standard Pound. Until Britain began to go metric it was the ultimate standard against which every grocer’s scale in Britain was checked. In much the same way, all the earlier copies of the Hebrew Bible were checked for accuracy against the standard copy in Jerusalem.

早期犹太人将他们的标准圣经抄写本放在耶路撒冷的神殿中。我们现在在伦敦有标准的重量,它被称为英帝国标准磅。在英国采用公制之前,每一个杂货商的天平都要根据这个标准进行检查。同样,所有早期的希伯来文圣经手抄本都要根据耶路撒冷的标准手抄本进行核对。

That standard copy was carried in triumph to Rome when the Romans destroyed the temple in A.D. 70. For the next five centuries the Jews were without a standard. Then, by comparing all the copies available to them, the Massoretes were able to recreate a standard copy. They then drew up their rules to ensure that the new standard was copied accurately.

这个标准圣经版本在公元70年作为战利品被运到罗马,接下来的5个世纪中,犹太人一直没有标准。后来,通过比较所有的圣经抄本,马所拉学士终于能够重建新的标准圣经版本,他们还建立了一整套规则确保标准版本的准确性。

 

Just one example from those rules will illustrate their severity. The Massoretes drew up tables, one for each book of the Bible, showing how many times each letter occurred. Such a table would run like this:

我再给出一个能够证明他们工作严谨的例子。马所拉学士画出很多表格,一个表格对应圣经中的一本书,告诉别人每一个单词出现了多少次。这个表格是这样的:

This book contains                                  so-many alephs (A’s) so-many beths (B’s)

-and so on, to the end of the alphabet.

   这本书包含多少字母A,多少字母B,等等,一直到最后一个字母。

When a scribe had finished copying Out a book, he had to count up the letters in it and compare his scores with those in the table. If he was one out, on one letter, he was supposed to scrap the whole book and start again. (Human nature being what it is, you can’t help wondering if he always did!)

专门抄写圣经的人在了抄写工作之后,他必须计算抄写字母的总数,还要将结果与马所拉学士绘制的表格进行比较。如果有一个字母的数量有差别,那么他必须重新抄写。我们会情不自禁地对他们坚持这样做表示惊叹!

Scholars tell us that Hebrew manuscripts all over the world are extraordinarily similar, thanks to these stringent rules of the Massoretes.

学者们告诉我们,全世界的希伯来手抄本具有惊人的相似性,这些应该归功于马所拉学士制定的这些规则。

This leaves unanswered one serious question. The Massoretes re­created a standard copy, four or five hundred years after the Romans took away the original standard. How do we know that the new standard was anything like the old?

然而这还没有回答一个严肃的问题。罗马人带走了原始的旧约标准版本400年或500年以后,马所拉学士重新建立了新的标准版本,我们怎么知道新标准版本与原始标准版本没有任何区别?

Until 1947 it was impossible to answer that question. The oldest Hebrew scrolls belonged to about the tenth century A.D., and were therefore based on the standard Massoretic text. Apart from a few fragments we had no pre-Massoretic manuscripts with which to compare them.

1947年以前,人们无法回答这个问题。最古老的希伯来手抄本属于公元10世纪,当然是根据马所拉学士后来编制的标准抄写的,除了一些片断以外,我们没有马所拉学士之前的手稿,因此无法进行比较。

In 1947 the first of the Dead Sea Scrolls were found. These were manuscripts of Old Testament books and other Jewish religious writings that were hidden away in caves just before A.D. 70. The Roman legions were marching through the land, and the Jewish monks who owned these books hid them away “for the duration of the war”. Alas, they never came back to claim their property. Few Jews escaped being killed or deported, and the monks’ treasures lay in their hiding places for nearly nineteen centuries.

1947年第一次发现了死海古卷。这些古卷包括旧约手稿,还有其它一些犹太人的宗教著作,都是在公元前70年以前,罗马军团向他们国家进军的时候,一些犹太教士匆忙将他们收藏的这些书藏在山洞中,然而,他们永远没有机会回来取走自己的财产了。极少数逃脱战乱的犹太人后来也是要么被杀死,要么被流放到远方。这些犹太教士的珍宝被隐藏了近19个世纪

To the Bible student the two most interesting scrolls are copies of the book of Isaiah. One, known as 1Q Isaiah A, is complete; the other, 1Q Isaiah B, is incomplete. It appears that one of these is a higher quality product than the other.

对于圣经学者来说,他们最感兴趣的是以赛亚书有两种手稿。其中一种手抄稿是完整的,另外一本手抄本的内容不完整。而且一种抄本的质量似乎要高于另外一种。

A chemist today would buy an expensive, accurate copy of the Imperial Standard Pound (or, more probably, of the Standard Kilogram); a grocer would buy a cheap copy, not very accurate, but quite good enough for weighing potatoes. In the same way it seems clear that 1Q Isaiah B was a high-quality copy of the Standard Scroll, pre­pared perhaps for some large, rich synagogue; while 1Q Isaiah A was a less accurate copy, turned out by less skilled scribes for the use, probably, of less important people.

就像今天的化学家会买一台贵重的、精确的天平来做化学实验,而市场上买肉的商贩会买一台便宜的、不是特别精确,但是已经够用的天平一样,同样,似乎精确的手抄本是为一些有钱的犹太教会堂、很重要的人物准备的,而准确性差一点的手稿可能是为一些不重要的人准备的。

According to a leading authority these and other Dead Sea Scrolls confirm “that the Jewish scribes of the early Christian centuries copied and recopied the text of the Hebrew Bible with the utmost fidelity”.3

一位研究死海古卷的权威证实:“犹太教的文士在公元1世纪抄写、再抄写的希伯来文圣经的准确程度达到了极至。”

Even the less accurate scroll, 1Q Isaiah A, differs from the Massor­etic text in only a few small particulars. 1Q Isaiah B is “as close to the traditional Massoretic text as makes no practical difference”.4

即使是精确度差一些的版本,和精确版本之间的差别也非常细微。“非常接近,没有实质性的差别”。

We obviously owe the painstaking Jewish scribes a great debt. They have bequeathed us a Hebrew Bible that is very, very close indeed to the words that were first written.

    对于那些辛苦地抄写圣经的犹太文士来说,我们欠他们很多。他们勤奋刻苦的抄写遗留下来希伯来文圣经非常接近于圣经最初的原文。

 

The New Testament Copyists新约圣经的抄写

 

One sad fact has to be faced. The Christian copyists were not in the same street as their Jewish colleagues. If they had been we should have a superbly accurate text of the New Testament, because there are two points in favour of the New Testament copies.

但是我们要面对一件令人悲伤的事实。基督教新约圣经的抄写不像犹太人同行那样严格。要是他们也像犹太人那样工作的话,我们就有绝对精确的新约版本,因为新约同旧约相比有以下的优势:

First, the New Testament manuscripts go back much closer to the originals than do the Old Testament manuscripts. And secondly, there is a wider variety of New Testament manuscript evidence to draw upon.

首先,与旧约手稿相比,新约手稿的年代更接近于圣经原始文件。其次,新约圣经手稿的数量更多。

As it is, these two great advantages just about compensate for the relative inaccuracy of the Christian scribes. For it was only relative inaccuracy. They were not at all bad copyists; they just could not attain the fantastically high standards of the Jews.

这两点巨大的优势弥补了基督教新约圣经抄写的一些相对不足之处。新约圣经的抄写只是相对的没有旧约那么精确,但是它们依然是非常好的手抄本,仅仅是没有达到犹太人那种精益求精的完美程度。

The great age of the oldest New Testament manuscripts was discussed in the previous chapter. The other advantage, of great abundance of material, is equally important. 

我们在前一章讨论了最古老的新约圣经手抄本的年代。新约圣经的其它优点,例如有丰富的材料,这些材料也同样重要。

There are something like 5,000 separate manuscripts of the Greek New Testament in the museums and libraries of the world. Some are only fragments, but many are practically complete. Also there are a great many early copies of the New Testament translated into other languages. In addition to this, a very large part of the New Testament exists in the form of quotations in early Christian writings.

当前全世界的博物馆和图书馆有大约5000本独立的希腊文圣经手稿。一些只是片断,也有很多是完整的。同样,还有很多翻译成多种语言的新约手抄本。除了这些版本外,早期基督徒著作中还有很多引用了圣经新约。

A nineteenth-century scholar, Dean Burgon, counted up all these early quotations that he could find. He reported 19,370 quotations from the Gospels, 14,905 from the Epistles, I, 38~ from the Acts of the Apostles and 644 from the book of Revel ation.5 A present-day recount would reveal much larger numbers.

Dean Burgo是一位十九世纪的学者,他对能够找到的引用专门作过统计。他说有19370处引用了福音书,14,905处引用了使徒书信,38处引用了使徒行传,644处来自启示录。如果在今天重新统计,数量可能更大。

You may wonder what use all these manuscripts are if none of them is accurate. The answer is that by comparing them it is possible to sort out most of the errors, and recover a nearly accurate text. This is very tedious work but it can be done. Fortunately for us, thousands of dedicated men over the past four centuries have given the best years of their lives to this work.

你可能觉得奇怪,如果这些手稿不是很精确的话,它们有什么作用。答案在于,通过对比就有可能归类出大部分错误,可以将它们恢复到很精确的状态。这是一项非常单调的工作,但是是可行的。过去的4个世纪中,数千人将他们生命的最好时光献身于此项工作,对于我们来说是非常幸运的。

There are two kinds of errors: deliberate ones, and accidental ones. The insertion of the second sentence into 1 John 5; 7, is regarded as a deliberate corruption of the text. Some scribe apparently thought he could improve John’s writing. The spurious nature of this sentence, which appears in the Authorised Version, was discovered a very long time ago. It is omitted from all modern versions.

错误有两种形式:故意的,无意的。例如,在约翰157中插于一句话就被认为是故意的错误,它损害原文。抄写圣经的人可能认为这样做让约翰的意思更加完备。这句话出现在英语圣经的钦定版中,最近才发现是人故意加进去的。所有现代版本都删除了这句伪造的话。   

Accidental slips are often harder to locate, but there are tech­n1Ques for finding them. Names are given to the different kinds of mistakes that can occur. Most of these are almost impossible for the ordinary man to remember. One common form of error is called “homoeoteleuton” (from the Greek for “same ending”). If the same word occurs, say, at the end of line 3 and the end of line 4, it is very easy for the copyist to jump from the end of line 3 to the beginning of line 5. If he does, then that is a homoeoteleuton. Fortunately, it is usually easier to spot where a homoeoteleuton has occurred than to remember what it is called.

对那些不经意犯的错误,也是有方法可以判断的,但是更难一些。大部分错误是普通人也容易犯的。例如“串行”,如果我们抄写第3行后跳到第5行,这个错误就是“串行”。幸运的是,“串行”这样的错误比较容易地被发现。

Another form of error, also easy to detect, has an unforgettable name: dittography. No prizes are offered for guessing that it means accidentally writing the same word twice.

还有一些错误也比较容易地检测到。例如两次重复地抄写同样的一个词。发现这样的错误就更简单了。

It soon becomes clear to the scholar working in this field that there are good manuscripts and bad manuscripts. He is able to divide them up into families, and say fairly confidently, for example, that manu­scripts X, Y and Z are all copies of the same earlier manuscript. Gradually he ends up with a text which he knows to be more than 99 per cent perfect. That is to say, he is practically certain of the complete accuracy of most of it.

对于那些专门研究圣经手稿的学者来说,很快他们就能够比较有把握地分辨出哪些手稿的质量比较高(好),哪些手稿的质量比较低(不好)。他将这些手稿分类,例如,有三份手稿都是的早期同一个手稿的抄写本。他通过分析可以知道那一种属于高质量的。

Just occasionally there is a word or a phrase about which he cannot be sure. If he is a Bible translator he will probably indicate his un­certainty in a footnote. For example, Mark 1: 34 tells us that Jesus “suffered not the devils to speak because they knew Him”. The Revised Version of 1885 translates these words in exactly the same way as the Authorised Version. But it tells us in a footnote that after the last word, “many ancient authorities [manuscripts] add ‘to be Christ’.” 

 有的时候,研究者也会对于一俩个词语或句子没有把握。如果他在从事翻译工作,他常常在脚注上表明不确定的记号。汉语圣经出现过多次:“有古卷说…..”这样的脚注。

This is fairly typical of the uncertainties that exist in the text of our Greek New Testament. They are generally few and far between. They are generally small. And they generally have little effect on the mean­ing of the passages in question.

这是非常典型的、我们对希腊文圣经新约原文不能确定的一个例子。这些例子的数量在逐步减少。通常这样的差别对原文的含义没有实质性的影响。

How do these small uncertainties affect the question of inspiration? We must consider that later. But first I want to look at another question.

然而这些极少的不确定性对于  神的启示存在多大的影响?我们过后肯定会讨论他们。但是首先我们要看另外一个问题。

 

Drawing the Line 分界线

 

At some time or another somebody-or a number of somebodies-must have drawn a line. On one side of that line they placed the sixty-six books that make up our Bible. On the other side of the line they left all the other books in the world. The line they drew is usually called “the canon of Scripture”, because “canon” is an old-fashioned name for a measuring rule or an approved list.

有人已经为我们画出了一条线,线的一边是圣经的66本书,另一边是世界上其它所有的书。这条线通常被称为“圣经正典”,因为“正典”是过去表示经过核准的衡量尺度的标准名称。

“Take these sixty-six books, and these alone,” they must have said. “These books are the inspired Word of God. All the other books ever written, or likely to be written, are in a different class altogether. All other books are just the writings of ordinary men and women.”

他们肯定说过“收入这66本书,并且只有这66本书,这些书是  神所启示的书。所有其余的任何书,或将来写的书,都应该归于另外一类。其余的书仅仅是通人写的”。

We need to know how this tremendous decision came to be made. Otherwise we shall not know whether to trust the decision-makers. We need good reasons before we can feel sure that the line was drawn in exactly the right place. What, then, are the facts?

我们需要知道这些决定是如何、什么时候做出来的。否则我们就不知道做出决定的人是否值得信赖,不知道这条线画的是否正确。

As with so many other questions about the Bible, the first fact is this: the scholars disagree. There are two main schools of thought.

就像圣经面对的很多其它问题一样,第一个事实是:有一些学者持有不同的意见。两种主要的学派具有不同的思想。

The first school maintains that the Bible “just growed”, like that famous young lady called Topsy. The majority of modern scholars belong to the Topsy school. Put very briefly, their theory runs like this:

第一种学派认为圣经是“逐渐增加的”。大多数现代学者属于这一个派。逐渐增加理论简单地说:

For thousands of years men have been churning out religious books by the cartload. Some of these have been written from scratch, others by tinkering with older books that looked as if they could do with a rewrite. Gradually men began to realise that some of these books were of outstanding merit, just as men regard Shakespeare’s plays as being the greatest English literature ever written.

几千年以来,人们一直在排除假冒的自称是神启示的书。这些假冒的书中,有的是自己编造的,有的参考了古书并且进行改写。就像人们将莎士比亚的戏剧看成是英国最伟大的文学作品一样,人们也逐步认识到哪些书籍具有真正的价值,应该归于圣经当中。

 

At first the Jews were not unanimous in their choice of the very best religious books. They argued for years and years before making their final choice. By the time of Christ they were almost agreed on which books constituted the Word of God. But some haggling still went on over a few books.

起初,犹太人在选择最优秀的宗教著作的时候意见并不是完全一致的。在做出最终决定之前经过很多年的争论。在耶稣基督的年代,在那些书是  神的启示这一点上,他们基本上达成了一致,只在少数书上存在争议。

The matter was finally settled in about A.D. 90 by the Jewish religious council, known as the Sanhedrin. This held a great many debates on religious matters during the years after A.D. 70. Its meetings during this period are often called the Council of Jamnia, after the town near Jaffa in Israel where they were held.

这种争议最终在公元90年的犹太人宗教会议(Sanhedrin)上得到解决。这次被称为Sanhedrin宗教会议上讨论了公元70年以后发生的很多宗教问题的争论。会议的地点在现在的海法市附近。

It is possible that the rabbis did not make any forma1 proclamation of their findings until later. But from that time onwards the Jews never seriously questioned the canon of Scripture. Their Bible remained exactly the same as our Old Testament.

犹太拉比可能并没有发表任何正式声明,因为我们没有发现任何书面记载。但从此以后犹太人从来没有正式讨论圣经旧约正典的问题。犹太人的圣经和我们所拥有的旧约是一样的。

Meanwhile, the early Christian Church was busy building up its own collection of sacred books. Some of these came to be recognised as outstanding, and Christians began to add these to their Jewish Old Testament, which they already accepted as the Word of God. But it took a long time before the early Church finally made up its mind about the canon of the New Testament.

在此同时,早期的基督教会也在忙于确立自己的圣书。一旦有些书被确定,基督徒将这些书加入到圣经中,和犹太人的旧约一起被看成是  神的话语。但是早期的基督教教会用了很长的时间来确定自己的新约正典。

The last word was not spoken until A.D. 393 at another committee meeting, the Synod of Hippo. And even then it was thought necessary for another meeting in A.D. 397, the Third Synod of Carthage, to confirm the ruling. From then o~ the New Testament has been fixed in the form in which we have it today.

直到在公元393年召开的另外的一次宗教会议上,这些争论才有了最终结论,然而基督教的教会领导人决定有必要再召开一次会议,于是在公元397年的第三次大公会议上,再次确定上次会议的决定。从那个时候开始,新约圣经的内容才被最终确定下来。

Put like that, the situation does not look too good. But there are two sides to every story. Another group of scholars takes a very dif­ferent line.

这种情况看起来不是太好。但是每一个故事都有两方面。另外一派学者采纳了不同的线索。

They say that the Topsy theory simply does not fit the facts. The Bible is altogether too remarkable a book, and too much of a united whole, to have emerged in this haphazard fashion. They consider that the following theory fits the facts much better:

他们说“逐步增加的理论”并不符合事实。圣经是一个整体,因此不可能以这种偶然的方式出现。他们认为下面的理论更符合事实:

When a man had been used by God to write an inspired book he must have been aware of that fact. His immediate associates would probably be guided by God to recognise that this was indeed an inspired book. Thus the line would have been drawn immediately each inspired book was Written. The canon of Scripture would have been built up, book by book, as time went by. It grew, but it did not just grow. It grew under the guiding hand of God.

当一个人在圣灵感动写下  神的话的时候,他自己一定能够体会到这一点。他应该马上联想到这确实是  神所启示的。因此,这些书一写出来就被归于圣经当中。随着时间的流逝,这样的书越来越多。归于圣经的书在增加,但是并不是随便的增加,而是在  神的手的掌控指导下。 

If this is what happened, why were there ever any arguments about it? This can be explained quite simply. Some of the objectors might not have been aware of the true facts, just as Thomas argued about Christ’s resurrection because he had missed seeing the proof for him­self.6 Others would have been men of the kind you sometimes meet on committees today, men who love to overturn a decision already made.

如果事情就是这样发生的,为什么没有证据出现?这种原因其实很简单。有一些提出异议的人可能没有意识到事实,正如多马对基督复活表示怀疑,因为他自己没有看清证据。还有一些人属于某些团体,或州某些团体的影响,人们总是喜欢路推翻已经做好的决定。 

How can we choose between these two theories?

我们应该如何在这两种理论当中作出选择呢?

It is no use simply plumping for the majority view. As this book has shown repeatedly, in matters affecting human emotions, and parti­cularly in religious questions, majority opinions are very often wrong. We need to look carefully at the facts behind the theories before coming to a decision.

我们不能够简单地采取投票的方式来决定采取哪一种观点。正如本书多次强调过的,在影响人类的感情方面,特别是在宗教问题方面,大多数人的意见通常是错误的。我们需要仔细观察在两种理论后面隐藏的一些事实,然后下结论。

But before we do so, let me utter a word of caution. This is a subject where prejudice-mine, and yours, and all the scholars’-plays a part. If we dismiss the idea of anything miraculous happening, if we reject the Bible’s claim to be verbally inspired-if this is our outlook we shall be hopelessly prejudiced against the second theory. We shall cling to the Topsy theory like drowning men to a life raft, because we have left ourselves no alternative.

在这样做之前,我要说一些警告的话。这个课题上偏见起了很大的作用,不管是你、还是我,还有任何一位学者。

But as I shall show in Chapter 21, it is more scientific to accept the possibility of miracles than to reject it. And we have already seen in Chapters 14 to 16 that there is good reason to believe in the verbal inspiration of the Bible. So there is nothing impossible about the idea of God’s Spirit supervising the process of collecting together His own books.

但是正如我在第21节所指出的,更加科学的态度是相信存在发生奇迹的可能性,而不是否定它。从14~16章我们已经看到,我们相信圣经是  神的启示的很好的理由。因此,  神的灵指导人们收集自己的书也不是不可能的事情。

Now let’s take a closer look at the historical facts.

   现在,让我们对于一些历史的事实作更进一步的观察。

 

The Old Testament Canon 关于圣经旧约正典

 

History-that is ordinary history, not the historical records inside the Bible itself-can tell us practically nothing about the very early days of the Old Testament books. The Scriptures of the Jews were com­pleted by the fifth century B.C. They were already ancient literature before they came to the notice of the outside world.

普通的历史(不是圣经所记载的历史)没有告诉我们圣经旧约的早期阶段的历史。圣经中犹太人的历史记载结束于公元前5世纪。在旧约被外界所注意的时候,他们已经成为了古代历史了。

In the three centuries before Christ there were many Greek-speaking Jews living outside the land of Israel, especially in Egypt. During the third and second centuries B.C. they gradually produced for them­selves a translation of the Bible into Greek. This has come to be known as the “Septuagint” (or LXX, for short) because of a ridiculous legend about its production by seventy-two men in seventy-two days. (Septuaginta is the Latin word for “seventy”.)

公元前3世纪,有很多说希腊文的犹太人生活在以色列以外的土地上,特别是埃及。在公元前3世纪和公元前2世纪之间,他们逐渐将圣经的旧约翻译成希腊文。这些翻译版本被称为 “七十士译本”,因为有传说是72个人在72天翻译成的。

It is not an ideal translation, because its accuracy varies from place to place. But for want of anything better the early Greek-speaking Christians quickly adopted it as their own. We owe its preservation to these Christians rather than its original proprietors, the Jews.   

因为翻译的准确性时好时差,这个版本并不完美,但当时没有其它版本,所以早期讲希腊语的基督徒很快就接受了它。是基督徒而不是犹太人保存了这个版本。    

During the period 300 B.C. to A.D. 100 a large number of Jewish religious books was written. None of these was accepted as Scripture by the Jews of Jerusalem, but the Jews of Alexandria translated a few of them into Greek and tacked them on to their Septuagint. This small collection of later books is called the “Apocrypha”. Perhaps “tacked them on” is a misleading phrase; in those days a large book like the Bible would be in the form of a whole series of separate rolls kept in one place. Books more like ours, made from flat sheets stitched together, were not invented until after the time of Christ. (This sort of book is called a “codex”.) But when the Septuagint appeared in this form the books of the Apocrypha were bound among the Old Testament books.

公元前300年到公元100年期间,有大量的犹太人编写的宗教书籍出现。在耶路撒冷的犹太人不承认其中任何一本为圣经的一部分。但是在亚历山大城的犹太人将其中的一部分翻译成为希腊文,并将它们放在经典中,后来这些新增加的书籍被统称为“新约外传”。在那个时代,圣经其实就是一系列的书放在一起。向我们现在阅读的非常整本圣经是在基督以后才发明的。但是在圣经旧约的“七十士译本”中包含新约外传。

Why this happened remains a mystery. Some scholars think that the Greek-speaking Jews accepted these newer books as inspired, but this has never been proved. If they did hold such a view it was certainly a highly unorthodox opinion.

这些事情的原因是一个谜。有些人认为那些说希腊语的犹太人接受这些新书为  神所启示的,但是这种观点从来没有被证实。如果他们真的有这种观点,那么这种观点也是一种非常不正统的。

The Jews in general, and the Jews of Jerusalem in particular, had long regarded the canon of Scripture as closed. We know this from the writings of two famous Jews, Philo and Josephus, who lived in the first century A.D. What they wrote about the canon was worded in rather vague terms, so we cannot prove conclusively that they accep­ted the usual thirty-nine Old Testament books.

大部分的犹太人,特别是在耶路撒冷的犹太人一直认为圣经的正典已经完毕。我们从Philo Josephus两个犹太人的作品当中就可以看出这一点。他们都生活在公元1世纪,但是他们在提到旧约正典的时候都采用了相当含糊的语言,因此我们不能下结论说,他们接受的就是我们现在的39本书。

But one thing is quite certain. They both believed very firmly that the canon of Scripture was complete, and had been so for a long time. They did not express this as a personal view, but as the orthodox Jewish belief.但是有一件事情是非常确定的。它们两个人都非常肯定地认为圣经正典已经完成,而且已经完成了很长的时间。它们表达的不仅仅是个人的观点,而是正统的犹太人的信仰。

It therefore seems unlikely that the Greek-speaking Jews of Alex­andria (of whom Philo was one) regarded the Apocrypha as God’s Word. Their habit of keeping these other books along with the Old Testament books probably has another explanation. I once possessed an English Bible which included the Book of Common Prayer. But this was bound in with the Bible just for convenience. Nobody ever regarded the Prayer Book as inspired. The Alexandrian Jews prob­ably regarded the Apocrypha as useful books to keep along with the Bible, and nothing more.

从那些在亚历山大城的讲希腊文的犹太人(门徒菲利就是其中之一)的观点来看,他们并没有将新约外传(Apocrypha)看成是  神的话。他们将新约外传同圣经旧约一起保存可能有其他的目的。我曾经拥有一本带有公共祷告文的圣经,但是这些祷告文放置在圣经当中是为了方便。没有人认为这些公共祷告词是  神所启示的。亚历山大的犹太人可能认为新约外传是非常有用的,将它们和圣经装订一起。

It is practically certain that the early church did not regard the Apocrypha as a part of the Bible. The writers of the New Testament quote the Old Testament as Scripture more than 200 times. That is to say, they introduce each of these 2oo-odd quotations by, “Thus saith the Scripture”, or, “As it is written”, or some such phrase. Yet never once do they quote the Apocrypha in this fashion. This strongly implies that the Bible Jesus used contained the same thirty-nine books as our Old Testament.    

我们几乎可以肯定,早期教会并没有将新约外传看成是圣经的一部分。新约圣经超过200次引用了旧约作为经典,这就是说,有200多次出现了“经上记载说”等用语,但是新约从来没有这样引用过新约外传的话。这就强烈地暗示耶稣使用的旧约圣经同我们现在拥有的39本书是一样的。

The only difference (apart from language) between Christ’s Bible and our Old Testament is the order of the books. They both start with Genesis, but our Old Testament ends with Malachi while the Jewish one ends with 2 Chronicles. So did Christ’s Old Testament. When he wanted to refer to all the martyrs of the Old Testament, He said:

基督使用的圣经旧约和我们现在拥有的旧约惟一的差别(除了语言以外),是顺序的不同。二者都是创世记开头,但是我们的旧约最后一本书是玛垃基书,犹太人经典的最后一本书是历代志下,耶稣拥有的旧约书与犹太人的是一样的。耶稣想提到旧约时代的殉道者时,他说:

“The blood of all the prophets, which was shed from the founda­tion of the world, may be required of this generation; from the blood of Abel unto the blood of Zacharias.”7

   “使创世以来所流众先知血的罪都要问在这世代的人身上,就是从亚伯的血起,直到被杀在坛和殿中间撒迦利亚的血为止。我实在告诉你们,这都要问在这世代的人身上。”(路加福音115051

Abel was the first martyr mentioned in the Jewish Old Testament (Genesis 4), and Zachariah was the last (2 Chronicles 24). There are lots of martyrs mentioned in the Apocrypha as coming after Zachariah, but Christ disregarded all these.

亚伯是犹太人旧约最早提到的殉道者(出现在创世记4章),而撒迦利亚是最后一位(出现在历代志下24章)。在新约外传中提到过很多撒迦利亚之后的殉道者,但是基督从来没有提到过他们。 

In the light of this evidence it seems highly probably that the canon of the Old Testament was fixed long before the time of Christ. As numerous scholars have pointed out, the Jewish Council of Jamnia did not try to decide a new question, but merely to prevent a long­settled question from being reopened8

因此,在耶稣出生以前,旧约正典很可能早已确定。很多学者还指出,犹太人已经不再讨论这个问题,而且还不允许重新讨论这个已经确定的问题。

Nevertheless the question was reopened-but not by the Jews. The early Christian Church used the Greek version of the Old Testament, and, as we have seen, this had the books of the Apocrypha bound up with it. This caused some Christians to think that perhaps the Apocrypha was part of the inspired Bible. Others strongly disagreed.

然而还是有人将这个问题提出来,不是犹太人。早期的基督教会中,有些教会使用希腊文的旧约圣经,我们刚才看到,他们将新约外传也放进去,让一些基督徒认为可能新约外传也是  神启示的一部分。另外一些人对此强烈地反对。

The question was debated for many centuries. It was settled for Roman Catholics in 1546, when the Council of Trent declared the Apocrypha to be fully inspired. The Protestant churches never accep­ted this view, but have always kept to the original Jewish decision about the canon of the Old Testament.

这个问题争论了很长的时间,一直到公元1546年,罗马天主教会的塔兰托会议 (the Council of Trent)宣告新约外传完全是  神所启示的,而新教徒从来没有接受这种观点,而是接受了犹太人的决定。

The Roman Church’s attempt to introduce the Apocrypha into the Old Testament as late as 1546 went against the facts of history. It also went against the teaching of the New Testament. Paul said:

罗马天主教会在1546年将新约外传放在旧约中是违背历史事实的,也违反了新约圣经的教导。保罗说:

 

“What advantage then hath the Jew? . . . They were entrusted with the Oracles of God [the Old Testament].”9

   “这样说来,犹太人有什麽长处?……第一是神的圣言(旧约)交托他们”。(罗马书3:23

Thus it was the responsibility of the Jews, said Paul, to look after the Old Testament. Neither the Roman Catholic Church nor anybody else, has any right to overrule the Jewish decision about the Old Testament canon.

    因此,负责圣经旧约是犹太人的责任,与罗马天主教会无关。在哪些书应该归于旧约正典这个问题上,天主教会以及其它任何人都没有权利凌驾在犹太人之上。

 

The New Testament Canon新约正典

 

Unlike the Old Testament, the books of the New Testament were mentioned by outside writers-lots of them-while the New Testa­ment was still young. Because of this we know that at least twenty out of its twenty-seven books were accepted as Scripture by practically the whole Church at an early date.10 Just how early we cannot be sure, but it was probably by A.D. 150, and could have been considerably earlier.11

与圣经旧约不一样,新约中的很多书在写出来不久,很多圣经之外的作品就提到它们。我们知道新约的27本书中至少有20本在教会的早期就被看成是经文被普遍接受。有多早我们不敢确定,可能是公元150年,有些人认为更早一些。

The remaining seven books are Hebrews, Revelation, James, 2 Peter, 2 and 3 John, and Jude. The first two of these are substantial books, but the other five are all brief. Consequently all seven books together make up only about one eighth of the entire New Testament.

剩下的7本书为希伯来书,雅各书、彼得前(后)书,约翰123)书。这7本书占有新约圣经篇幅的1/8

It was only this small fraction of the New Testament that was ever seriously disputed. The historical record of these disputes, and their final silencing at the Synod of Hippo in A.D. 393, is not complete. Some of the books were rejected by some of the churches for some of the time. That is about as good a summary of the story as is available today.

但是围绕这7本书的争论并不厉害。而且这些争论在公元393年的宗教会议上就停止了,有些时候一些教会拒绝接受其中的一些书,我在这里只是简单地总结一下历史。

There are at least three reasons why wise historians are cautious about this subject: 有三个理由让历史学家来对于这个话题保持警惕:

(1) New facts crop up from time to time which throw a new light on the situation. For example, Professor Ridderbos pointed out in 1958 that new evidence about the Epistle to the Hebrews had just been discovered.12 It was now known that this book was accepted as Scripture in Rome as early as A.D. 150. Previously all that was known was that Hebrews was still not accepted in Rome at a much later date. Why this book should have been “in”,”out”, and then, finally “in” again, is not known. But this story shows the dangers of jumping to conclusions. If this case is anything to go by, other books among the disputed seven could have been accepted in the very early days, and then rejected by some men at a later date.  新证据出现为研究者带来新的曙光。例如,Ridderbos教授在1958年指出,有证据表明早在公元150年的罗马希伯来书就被看成是  神的启示,而以前的学者认为在罗马的基督徒拒绝接受希伯来书。   这本书是否应该放在圣经当中,而最后却放在圣经当中的原因,我们不知道。但是这个故事告诉我们不顾事实下结论的危险。其它有争议的书也是曾经放置在圣经当中,后来有人提出异议。

(2) The Church in those days was not a closely knit community. Individual churches were separated by great distances, and in times of war and persecution communications were very poor. What was going on in one place may have been quite unrepresentative and mis­leading, if assumed to apply to the Church over a wide area. 早期的教会并不是一个紧密的团体。由于距离遥远,每一个教会都是独立的,在战争以及受到迫害期间,教会之间的联系都非常少。一个教会发生的事情并不能够代表整个教会。

(3) It is the Church leaders that have left their mark on history, not the rank-and-file Christians. We may know what some of the early bishops thought about the disputed books. But we have no means of telling what the lesser brethren thought. And where there is a difference of opinion within a church, it is not always the leaders who are right. Whose opinions, for instance, are right in Russia today? Those of the few well-known church leaders who have come to terms with the state? Or the unknown thousands who suffer in prison and concentration camp for the sake of an uncompromising faith? God knows. 在教会中留下纪录的是那些教会的领导人。我们可能知道早期一些教会的领导人对有争议问题的看法。但是我们不知道那些下层的弟兄们之间的想法。如果在一个教会内部之间有分歧,教会领导人之间的意见并不永远都是对的。例如在今天的俄罗斯,谁的意见是正确的?是少数有名望的、和政府当局有密切关系的教会领导人,还是为了信仰坚决不妥协的被关押的数千名信徒? 神知道。

Evidently the Topsy theory-that the canon of Scripture “just growed”-is not borne out by the facts of history. Neither is the alternative theory. The historical evidence is incomplete and incon­clusive. Either theory could be true, so far as the historical evidence goes.

从以上证据来看,逐渐增加理论并不是根据历史事实得出来的结论,也不是一种可以供选择的理论。它所依靠的历史证据是不完全的,不能够得出肯定新的结论。或许将来有新的历史证据出现,能够证明这种理论是正确的。

This gives us a clear field, then, to look at the internal evidence. Let the Bible speak for itself, and tell its own tale of the formation of the canon.

接下来让我们来看看内在的证据,让圣经自己说话,告诉我们关于圣经正典的构成。

 

 

The Bible’s Own Evidence 圣经本身的证据

 

Throughout the Bible, from Moses the first author to John the last, we are repeatedly told how the canon was formed. Dr. Bullinger has compiled a chain of thirty-two such passages running through the Old Testament from Exodus to Malachi,13 and his list is far from exhaustive. Some, but by no means all, of the passages quoted below are taken from his collection.

从圣经第一本书的作者摩西到最后一本书的作者约翰,圣经从头到尾反复告诉我们圣经正典是如何形成的。

The story begins in the book of Exodus. Moses went up into Mount Sinai. He talked with the Lord, and finally: 这一段经历记载开始于出埃及记。

“Moses wrote all the words of the Lord. . . . And he took the book of the covenant, and read in the audience of the people.”14

“摩西将耶和华的命令都写上……又将约书念给百姓听。(出埃及记2447

There was no doubt about this being the beginning of the canon. No other man had ever had an experience like this. No book like this had ever been written before. Moses had a conversation with God, and then wrote a permanent record of it. In a very direct sense, this beginning of Scripture was the Word of God.

毫无疑问,这是圣经正典的开始。从前没有人有这样的经历,在此以前,没有人写过这样的书。摩西和  神有过对话,接着写下了永恒的记录,并且将这些记录在  神的话中:

By and by Moses added to his book: 而且摩西在添加了新的内容:

  

“These are the journeys of the children of Israel . . . And Moses wrote their goings out according to their journeys by the command­ment of the Lord.”15

   “以色列人按著军队,在摩西、亚伦的手下出埃及地所行的路程记在下面。摩西遵著耶和华的吩咐记载他们所行的路程,其路程乃是这样”(民数记2312

He knew that his own writings were on a special plane. They were unlike any other writings. They were God’s commandments. Conse­quently no man must touch them. Nothing must be added, nothing taken away:

     他知道自己的著作的起源来自天上,和其他任何一本人类书写的作品不一样,它不需要任何人来改变。不需要增加,也不需要减少。

“Ye shall not add unto the word which I command you, neither shall ye diminish ought from it, that ye may keep the command­ments of the Lord your God which I command you.”16

    “所吩咐你们的话,你们不可加添,也不可删减,好叫你们遵守我所吩咐的,就是耶和华你们神的命令。”(申命记42

This law of God that Moses was writing was very precious. It would have to be kept very, very carefully. So a group of custodians were appointed:

   摩西记载的  神的律法非常宝贵,应该非常仔细地保存下来。因此有这样专门保管律法的一些人:

“When he (your future king) sitteth upon the throne of his kingdom, he shall write him a copy of this law in a book, out of that which is before the priests the Levites.”17

“And Moses wrote this law and delivered it unto the priests the sons of Levi, which bare the ark of the covenant of the Lord.”18

“And it came to pass, when Moses had made an end of writing the words of this law in a book until they were finished, that Moses commanded the Levites, which bare the ark of the covenant of the Lord, saying, ‘Take this book of the law) and put it in the side of the ark of the covenant of the Lord your God, that it may be there for a witness against thee! “19

   “他登了国位,就要将祭司利未人面前的这律法书,为自己抄录一本,(申命记1718

   “摩西将这律法写出来,交给抬耶和华约柜的祭司利未子孙和以色列的众长老。”(申命记319

    “摩西将这律法的话写在书上,及至写完了,就吩咐抬耶和华约柜的利未人说:「将这律法书放在耶和华你们神的约柜旁,可以在那里见证以色列人的不是。”(申命记3124-26

So the collection of holy writings began. Moses wrote the first portions, and handed them over to the priests. They placed them reverently beside the ark of the covenant; that is, in the Most Holy Place of the tabernacle, where the Spirit of God was known to dwell. Copies would be made from these, by future kings and others. But those scrolls kept in the tabernacle would always have the pride of place. The books admitted to that collection would form the canon of the Word of God.因此,收集这一系列神圣的书籍的过程开始了。摩西写下了最开始的部分,并且将它们交给了祭司。祭司们虔诚地将这些文字安放在至圣所约柜的旁边, 神的灵居住的地方。在至圣所,祭司们根据原文抄写了很多副本,供将来的祭司和国王阅读。但是这些        这些书将来也要容纳同样是  神的话的圣经正典。

But Moses was an old man. Soon he would die. Who, then, would carry on this work of giving God’s Word to His people? Moses explained that this was provided for-God would appoint a successor:

摩西当时已经是一个老人,不久就要告别人世。那么,谁将能够继续这项工作,用  神的话教导老百姓?摩西解释说,  神将选择摩西的接班人:

“And the Lord said unto me ... ‘I will raise them up a prophet from among their brethren like unto thee. And I will put My words in his mouth, and he shall speak unto them all that I shall command him.’”20

   “耶和华就对我说:『他们所说的是。我必在他们弟兄中间给他们兴起一位先知,像你。我要将当说的话传给他;他要将我一切所吩咐的都传给他们”(申命记181718

The New Testament tells us that this promise was ultimately ful­filled by the coming of Jesus.21 But there was also an immediate fulfilment. The next prophet after Moses, his immediate successor, was Joshua. This was very fitting, since Jesus and Joshua are the same name, one written in Greek and the other written in Hebrew.新约圣经告诉我们,是耶稣最终实现了这个应许。但是这个应许不会是马上就实现的。摩西之后的先知,也是摩西的接班人是约书亚。这是非常相称的。因为耶稣和约书亚是同一个名字,只不过一个是希腊文,另外一个是希伯来文。

As might be expected, Joshua added to the canon of Scripture. After the five books written by Moses, the next book bears Joshua’s name. And the last chapter of that book tells us: “And Joshua wrote these words in the book of the law of God.”22

就像我们可以预料的那样,约书亚也写下了  神的话。摩西五经后面是约书亚记,书中的最后一章告诉我们说:“约书亚将这些话都写在神的律法书上”。(约书亚记2426

These words do not expressly say that he gave his book to the priests, to add to the collection in the Most Holy Place. But they clearly imply it. His words were written “in the book of the law of God”. This must surely mean that his book was an inspired addition to the law of God-to the canon of Scripture.这些话并没有直接说他将这本书交给了祭司,他们将这些书归于到保存在至圣所的圣经之中。他的话被记录在“”。这一定意味着他的书

A little later another prophet added to the sacred collection:

   过后,有一位先知为这本神圣的书中增加了新的内容:

“Then Samuel ... wrote it in a book (Hebrew, “the book”) and laid it up before the Lord.”23

 “撒母耳将国法对百姓说明,又记在书上(希伯来文:那本书上),放在耶和华面前”。(撒母耳记上1025

(To “lay a thing up before the Lord” meant, in Hebrew parlance, to deposit it in the tabernacle.)

Several centuries later a new king of the Jews was crowned:

   几个世纪之后,有一个新的犹大国王登基,犹太人的祭司们:

“They (the priests) brought out the king’s son, and put upon him the crown, and gave him the testimony, and made him king.”24

     “於是领王子出来,给他戴上冠冕,将律法书交给他,立他作王。”(历代志下2311

What was this “testimony” they gave the new king? Certainly a copy of the Scriptures; probably the official standard copy, from which he was commanded to write out a copy for himself (see the passage [note 17] quoted on p.161.)

Prophet by prophet, book by book, the official collection grew. By the time of Jeremiah the earlier prophet Micah had been dead for a hundred years. But his written word had been immortalised in the sacred canon: Micah’s book was quoted by Jeremiah as a “Thus saith the Lord.”25

随着书写这本书的先知越来越多,正式归于圣经书集的书越来越多。在耶利米的时代,早期的先知玛拉基已经去世达100年。但是他写的书被看成是神圣的经典。耶利米这样引用弥迦的书:“”(耶利米书2618

A hundred years later still, and Jeremiah’s own book had joined the great collection. One of the last of the prophets was quoting Jeremiah as a writer of “the Word of the Lord”:

    在这件事情以后100年,耶利米自己的书也在这部伟大的经过选择的书集之中。后来的一位先知也将耶利米所写的书归于“”。

“I, Daniel, understood by books (Hebrew, “the books”, presum­ably meaning the inspired books) the number of the years, whereof the Word of the Lord came to Jeremiah the prophet.”26

“就是他在位第一年,我但以理从书上得知耶和华的话临到先知耶利米,论耶路撒冷荒凉的年数,七十年为满。”(但以理书92

Not very long after this, Malachi gave his book to the priestly custodians and the Hebrew Word of God was complete. The day long foretold by Micah had arrived: the “sun had gone down over the prophets”.27

这件事情以后不久,玛拉基接下来玛拉基预言的时代来到了:“”。(弥迦书36

But night does not last for ever. As Malachi finished off the Old Testament canon, in the last half dozen verses of this last book, he promised that one day another “sun” would arise and a prophet of God would walk the earth again.28

但是长夜终究会到尽头。正如玛拉基书宣告圣经旧约正典的完成,他宣告有一天“太阳”将会升起, 神会让另外一位先知出现:“但向你们敬畏我名的人必有公义的日头出现”。(马拉基书42-6

 

The New Testament Speaks for Itself

 

Four centuries passed by, four centuries of silence. And then Malachi’s promised “sun” appeared. “I am the Light of the world”,29 He cried.四个世纪过去了,四个世纪的沉默时代过去了。玛拉基所预言的:“日头”出现了。他声明:“我是世界的光”。(约翰福音812

He chose twelve men to be His intimate companions for three years. He taught them all He could, and after three years He went away. But as He said good-bye to them, He gave them work to do. They were to be His witnesses to the whole world. And He would fill them with the Spirit, so that their witness would be a faithful one.30

他选择了12个人作自己的门徒,在三年的时间里他将尽自己所能教导他们。三年以后他离开了他们,但是在耶稣离开他们的同时,他给他的门徒工作。他们  (使徒行传18

The magnitude of their task must have frightened them. Witnesses to the whole world! How could eleven men witness to the world?这项巨大的任务一定让他们感到害怕!向天下万民传福音!这11个人如何完成这项任务?

Years went by before they realised the answer. Only through the written word. That could be copied and multiplied, and carried to every corner of the earth. Slowly the implications must have dawned upon them. After four hundred years God was going to reopen the canon of Scripture. There was going to be a New Testament, to follow the Old. God was going to inspire them to write it. 很多年过去了,他们也知道了问题的答案。福音书可以抄写,可以变得越来越多,福音书被传遍了世界的每一个角落。在旧约圣经完成之后400年, 神决定接着让人书写这一部经文。这就是新约圣经,  神要启示一些人书写它们。

And write it they did, they and a few of their companions. They were evidently well aware that what they wrote was the inspired Word of God. 而且他们真的写下这些书。他们非常清楚他们是在  神的启示下写下 神的话语的。

For one thing, they referred to each other’s writings as “Scripture”

-a word that otherwise they used only as a name for the Old Testa­ment. Paul quoted from the Gospel of Luke, bracketing it with the Old Testament book of Deuteronomy, under the introduction, “The Scripture saith”.31 And Peter wrote of foolish men who mishandled both Paul’s epistles and “the other Scriptures”.32

还有一件事情,当他们参考圣经别的作品的时候,他们将它们也称为“经文”,保罗在引用路加福音是说:“”。

On one occasion Paul declared that the book he was writing was the Word of the Lord: “If anyone claims to be inspired or a prophet, let him recognise that what I write has the Lord’s authority.”33

保罗曾经宣布他自己写的信是  神的话:“若有人以为自己是先知,或是属灵的,就该知道,我所写给你们的是主的命令。”。(哥林多前书1437

Look closely at that verse. It is interesting for another reason. It implies that there were some members of the early church who were endowed with a miraculous power. They were able to recognise a new portion of Scripture when they saw it.

   请仔细地看看这句经文。它暗示在早期教会中还有别人被赋予这种神奇的能力,当他们看了最新的经文之后,他们能够识别出。

There are several other references in the New Testament to this important power. It was obviously needed. How would banks get on unless they had men who could tell a forged banknote from the genuine article?

在新约圣经中有好几处经文提到了这种重要的能力。很显然这种能力在当时是必要的。一个银行能够坚持营业,除非这个银行的职员

“In each of us the Spirit is manifested in one particular way, for some useful purpose. One man, through the Spirit, has the gift of wise speech, while another, by the power of the same Spirit, can put the deepest knowledge into words. Another, by the same Spirit, is granted faith; another, by the one Spirit, gifts of healing, and another miraculous powers; another has the gift of prophesy, and another ability to distinguish true spirits from false.”34

“圣灵显在各人身上,是叫人得益处。这人蒙圣灵赐他智慧的言语,那人也蒙这位圣灵赐他知识的言语,又有一人蒙这位圣灵赐他信心,还有一人蒙这位圣灵赐他医病的恩赐,又叫一人能行异能,又叫一人能作先知,又叫一人能辨别诸灵,又叫一人能说方言,又叫一人能翻方言”。(哥林多前书127-10

That ability to distinguish true spirits from false-that is, to distin­guish men truly inspired by the Spirit of God from impostors-must have been in very frequent use. Paul refers to some men who were even sending out forged letters in his name.35 Some men were pretend­ing to speak inspired words and calling themselves apostles; John bluntly calls them “liars”.36

如何分辨一个灵是不是来自  神,也就是分辨一个人是不是被  神的灵所启示的,是一种经常要使用的能力。保罗提到过,一些人假冒他的名写信。还有些人假冒成使徒,自称他们的话是  神的话。约翰称他们为“”。()

With deceivers like this among them the churches were in danger. Both Paul and John urged them to be on their guard. The men em­powered to recognise true prophets, and truly inspired books, were to keep busy:

  由于有骗子在里面,教会面临很大的危险。保罗和约翰都告诫教会的人要保持警惕。那些被赋予辨认真正的先知,辨认圣经的真假的人一直在工作:

“Do not stifle inspiration, and do not despise prophetic utter­ances, but bring them all to the test.”37

“我劝你们:无论有灵、有言语、有冒我名的书信,说主的日子现在(现在或作就)到了,不要轻易动心,也不要惊慌。”(帖后22

“But do not trust any and every spirit, my friends; test the spirits, to see whether they are from God, for among those who have gone out into the world there are many prophets falsely inspired.”38

   “亲爱的弟兄啊,一切的灵,你们不可都信,总要试验那些灵是出於神的不是,因为世上有许多假先知已经出来了。”(约翰141

Without these special people in the early Church, we should have no New Testament today. Unless they had been able to recognise true prophets, and true books of Scripture, the canon would never have been compiled. There would just have been a vast mountain of early Christian literature, and nobody would know which was Scripture and which was not.如果没有早期教会这些人的工作,我们就不会拥有今天的新约。如果他们不能辨别先知的真假,圣经的真伪,圣经正典永远不会被编辑出来。这样将有堆积如山的基督教作品,但是我们不知道那些书应该归于圣经。

In Chapter 10 we saw that there is a remarkable degree of harmony between all the books of the Bible. There are threads that run right through, telling one long consecutive story, as if one Master-mind behind the individual writers had planned it that way.在第10章中我们已经看到,在圣经所有的书籍之中都存在巨大的和谐。有一条主要的线索在背后,好像是由一中巨大的智慧在操纵书写圣经的每一位人,每一位写下了一个连贯的故事的一部分。

We now have another example of this. To build up the Bible’s own explanation of how its canon came into existence we have had to bring together twenty-four different passages, like pearls on a thread. They come from nineteen separate books, by eleven different writers. And they all tell one clear, harmonious tale.我们还有另外的一个例子。圣经自己解释了圣经正典是如何形成的,我们将24段不同的经文汇集在一起,就像一根线上的珍珠一样。这些经文来自19本不同的书,由11位不同的书写者写成。他们共同叙说同样的和谐的故事。

More than that. They also present us with a remarkable, and un­expected, parallel between the two Testaments.而且,新约和旧约之间有很多我们意想不到的和谐与一致。

In the Old Testament the writers of Scripture were the prophets.在旧约的时代,书写圣经的人是  神的先知。

Its guardians, however, were the priests. A book was admitted to the canon of Scripture as soon as it had been (1) written by the prophet, and (2) handed over to, and accepted by, the priests.保存旧约的人是犹太教的祭司。一本被容纳进入圣经正典的书在书写完成以后,马上被交给祭司,并且被祭司接受。

In the early Church the situation was exactly parallel. The writers of Scripture were the apostles and their immediate associates. It was safeguarded by those men who, by the power of God’s Spirit, could detect an inspired book and reject the many forgeries that came their way. A book was admitted to the New Testament canon as soon as it had been (1) written by the apostle, or his associate, and (2) handed over to, and accepted by, the “detectors”.基督教早期教会的情形也是这样的。书写圣经新约的人是使徒和他们的朋友。那些接受了圣灵的人保护这些经文,他们能够分辨圣经经文的真假,将很多假冒的经文排除。使徒们写下圣经经文以后,也马上被这些能够分辨圣经真假的人所接受。

The Bible’s own explanation rings true. It makes sense. It des­cribes a system that undoubtedly would have worked. There are no definite facts of history that conflict with it. And there is no alterna­tive explanation that fits all the facts.圣经的解释听起来是对的。因为这种解释合乎情理。毫无疑问,圣经描写的一套系统可以确保圣经的准确性。圣经的解释没有与历史事实相冲突,也没有其它的解释能与所有的事实相符合。

What more could you want of an explanation than that? 还有其它更合理的解释让你相信吗?

 

Verbal Inspiration and Verbal Changes 口头启示以及口头语言的变化

 

Suppose that, for the moment at least, we accept the Bible’s explana­tion of its Origin. God inspired it so that every word was as He wanted it to be. He overruled the men who collected the Biblical books together, so that all the inspired writings were included and the rest left out.假定,我们接受圣经关于自己起源的解释。 圣经是  神的启示,因此每一句话都是  神的意志。 神选择了一些人编辑圣经,所有是  神的话的书都在圣经之中,假冒的书都被排除在外。

Then what? He left it to a great crowd of uninspired men to spoil everything, by copying it inaccurately and translating it inaccurately. We certainly don’t have the inspired words now, so why should God have bothered to inspire the words in the first place? And if there was no point in His inspiring the original words, perhaps He never did anything of the kind...接下来,很多没有受到启示的人几乎要毁掉一切。抄写错误,翻译错误。现在我们已经不知道那些是  神的话了。那么  神为什么最初要启示人写下自己的话?如果  神不能够保存自己的话,他可能一开始就不会启示人写下自己的话。

Or so the argument runs. 反过来说,可以证明圣经的证据是成立的。

Funnily enough, there is a rather similar problem to this in engineering. Let me try and explain it. It might help you to see the Biblical problem in a new light.好笑的是,圣经遇到的问题,现在的工程师们同样遇到。 我现在试图用一个工程上的问题来说明,好让我们从一个新的角度来看待这个问题。

Have you ever wondered why it takes so many years to design and build a new type of aircraft? There are several reasons. One is that so many mathematical calculations must be done. A new aircraft means years of work for a whole team of mathematicians. The shape of every part of the wings must be just right, so that the aircraft will get as much “lift” from the air as possible. The exact thickness of each of thousands of metal parts must be worked out. These must be thick enough not to break when the aircraft hits a bumpy patch, but not too thick, or they will be so heavy that the aircraft will never take off.我曾经感到奇怪:设计和建造一种新型的飞机为什么要花费那么长的时间?有很多理由。有很多数学计算必须要做。新飞机意味着需要一大堆数学家相当长时间的计算。飞机翅膀的每一部分的形状必须是正好合适,这样飞机才能够在飞行中从空气中得到最大的提升力。必须设计出同样厚度的数千金属部件,这个厚度必须能够承载  但是也不能太厚,否则直升飞机就飞不起来了。

Mathematics is called an exact science. A mathematician’s answer to a question is always exactly right. Twice two is not “about four”; it is exactly four, 4.000000000, with as many zeros after the decimal point as you like to add.数学被称为精确的科学。数学家的答案通常是非常准确的。22的积等于4,可以说是4.000000000,后面有多少个零你可以随便加。  

But engineering is not an exact science. Cut yourself out a square of cardboard, 2 inches by 2 inches, and ask an obliging engineer to tell you its area. He will take it to a laboratory, make some very careful measurements, and then come back with an answer like this:但是工程学不是一门非常精确的科学。如果你切下一块2厘米乘以2厘米的方块,问一位工程师它的面积。如果工程师将这块板带进实验室进行仔细测量,他可能会告诉你说:

 “Between 3.98 and 4.02 square inches.” “面积在3.984.02平方英尺之间。”

 

Why not four? Because you were not able to make the sides of your cardboard exactly two inches long, or its corners exactly square. Your engineer friend was not able to measure the cardboard exactly-only as accurately as his instruments would allow. And in any case, the size of the cardboard keeps changing a little with the weather.为什么不是4?因为你不能够切割一块边长正好是2英尺长的方块。而且工程师也不能够百分之百地准确测量方块的面积。而且,方块的面积会随着天气的变化稍稍有些不同。

Now back to our aircraft. The mathematician starts to work out the forces exerted by the air on the metal surfaces of the wings. But he does not concern himself with real air. Real air is frightfully complex stuff. It has dust particles in it. Sometimes there are rain­drops, hailstones, snowflakes-and occasionally birds. The mathematician would go pale with fright if you asked him to calculate the exact result of flying through a flock of seagulls.现在再回到飞机的问题上。数学家开始计算出给金属飞机翅膀上的金属表面上的压力。但是并不涉及到真实的空气。真实的空气是一种令人非常棘手的东西。空气中有灰尘。有的时候有雨滴,冰雹,雪花,有的时候还有鸟。如果让数学家计算出一只海鸥撞在飞机上的后果,肯定会让他们感到后怕。

So our mathematician makes what are known as ‘‘simplifying assumptions”. He forgets about real air, and bases his calculations on “mathematician’s air”. Unlike real air, this is nice simple stuff, with clearly defined characteristics. The wings whose size and shape he calculates are not made of real metal, but of mathematician’s metal. His engines run on mathematician’s fuel. His imaginary plane carries no real people, just a bunch of mathematician’s passengers, all the same size and shape.

因此,我们的数学家做出了一个我们称之为“简单假定”。他忘记了真实的空气,将自己的计算建立在“数学家的空气”的基础之上。和真实的空气不一样,只考虑特定的气候条件下。

When he has finished his calculations he hands the results to an engineer, who is delighted to have them. The engineer is not worried about all the assumptions the mathematician has made. He knows that they cause errors in the final answers, but that those errors will be small-too small for him to bother about.当它计算结束以后,他将结果告诉工程师,工程师会很高兴地接受。工程师不会对数学家的简单假定感到担心,工程师知道这种假定会带来细小的偏差,但是这种偏差是非常小的,不需要担心。

But it would bother him very much if anything were wrong with the mathematician’s mathematics. He is absolutely dependent on the mathematics itself being exactly right. If mathematics ceased to be an exact science the engineer could rely on nothing: the answers turned out by the mathematician could be so far wrong as to be utterly worthless, in that case.但是他不会为数学计算是否存在错误而担心。他绝对信赖数学家,相信数学家提供的计算结果。

So it is with the Bible. We can tolerate the few little uncertainties that have crept in through inaccurate copying and doubts about translation. But we could not tolerate the hopeless uncertainty of not knowing that behind our English Bible there was once an original that, like mathematics, was always “exactly right”.同样的情况也适合于圣经。在圣经的抄写和翻译过程中会有一些很小的偏差带来一些不确定因素,但是这些不确定因素是在我们可以接受的范围内的。更重要的是我们知道,最原始的圣经就像数学一样精确。

Luke 24: 42 supplies an illustration. It describes how Jesus ate some food with His disciples, after He was raised from the dead. We don’t know exactly what He ate. Some manuscripts say He ate fish; some say fish and honeycomb. 路加福音提供了一个例子。他描写了耶稣怎样和自己的门徒门一起吃饭,在他从死亡中复活之后。我们不知道耶稣吃的是什么,有些手稿说耶稣吃的是鱼,有些手稿说耶稣吃的是鱼和蜜房。

It is a pity that we do not know for sure about the honeycomb. It would be interesting to know if He ate it or not. But it is not terribly important. The vital fact is that He did eat something. All the manuscripts agree on this. It is vital, because it shows that the disciples were not just “seeing things”. Before the resurrected Jesus appeared there was some fish; afterwards there was an empty plate.很可惜我们不确定  是否包含   。如果我们能够知道耶稣吃过  没有,应该是一个令人感兴趣的事情。但是重要的是耶稣真的吃过某些东西。所有的经文在这一点上都是一致的。这是很重要的,因为这就表明门徒们并不是仅仅看见了某些事情。耶稣复活后,他的面前曾经有一些鱼,但是过后只剩下空盘子了。

But if you once deny that the words of the original were inspired, you open the floodgates to a whole torrent of uncertainties: “Perhaps He never really ate anything-perhaps the disciples just made the whole thing up-perhaps Jesus never rose from the dead at all.” And so you could go on, until the whole Bible had crumbled away in your shaky hands. 一旦你否认原始的经文是  神启示的,你就打开了不确定的闸门:“可能耶稣真的没有吃任何东西--可能是耶稣的门徒们编造了这些故事可能耶稣根本就没有复活。”这样你就继续下去,直到完全不相信圣经。

It is the same with the occasional problems of translation. They only introduce small uncertainties, that have no real effect on the Bible’s teaching.同样翻译中碰到的问题也是这样。他们只能增加很小的不确定性,但是对于圣经的教导没有实质的影响。

Take the important Greek word, diatheke; which occurs thirty-three times in our New Testament. Nobody can be sure how to translate it. Ordinary Greeks generally used it to mean a “testament” (a will). Greek-speaking Jews often used it to mean a “covenant” (a contract), especially when they spoke of God’s covenant with his people in Old Testament times. 例如,希腊词汇“diatheke”在圣经中是一个很重要的词汇,在新约圣经中出现了33次。没有人确定如何翻译他们。通常希腊人用这个词表示“testament”(意思是意愿),而讲希腊文的犹太人用这个单词来表示“covenant”,意思是一种约定。特别是圣经旧约中多次提到了神和犹太人之间的约。

So in our New Testament, diatheke is sometimes translated “covenant”, sometimes “testament”. In some places the translators admit their doubts, and give us one word in the text and the other in a footnote. 因此在新约圣经中,“”这个词有的时候别翻译成“”,有的时候被翻译成“”。在有些地方,翻译者承认他们的疑惑,并且在译文中给我们提供一些注脚。

We have lost something by not being able to translate this Greek word by an exact English equivalent. But we have not lost much. Both wills and contracts-testaments and covenants-are solemn legal documents. They are among the most solemn kinds of promise that men can make. The use of diatheke~ shows that God’s promise of eternal life to us, and our promise to serve Him, is as firm, as un­breakable, as any promise could be. 由于我们不能将希腊文的原文翻译成确切的英文,在翻译中我们缺失了某些东西。但是损失的东西也不是很多。不管翻译成旨意或这是约定,它们都代表非常庄严的法律文件。

But if we did not know that the words of the original were inspired, we could not be sure that God had used this strong word, diatheki’. We should have no way of knowing that the promise of eternal life is as emphatic as words can make it. 如果我们不知道原始的经文使用的是那些词汇,

Clearly, the uncertainties arising from faulty copying and doubtful translation matter a little. But only a little. We can be quite confident that our English Bible is not very different from the originals that God inspired. So we can be very thankful that those inspired originals contained the actual words that God intended. 很明显,这些不确定来自于错误的抄写和有疑问的翻译。但是疑问只有一点点。我们很有把握相信我们拥有的英文圣经与  神所启示的圣经原文没有多大的差别。我们应该感谢  神,因为他所启示的话语中包含他的旨意。

Thankful, because this means that our English Bibles are an extremely good approximation to the Word of God itself. 这就意味着,我们自己的英文圣经已经非常接近于  神自己的原始的话。

 

 

Interpretation 翻译

 

Is it really true that you can interpret the Bible to mean anything you like? And if so, is God to blame for having inspired a lot of ambiguous words? 圣经真的可以按照自己的意愿随便翻译吗?如果是这样的话,难道  神启示人们写下了这些话要受到指责?

There are two ways to look at this question.有两种方法可以看待这个问题:

There is a saying, based on a story in the Gospels, that the devil can quote Scripture to serve his own ends. This is perfectly true. But whose fault is that-the devil’s, or Scripture’s? 根据福音书的记载,魔鬼也引用圣经的话来达到自己的目的。这是千真万确的。但是犯错误的是魔鬼,还是圣经经文?

If some men want to play devil, and misuse Scripture to further their own ends, then let them. They have nothing to lose by it-except their hope of eternal life! But there is no reason for the rest of us to use their bad behaviour as a stick to beat the Bible with. We must put the blame where it belongs.    

如果某些人想和魔鬼玩游戏,错误地应用圣经经文来达到自己的目的,那么就让他们这样做。除了丢掉他们永生的盼望,他们没有丢掉什么。但是没有理由让其余的人也这样指责圣经。我们应该指责哪些应该受到指责的人。

In the Middle Ages some men used Scripture to justify torturing what they called heretics, and burning them at the stake. As recently as the last century some men used Scripture to justify the slave trade. The arguments they used were quite absurd. It is hard to believe that any intelligent person could be taken in by them. Yet millions of people were deceived by them at the time. Why? 在中世纪,有些人引用圣经来为他们折磨他们所成的异教徒,并且将异教徒绑在木柱上烧死。上个世纪有人引用圣经为奴隶贸易辩护,他们的证据非常荒谬。很难想象这些如此聪明的人竟然被他们所欺骗。为什么呢?

Partly because they wanted to be, and partly because they did not know their Bibles. The case for slavery was based on the verses:部分原因是因为他们想这样做,部分原因是因为他们不明白圣经。他们引用下面的经文为奴隶贸易辩护:

 

“Cursed be Canaan; a servant of servants shall he be unto his brethren . . . God shall enlarge Japheth, and he shall dwell in the tents of Shem, and Canaan shall be their servant.”39

     “迦南当受咒诅,必给他弟兄作奴仆的奴仆;又说:耶和华闪的神是应当称颂的!愿迦南作闪的奴仆。愿神使雅弗扩张,使他住在闪的帐棚里;又愿迦南作他的奴仆。”(创世记925-27

Now Canaan was the son of Ham. And Ham, said the wealthy slave traders, was the father of the black races while Japheth was the father of the white races. Therefore God intends the white races to enslave the black.迦南是含的儿子。而这些富有的奴隶贩子说,含是黑人的祖先,而雅弗是白人的祖先。因此,白种人统治黑人是  神的旨意。

What rubbish! There is not a word in the Bible to suggest that all the black people are descended from Ham and the whites from Jap­heth. This is just a human fairy tale. In any case, the curse was not on Ham, but on his son, Canaan.

这简直是胡说!在圣经中没有任何部分告诉我们含是黑人的祖先,而雅弗是白人的祖先。这仅仅是人们自己编造的故事。任何情况下,诅咒不应该在含的身上,而在含的儿子迦南身上。

And the Bible tells us how the curse was fulfilled. The descendants of Canaan were the original inhabitants of the land of Israel, which was then called the land of Canaan. They were not black-skinned, or anywhere near it. After Israel had conquered them, “they put the Canaanites to forced labour.”40

圣经已经告诉我们这些诅咒是如何应验的。迦南的后代是以色列这块土地上的土著民族,这块土地被称为迦南地。他们也不是黑人,或与黑人相近的人种。后来以色列人征服了他们,“”。

Yet millions of well meaning people were taken in by the ridiculous arguments of the slave traders, and of those bishops who, to their shame, supported them. They were taken in because they did not know their Bibles. Scripture-quoting devils do not deceive people who are well acquainted with Scripture. That is why the devil who quoted Scripture at Jesus got nowhere. 尽管有几百万人   被这些奴隶贩子的和为奴隶贸易辩护的教士辩护,这是他们的耻辱,他们被欺骗是因为他们不知道圣经。引用圣经的魔鬼并没有使耶稣上当,也欺骗不了那些熟悉圣经的人。

Admittedly, the slavery issue is an extreme case. The problem of the hundred-and-one denominations of Christendom is more relevant today. How is it that Catholics, Anglicans, Baptists, Lutherans, and the rest can all take their different beliefs from the same Bible? 我们承认奴隶问题是一个极端的例子。今天数百个号称是基督教的团体的问题是更加相关的问题。为什么只有一本圣经,却有天主教、长老会、英国圣公会、路得教派、浸信会教友等数百种不同的教派?

The answer is that, even here, human prejudice and ignorance of the Bible are the major factors. Have you ever met a man who could truthfully say, “I sat down with an open mind and studied the Bible; then I joined that church whose beliefs were nearest to the teaching of Scripture”?

在这里,人们的偏见和对圣经的忽视是最主要的因素。如果你问他们的原因,有人能够诚实地告诉你说:“我曾经仔细地研究过圣经,我参加的教会其教义最符合圣经经文?”

No; and you are never likely to. The usual reasons for choosing a Christian denomination run like this: 不会,他们告诉你的理由不会是这样。他们选择基督教会通常的理由是:

“I was brought up in it.”

  “我是在这个教会受到教育的”。

“When I got married I thought it would be better for the child­ren if we both had the same faith, so I became a Catholic like my wife.”“在我结婚以后,我觉得夫妻双方有共同的信仰对孩子的成长非常重要,因此我和我妻子一样成为一位天主教徒”。

“Well, the Presbyterian church was just round the corner, like, and there ain’t no point in walking further than you need, see what I mean.”

“长老会的教堂就在我家附近,我可以很方便地去做礼拜。”

Even the clergy usually choose their churches before they are old enough to know the facts. The boy at a Catholic school goes to a Catholic college, and ends up as a priest. The Anglican schoolboy goes to a Protestant college, and ends up as an Anglican vicar. Can you blame the Bible because these two men preach different doctrines? In all probability, they decided which religion they were going to preach before they had even read the Bible through once. Having made that decision, then they learnt how they could use the Bible to justify it.

神职人员通常在掌握了足够的知识以后,自己会自己选择教会。有人曾经在天主教会的学校长大直到大学毕业,后来却成为一名基督教的牧师。也有人曾经在英国圣公会的学校上高中,后来又参加新教的大学,以后成为一名圣公会的牧师。难道我们能够因为这两个人传递不同的信仰而指责圣经吗?不管怎样说,这两个人都比较完整地阅读过圣经,在选择教会之前,他们已经学会了如何用圣经来证明自己的观点。

Quite a large part of the Bible is perfectly straightforward, needing no more interpretation than any other non-fiction book. The first three Gospels are extremely easy to read and understand. They des­cribe how Jesus worked many miracles, and told men how to live their lives. They tell how He was crucified, how He rose from the dead and ascended to heaven.

圣经中有很大一部分采取直接叙述的方式,不需要更多的解释。福音书的前三本特别容易读和理解。它们描写了耶稣的生活,包括耶稣所作的很多奇迹,告诉我们他是怎样被送上十字架上钉死的,后来又复活,升天。

It may be difficult in the present intellectual climate to believe in Christ’s miracles. It certainly is difficult to live as He said we should. But there is no problem about interpreting these Gospels. They inter­pret themselves.

 在今天这个充满智慧的条件下相信耶稣基督的奇迹可能有些困难。同样按照耶稣德要求生活也是特别难以做到的。但是这些福音书的解释不应该存在问题。圣经经文自己就解释了自己。

So do the Acts of the Apostles, the historical books of the Old Testa­ment, the Proverbs, and parts of the Law, the Psalms, the Prophets, and the New Testament Epistles.

同样的有使徒行传,圣经旧约的历史书,箴言、律法书的一部分,先知书,还有新约圣经的书信也是比较容易明白的。

From these parts of the Bible-much more than half of the total-any serious reader can easily learn the main outline of the Bible’s teaching.

这一部分的圣经篇幅占据了圣经的大部分。任何一位持严肃态度的人从中可以学习到圣经教导的轮廓。

Some of the other parts of the Bible do need interpreting. Many of these gradually yield their secrets to the patient Bible reader. Some of them will baffle him to the end of his days.

圣经还有一部分,其内容不需要解释。如果有耐心地阅读圣经,自然会结出果子,圣经的秘密会向他们展现。

But that is as it should be. If nothing in the Bible was difficult, men would call it “shallow”. And they would be right. As it is, it forms a nicely balanced book. It contains milk for the simplest of God’s children, and meat for the wisest of His servants to dig their teeth into.

但是这不是一个当然的过程。如果圣经中没有任何难题,有些人恐怕会说“肤浅”。他们的观点可能是正确的。圣经为信仰神提供的食物中包括供婴孩吃的奶,也包括对他的最聪明的仆人深挖才能找到的肉。

 

 

Our English Bible我们的英语圣经

 

So this Bible of ours is not at all the book it was alleged to be, by the hostile gentleman at the start of this chapter.

因此,我们拥有的圣经不是本文开始的那位绅士所指责的那个样子。

We have good reason to believe that its parts were written under the guidance of God’s Spirit. It bears the marks of having been gathered together into one book by that Spirit, too. Ordinary human hands have copied and recopied it, but they were very careful hands. A vast amount of labour has gone into recreating something very close indeed to the original text.

我们有很好的理由相信圣经是在圣灵的指导下写成的。将不同的书汇编称为一本书的人也受到圣灵的指导。普通的人用手抄写圣经,但是它们是非常仔细地做这项工作。他们付出了大量的劳动,他们的抄写本非常非常接近于圣经的原文。

Whole armies of scholars have studied how best to translate it into our mother tongue. The final result is a book that is close to God’s original words; close enough to bring His light into the heart of all who read it.

整个圣经学术界曾经共同研究,如何将圣经最好地翻译成自己的母语。最终我们拥有了一本非常接近圣经原文的翻译版本。其内容与原文非常接近,我们在阅读的时候同样可以让光明照耀在我们的心中。

Interpreting it is no great problem, if only-and this is a big “if”-we manage to read it with a humble, seeking mind. Much of it interprets itself for us. The rest of it is profound enough to hold our interest for a lifetime.

翻译并不是一个大问题。如果我们没有怀着以颗谦卑的心去学习,那才真正是大问题。圣经中的很多内容是很清楚的,剩下的一些复杂的问题可以让我们终身去研究。

No, those are not serious problems. The big problems are these:

这些都不是严肃的问题。下面的情形才是真正的大问题:

 

(1)     Deciding to read it diligently, and then sticking to that decision.下决心勤奋地阅读圣经,并且坚持下来。

(2)     Believing the wonderful things it tells us.相信圣经告诉我们的奇妙事情。

(3)     Living up to the high standards it sets us. 按照圣经为我们设立的高标准生活。

Yes, these are real problems, aren’t they? 这些才是真正的问题,是吗?

But we can’t blame God for them! 但是我们不能因为存在这些问题而责怪  神!

 

 

18

Bible History - True or False?

圣经历史-是真的还是伪造的?

Give a dog a bad name, and you might as well hang him.

如果给狗起一个怀名字,有可能你会将它吊起来。

Because of this many Biblical scholars of fifty to 100 years ago have a lot to answer for. They gave the Bible a bad name-quite unjustly-and the Bible still has not lived down the reputation they gave it.

历史上曾经有那么一些人,他们不公正地将坏名声强加给圣经,这种影响甚至到现在依然没有完全清除。因此,圣经学者必须回应很多责难。

Most people are vaguely aware of the sort of mud they flung at the Bible in those days. Here is a typical example, dating back to 1909:

对于涂抹在圣经上的污泥,大部分人还是有模糊印象的,下面就是一个典型的例子,这篇文章发表于1909年。

 

“The history of Abraham (Genesis 11:27 to 25:18) consists of a number of legendary narratives, which have been somewhat loosely strung together into a semblance of biographical continuity.”1

   创世记1127-2518中记载的亚伯拉罕的经历是由很多传说组成的,后来被松散地组织在一起假装成为历史事实。

But far fewer people are aware of what leading scholars of today are saying. The late Prof. W. F. Albright, for instance. He was qualified as a theologian, historian, philosopher and orientalist. On top of that he was regarded until his death in 1971 as the greatest archaeologist in America, and one of the greatest in the world. This is his view of the Abraham story:

但是能够明白今天的这些学者说的话人更少。例如,W. F. Albright教授也是一位称职的神学家、历史学家、哲学家和东方学者。但是他最大的成就是:在他1971年去世的时候被看成是美国最伟大的考古学家,也是世界上最伟大的考古学家之一:他曾经就圣经记载的亚伯拉罕的历史发表评论说:

 

“A generation ago most critical scholars regarded this chapter [Genesis 14] as very late and quite unhistorical. Now we cannot accept such an easy way out of the difficulties which this chapter presents, since some of its allusions are exceedingly early, carrying us directly back into the Middle Bronze Age [2100 to 1600 B.C.]. For instance, the strange word for retainers’ (or, “trained ser­vants”), used in verse 14, which occurs nowhere else in the Bible, is now known to be an Egyptian word employed in the Execration Texts of the late nineteenth century B.C. of the retainers of Pales­tinian chieftains, and used in the same sense four centuries later in one of the Taanach tablets. Several of the towns mentioned in this chapter are now proved to be very ancient     “2

   “三十多年以前,很多学者批评说,创世记第14章是由后来的人编写的,并不是历史事实。我们不能因为寻找历史真相存在困难就轻易下结论。圣经记载的年代非常古老,涉及到铜器时代的公元前2100-1600年。例如,第14节出现的“retainers’”这个奇怪的单词(意思是经过训练的奴隶),我们曾经认为在圣经以外没有出现在其它任何一本书中。但是最近考古学发现这个词还出现在公元前19世纪晚期的一本埃及古书中,意思同圣经一样,都是经过训练的奴隶。圣经中记载的很多城镇现在被证明是年代久远的古镇”。

In another book he sums up the situation by saying:

在他写的另外一本书中,他总结说:

“Our case for the substantial historicity of the tradition of the patriarchs [that is, of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob] is clinched.”3

   “大量的历史性证据证明圣经对以色列人的祖先亚伯拉罕、以撒、雅各的记载同当时的传统相吻合。”

Notice the scholarly caution in that last statement. The substantial historicity is proved. Archaeology will never be able to give absolute proof that the Bible is historically true. Over-enthusiastic statements by some Bible-believers, to the effect that archaeology has “proved the Bible true”, are well meaning but badly worded.

请注意声明的最后部分,经过证明的大量的历史性证据。考古学家永远得不到证明圣经记载历史是真实的“绝对”证据。一些相信圣经的人所持的过分乐观的态度,以及希望通过考古学来“证明圣经是正确的”想法,其用意是好的,但是措辞上有问题。

The real value of Biblical archaeology is not so much that it has shown the Bible to be true, but that it has shown many criticisms of the Bible to be false. There are countless examples of scholars declaring, “Well, anyway, that bit of the Bible is wrong,” only to find, a few years later, that they had to eat their words.

    圣经考古学的真正价值不在于证明圣经是正确的,而在于提供证据,证明批评圣经的人是错误的。有无数次很多学者说:“不管怎样说,圣经在这一点上是错误的。”后来却发现,犯错误的是他们自己。

 

Right After All 真相大白

 

The Bible mentions quite a number of famous men and great nations that are not mentioned in any other ancient book. For a long time there were two points of view about this. Some said: “History knows nothing of King Belshazzar, or King Sargon and his henchman, Tar­tan. History knows nothing of the Hittite and Horite nations. There­fore the writers of the Bible must have been writing fiction, not history.”

圣经提到过很多其它任何一本书中都没有涉及的人物和民族。长期以来对这一点有两种看法。有些人说:“圣经中提到的一些人物,例如伯沙撒王(Belshazzar),赫人(Hittites)以及何利人(Hurrians),任何历史书从来没有提到过。因此,书写圣经的人一定是在虚构故事,而不是在书写历史。”

Others said: “Not so fast. History isn’t complete yet. New facts may come to light one day that will show the Bible was right after all.”

另外一些人说:“请不要仓促地下结论。历史还没有结束。事实可能会在某一天因为新证据出现而真相大白。”

Now we can see the wisdom of the second approach. All these names appear in the history books today.

现在我们可以看到后者的智慧。这些名字全部出现在今天的历史书中了。

Belshazzar is described by the Bible as the last king of Babylon, who was slain by the Persians when they captured the city.4 But the ancient historians Berosus, Megasthenes, and Herodotus agreed that the last king of Babylon was called Nabonidus (or something like it). No historian ever mentioned Belshazzar. Something was wrong, somewhere.    

根据圣经记载,伯沙撒(Belshazzar是巴比伦的最后一个国王,他后来被波斯人杀害。但是研究古代历史的学者Berosus, Megasthenes Herodotus都一致认为,巴比伦的最后一位国王名叫Nabonidus,没有一位历史学家提到过伯沙撒(Belshazzar这个名字,一定有某些事情弄错了。

In 1882 the explanation came to light. The archaeologist T. G. Pinches told the world of the discovery of what is called the Nabonidus Chronicle. This recorded on baked clay that Nabonidus had a son Bel-shar-usur (Belshazzar to his pals). Moreover, it made it clear that

Nabonidus had a habit of saying to Belshazzar, “I’m off to the wars for a while, son. Just you run the kingdom till I get back.” 

1882年事情终于真相大白。考古学家T. G. Pinches向世界公布了他的发现一本名叫Nabonidus Chronicle的编年史。其中一块瓷器上记录了Nabonidus有一个儿子名叫伯沙撒Belshazzar,有一天Nabonidus  说:“我要在外出征,这一段时间你来代替我掌握国家大事”。

Nabonidus was unlucky. The clay tablets tell us that the last time he did this Belshazzar lost his kingdom for him to the Persians, just as the Book of Daniel said. The Persian conquerors arrested Nabonidus as soon as he returned home.

Nabonidus的运气非常坏。陶瓷上的文字告诉我们,伯沙撒(Belshazzar失去王位的时间与但以理书记载的一样。他的父亲Nabonidus一回来就成了被波斯人的俘虏。

For thousands of years the world knew nothing of King Sargon II of Assyria, except for the meagre information in Isaiah 20:1. Was he a real person, or a mythical one? The scholars wondered-but only until Sargon’s capital city of Khorsabad was excavated. Then they were able to read Sargon’s own account of his war with Israel. This even explained who Sargon’s man “Tartan” was: this was not his name, but his rank. A modern Bible5 calls him “commander in chief” instead of “Tartan”.

在数千年的时间里,除了以赛亚书201出现的一点点信息之外,世界不知道这位亚述王撒珥根(Sargon II)是那一位人物。他是真实的,还是虚构?学者们一直在探讨这个问题,直到撒珥根的首都被挖掘出来为止。接下来,考古学家看到了撒珥根自己书写的同以色列人的战争记录。记录甚至解释了亚述王手下的Tartan(他珥探) (见列王记下 18:17不是人名而是一个职务。因此现代英语翻译版本的圣经用司令官来代替Tartan(他珥探)这个词。

Long before 1000 B.C. there were two great nations in the Middle East, the Hittites and the Hurrians. Ordinary written history (apart from the Bible) does not go back that far. Until the birth of modern archaeology in the nineteenth century, people who rejected the Bible as a history book would have said that history knew nothing of such nations.

在公元前1000年以前,中东有两大民族,赫人Hittites以及何利人Hurrians除了圣经以外的其它任何历史书都没有提到这两个民族,而且在那个时代的所留存的历史书籍非常少。一些不相信圣经的人说,历史上不存在这样的民族。然而现代考古学在19世纪的发现证明了圣经的记载是正确的。

But nowadays we know a lot about these peoples from the records left behind in their ruined cities. We know that what the Bible said about the Hittites is broadly in line with what are now regarded as the historical facts. The Horites of the Old Testament were almost certainly the Hurrians under their Hebrew name, The Biblical Hivites may have been Hurrians too, although this is not yet firmly established.

但是我们现在能够从他们曾经生活的城市所遗留的废墟中保存下来的纪录中,知道他们的存在。我们还知道圣经中关于赫人(Hittites)的记载与现在被看成是历史事实的记载相符合。我们几乎可以肯定 旧约圣经中的(Horites)人就是何利人(Hurrians)的希伯来称谓,Hivites人也可能是何利人的一支,但是不能非常确定。

  

 

Filling in the Background 填充历史背景

 

When I was at school in the 1930s, our French master in the Science Sixth Form insisted on teaching us French history. We protested against this, though in a very mild way; student demos had not been invented then, and the cane was still very much in use.

20世纪30年代当我还是一名中学的时候,我们的法语老师坚持要我们学习法国历史。那时学生游行还没有出现,老师还使用教鞭惩罚学生。我们决定以一种温和的方式向老师提出抗议。

“Please, Sir, we are going to be scientists, not historians. We want to learn the French language. Why do we have to spend so much time on French history?”

“尊敬的老师,我们将来的目标是成为科学家,而不是历史学家。我们希望学习法语,为什么要花费时间学习法国历史呢?”

“Because you will never be able to appreciate French literature unless you know something about the historical background,” was his reply.

老师回答我们说:“除非你们能够了解法国历史作为背景,否则你们不可能真正欣赏法国文学”。

And he was right. Unless you know the setting of a book, you are reading in the dark.

老师的回答是正确的。除非你了解了一本书的背景,否则你不会真正明白这本书。

This is why Bible readers owe such a debt to archaeology. Until the nineteenth century we knew practically nothing about the world in which the first half of the Old Testament is set, and not very much about the later periods.

所以,现代考古学只是对于我们学习圣经帮助很多。在公元19世纪以前,我们对旧约前半部分的历史环境几乎毫无知识,对后半部分的历史也知道不多。

But nowadays this is all changed. A modern Bible commentary will tell us the historical background of almost any chapter in the Old Testament, from Genesis 12 onwards. And almost invariably the chapters fit their background like hand in glove.

现在的情况发生了很大的变化。从创世记的12章起,历史学界已经可以告诉我们所有圣经记载的历史背景,而且都能够与事实相符合,就像手套与手相符合一样。

For example, take the use of animals in war. The earliest of these was the horse. It first appears in the Bible in the time of Joseph, which is shortly after it first appeared on the world scene. After this the Bible mentions horses more than 200 times.

例如,关于在战争中使用动物的问题。最早用于战场的动物是马。圣经中战马最早出现在约瑟时代,距离人类最早使用马匹作为战争工具的年代差不多。以后圣经有200多次提到马。

Later there was a period when the elephant became the ancient equivalent of the tank. This period began when, according to critical scholars, Bible history was still being written. If they were right, you would expect to find the elephant mentioned in the Bible. But you don’t. This fits in with the Bible’s own statements about authorship, according to which the Bible was complete before the elephant appeared on the scene.

后来大象成了古战场上坦克的等价物,按照有些批评学者的观点,这个时代也包含在书写圣经的1000多年的历史中(也就是说,圣经还没有完成)。如果是这样,你可以预料圣经记载的战争会中出现大象。但是圣经中没有提到大象。如果按照圣经自己的解释,在大象出现在战场之前圣经就已经完成了,这正好与事实相符合。

Countless little incidents take on a new meaning when we know the customs of the times. In the Tell-El-Amarna tablets (dated in the fifteenth century B.C.) a lesser king wrote to a greater king that he “bowed seven times”. This was his way of saying that he would offer no resistance. Evidently this was what Jacob meant when he “bowed himself to the ground seven times” as he approached Esau.6

圣经记载的无数细节也与当时的风俗相符合。例如起源于公元前15世纪的中东的一块石碑记载说,某个小国国王曾经向某个大国的国王“鞠躬七次”,用这种态度他表明对大国国王的完全服从。而雅各也曾经用“一连七次俯伏在地”表示对他哥哥的服从。(创世记333

It used to be a puzzle why a worshipper of God like Rachel should steal her father’s idols.7 We are now able to make a good guess as to her motives. Some tablets were found at Nuzi, not far from where she used to live, and written more or less in her time, that laid down rules for families. In certain circumstances the man who held the household idols would inherit the father’s property. Greed, not idolatry, seems to have been Rachel’s sin.

过去有人对于拉结偷窃自己父亲家里面的神像感到疑惑。因为拉结是一位崇拜真神的人,不是偶像崇拜者。现在我们能够有理由猜测她真正的动机。在一个Nuzi的地方(距离拉结生活的地方不远)挖掘出了一块石碑,石碑上记载了当时的家规:如果神像(偶像)摆在哪一户家中,这个家庭就有权继承家族长辈的财产。因此拉结偷窃神像的动机是贪婪,而不是崇拜偶像。

Even some of the miracle stories of the Old Testament fit in with the archaeological records. The Assyrian king, Sennacherib, left records of his invasion of Israel. They are inscribed upon what archaeologists call the Oriental Institute Prism and the Taylor Prism. He tells how his invincible army assaulted and captured forty-six of King Hezekiah’s walled cities. Then he turned his attention to Hezekiah and his capital. “Himself, like a bird in a cage in the midst of Jerusalem, his royal city, I shut up,” wrote Sennacherib.

甚至圣经旧约所记载的一些奇迹也与考古发现相符合。现代的人发现了亚述王西拿基立侵略以色列的纪录。这些记录刻在现在被称为“Oriental Institute Prism”的柱子上。这些记录告诉我们这一支不可一世的军队是如何占领了犹大的64座城市的。接下来,他们将进攻的方向放在希西家的首都耶路撒冷。西拿基立写道:“他自己就像一支小鸟被我困在笼子里”。

At that point the record of his triumphant progress ceases. Why did his mighty army fail to take the relatively small city of Jerusalem? He leaves us guessing. But the prophet Isaiah supplies a fitting explana­tion:

    从此以后,他的胜利突然中止。为什么他的强大军队能够征服许多地方,却不能够征服耶路撒冷这样一个相对比较小的城市?这个疑问留给我们去思考。但是先知以赛亚已经为我们提供了恰当的解释:

“Thus says the Lord concerning the king of Assyria . . I will defend this city to save it... And the angel of the Lord went forth, and slew a hundred and eighty-five thousand in the camp of the Assyrians; and when men arose early in the morning, behold, these were all dead bodies.”8

 “所以耶和华论亚述王如此说:我为自己的缘故必保护拯救这城。耶和华的使者出去,在亚述营中杀了十八万五千人。清早有人起来一看,都是死尸了。”

(以赛亚书3733-36

Since there are many readable books dealing with the impact of archaeology on our knowledge of the Old Testament,9 there is no need to enlarge on this theme here. The simple fact is this: the more we learn about the world of the Old Testament, the more it appears to be an accurate contemporary record, and not the mixture of myth and truth that it was once thought to be.

因为现在有很多与旧约相关的考古学读物,我们就不再扩大这个话题了。简单的事实是:我们对于旧约时代的世界了解的越多,圣经的内容就越显得真实,而不是某些人认为的那样圣经真实和神话的混合物。

The eminent Jewish rabbi and archaeologist, Dr. Nelson Glueck, has spent many years of his life excavating in the land of Israel. This is how he views the impact of archaeology on the Old Testament:

Nelson Glueck博士是一位犹太人的拉比(先生)和考古学家,他花费了很多时间在以色列进行发掘。这是他有关考古学对于圣经旧约影响的评论:

“It may be stated categorically that no archaeological discovery has ever controverted a Biblical reference’. Scores of archaeological findings have been made which confirm in clear outline or in exact detail historical statements in the Bible. And, by the same token, proper evaluation of biblical descriptions has often led to amazing discoveries. They form tesserae in the vast mosaic of the Bible’s almost incredibly correct historical memory.”10 (The italics are mine.)

“我们可以直接了当地说,还没有考古学的发现与圣经的记载不符合的事情。已经数十起考古学的发现都与圣经记载的历史事实相吻合,清晰地证实了旧约历史的大纲或细节。而且恰当地参考圣经往往会导致很多令人惊奇的发现。”

 

The New Testament 关于新约

 

The New Testament was never shot at quite so severely as the Old. Nevertheless it did come in for many sweeping accusations of being unhistorical. And its critics, like their Old Testament colleagues, have often had to eat their words.

对新约圣经的攻击没有像旧约这么厉害。也有人指责新约不符合历史事实,最终事实证明这种攻击毫无道理的。

When Paul was in Thessalonica, he was brought before “the rulers of the city” (Acts 17: 6-8). The Greek word used to describe these people is politarch. This word is not found anywhere else in the Bible, or in any classical Greek author.

当保罗在帖撒罗尼迦的时候,一些犹太人将保罗带到“地方官”那里去。圣经中用来表示“地方官”的希腊语词汇叫“politarch”,这个词除了在圣经中出现以外,在其它任何一本希腊古代书籍中都没有出现。

The critics therefore used to assume that the author of the Acts had blundered, and had misspelt poliarch, which is a well-known Greek word for a commandant.

批评者们当然会利用这个机会来指责圣经。他们认为这个词应该是poliarch,意思是司令官。

Then archaeologists set to work in and around Thessalonica. They dug up a number of inscribed tablets which referred to the politarchs of Thessalonica and several other cities nearby. Apparently this was the local name for city governors, and the Bible is the only ancient book in existence that has noted this fact.

后来有考古学家在帖撒罗尼迦附近开始挖掘。他们发现一些遗留的石刻版,提到了在帖撒罗尼迦以及附近城市的“地方官” 被称为“politarch”, 很显然圣经是保存“politarch”这个词的唯一古书。

 

At one time Luke 3: 1 was heavily criticised. It says that in the fifteenth year of Tiberius Caesar (Emperor of Rome), Lysanias was tetrarch of Abilene.

路加福音第31节曾经饱受指责。这一节说:“该撒提庇留在位第十五年,……吕撒聂作亚比利尼分封的王”。

“What a danger!” said certain scholars. “The fifteenth year of Tiberius was A.D. 27. But Lysanias was put to death years before that. And in any case, he wasn’t called a tetrarch (ruler). He was a king.”

某位学者说:“该撒提庇留第十五年”是公元27年,但此时吕撒聂(Lysanias)早就被处死了。而且无论怎样他是一位国王(king),不应该被称作分封的王(下属统治者)。

You can imagine a mere schoolboy making the obvious suggestion

-and the reception he would have got.

   你可以想象当时会有人提到一些明显的建议,

   “先生,有没有可能是另一个吕撒聂(Lysanias)?”

   而他们会得到的回答是:“别傻了!你的回答仅仅是在猜测!”

“Perhaps there might have been another Lysanias, Sir?”

“Don’t be ridiculous! You’re only guessing.”

Fortunately for the Bible’s good name a gentleman called Nymphaeus dedicated a pagan temple in Abila, the town that gave its name to the territory of Abilene. An inscription telling his story has been found there. This inscription includes a title, “The Lords Imperial”, that was only used of the Emperor Tiberius and his mother, Livia. Consequently we know that it was carved in the days of those two rulers, namely between A.D. 14 and 29. And Nymphaeus describes himself as “a freedman of Lysanias the tetrarch”.11

幸运的是,一位名叫Nymphaeus的绅士遗留下来的石碑解决了这个问题。这块石碑被放置在亚比利尼一座崇拜偶像的庙中。碑上的记载中包括一个称呼:“The Lords Imperial”,这个称呼只能用于罗马皇帝提庇留(Tiberius和他的母亲Livia身上。我们据此可以知道这块石刻形成于公元14年到公元29年之间。石碑的雕刻者Nymphaeus称自己是“亚比利尼分封的王吕撒聂”统治下的自由人。

So now we know that there was, after all, a second Lysanias. He was a tetrarch in Abilene, just as Luke said, and he lived in exactly the right period for Luke’s date to be correct.

我们现在终于知道存在第二个吕撒聂他就是路加福音所记载的“分封的王”,他生活的时间与路加所记载的时间正好吻合。

But, as with the Old Testament, archaeology’s greatest service is in showing that the historical background of the New Testament 15 “right”. As one scholar has put it:

    但是,就像是在旧约一样,考古学家最伟大的贡献是证明新约圣经记载的历史背景是正确的,正如一位学者指出的:

“This background is a first-century background. The New Testament just will not fit into a second-century background.”12

   “新约的历史背景是公元1世纪。而且新约所记载的背景决不适合于公元2世纪”。

All men are children of their age. The writers of the New Testament were clearly children of the first century. Two examples are taken from the Gospel of John, one of the last New Testament books to be written.

所有的人都带有自己时代的印记。新约圣经的书写者是公元1世纪的人。我们现在举约翰福音为例,约翰福音是新约圣经中书写最晚的书之一。

John refers to the place where Jesus was tried as “the Pavement in the Hebrew, Gabbatha”.13 Albright has shown that this was the Tower of Antonia, the headquarters of the Roman garrison. This was destroyed in the siege of A.D. 66-70 and was never rebuilt. Evidently the Gospel writer was a man who knew Jerusalem in the days of peace, before A.D. 66.

约翰福音1913提到耶稣受到审判的地方名叫“名叫「铺华石处」,希伯来话叫厄巴大”。Albright已经告诉我们,这个地方是罗马一个军事要塞的总部,公元66-70年耶路撒冷被包围的时候被摧毁,以后一直没有重建。证据表明,约翰福音的作者曾经生活在公元66年以前的和平年代。

Again, John’s Gospel was once criticised for its language. Many of its expressions were thought to have come from the Greek mystics who infiltrated Christianity in the second century. But many identical or similar phrases occur in the Dead Sea Scroll-which were written by Jews at, or near, the time of Jesus. This supports the Bible’s assertion that the author of John’s Gospel was a first-century Jew.

     还有一些批评家批评路加福音所使用的语言。一些人说,有些记载表达方式是从公元2世纪的希腊神秘主义风格,受到公元1世纪基督教的影响。但后来在死海古卷手抄本中发现了同样的表达方式,而死海手抄本是由接近耶稣年代的犹太人所写的。这就支持了圣经自己的声明:约翰是生活在公元1世纪的犹太人。

 

Some Unsolved Problems 一些没有解决的问题

 

You would not expect archaeology to solve all the historical problems connected with the Bible. The list of unsolved problems is steadily getting smaller, but it still contains quite a number.

当然你不可能指望考古学家能够解决所有与圣经县联系的历史问题。现在没有解决的问题越来越少了,但是依然有很多

Although Daniel has long since been vindicated in his references to Belshazzar, his other classic “mistake” has not yet been cleared up. He refers to another king, Darius the Mede, and nobody yet knows who this is. Some scholars think that this is another name for a governor called Gobryas, or Gubaru.14 Others think it was an alterna­tive name for Cyrus, the Persian king.15

尽管但以理提到的伯沙撒已经被证明是正确的但以理还提到了另外一位国王——大流士,却没有人知道是谁。有些学者认为一位总督GobryasGubaru的别名。而另外一些人认为是波斯国王居鲁士的别名。

Nobody really knows. But in view of what has happened in the past it would take a brave man to say that Daniel definitely blundered. One more shovelful of earth, and the final answer to the problem may appear tomorrow.

没有人能够真正知道答案。考虑到过去所发生的事情,恐怕只有非常大胆的人敢肯定地说是但以理写错了。也许考古学家的一铲子就能挖掘出答案来。

We must always remember one thing when we criticise Jewish historians. Their methods were not the same as ours. This does not mean that we are right and they were wrong. It just means that they did things differently.

A good example of this is the way they recorded the lengths of the reigns of their kings. They did quite a number of things that no modern European historian would do. To give just one example, they sometimes had reigns that overlapped by several years, while one king was living in semi-retirement and his successor was ruling for him. Because of this the whole period of the kings of Israel used to give historians many a headache.

我们在评论犹太历史的时候,不要忘记他们记载历史的方式不同于我们。这并不意味着我们是对的,他们是错误的,它仅仅表明事情的不同。例如,犹太人在记录很多历史事实的时候,他们的方式是非常独特的,任何一个欧洲的历史学家都不会这样做。例如,他们记录国王在位的时间有的时候会重叠,这个时候一个国王处于半退休的状态,另一个国王代替他掌权。这种情况曾经令历史学家头痛不已。

Much of the tangle has now been straightened out by Thiele,16 who has discovered most of the principles on which the Jewish historians appear to have worked. Even so, some problems about dates still await solution.

由于历史学家Thiele 所作的工作,现在大部分的问题都可以解决了。Thiele提出的看待犹太人历史学的一些方法已经起了作用。即使是这样,有些问题依然等待解决。(参考Thiele著作:希伯来国王的数字之谜)

Numbers in general present more unsolved problems than anything else. There are several reasons for this. For one thing, ancient methods of writing numbers were very clumsy (compare the “Roman” date for Napoleon’s retreat from Moscow-MDCCCXII-with our 1812). Hebrew and Greek numbers were difficult to copy accurately, and there appear to be more copyists’ errors in the numbers than in any other part of the text.

通常,数字带来的问题更加难以解决。原因有很多种,例如,古代表达数字的方式非常笨拙,例如,罗马的MDCCCXII代表了1812年。而希伯莱文与希腊文的数字也是难于抄写准确。数字的抄写错误要比文本抄写错误要多。

Then again, the ancients often used numbers in an approximate sense. We do this to a certain extent. Nobody would accuse you of inaccuracy if you said you had just had a fortnight’s holiday, when in fact you had been away for fifteen nights.

而且古代人通常用大约的感觉使用数字。我们在使用数字的时候也有某种程度上也不准确性。如果你说自己外出度假14天,而实际上你有15天在外面,没有人会指责你不准确。

The Hebrews did this sort of thing to a greater extent. The widow who said she was gathering “two sticks” to make a fire17 obviously meant “a few sticks”. For the purpose of local government the people were provided with “rulers of thousands, rulers of hundreds, rulers of fifties and rulers of tens”. Obviously, in this context, “ten”, “fifty”, “hundred” and “thousand” were the names of administrative units, not exact numbers.

而希伯莱文中数字模糊的程度更大。例如,一位寡妇说她要出去“找两根柴,回家……做饼”( 列王记上17:12),很明显她的意思是去寻找“一些柴”。还有,“千夫长、百夫长、五十夫长、十夫长”(例如出埃及记1821,这里,千、百、十只是行政单位的名称,不是精确的数字。

The ordinary Hebrew word for “thousand” is sometimes used to mean “family”, and is actually translated that way in Judges 6: 15.

希伯来文表示“一千”的词有时候是家庭的意思。实际上士师记6:15就是这样翻译的。

The Hebrew word for “captain” is spelt the same as the word for “thousand”, although the pronunciation is different. Since a regiment in the Jewish army was also called a thousand, it is easy to see how this association of words would arise. Thus it is possible that some of the “thousands” who fought, or were slain in battle, were really captains.18 If so, then the size of the army of Israel, and of its casualty lists, may possibly have been smaller than they appear in our English Bible.

而希伯莱文中表示“队长”、“兵长”的单词同表达“千”这个词的拼写完全相同,尽管二者的发音是不一样的。这样又会产生新的问题。因为犹太人的军队同样以“千”为单位,如果这样的话,犹大军队的规模很可能比我们英语圣经中出现的数量要小很多。

While these uncertainties remain, we must be patient and wait for further information to emerge. On a very few occasions you may come across some other problem to which there is still no convincing answer.

在这些不确定性存在的时候,我们必须耐心地等待更多有用的信息出现。

If so, resist the temptation to say, “That can’t be true!” Remember that critics of the Bible historians have often had to beg their pardon a few years later. The chances are that, in a few years time, you will find that it could have been true, after all.

如果是这样,我们不要急于说:“不可能是这样的”。要牢记,很多批评圣经的历史学家在几年之后要求别人原谅自己的错误;有可能几年之后,你会发现圣经的记载是正确的。

 

Men Who Have Changed Sides改变立场的人

 

In any controversy you always find men changing sides, in both directions. Listing the men who have crossed over to one’s own side does not prove that one is right. I should not bother to mention any of them, were it not for one thing.

任何一场辩论中任何一方都有人改变立场。一方改变立场的人多并不能证明另一方的立场是正确的。我在这里就不提了。

Those scholars who have swung in mid-career to a belief in the historical accuracy of the Bible have usually been archaeologists. In their case it has not been theoretical reasoning or the pressure of public opinion, that has moved them. It has been the evidence before their eyes.

但是那些从中立职业人身份转变成坚定地相信圣经记载历史的精确性的人,包括大部分的考古学家。他们不是通过推理,也不顺从公众舆论,他们依靠他们亲眼看见的证据。

One such man in the late nineteenth century was Sir William Ramsay. His early years established his reputation as a great and impartial scholar. He had been trained in the critical school of Biblical scholarship, and leaned that way.

19世纪的晚期就有这样的一位人物,他就是William Ramsay爵士,他的前半生以中立的立场而闻名,后来他到一个专门批评圣经的学校学习,知道这些人是如何批评圣经的。    

His work in the Middle East as an archaeologist, specialising in New Testament times, changed him completely. In the later years of his life he was no longer the impartial scholar he had once been. He was a dedicated champion of the New Testament writers, because he had become so convinced of their accuracy.

他自己的工作是在中东做考古发掘工作,特别是新约时期彻底改变了他。在他的晚期生活中,他不再是 一位中立的学者,他成了介绍新约圣经的冠军作家 ,因为他相信圣经记载的准确性。

But even in the more detached period of his life, before he reached his full enthusiasm, he could write:

    即使是在他达到对圣经采取中立的态度,在他完全热心于圣经之前,他也写道:

“Luke’s history is unsurpassed in respect of its trustworthiness ... Luke is a historian of the first rank... this author should be placed along with the very greatest of historians.”19

   “路加书写的历史是非常值得信赖的……路加是一流的历史学家……这样的人应该放在人类最伟大的历史学家之列”。

Luke’s accuracy as a historian is of especial importance because his two books-Luke’s Gospel, and the Acts of the Apostle-are full of eye-witness testimony to the resurrection of Jesus. Can you imagine Luke, the “historian of the first rank”, including these testimonies unless he had very good reason to accept their accuracy?

路加作为一位历史学家,因为路加写的两本书(路加福音和使徒行传)充满了有人亲眼看见耶稣复活的见证。你能够相信路加这位“一流的历史学家”,将一些不准确的证据放在自己的书中吗?

Ramsay’s researches appear to have played a part in the transforma­tion of another great scholar of the age, Harnack. Towards the end of the nineteenth century he was in the front rank of those scholars who chose to attack the Bible. In the early years of the twentieth century he made an intensive study of the two books written by Luke, and ended up by defending Luke with the utmost vigour.20

Ramsay的研究让另外一位与他同时代的学者Harnack的思想也发生了转变。在19世纪的后期,Harnack也是一位攻击圣经的学者。后来在20世纪的早期,他开始研究路加所写的两部书,后来他用了大部分精力写书为路加进行辩护。

A more recent case is that of Professor C. H. Gordon, who began his scholarly career as a higher critic. He has described how in about 1950 he made a study of the Gilgamesh Epic.21 This is a series of tablets found in the ruins of Nineveh. They contain the legendary story of Gilgamesh, king of Uruk, and his companions. It probably dates back to about 2,000 B.C.

最近的一个例子与C. H. Gordon教授有关。他开始的时候是一位批评学者,他研究吉尔伽美什(这个国王是神话传说的英雄人物。其中一个故事讲叙了覆盖地球的一次水灾)的传说故事。这是在利利维城的废墟中发现的一系列石碑 。其中包括  Uruk国王和他的同僚门之间的传说故事。这些故事可能发生在公元前2000年。

It contains the story of a flood, which reads very like a perverted version of the flood of Genesis. As Professor Gordon studied this part of the Epic, a thought came to his mind and would not leave. The flood story on these tablets was being told in the time of Abraham. It bore the marks of having been derived from the Genesis version, and not the other way round. Hence it must have come after the Genesis story.

其中包括大洪水的故事,阅读起来就像是创世记大洪水的翻版,Gordon教授在研究这一部分的史诗的时候,一种思绪在他的脑海中徘徊。这些石刻告诉我们其年代是亚伯拉罕生活的年代,有从圣经创世记记载的痕迹。因此这个史诗一定是创世记的记载的后面。

Yet he had always assumed that Genesis was not compiled until a few hundred years before Christ-that is, more than a thousand years after the Gilgamesh flood story. This started him thinking for him­self. Now he rejects what he formerly accepted without question. He regards the Critical view of Genesis as a dubious theory, based on inadequate evidence, and frequently in conflict with the facts of history and archaeology. Instead, he prefers to accept the Bible as true history, recorded at the time of the events it describes.

尽管他过去一直认为创世记是在耶稣出生之前几百年编辑出来的,是在吉尔伽美什洪水传说故事1000年之后写的。他开始自己思考这些问题,现在他否定了从前相信的观点。他认为,批判主义者对创世记的看法是可疑的,建立在不充足的证据的基础上,经常与历史事实和考古学的发现相矛盾。他更愿意将圣经看成是真实的历史。

Another archaeologist, P. J. Wiseman, has reported a conversation in the course of a “dig” in Iraq. A man he describes as “one of the most brilliant modern archaeologists” said to him:

   另外一个考古学家,P. J. Wiseman, 他曾经向公众汇报了在伊拉克挖掘的过程。他还记载了另外一位他称为“最有才气的现代考古学家”对他所说的话:

“I was brought up a ‘Higher Critic’, and consequently disbelieved in the actual truth of the early narratives of the Bible. Since then I have deciphered thousands of tablets, and the more I learn, the more I believe the Bible to be true.”22

“我是在“批评主义”的环境下受到教育的,因此我不相信圣经所记载的真理。自从我在那里挖掘了数千块石碑以后, 我学到的越多,我越相信圣经是正确的。”

 

True or False?真的还是假的?

 

The title of this chapter poses a question. Is Bible history true or false? It is not a simple question to answer. The facts are decidedly com­plex. Let me try to gather together the main threads.

本章的标题向我们提出了一个问题:圣经的历史是真的还是假的?这不是一个很容易回答的问题。而且事实特别复杂。我在这里尽量收集一些将最主要的线索。

In the first place, there has been a most noticeable change amongst ancient historians over the past century. In 1873 they tended to say, “If the Bible says it, then it’s probably untrue.” Nowadays they tend to say the opposite: “The Bible is a good history book. If the Bible says something, provided there is nothing miraculous about the story, it is probably true.”

首先,最值得注意的是在过去的一个世纪中,古代历史学家们的态度发生了显著的变化。在1873年他们习惯于说:“如果圣经这样说,那么可能不正确。”而现在他们的态度正好相反:“圣经是一本很好的历史书。如果圣经的记载 那么就可能是正确的。”

On the whole, Biblical archaeologists-the men who should know best-are the first scholars to defend the Bible. Some of them accept the Bible as the inspired Word of God, and are therefore biased in its favour. But even the others generally regard it as a very, very accurate book. The stories of miracles are probably the biggest stumbling blocks; these will be discussed in Chapter 21.

作为一个整体来说,圣经考古学者最有发言权,他们最适合于为圣经辩护。有些人相信圣经是  神所启示的,当然他们会有自己的偏好。但是即使是另外一些人,也认为圣经是非常非常准确的伊本书。圣经中记载的奇迹对他们来说可能是最大的绊脚石,这个问题我们将来要在第21章中讨论。

In the old days great numbers of supposed “historical errors” in the Bible used to be trotted out. Very many of these have now been shown to be errors by the critics, not by the Bible.

在过去,有很多假设的圣经“历史性错误”消失了。很多错误被发现是批评家们自己的,而不是圣经的。

A few apparent errors remain unexplained. In other words, a number of interesting problems remain. As we saw in Chapter 12, this is exactly what we should expect. Every profound subject being studied today bristles with unresolved problems.

还有一些看起来是错误的需要解释。用另外的话来说,有很多令我们感兴趣的问题依然留存。正如我们在12章中看到的,这也是我们所预料到的。每一个复杂的课题都没有解决的问题。

The very least that any informed person can say is this: the Bible has been proved to be in a class of its own as a history book. No other ancient book can begin to be compared with it for accuracy.

任何一个了解情况的人都可以说:圣经已经被证明是一本历史书。没有任何一本古代的书籍其准确性超过圣经。

But the Bible-believing Christian will go further than this. He will say: “Because of the evidence that the Bible was inspired of God; because Jesus taught that ‘the Scripture cannot be broken’-because of this I believe that Bible history is completely accurate. I believe that the relatively few problems that remain will one day be cleared up, just as so many earlier problems have been.”

但是相信圣经的基督徒将会走的更远。他会说:“因为有证据证明圣经是  神的话,因为耶稣教导我们说:“经上的话是不能废的”,因此,我相信圣经记载的历史是完全准确的。我相信遗留下来的一些小问题终有一天会解决,正如已经解决的问题一样”。

When he talks like this, the Christian is speaking by faith. But there is a very solid layer of fact underpinning his faith. There is nothing a historian can say to prove him wrong.

当一个基督徒这样说的时候,他是凭着信心说的。但是他的信心是建立在非常牢固的基础之上。没有一位历史学家可以证明基督徒的信心是错误的。

 

19

Does the Bible Contradict Itself?

圣经自相矛盾吗?

There are some circumstances in life where, as the saying goes, you just can’t win,

If all the books of the Bible told exactly the same story, if every detail fitted together perfectly, people would not be satisfied, They would say: 

现实生活中就有这样一些人,不管你提出多么有力的证据,你就是说服不了他们。

即使是圣经所有的书都可以完美地组合在一起,有些人还是不满足,他们会说:

“This looks fishy. It’s obviously a put-up job. The Bible writers have put their heads together, and cooked up a story that hangs together. I don’t trust it.

“这些看起来很不错。很明显,是那些书写圣经的人一起商量后编的故事。我不相信这些故事   

And they would be right. A situation like that would be highly suspicious.

他们的说法也有可能是正确的,如果真的是这样,确实应引起我们高度怀疑。

But the Bible is not like that. There are places where it is difficult to make the details from one book fit in with another book. Sometimes one part of a book does not even seem to agree with another part of the same book.

但是这种情况不适合于圣经。因为圣经的很多地方,我们很难发现它们到底与另外一本书的哪些地方相有联系。有的时候在圣经的同一本书中,一个地方似乎和另外一个地方相互矛盾。

Are the doubters reassured about this? Do they say, “This is more convincing. This looks more like real life”?

但是那些对圣经持怀疑态度的人意识到了这一点吗?他们问过自己:“这是圣经可信的证据,因为真正的生活就是这样”。

Not at all! They take the opportunity to criticise the Bible on different grounds. “It contradicts itself! So it can’t possibly be wholly true.

然而他们根本没有这样思考!他们利用各种理由来攻击圣经:“圣经自相矛盾!因此这本书不可能完全正确!”

Now this really is a poor argument. Real life is full of situations that appear contradictory. Only when you learn all the circumstances do you realise that these real life “contradictions” are not contra­dictory at all.

这真的是一场乏味的争辩。真正的生活中到处都有似乎是矛盾的地方。只有你从生活中学习,你才能够真正的了解这些“矛盾其实”根本就不是矛盾。

Take this one for example. On October 31st 1967 a London news­paper, the Daily Telegraph, reported that Mrs Margaret Fennel had twin sons in Birmingham Maternity Hospital the previous day. They were born in the small hours of the morning. The first was born at 1.40 a.m., and the second at 1.10 a.m.

让我来举例说明。在19671031日,英国伦敦的每日电讯报(Daily Telegraph)报道说,在伯明翰的一家医院生,玛格丽特太太产下一对双胞胎。老大的出生时间为早上140,老二的出身时间是早上130

Yes, you read it correctly. The first was born at 1.40 and the second at 1.10!

你读的没有错。第一位出生时间为早上140,第二个孩子的出身时间是早上110

The explanation is that Daylight Saving ended that morning. At 2.00a.m.,when Number One was twenty minutes old, the clocks were put back to 1.00 a.m. Ten minutes later Number Two arrived at1.10    a.m. Simple, when you know the whole story, isn’t it?

   这是因为在当天上午英国终止了夏令时。所以,当天上午早上2点钟,也就是第一个孩子出生20分钟以后,时钟拨回到1点钟。10分钟以后,也就是110分,第二个孩子出生了。当你明白故事的整个来龙去脉,才明白事情其实是很简单的。

Then again, who would have thought that in the year 1970 a very respectable scientific journal would make statements like this:

 “Devils do not occur in cleared places . . . Devils live success­fully in close contact with human settlement and activity . . . Man is the principal predator of adult devils.”

 

But it did. The journal was the Australian journal of Zoology. It was talking about an animal little known to Europeans, called the Tasmanian devil.

但是实际情况就是这样。这一位记者就是   

Another example. American and British motorists have often argued about the fuel consumption of cars. “All I can say is, Elmer, that if you can only get fifteen miles to the gallon out of that Ford, there must be something wrong.”

还有一个例子。美国和英国的司机经常在一起谈论汽车的耗油量问题。美国司机对英国司机说:“咳,老兄,你说你的福特汽车只用1升汽油能够跑15英哩,那肯定是弄错了”。

Then another voice breaks in. “Hey, you guys, don’t you know that a gallon ain’t a gallon on the other side of the Atlantic?”

另外一个人插话说:“难道你不知道大洋彼岸的加仑不同于大洋此岸的加仑?

It isn’t, either. The British gallon is a quarter as large again as an American gallon. But that is not as bad as the confusion over the word “billion”. It takes a thousand American billions to make just one British billion.

确实如此,英国的加仑要比美国的加仑多四分之一,但是“billion”这个词所带来的麻烦更多。因为英国的“billion 表达的数量是美国“billion”的1000倍!

Pity the poor foreigner who hears us talking about Eton College, and The London School of Economics. How is he to know that Eton College is not a college but a school, and The London School of Economics is not a school but a college?

很多可怜的外国人不知道伊顿学院(Eton College)实际上是一所学校,而伦敦经济学校(The London School of Economics)不是一所学校,而是一所学院。

People have to have facts like this about the modern world pointed out to them, to explain “contradictions” they meet in life today. It is not surprising that we sometimes come across a so-called contra­diction in the Bible, and have to hunt for facts about the ancient world to explain what lies behind it.

人们拥有这样的经历,在现实生活中我们会遇到很多“矛盾”,在圣经中发现一些被人们称之为“矛盾”的地方也没有什么奇怪的了,这个时候需要我们寻找能够解释这些“矛盾”后面隐藏的事实。

  

Differences Between the Gospels福音书之间的差别

 

The Gospels are a happy hunting ground for people who like to point out “contradictions in the Bible. This is because there are four of them, all covering much the same ground. We should expect to find differences between them, and we do.

福音书是那些想在圣经中寻找矛盾的人们的乐园。因为福音书有4本,而且背景是一样的。他们认为能够在其中找到矛盾的地方。我们也预料到从中可以找到不同的地方,结果还真的找到了一些。

A favourite criticism is that gospel writers cannot even agree on the wording of a little notice board. Pontius Pilate nailed this board to Christ’s cross, so that passers-by might know who was hanging there. This is what the gospels say was written on the board:

    这些批评家最喜欢做的事情是,指出各本福音书记载的不同。耶稣在十字架上背负的牌子上面写的字不相同。

Matthew: THIS IS JESUS THE KING OF THE JEWS1

 

Mark:    THE KING OF THE JEWS2

 

Luke:                   THIS IS THE KING OF THE JEWS3

 

John:                   JESUS OF NAZARETH THE KING OF THE JEWS4

马太福音2237:“这是犹太人的王耶稣。”

马可福音1526写到:“犹太人的王。”

路加福音2338说:“这是犹太人的王。”

约翰福音1919写到:“犹太人的王,拿撒勒人耶稣。”

It is not difficult to find the missing fact that explains these differences. John says that the notice was written in three languages:

其实不难找到解释这些不同的答案。约翰福音说,这个牌子是用三种不同的语言写成的:希伯来文、希腊文、拉丁文。

Hebrew, Greek and Latin.5

There is nothing to suggest that the wording was the same in all three languages. One writer is presumably giving us an exact copy of the Greek inscription, while the others are giving us translations of the Hebrew inscription, or the Latin one, or even, perhaps, a mixture of them both.

但是并没有暗示三种语言所写的内容是一致的。可能福音书作者的其中之一抄写的是希腊文原文,而其它作者是将希伯来文或拉丁文翻译过来的,甚至有可能有的福音书抄写了包含几种语言的混合内容。

At the other end of Christ’s life, the critics point to the differences between the two stories of the birth of Jesus. After the shepherds and the Wise Men had visited the new baby his parents departed from Bethlehem with Him.

此外,一些批评者还想从福音书中找到关于耶稣出生故事的不同点。在牧羊人和从东方来的博士找到耶稣以后,耶稣一家人离开伯利恒。

Where did they take Him? Matthew says they went to Egypt and stayed there until the death of King Herod. Luke says they went to Jerusalem for a short visit and then went home to Nazareth, which is in the opposite direction from Egypt.

他们到哪里去了?马太福音书说,他们到了埃及,并且留在那里直到希律王死去,而路加福音却说他们到了耶路撒冷,然后回自己在拿撒勒的家,正好和去埃及的方向相反。

The critics are, as usual, on very shaky ground. The early disciples were not exactly feeble-minded men. They must have been well aware of this difference between Matthew and Luke. The difference did not worry them, however, because they evidently knew the explanation.

这些批评通常建立在不牢固的基础上。早期的门徒不是智力低下的人,他们肯定也注意到两本福音书的差别,然而他们并不感到担忧,因为已经知道如何解释这二者的区别。

With a little effort we can easily rediscover that explanation for ourselves. To the careful reader it is obvious that Matthew and Luke are describing two different episodes in the story of Jesus. Luke says that the shepherds visited Him in the stable where He was born,6 on the very day that He was born,7 and he calls Him “a babe”.8

其实只要细心,我们也能很容易地找到解释。因为马太和路加描写的是耶稣不同的生活阶段。路加福音说,牧羊人去见耶稣的时候,耶稣刚刚出生,他在马槽里,是一个“婴孩”。

Matthew, on the other hand, tells us how the Wise Men had to make a long journey. By the time they arrived, Jesus was no longer a “babe”, but was a “young child”.9

而马太福音告诉我们,那些从东方来的博士旅行了很长的一段路来见耶稣,那个时候的耶稣已经不再是一个“婴孩”,而是“小孩子”。

This is why Herod thought it necessary to slay all the Bethlehem children up to the age of two.10 Moreover, by this time they were no longer lodging in a stable, but were living in a house11-a point that is regularly overlooked by Christmas card artists and producers of nativity plays.

这就解释了希律为什么要杀害所有两岁以下小孩的原因。而且,那个时候耶稣已经不住在马棚,而是在房子里。这些细节经常被制造圣诞卡片的艺术家和上演宗教戏剧的演员所忽视。

When these facts are noted, there is no contradiction at all. Luke tells us that, when Jesus was a few weeks old, His parents took Him via Jerusalem to Nazareth. From Matthew we can deduce that, some time later, they were back in Bethlehem.

当人们注意到这些事实的时候,就会发现当中根本没有冲突。路加福音告诉我们说,耶稣在几个星期大的时候,的父母带着他经过耶路撒冷到拿撒勒城,从马太福音的记载中我们同样可以得出结论:过了一段时间,他们又回到了伯利恒。

We can only guess why they went back to Bethlehem to live. Perhaps Mary thought it right that the Son of God should be brought up in the place appointed by God as His birthplace.

我们只能够猜测为什么他们又回到伯利恒去住。可能是马利亚认为耶稣是  神的儿子,应该在  神所指定的出生地长大。

Whatever the reason, they went back, and were found there by the Wise Men. Then, as Matthew tells us, they went to Egypt for a time, and eventually went back to Nazareth again.

    不管是由于什么原因,他们回到伯利恒,并且来自东方的博士找到了他们,接下来,正如马太福音告诉我们的,他们到埃及居住了一段时间后又回到了拿撒勒城。

 

The Way We Say Things我们说话的方式

 

An English university student came late into the college dining room.

“Any dinner left?”

There wasn’t. His friends were not the least bit sympathetic. “You’ve had it!” they chorused.

A Chinese student looked puzzled, and turned to his English neigh­bour. “I do not understand. Why do they say that he has had it? He has not had it, and it seems that he is not going to get it!”

The English student smiled. “That’s an idiom-the way we say things. You’ll get used to it in time.’

Foreigners always have trouble with our idiom-the way we put things. We realise that, and smile at them. But where the Bible is concerned we often forget one thing.

The Bible was written by Hebrews, not by Europeans. The idiom of the Old Testament is Hebrew idiom, not English. Even the Greek New Testament contains a great deal of Hebrew idiom. Where the Bible is concerned we are the foreigners.

在英国的大学,当英国人用英语开玩笑的时候,其它国家的学生常常会感到疑惑。

圣经是用希伯来人写的,不是由欧洲人写的。因此,圣经旧约中的典故是希伯来文,而不是英语。甚至用希腊文书写的新约圣经都包含大量的希伯来文典故,对于圣经使用的语言来说,我们是外国人。

Consequently we need to make an effort to appreciate the Hebrew idiom that shows through into our English Bible. Unless we do, we shall sometimes be as baffled as the Chinese student when he first heard the saying, “You’ve had it.”

结果我们需要努力地欣赏在我们的英语圣经中出现的希伯莱文典故,除非我们这样做,我们就不明白其中真正的含义。

Hosea reports God as declaring, “I desired mercy, and not sacri­fice.”12 Jesus quotes the saying with approval.13 If we read this as if an Englishman had written it, we shall frown.

何西阿书66说:“我喜爱良善(或作:怜恤),不喜爱祭祀”。耶稣曾经引用过这句话。如果用看待英语的方式看待这一段希伯莱经文,我们就会犯错误。

“If God doesn’t want sacrifice, why did He command the children of Israel to offer sacrifices? And, above all, why did He allow His Son to be sacrificed on the cross?”

如果  神不喜欢祭祀,为什么他会命令以色列人这样做?更重要的事,为什么要让自己的儿子死在十字架上作赎罪祭?

But it was written by a Hebrew, not an Englishman, and we must read it in the light of the Hebrew idiom he used. This idiom is explained for us in the book of Deuteronomy. Forty years after God made His covenant with one generation of Israelites, Moses spoke to their sons and grandsons: “The Lord made not this covenant with our fathers but with us, even us, who are all here alive this day.”14

但是这些话是用希伯莱文写的,我们在阅读的时候一定要明白希伯莱典故。申命记中的一些记载有助于我们理解一些希伯莱典故。在  神与以色列的一代人立约之后,摩西对他们的儿子和孙子说:“这约不是与我们列祖立的,乃是与我们今日在这里存活之人立的。”(申命记53

But God did make that covenant with their fathers. Moses obviously meant: “God did not only make that covenant with our fathers, but also with us.”

但是  神确实和以色列人的祖先立过约。很明显摩西的话的含义是:“这约不仅仅是与我们列祖立的,更是与我们今日在这里存活之人立的。”

In exactly the same way, “I desired mercy and not sacrifice”, meant, to a Hebrew, “I not only desired sacrifice, but also mercy.” You will find other examples of this idiom in the English Bible if you look out for them. Appreciation of this idiom alone will clear up a number of apparent contradictions in the Bible.

同样,“我喜爱良善,不喜爱祭祀;喜爱认识神,胜于燔祭。”这句话,一个希伯来人的理解是:“我不仅仅喜欢祭祀,但是更喜爱良善”。明白一些圣经原文的典故将会帮助我们解决很多问题。

Quite a number of the supposed contradictions in the Bible arise through not appreciating (or not trying to appreciate) the subtleties of the language used. I have room for only one more example. Com­pare these two passages:

    还有很多所谓的圣经矛盾的地方其实因为没有理解希伯来语言习惯而形成的。我在这里只举一个例子,请比较下面的话:

“And when Saul inquired of the Lord, the Lord answered him not.”15

 

 “So Saul died for his transgression . . . and also for asking counsel of one that had a familiar spirit, to inquire of it, and inquired not of the Lord.”16

“扫罗求问耶和华,耶和华却不藉梦,或乌陵,或先知回答他。”(撒母尔记上28:6

 “又因他求问交鬼的妇人,没有求问耶和华,所以耶和华使他被杀”。(历代志上1013

Although two different Hebrew words for “inquired” are used in these passages, this does not explain the difficulty. They are both rendered fairly in the English translation. It is only when we re­construct the whole incident that we can see what happened. To do this we need to read both chapters right through.

尽管两段经文中表示“求问”的希伯来词汇是不同的,但它并不能解释这些困难。在翻译中两句经文都经过一些修饰。只有在明白整个句子结构我们才能明白发生了什么事情。要这样做我们应该将这两章的内容连贯起来阅读。

Saul was a very impatient man. He always wanted quick results. This twist in his character had led him into conflict with God before.17

扫罗是一个急性子的人。他总是希望能够很快得到答案。这种性格是他曾经使他以前没有听从 神的话。

On this occasion he was desperate for a quick answer. He sought one from God, but God kept him waiting. So he turned away from God, and put his questions to a witch instead. This led to his undoing.

扫罗对此感到绝望,他希望很快能够得到回答。他寻求一位从  神那里来的人,但是  神让他安静的等待。于是他不再寻求从  神那里得到答案,反而求问一位交鬼的女人,最后导致了他的完全失败。

In the light of this story it is obvious what the words, “Saul .

inquired not of the Lord”, would have conveyed to a Hebrew reader. Saul made a quick show of inquiring of God, but did not keep it up long enough to do any good.

根据这个故事,很明显,“扫落没有求问耶和华”,对于希伯来人来说,是扫罗急切地求问过  神,但是没有得到答案。

英语中也有类似的表达方式。例如有一首诗歌说:

An English poet has expressed the same sort of contrast:

 

“I often say my prayers;

But do I ever pray?”

 

We do not accuse the poet of contradicting himself. Why should we accuse the writers of the Biblical passages quoted above?

   我们没有指责这些诗歌互相矛盾。

 

The New Testament quotes the Old 新约对旧约的引用

“How can we trust the New Testament writers? Why, they can’t even quote the Old Testament correctly.”

“如果新约的作者不能正确地引用旧约圣经,我们又如何相信他们呢?”

This is a frequent criticism. But, like so many other criticisms of the Bible, it is a very shallow one. The facts go right against it.

这是我们经常听见的一种批评。和其他批评一样,这种批评是肤浅的。事实正好和这些批评相反。

It is true, of course, that in many places the New Testament quotes the Old Testament in a way that you or I would not do. But what of that? We are not ancient Jewish writers. We have our own literary standards, and they had theirs. And the two are not the same.

当然,在新约中多处引用了旧约,采用的方式是我们不会做的。但是为什么?我们不是生活在古代的以色列,我们有自己的语言标准,他们有自己的语言标准。这两种标准并不相同。

They could not be the same, because our literary tools are so much better than theirs. One great advantage is that we are able to make a clear distinction between what is known as “direct quotation” and “indirect quotation”. Thus:

    二者不可能相同,因为我们有更先进的语言工具。最大的优势之一是我们可以使用引号,可以“直接引用”,也可以“间接引用”。  

(1)   Direct quotation: Dr. Blank wrote, “The Bible is a very fine book.”直接引用句:布朗克先生说:“圣经是一本非常好的书籍”。

(2)   Indirect quotation: Dr. Blank has said that the Bible is excellent.间接引用句:布朗先生说圣经非常好。

  

In the first example, inverted commas are used to indicate that I am quoting the exact words of Dr. Blank. In the second, no inverted commas are used; this indicates that my words convey Dr. Blank’s message without using his actual words.

在第一个例子当中,通过插入标点符号表明我在引用布南克先生的话。在第二种情况下,没有插入逗号,这就表明我没有直接引用布南克先生的原话,而是在传达布朗先生的意思。

Punctuation was not invented in Bible times, so the Bible writers could not do this. They were also unable to use several other useful modern devices. Sometimes, to shorten a long quotation, I have missed out a bit in the middle. This might occasionally confuse the reader were it not for one thing: nowadays a row of dots signifies that this has been done. But we are left to guess when an ancient writer has done this.

在圣经书写的时代没有标点符号,因此圣经的书写者无法这样做。他们不能采用这种有用的现代表达方式。有的时候,为了让长的引用句缩短一些,我会在中间漏掉一部分内容。太长的句子会让读者感到混淆,现在我们很简单地用逗号就可以隔开他们,但是我们要猜一猜古代的作者是怎样做的。

Sometimes I have slipped a comment of my own, or an explanation of a difficult word, into the middle of a quotation from another author. You can tell these additions of mine because they are enclosed in square brackets, like this, [ ]or, inside Biblical quotations, in ordinary brackets, like this, ( ). But it is often very difficult to tell where an ancient author has done this sort of thing, before brackets were invented.

有些时候,我在引用其他作者的话的时候,加入一些自己的评论,或者是对一些不容易理解的话加上一些解释。你能够明白这一点,因为这些话都在方括号()之内,或者是引用的圣经,用()。但是在这些标点符号发明之前,我们就很难区别古代作者是在直接引用或者是间接引用。

We saw in Chapter 17 how tremendously careful the Jews were to copy their Scriptures accurately. No devout Jew would dream of quoting Scripture carelessly. All the New Testament writers except Luke were Jews. We may not fully understand why they sometimes varied the words of the Old Testament when they quoted it. But of this we can be sure: they must have done it deliberately, for some good reason.

我们在本书的17章中,看到了犹太人是多么仔细地、精确地抄写经文。那些虔诚的犹太人不会随意地引用经文。除了路加之外,所有的新约都是由犹太人书写的。我们可能不能去完全理解为什么有的时候在引用旧约的时候会有一些改变,但是有一点我们是可以肯定的,他们这样这么做肯定有很好的理由,是精心安排的。

 

In many cases we can clearly see their motive. They wished to interpret the Scripture for us while they were quoting it. To give a simple example, there is a passage in Isaiah which says:

在很多情况下我们能够明确地看出他们的动机。他们希望在引用经文的同时解释经文。就拿以赛亚书2816为例子来说:

“I lay in Zion for a foundation a stone, a precious corner stone, a sure foundation; he that believeth shall not make haste.”18

 “我在锡安放一块石头作为根基,是试验过的石头,是稳固根基,宝贵的房角石;信靠的人必不著急。”

The apostle Peter quotes this verse, and tells us that the “stone” referred to is Jesus Christ-the foundation stone of God’s purpose. While he quotes the first part of the verse without altering the sense, because it is simple to understand, he alters the last words materially. He changes, “he that believeth shall not make haste”, to, “he that believeth on Him shall not be put to shame.”19

使徒彼得引用这句经文的时候,他告诉我们“石头”代表耶稣---他是  神的旨意的基础。在引用第一部分的时候没有警告的意思,因为很容易理解,他将最后一个单词作了改变,他说:“我把所拣选、所宝贵的房角石安放在锡安;信靠他的人必不至於羞愧。”。

He adds the words “on Him” to make it plain that Isaiah means belief in Christ. And he changes, “shall not make haste”, to, “shall not be put to shame”. This lets us know that the “making haste” meant by Isaiah is the terrified, but pointless, running away of a sinner who cannot escape judgement.

他将“信靠的人”变成“信靠他的人”,让读者可以明白以赛亚书的意思是信靠基督。他还将“必不著急”变成了“必不至於羞愧”,让我们明白不信基督的人将来不能逃脱审判。

We, with our modern literary customs, would not quote the Bible like that. We should give an exact quotation, and then follow with an exposition. But Peter went by the accepted rules of the times, and combined quotation and exposition in one. His method has a great advantage over ours: it uses far less words.

现代人通常不会采用这种引用方式。我们会用引号来直接引用法,准确地引用以赛亚书的每一个词。但是彼得采用的是当时的写作习惯,他的方法也有很大的优越性:非常简练。

Because of their economy in words, the apostles sometimes appear to apply the Old Testament to the wrong thing. In fact they do nothing of the kind. They merely leave it to us to expand their argu­ments, and draw out the full meaning. Paul did this in the verse:

正是因为他们非常的简练,有的时候似乎引用了错误。事实上他们没有错。只是需要我们去扩展他们的论据,找到其含义。保罗下面的话也是如此:

 

“Their sound went into all the earth,

And their words unto the ends of the world.”20

  “他们的声音传遍天下;

他们的言语传到地极。”(罗马书1018

Paul uses this to prove that the gospel is to be preached to all nations. But the quotation comes from a psalm which begins:

保罗用这段话来证明福音书要传递给所有的民族。但是这一段经文是引用的是诗篇,诗篇的开头说:

“The heavens declare the glory of God,

And the firmament showeth His handywork.”21

   “诸天述说神的荣耀;穹苍传扬他的手段。”(诗篇191

It is these silent witnesses in the sky whose message goes out to all the earth, in the fourth verse of this psalm. Yet Paul applies it to the preachers of the first-century Church!

天空这些不能发出声音的天体向整个地球发出了信息,在第4节,然而保罗在这里将这句经文用在了公元1世纪基督教会身上!

Is it possible that Paul has blundered? Most unlikely. Paul is far too good a Bible student to slip up like that. He has a reason for what he does.

有可能是保罗在引用旧约的时候犯了错误吗?不太可能,保罗是非常好的圣经学生,不可能犯这样的错误。他这样做是有理由的。

If we read the whole of the psalm, we begin to see that reason. The first half of the psalm is all about the glory of God revealed in nature. Then there is an abrupt change of thought. The rest of the psalm is all about the glory of God revealed in the Word of God.

如果我们阅读整个诗篇,我们可以开始寻找理由。诗篇的上半部分是关于  神的荣耀在大自然中的显现,然后作者的思维突然发生了改变。下部分是关于  神的荣耀在他的话语中显现。

If Paul were a modern writer he would probably have explained his quotation like this:

如果保罗是一位现代作家,他很可能这样解释:

“The two halves of the psalm are connected. The first half is a parable; the second half is its explanation. The light of the sun in the first half represents the light of God’s Word in the second half. Consequently the words spoken about the sun in this psalm apply equally well to the Word of God. And that’s the way I have applied them.”

“这句诗篇的上下文是相互联系的。第一部分是比喻,第二部分是解释。第一部分的阳光代表第二部分的神的话语,因此诗篇中出现的太阳光代表  神的话语,我就是这样应用它们的”。

Another kind of problem occurs in the opening of Mark’s Gospel. He says, “As it is written in Isaiah the prophet”22 and then makes a double quotation. First he quotes from Malachi, and only after that does he keep his promise and quote Isaiah. Why this peculiar behaviour?

另一个问题出现在马可福音的开篇。马可写道:“正如先知以赛亚书上记著说:”然后开始了双从引用。首先他引用了玛拉基书,接下来又引用了以赛亚书中的内容。为什么要用这种特别的方式呢?

Simply because he was a first-century Jew, not a twentieth-century European. A modern English writer would have introduced this double quotation with some such phrase as this:

简单地说,因为马可是公元1世纪的犹太人,而不是生活在20世纪的欧洲人。现代英语可以使用双重引语这样来表达:

“You know what Isaiah (and a later prophet, Malachi, who reflected Isaiah’s words) said: . .

“你知道以赛亚(后来先知马拉基对以赛亚的话作出了回应)说:”

But Mark’s very much simpler introduction was quite sufficient for the readers of his day. They were used to that sort of quotation. And they were very much more familiar with the Old Testament than we are, so they needed less explanation, anyway.

但是马可的简单介绍对于那个时代的人来说已经够了。他们已经习惯了这种引用圣经的方式。不管怎样说,他们比我们更加熟悉圣经的旧约,因此只需要做简单的解释即可。

Thus, although there are problems involved in the way the New Testament quotes the Old, they are not serious. They nearly all yield to patient investigation along the lines I have illustrated.

因此,虽然在新约引用旧约方面存在问题,但是并不是实质性的问题。它们都需要我们做细致的调查。

 

A Lot Depends on the Point of View
还有很多问题是书写者看问题的角度不同造成的

About 150 years ago two famous Englishmen spoke like this:

 

Wordsworth:  “Earth has not anything to show more fair.”

Cobbett:        “The great wen.” (A wen is a festering sore.)

 

Believe it or not, each was describing London. And they were not contradicting each other. They just happened to be looking at it from different points of view.

Wordsworth had been standing on Westminster Bridge admiring the magnificent skyline of great buildings. Cobbett was a country dweller, thinking, probably, of the filth and squalor of the London slums. Each from his own viewpoint was speaking the truth.

Is it surprising that Bible writers who set out to portray things from different points of view describe them differently? This is not con­tradiction. This is just the giving of extra information.

圣经的书写者采用不同的角度来描写同样的事情,这不应该让我们感到奇怪,也不是圣经存在相互矛盾,而是为了给出额外的信息。

The four Gospels are written from four entirely different points of view.23 Matthew wrote for Jews. His aim was to portray Jesus as King of the Jews. He says that Christ’s preaching was all about the “King­dom of Heaven”. He puts this phrase into the mouth of Jesus dozens of times, and only calls it the “Kingdom of God” on two or three occasions.

四本福音书从四种不同的角度来描写耶稣的。马太为犹太人而写,他的目标是将耶稣描写成犹太人的王。马太说耶稣传的是“天国”的福音。有十多次使用这个词汇,只有两三次使用“神国”这个词。

Mark wrote for Romans. He portrayed Jesus as the servant of man­kind. To him, as to Luke and John, the Kingdom is the “Kingdom of God”, not of “Heaven”.

马可福音是为了罗马人而写的。他将耶稣描写成  神的仆人。他用 “神国”这个词来代替“天国”。

Luke was a Greek, writing for Greeks. He interpreted for his readers the Hebrew phrases that they would not understand. Matthew says the Jewish children cried, “Hosanna!”24 No doubt they did. That was a Hebrew word they would know. It means, “Please save us.” But Luke puts another word into their mouths: “glory”. From the Greek point of view, that was what hosanna amounted to.

路加本人是希腊人。路加福音也是为了希腊人写的。他将很多希腊人不明白的希伯莱文词汇翻译过来。例如:马太福音记载一些犹太人高喊“和散那”(马太福音219。毫无疑问他们是这样喊的。希伯来人知道这个词的意思:“救救我们!”但是路加福音用“赞美 神”来代替这个词,这正是“和散那”这个词的含义。

Matthew reported Jesus as telling the Jews, “When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place . . . flee into the mountains.”25

马太从犹太人的角度来记载事情:“你们看见先知但以理所说的『那行毁坏可憎的』站在圣地(读这经的人须要会意)。那时,在犹太的,应当逃到山上”。(马太福音241516

The Greeks would have wondered what that was all about. So Luke puts an interpretation into Christ’s mouth: “When ye shall see Jerusalem compassed with armies. .. flee to the mountains.”26 From a Greek point of view that was exactly what Jesus did say.

希腊人可能会感到奇怪,因为不知道这句话讲的是什么事情。因此路加将耶稣的话翻译成:“你们看见耶路撒冷被兵围困,就可知道他成荒场的日子近了。那时,在犹太的应当逃到山上;”(路加福音212021从希腊人的观点来看这正是耶稣所表达的含义。

The Gospel of John is very different from the other three Gospels-so different that scholars have coined a special name for the “problem” this creates.27 But there is no contradiction involved. John is looking from a very different viewpoint. He reveals Jesus as the only-begotten Son of God. He is concerned more with the inner meanings of events than the events themselves.

约翰福音的记载方式与其它的三本福音书有很大的不同。但是约翰福音和它们之间也没有冲突。约翰福音是从另外一个角度来写的。耶稣是以  神的独身子出现的。约翰福音更加注意事情本身的意义,而不是事件本身。

Not all the apparent contradictions in the Bible are just a question of the writer’s point of view. But many of them are.

    并不是所有圣经中看起来矛盾的地方仅仅是书写者看问题的角度不同所造成的。很多问题可以:

 

New Facts Solve Problems因新的事实出现而得到解决

 

Again and again a Bible problem is solved when we come across some new fact. This need not be an archaeological fact. It can be a fact from another part of the Bible that explains an apparent contradiction. Compare these two verses, both taken from chapters in which Moses described how Israel would be punished for her sins:

很多次圣经中的问题在有了新发现之后得到了解决,而且不一定是考古学的新发现。可能是圣经中的一部分看起来与另外一部分相矛盾。比较下面两句经文,

“I will not cast them away, neither will I abhor them, to destroy them utterly.”28

“The Lord shall send upon thee cursing... until thou be destroyed.”29

     “我却不厌弃他们,也不厌恶他们,将他们尽行灭绝,也不背弃我与他们所立的约,因为我是耶和华他们的神。”(利未记2644

     “耶和华因你行恶离弃他,必在你手里所办的一切事上,使咒诅、扰乱、责罚临到你,直到你被毁灭,速速地灭亡”(申命记2820

What are we to make of this? Was Israel to be destroyed or not?

我们怎样去理解呢?以色列将来要被毁灭还是不会被毁灭?

The answer is: “Yes and no.” That answer is supplied for us by the prophet Amos:

    答案是:“是,也不是”。 阿摩司书为我们提供了答案:

“Behold, the eyes of the Lord God are upon the sinful kingdom, and I will destroy it from off the face of the earth; saving that I will not utterly destroy the house of Jacob, saith the Lord.”30

  “主耶和华的眼目察看这有罪的国,必将这国从地上灭绝,却不将雅各家灭绝净尽。这是耶和华说的。”(阿摩司书98

The precision of this language is uncanny. God would destroy the kingdom of Israel. But he would not destroy the “house of Jacob”-a Hebrew expression meaning the race of Israel.

这句话语言的准确性无可挑剔。  神将来要毁灭以色列国。但是  神不会毁灭“雅各家”,就是以色列这个民族。

This resolves the apparent contradiction between the “destroy” and “not destroy” promises. But it does more than that. It gives us another remarkable example of fulfilled prophecy. Just as Amos prophesied, the kingdom was destroyed, but-against all the probabilities-the race of Israel has been preserved.

这样就解决了看起来存在明显的冲突的经文的问题。而且告诉我们的不仅有这些。这句经文还是圣经预言得到应验的伟大例子。正如先知阿莫斯预言的,以色列这个国家已经被摧毁,但是以色列民族,尽管他们经历过很多磨难,却生存下来。

Even little facts about the Hebrew language can resolve some prob­lems for us. This one, for example. ~ Samuel 8: 13 says that David’s army smote 18,000 men of Syria in the Valley of Salt. But I Chronicles 18:12 says they smote 18,000 men of Edom in the Valley of Salt.

甚至,圣经是希伯来文书写的这个简单的事实也能够帮助我们解决一些问题。例如,在撒母耳记下813说大卫的军队在盐谷杀死了18000亚叙人的军队。但是在历代志上1812却说他们在盐谷杀死了18000名以东人。

The Hebrew words for Syria and Edom differ by only one letter. One has the letter daleth where the other has the letter resh. Now daLeth and resh are the two most similar letters in the Hebrew alpha­bet. Both look rather like an upside-down L, but one has a square corner and the other a slightly rounded corner.

希伯来文表示“亚叙”和“以东”的单词之间的差别只有一个字母,而且这两个字母是希伯莱文中最相似的。它们都看起来像一个倒立的L, 只是一个字母的角是方的,另外一个字母的角是圆的。

The slight roundness of that corner is the only thing to distinguish the Hebrew words for Syria and Edom. Obviously we have here one of those very rare copyists’ errors.

因此,在希伯来文中,这个角是圆的还是方的,成为亚叙和以东这两个单词的唯一区别。很显然,这是非常罕见的圣经旧约中出现的抄写错误。

Yes, new facts keep solving old problems for us. There are still a few apparent contradictions in the Bible that cannot yet be convincingly explained. But we have lots of new facts to learn yet.

是的,新的事实出现会为我们解决很多旧问题。圣经中还有很多看起来矛盾的地方的不到令人信服的解释,但是我们也有很多的事实需要学习。

Can we reasonably doubt that, if only we had all the facts, we might be able to solve all the problems?

难道我们会怀疑:如果我们掌握了全部的事实,所有的问题都会迎刃而解吗?

 

20

The Nasty Objections

对圣经卑鄙的攻击

In Russia today the Bible is strictly banned. The real reason for this is obvious. The Communists would like to see the Christian faith gradually disappear. So they suppress the Book that feeds it.

在今天的俄国,圣经受到严格的限制。当局希望能够基督教信仰逐渐消失,因此他们禁止销售圣经。

But they like to sound more liberal than they are. So officially they give another reason for the ban: “The Bible is pornography.”

但是他们希望得到一个比实际更加慷慨的名声,因此官方为禁止圣经找到的另一个理由是:“圣经是色情文学”。

Pornography? If it were not such a serious matter, it would be laughable. The Bible pornography! What a joke. If this is so, why (don’t the dirty bookshops sell it? Why don’t foul-minded people flock to read it? And why do so many decent people read it with delight, instead of putting it down in disgust?

色情文学?如果他们的表情不是那么严肃,这将会是一件可笑的事情。说圣经是色情文学!真是笑话。如果是这样的话,为什么黄色书店不去卖它们,为什么有如此多正派人士带着愉快而不是厌恶的心情阅读它?

This ridiculous accusation shows how far some people will go in their attacks on the Bible. In the West we have not yet reached quite such depths of absurdity. But there is a common tendency to suggest that the Bible is not really a “nice” book.

这些不着边际的指责显示出一些人指责圣经的理由太离谱。西方国家还没有到这种程度,但存在一种普遍的倾向,认为圣经不是一本真正的“好”的书。

In this chapter we must examine some of the most usual accusations of this kind. This is not going to make very pleasant reading. It is so much easier to throw mud than to clean it up.

 本章我们将检验这种类型中最常见的一些指责,可能读起来让人不是感到很愉快,要知道涂淤泥要比清洗淤泥容易的多!

But it is a job that must be done. Many people have a vague idea that the Bible is cruel, bloodthirsty and indecent in places. We need to look at the facts, and see just how much truth there is in this idea.

但是这是一件我们必须作的工作。很多人有一种模糊的观点,认为圣经在一些地方是残酷的,嗜血的,下流的。我们需要对照事实,来看看这种观点有多少真实的地方。

To begin with here is a rather extreme example. A horrid little pamphlet called The Faults and Failings of Jesus Christ was pub­lished in London some years ago. In the whole pamphlet there was not one criticism of Jesus that would stand examination.

我们从一个极端的例子开始。几年以前在伦敦出版了一本名叫“耶稣基督的错误和失败”The Faults and Failings of Jesus Christ的小册子,整本小册子对于耶稣的批评没有一样能够站的住脚。

The author attacked Jesus savagely over the incident of the barren fig tree.1 The Gospel describes how Jesus was hungry and went to a fig tree, looking for fruit. He found none, and promptly cursed the fig tree, which then withered away.

作者攻击耶稣曾经粗暴地对待一颗不结果子的无花果树。福音书描写了耶稣饥饿了,然后走到一棵无花果树前寻找果子。他没有找到,然后他诅咒这颗无花果树,无花果树就枯干了。

“There!” cries the cynic. “The action of a stupid, petulant, spoilt boy!”

愤世嫉俗者喊道:“看,多么愚蠢的孩子气行为!”

Unfortunately he has missed the whole point of the story. The account of His forty days fasting in the wilderness2 shows that Jesus was not a man to be bothered about food. What He did to the fig tree was done for an excellent reason: to teach the Jews a vital lesson.

很不幸的是,他们迷失了故事的整个要点。耶稣曾经在旷野中禁食,整整40天没有吃东西,证明耶稣不是一个为食物操心的人,他这样对待无花果树是为了给犹太人一个深刻的教训。

To them the fig tree had always been symbol of the Jewish nation.3

无花果树一直都是犹太民族的象征。(见约饵书17,何西阿书91016

Earlier in His ministry Jesus took up this figure of speech, and built a parable around it.4

在耶稣传教生涯的早期中,他也曾拿无花果树作比喻,说:

“Israel is like a barren fig tree,” Jesus had explained. “The Good Gardener is going to manure it and nurse it for one more year, to see if He can at last coax some fruit out of it. If that last effort fails, the tree must be cut down.”

“以色列就像栽在葡萄园里的一棵不结果子的无花果树。管理葡萄园的说:“今年且留着,等我周围掘开土,加上粪;以后若结果子便罢,不然再把他砍了。』」”(路加福音136-9

Now that year had gone by. Jesus had made His last great effort to convert the Jews, but without success. Already they were arranging to crucify Him.

现在这个时候到了。耶稣已经为挽救犹太人作了最后的努力,但是没有成功。而且那些人准备好将耶稣送上十字架。

So Jesus delivered His second parable about the fig tree, to tell the Jewish nation it had thrown away its last chance. But this time, to give His message more power, He acted the parable before their eyes.

因此耶稣对他们讲了第二个无花果树的比喻,告诉犹太民族他们已经失去了最后的机会,只不过这一次为了使讲话更加生动,他动手当着他们的面演示了这个比喻。

 

Marriage in the Bible圣经中的婚姻

 

The things people say about the Bible’s teaching on marriage are enough to make your hair stand on end.

一些人对圣经有关婚姻的评论简直就要让你的头皮发麻。

“In the Old Testament God encouraged his favourites to have as many wives as they liked. Solomon had a whole harem full-hundreds of them. Then in the New Testament the pendulum swung the other way. Jesus and Paul said people had better not get married at all.” 

“在旧约时代,  神鼓励他喜欢的人随便娶很多妻子,所罗门就有几百个。在新约的时代,钟摆又摇向了另外一边。耶稣和保罗说人们最好不要结婚。”

That is the accusation. Now what are the facts?

看看这种指责,它是否符合事实?

Fact Number One is that God never “encouraged” anybody to have more than one wife. In the very beginning of the Old Testament the ideal of marriage is clearly set out: one man and one woman, joined together as one.5 Jesus confirmed this age-old principle, and pointed out that God had always intended the marriage union to be lifelong.6

事实1 神从来没有“鼓励”任何人娶多个妻子。从旧约开始婚姻的原则就已经确定下来:一个男人和一个女人结合,两个人联合成为一体。耶稣也证实了这个古老的原则,并且指出,  神希望婚姻能够维持终身。(马太福音204-6

Later in the Old Testament God relaxed the rules a little. This was not because He had abandoned the ideal, but because men were showing themselves unable to keep to it. As Jesus explained, what God did was to make a temporary concession to human weakness.7

在旧约中  神放宽了婚姻的尺度。并不是 神放弃了婚姻的理想原则,而是人不能够遵守这项原则。正如耶稣指出的,是因为人们的心肠硬而不得不做出的暂时性妥协。(马太福音2078

The kings of Israel were expressly forbidden to take many wives.8 Solomon disobeyed God in building up his great collection of women, and we are told that this led to his downfall.9 There are two great love stories in the historical books of the Old Testament: the story of Isaac and Rebekah10 and the story of Boaz and Ruth.11 In both these stories there is no suggestion that any other wife was involved.

在以色列的律法中,国王是不可娶很多妻子的(申命记1717。所罗门有很多女人,圣经指出这正是他失败的原因。旧约历史书中有两个伟大的爱情故事被特写:以撒和利百家的故事,波阿斯和路得的故事。两个故事中都没有第二个妻子出现。

So it is quite untrue to say that the Old Testament encouraged polygamy. It permitted it, that is all. What it encouraged was mono­gamy, the union of one man with one wife.

因此,有人说旧约鼓励一夫多妻制度是很不正确的。旧约只是许可一夫多妻,但绝对没有鼓励。圣经所鼓励的是一夫一妻。

It is equally untrue to say that Jesus discouraged marriage. What He discouraged was adultery12 and divorce.13 He recognised that only exceptional people could do as He had done, and forego marriage in order to serve God more freely.14

同样,那些认为耶稣不赞成婚姻的看法也是不正确的。耶稣反对的是通奸和离婚。(约翰福音81-11,马太福音199。他也认可一些人像自己一样独身,这样可以更自由地做  神的工作。(马太福音191112

As for Paul, no man in history has ever been misrepresented worse than he. People ignorant of his writings sometimes call him a woman hater. Yet he wrote:

至于保罗,历史上没有其他人比他承受了更多的误解。有人漠视保罗自己的著述,称他仇视女人。尽管保罗曾经写道:

“I commend unto you Phoebe our sister, who is a servant of the church that is at Cenchrea, that ye receive her in the Lord, as becometh saints, and that ye assist her in whatsoever business she hath need of you. For she hath been a succourer of many, and of mine own self.”15

    “我对你们举荐我们的姊妹非比,她是坚革哩教会中的女执事。请你们为主接待她,合乎圣徒的体统。她在何事上要你们帮助,你们就帮助她,因她素来帮助许多人,也帮助了我”。(罗马书1612

This is no isolated instance. Throughout Paul’s epistles we can see his affection for all his Christian associates, both men and women alike.

这不是一起孤立的陈述。保罗所有的信件中,都流露出对其他基督徒的深切感情,不管是弟兄还是姊妹。

Paul’s teaching about the physical side of marriage is the most frank advice on this topic in the whole Bible.16 (You will need to read it in a modern translation to get its message. Older translations rather prudishly obscure its meaning.) Paul’s words in this passage are so helpful to married couples that they are quoted in a booklet distri­buted by the marriage guidance council in one Commonwealth country.

保罗对于婚姻的实质性方面写过圣经中最坦白的建议。见哥林多前书71-5现代版的英文翻译好一些,有些古代翻译版本太隐晦)保罗这些话对于维持良好的婚姻关系非常有帮助,有人专门将保罗的话制成小册子送给新婚夫妇。

It is very clear from this that Paul was in no way against marriage. He personally found it useful in his preaching work to be unmarried, and hence free from family responsibilities. So he suggested that some-not all, but some-other Christians might benefit from being single, too.17 He also advised postponement of marriage on one occasion in what he called “the present distress”18-persecution, prob­ably. Who could reasonably quarrel with that?

非常清楚,保罗决不是反对婚姻,从他个人的角度来讲,他自己体会到单身传福音的有利方面,就是没有家庭负担。因此他建议一些(不是全部)基督徒也体会单身的好处。他建议一些基督徒因为“现今的艰难”——可能是指迫害,延缓结婚26节)。谁可以对这点提出正当的反对意见?

Another man who is unjustly criticised concerning marriage is Ezra. When he discovered that many Jewish men had married idolatrous wives, he made them divorce them.19 This seems very harsh to many people.

另外一个受到不公正指责的人是以斯拉。他发现很多犹太人娶了外邦女子为妻,他要求他们离婚。对很多人来说似乎太严厉了。

It puzzled me a little, too, until one of my first trips to Africa. I had to attend an Elders’ Meeting of a newly established church. One item dis­cussed was the position of a man who wished to join the church. Like a great many Africans this man had two wives and two sets of children.

这个问题也曾经使得我感到困惑,直到我第一次到非洲去才明白。那一次我去参加一个新成立教会的长老会,其中一个议题是讨论一个希望加入教会人的情况。就像其他很多非洲人一样,这个人有两个妻子,每一个妻子都为他生了一群孩子。

There was only one other European present. We both thought that perhaps the man should be told, “If you had only one wife when you were converted, you would not be allowed to take a second. But what is done cannot be undone. As a concession, you may join the church and keep your two wives, but you must not marry a third.”

除了我之外,还有另外一个欧洲人也参加了讨论。我们两个人都认为应该这样对这个人说:“如果你转变成基督徒时只有一个妻子,那么你就不能够娶第二个。但是已经做过的事情就不能追究了。作为一种妥协的方案,你可以参加教会,和你的两个妻子生活在一起。但是你不能第次结婚”。

But every one of the African elders was up in arms against us. “That would never do! We know our own people better than you do. To make that concession would open the door to all sorts of immorality. We want to maintain high moral standards, and consequently a polygamist must be compelled to put away his second wife before he can be baptized.” 

但是非洲长老们都站起来摆手表示反对我们:“这不可能!我们知道我们做的要比你们好。妥协会打开所有不道德之门。我们要维护更高的准则。这个人在受洗之前必须和其中的一位妻子离婚。”

At the time this seemed ruthless. But now I know Africa better, and I realise that those African elders were right, and I was wrong. They were acting in accordance with the highest principles of Christian love. My own views had been based on ill-informed sentimentality. 

这种做法当时看起来似乎是无情的。现在我知道,非洲人的做法更好。我认识到非洲长老是对的,我的观点是错误的。他们的做法符合基督徒爱的准则。我自己的观点是基于自己的多愁善感。

If we knew all the circumstances surrounding Ezra, we should no doubt agree that he also was right. He was fighting against idolatry, fighting for the very survival of the true worship of God. Doubtless his action, though stern, was necessary.

  如果我们都知道以斯拉的处境。我们毫无疑问地赞成他的做法。他反对的是偶像崇拜,为保存真正的信仰而战斗。毫无疑问,他的行为尽管严厉,但确是必要的。

 

Bloodthirstiness in the Old Testament在旧约中的流血事件

 

Half a century ago a Cambridge University professor of English literature gave three lectures entitled, “On Reading the Bible”.20 A better name for them might have been, “How Not to Read the Bible”.

半个世纪以前,剑桥大学的一位英语文学教授作了一次演讲,他的演讲题目是:“关于阅读圣经”,其实更确切地说应该是:“如何不去看圣经”。

The professor insisted that “the bloodthirsty jealous Jehovah of the Book of Joshua” is not the Christian God. He was certainly expressing a popular sentiment. But was he doing justice to the Old Testament?

这位教授坚持说:“约书亚记中嗜血的耶和华”不是基督教的 神。他表达的是一种世俗的情调。但是这样的评论对于旧约来说是公平的吗?

The God that Jesus preached was the God of the Old Testament. Jesus did not criticise Him, or regard Him as bloodthirsty. What are the facts of the case? 

耶稣提到的  神也是旧约中的  神。耶稣从来没有评判 神,或认为  神是嗜血的。在这个例子中哪些是事实呢?

The first fact is that the God of both Testaments has two sides to His character. He is loving and merciful to those who try to serve Him; He is stern and just towards those who persist in wickedness.

首先,新约和旧约都展现了 神品德的两个方面。对于那些尽力爱他并且更从他的人来说,  神是仁慈的,对那些坚持作恶的人来说,神是严厉的。

Here are a number of verses describing God. Those on the left come from the Old Testament, those on the right from the New.

下面就是一些描写了  神特征的经文。左边的部分来自旧约,右边的部分来自新约。

 


The God of the Old Testament 旧约中的

“The Lord God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering and abun­dant in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, for­giving iniquity and transgression and sin.”21

“Thou shalt love thy neigh­bour as thyself; I am the Lord.”23

“耶和华,是有怜悯有恩典的神,不轻易发怒,并有丰盛的慈爱和诚实,为千万人存留慈爱,赦免罪孽、过犯,和罪恶”(出埃及记3467

“要爱人如己。我是耶和华。”(利未记1918

“The men of Sodom were wicked and sinners before the Lord exceedingly . . . the Lord rained upon Sodom and upon Gomorrah brimstone and fire from the Lord out of heaven.”25

“所多玛人在耶和华面前罪大恶极……耶和华将硫磺与火从天上耶和华那里降与所多玛和蛾摩拉”(创世记13131924

The God of the New Testament新约中的

“God is love . . . He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins.”22

  “神就是爱……神爱我们,差他的儿子为我们的罪作了挽回祭,这就是爱了。”(约翰14-10

“This commandment we have from Him, that he who loveth God love his brother also.”24

(Jesus said) “So shall it be in the end of this world. The Son of man shall send forth His angels, and they shall gather out of His kingdom all things that offend, and them which do iniquity, and shall cast them into a furnace of fire.”26

“爱神的,也当爱弟兄,这是我们从神所受的命令”(约翰1421

“世界的末了也要如此。人子要差遣使者,把一切叫人跌倒的和作恶的,从他国里挑出来,丢在火炉里;在那里必要哀哭切齿了”(马太福音1340-42



 

These verses are not exceptional, they are reasonably typical. The character of the God revealed in both Testaments is exactly the same.

这些经文不是例外的,他们都非常典型。新约和旧约体现出来的 神的品德是一致的。

There is, however, one important difference between the two Testaments.

然而,新约和旧约有很重要的差别。

In the Old Testament, God’s judgments upon the wicked were meted out upon the spot. Sometimes they took the form of what appeared to be a natural disaster (as at Sodom), or a plague. Some­times the instrument of God’s judgments was the sword.

在旧约中, 神对恶人的审判是马上的,有的时候是自然灾害(例如在所多玛)或瘟疫,有的时候 神审判的工具是刀剑。

In the New Testament it was exceptional for God to judge wicked men at the time.27 The general principle was that judgment would be reserved until the great Day of Judgment.28 But when it fell, it would be just as severe as anything that happened to the wicked in Old Testament times.

在新约中,神很少当场审判恶人。使徒行传1223是比较例外的例子。一般原则就是,审判将保留在审判日进行。但是当审判日来临的时候,它将和在旧约一样严厉。

Thus Joshua had to execute God’s judgments on the wicked nations of Canaan in the past; Jesus will have to do it to the wicked of this world in the future. The principle-that the wicked must be des­troyed-is the same in both Testaments. The only differences are (1) in the timing, and (2) in the methods used.

因此,在过去约书亚对在迦南的邪恶民族进行了 神的审判。而耶稣将来也必须对那些世界上的恶人进行审判。(例如:帖后第1章)。恶人必定消亡这个原则在新约和旧约中都是一样的,区别仅仅在于审判的时间和审判的方式。

Why should God use the sword as an instrument of His judgments in the Old Testament? It would be interesting to know His reason. But He has not chosen to tell us what it is.

为什么  神在旧约时期要用刀剑作为审判的工具?我们很希望能够知道原因,但是 神却没有将原因告诉我们。

Even so, the Old Testament has revealed one important fact: that the sword of judgment was only a necessary evil, and only a tem­porary one at that. Although he was essentially a very good man King David was not allowed to build God’s Temple, because he had been a man of war and had shed blood.29 Moreover, many of the prophets looked forward to the day when God would change the hearts of men, and so bring permanent peace to the whole earth.30

即使是这样,旧约告诉我们一件很重要的事实:审判的刀剑仅仅是一种必要的暴力,是暂时的。尽管大卫是一个很好的人,但是 神不让大卫建造 神的殿,因为他是一个战士,杀死过很多人。而且,很多预言告诉我们,有一天 神将会改变人们的心,世界将来会永远和平。

This leads to another problem. David, the man of war, wrote some rather bloodthirsty psalms where he cursed his enemies. Can we regard those as inspired by God?

然而这又带来另外一个问题:大卫写过很多诅咒敌人的充满暴力的诗篇。我们也认为它们是 神的启示吗?

Yes, we have no alternative. Some of them are quoted in the New Testament as inspired prophecies of God’s judgment on Judas, the traitor who betrayed Christ.

是。这是我们唯一的选择。这些诗篇当中有很多在新约圣经中被引用,例如其中包括对出卖耶稣的叛徒犹大的审判。

But this does not mean that God approved of the anger in David’s heart when he wrote those curses. As we saw in Chapter 14, the writer’s own style and character still shows through, even when he is writing under inspiration. God could even use a murderer like Caiaphas to utter inspired prophecy.31 But this did not justify Caiaphas’ wickedness. And neither did the inspiration of David’s prophetic curses justify the aggressive spirit of this “man of war”. 

但是这并不意味着  神赞同大卫写这些充满诅咒的话时心中的愤怒。正如我们在第14章中所看到的,圣经的书写者即使是在受到 神启示的时候,所写的内容依然体现出自己的风格, 神甚至会用一个像该亚法这样的杀人犯来说出预言的话来(约翰福音1149-52,但是这并不能为该亚法所作的坏事正名。同样,圣经也不赞成大卫在写这些将来预言坏人遭报复时候的愤怒。

 

Was Jehovah Merely a Tribal God? 耶和华仅仅是一个部落的  神?

 

In the ancient world every nation liked to have its own national god. There seems to be a relic of this ancient custom in the present-day superstition of having patron saints: St. George of Merrie England, St. Andrew of Scotland, St. David of Wales, and St. Patrick of Ireland.

在古代世界,每一个民族都有自己的神。古代的风俗似乎变成了今天的迷信,例如:每一个教会都有自己的圣人,

Among Israel’s neighbours the Philistines regarded Dagon as their pet god, the Canaanites had Baal, and the Moabites had Chemosh. To this list some people would like to make one addition: the Israelites had Jehovah (or Yahweh, as the name was originally pronounced).

在以色列的邻居中,大衮是非利士人最喜爱的  神,迦南人认为巴力是他们的 神。摩押人认为基抹是他们的神。有些人喜欢在这个名单中另外加上一位:耶和华是以色列的神。

Was this really how the children of Israel regarded the Lord? Was He just one god among many? Or did they regard Jehovah as Jesus did-as the one and only true God?

难道以色列人是这样看待他们的  神的吗?难道耶和华仅仅是众多神之中的一位吗?或者,以色列人认为耶和华是唯一的真神?

From beginning to end the Old Testament supplies the answer. Jehovah was not just the tribal god of Israel. He was the one Supreme Being, the Creator of heaven and earth.

从旧约的开始到新约的结束,圣经一直在给我们提供答案。耶和华不仅仅是以色列人的  神,他是超自然的,是天地万物的创造者。

The only period in Old Testament history where there is no mention of idols at all is the very early period, as described in the beginning of Genesis. The one God created the world. The one God punished man when he sinned. The one God brought the flood. Even the wicked men of those days were not accused of idolatry. It almost seems as if idols had not yet been invented.

在旧约的历史上,只有很少的一段时期没有提到偶像崇拜,就是创世记的前面部分:  神创造世界、惩罚亚当、即使在大洪水时期,是那些作恶的人也不是因为崇拜偶像而受到惩罚,似乎那个时候偶像还没有被发明出来。

When idolatry did appear, the whole Bible condemned it. The Law of Moses, the Psalms, the Prophets-wherever you look you find con­demnations of idolatry. Isaiah’s statement, “I am the Lord and there is none else”32 sums up the teaching of them all. Plenty of Israelites descended to idolatry. But they were always condemned for it. 

当偶像崇拜出现的时候,圣经所有的书都谴责它。在摩西律法、诗篇、先知书中都能够找到对偶像崇拜的谴责。以赛亚书声明:“我是耶和华,在我以外并没有别神” 4532,很多以色列人也崇拜偶像,因此犯罪。但是圣经一直在指责这些人。

Occasionally we meet a verse that creates a slight problem. When Israel’s ruler, Jephthah, was about to fight with the king of Ammon he said:

    有时候我们也会遇到有一点点问题的一些经节。当以色列人的统治者耶弗,去见亚扪王的时候他说:

“Wilt not thou possess that which Chemosh thy god giveth thee to possess? So whomsoever the Lord our God shall drive out from before us, them will we possess.”33

     “你的神基抹所赐你的地你不是得为业吗?耶和华我们的神在我们面前所赶出的人,我们就得他的地。”(士师记1124

To an English reader it does almost seem as if Jephthah believed in Chemosh. It is as if he is saying, “Chemosh will fight for you, and Jehovah for us-and may the best side win.”

对于讲英语的读者来说,这句经文似乎表明耶弗相信基抹也是一个神。他的意思好像是:“基抹为你们战斗,耶和华为我们战斗,现在让我们来看哪一边会赢”。

Once more, we need to remember that the Bible was not written by modern Englishmen. If it had been, Jephthah might have been reported as starting his speech like this:

    我们还应该记得圣经不是用英语写成的。如果是的话,耶弗的陈述应该是这样的:

“Now let us, for the sake of argument, suppose that your god, Chemosh, really exists . .

    “让我们现在假设,如果你们的神基抹真的存在的话……

But the Israelites did not bother with such niceties of expression. They could speak of stones listening,34 trees talking35 and corpses carrying on a conversation.36  As Hebrews they understood one another, and we shall understand them, too, provided that we don’t take their vivid figures of speech too literally.

但是以色列人不会为这些表达方式而困惑。他们可以说,大树交谈,石头听话,甚至尸体之间还有交谈(士师记112498-15。希伯来人之间能够相互明白彼此的含义。对于这些生动的表达方式,如果我们不是按照字面上去理解的话,我们也能够明白其真正的含义。

 

Pharaoh and Judas 法老和犹大

 

According to some people, Pharaoh, King of Egypt, and Judas Iscariot, the betrayer of Jesus, have one thing in common: God punished them both for something they could not help.

  按照有些人的说法,埃及的法老王、出卖耶稣的犹大,他们之间存在着一个共同点,那就是  神采用他们无法控制的手段惩罚他们。

They complain that God hardened Pharaoh’s heart, and then brought a succession of plagues upon him for being hard-hearted. God decided in advance that Judas would betray Jesus, and then led him to a horrible death as a punishment-with a promise of worse to come on the Judgment Day. All of which, says the objector, was very unfair of God.

 他们埋怨说, 神首先使得法老的心肠变硬,然后带来一系列的灾害惩罚法老,原因却是因为法老的心肠硬。 神已经提前决定了让犹大出卖耶稣,然后用可怕的死亡来惩罚他,在将来的审判日会有更可怕的审判。反对者们说, 神非常不公平。

Very well. What really did happen?那么,实际情况是怎么回事?

Taking Pharaoh first, it certainly is true that God was said to harden his heart. Paul says:

   首先来看法老的例子,可以肯定圣经确实是说过  神让法老的心肠变硬,正如保罗说:

“For the scripture saith unto Pharaoh, ‘For this very purpose did I raise thee up, that I might show in thee My power, and that My name might be published abroad in all the earth. So then He hath mercy on whom He will, and whom He will He hardeneth.”37

 “因为经上有话向法老说:「我将你兴起来,特要在你身上彰显我的权能,并要使我的名传遍天下。」如此看来,神要怜悯谁就怜悯谁,要叫谁刚硬就叫谁刚硬。”(罗马书91718

Was it fair to harden a man’s heart like this? If Pharaoh had started off as a good man, then it certainly would have been very unfair. But this was not so. God never makes a good man behave badly. Pharaoh started off as a bad lot. He was already oppressing Israel cruelly before God said anything about hardening his heart.38

如果用这种方式让一个人的心肠变硬,这样是公平的吗?如果法老一开始就是一个好人,那么这就会显得非常不公平。但是情况不是这样的。  神从来就没有使得一个好人变坏。法老一开始出现就是一一个坏的典型出现的。在  神叫他的心肠变硬之前,他已经开始迫害以色列人。

Also, we have here another example of Hebrew idiom. God some­times says, “I will do such-and-such”, when He really means, I have foreseen that such-and-such will happen, and I shall permit it to happen”.

同样的,我们还有另外一个希伯来文的语言习惯。 当圣经记载  神说:“我将做某某事情”的时候,其实真正的意思是,我已经预料这些事情会发生,我将允许这样的事情会发生。

You can see that this is so from Isaiah chapter 29. In verse 3, God says to Jerusalem. “I will camp against thee round about, and will lay siege against thee.”

我们从以赛亚29章第3节中可以看出这一点。  神这样对耶路撒冷说:“我必四围安营攻击你,屯兵围困你,筑垒攻击你。”

But of course God Himself did not camp around Jerusalem and besiege it. The Assyrian army did. And the Assyrians were acting under their own free will. (Isaiah 10: 5-7’ proves that.) So when God said, “I will camp...”, He obviously meant, “I will allow the enemy army to camp...

但是当然不会是  神自己   。是亚述国在做这些事情。并且亚述国在做这些事情的时候他们是根据自己的自由意愿所作的。(以赛亚书105-7证明了这一点)因此,当  神说:“我将….”,很明显其含义是:“我将允许敌人屯兵围困你……

There is a second example of this idiom in Isaiah 29. Verse 10 says, “The Lord hath poured out upon you the spirit of deep sleep and (He) hath closed your eyes.”

还有一个例子是以赛亚书2910:“因为耶和华将沉睡的灵浇灌你们,封闭你们的眼”。

Verse 13 explains what this really means. God did not blind the eyes of people who were trying to see. He never does. The literal truth, as expressed in verse 13 was this:

13节解释了这句经文的真正含义。这并不是说有一些人希望能够看见,而 神蒙蔽了他们的眼。 神永远不会这样做。事实正如第13节所说的:

“This people draw near Me with their mouth, and with their lips do honour Me, but (they) have removed their heart far from Me.”

   这百姓亲近我,用嘴唇尊敬我,心却远离我

If they “removed their heart far from God”, this means that they wilfully shut their own eyes. God realised that they had done so. That is obviously what He meant when He said that He had closed their eyes.

如果他们“心却远离 神。这就意味着他们自己愿意闭上自己的眼睛。 神意识到他们已经这样做了。

In the same way, when a Hebrew read the words, “I will harden Pharaoh’s heart”, he would take it as a prophecy that the wicked Pharaoh would harden his own heart.

同样,当一位希伯莱人读到“神使得法老的心肠变硬”时,他会将这句话看成是: 神预言邪恶的法老将来会使得自己的心肠变硬。

This is exactly what did happen. In the Exodus story it says fifteen times that Pharaoh’s heart was hardened. Three times it says Pharaoh hardened his own heart. Seven times it says God did the hardening. Five times it states that Pharaoh’s heart grew harder, without saying who hardened it.

实际上这就是所发生的事情。在出埃及记中,15次记载说法老的心肠被变得刚硬(被动语态),三次说法老的心肠变硬(主动语态)。有五次说,法老的心肠更加刚硬了,没有说明原因。

Clearly, God did not make a good man bad. He merely took hold of a very bad man, and made use of his badness.

很明显, 神不会让一个好人变坏。 神只是非常了解一个非常坏的人,利用他的邪恶。

This is equally true of Judas Iscariot. Jesus did not want him to turn out badly. He wanted him to be a successful apostle, like the other eleven.39 But of his own free will, Judas chose to go the wrong way.

这个道理同样也是和于叛徒犹大。耶稣自己并不希望他变成坏人。他希望他成为一个成功的使徒,像其他的11个门徒那样。但是犹大有自己的自由意志,犹大选择了错误的道路。

I have twice used the expression, “free will”. The Bible tells us, in many different ways, that God has given us freedom to choose between good and evil.40 “Free will” is a useful expression to describe our freedom of choice.

我已经两次使用“自由意志”( free will)这个词。圣经采用多种方法告诉我们, 神给了我们选择善和恶的自由。“自由意志”这个词非常适合用来表达这种选择的自由。

God foresaw how Judas would use his free will. God even caused prophecies about Judas to be included in the Old Testament. This raises another question: if God foresaw, and foretold, how Judas would act, did Judas really have any freedom of choice?

神已经预见了犹大会使用自己的自由意愿。  神甚至让一些旧约中包含着犹大的行为的预言。问题就产生了:如果  神能够预见犹大所作的事情,那么犹大真的有自己的自由意志吗?

People have argued about this as long as anyone can remember. The final answer is inescapable: yes, Judas must have had free will, because the Bible says we all have it. But with our present knowledge we cannot fully reconcile man’s free will with God’s knowledge of the future. Our minds just aren’t big enough.

人们为了这个问题争论了很长的时间。但是最终的答案是:是的,犹大可以自由选择作自己的事情,因为圣经说,我们每个人都有自己自由意志。但是我们目前的知识,我们无法理解每个人都拥有自己的自由意愿,而  神却能够预见未来。我们的理解能力是有限度的。

But we can go part way towards it. This little illustration may help. It is very difficult to predict how adults will behave in a given situa­tion. Little children are simpler; you can quite often predict how they will react. Animals are simpler still; nine times out of ten I can say what my dog is going to do next.

但是我们能够解决部分问题。这个小的例子可能会有帮助。我们非常难以预料在某种情况下某个成年人的行为举止。小孩子比较简单,你可以预料他们的反应,动物的思维也很简单,我可以十有八九地准确预测我的小狗下一步的举动。

Yet they all have free will. It just happens that it is very hard for us to predict the behaviour of creatures on our own level (adults), but easier to predict the behaviour of creatures far beneath us (dogs).

确实,我们每一个人都有自己的自由意愿。我们自己很难预测向我们这样的成年人将来会做什么,但是我们比较容易地预测比我们简单的动物的行为,例如狗。

The gap between dogs and ourselves is great. But the gap between ourselves and the Almighty is far greater. It is quite reasonable to suppose that He can give us free will, and still be able to predict with certainty how we shall use it.

   狗与我们人类的区别是非常大的。但是我们和全能者之间的差别更大。因此,假定全能者给了我们行为的自由,却能够预测我们如何使用这种自由,这种假设是合理的。

 

Does God Ever Break His Promises?神会违背自己的应许吗?

A very interesting book was published in the year 1900: a Bible Hand­book for the use of unbelievers.41

1900年曾经出版过一本手册,专门为不相信圣经的人提供的使用。

It is an astonishing document. It contains nearly two hundred pages of Bible quotations, arranged by two atheists to provide ammunition for other atheists to shoot at Christians. So-called contradictions, absurdities, indecencies, atrocities-they are all there.

这是一本令人吃惊的文件。它包含了大约200页的圣经摘录,由两位无神论者编辑,为其他无神论者提供攻击基督徒的子弹,其中包括所谓的相互矛盾、荒谬、下流、残暴,等等,都出现在这本书中。

Nearly all of them can be answered quite successfully. I use the book to give my senior Sunday School scholars something to cut their teeth on. What concerns me at this moment is the thirty-four pages of “unfulfilled prophecies and broken promises”. 

几乎所有的问题都能够很快地解答。我曾经将这本书给我的一位高级学校的学者,让他们捧腹大笑 现在我关心的是这本书的第34页所说的“圣经中没有实现的预言以及失败的应许”。

This is an accusation to be taken very seriously. If true, it would undermine the Bible-believer’s foundations. If the Bible is full-as that book alleges-of promises that have been broken, how can we trust it? How can it be inspired? And if it contains lots of unfulfilled prophecies, what then? The force of the arguments in Part One based on fulfilled prophecy would be greatly weakened.

对于这样的指责要严肃地对待。如果它们是对的,相信圣经的人的基础就会被毁灭,如果圣经充满了失败的应许——就像是这本书所声称的那样,我们又怎么能够相信它?这样的书能够是  神所启示的?

Relax. There is nothing to worry about.

请放松。我们不必为此担心。

In their preface the atheist writers said that, to ensure accuracy, they cut all their quotations out of printed Bibles with a penknife. Unfortunately, this is not the way to treat the Bible. Bible verses only make sense if you study them in their context, that is, their setting. You need to read the verses on either side of the verse in question. As I have pointed out on several occasions, you also need to make allowance for Hebrew idiom.

这位无神论者在书的前言声称,为了确保准确性,他们将要引用的圣经经文用刀子剪裁下来。很不幸的是,这不是对待圣经的方式。只有联系上下文阅读才能够明白圣经的意义。而且我好几次说过,理解圣经还需要了解希伯来文的语言习惯。

These authors have done neither. They have treated each verse as an isolated statement of literal English. In consequence the inter­pretations they put on many passages are quite ridiculous. For example, they quote the words of Jesus, which were obviously meant to be symbolic:

    但是这俩位作者一样都没有做到。他们将每一句经文按照英文的字面意思看成是孤立的声明。结果,他们理解的意思相当古怪。例如,他们引用了耶稣的话,这句话很明显应该采用象征性的含义来理解。

“Whoso eateth My flesh and drinketh My blood hath eternal life.”42

    “吃我肉、喝我血的人就有永生”。(约翰福音654            

Alongside this they print the absurd comment: “Cannibalism to secure eternal life.”

他们在这句经文旁边加上了一句荒谬的评论:“为了长生不老而吃人肉”。

But many of their “unfulfilled prophecies” really are unfulfilled. They are prophecies-dozens of them-relating to the Second Coming of Christ. Of course they are unfulfilled-as yet.

但是确实有很多圣经预言到现在也没有应验。这些预言至少有几十个,与耶稣基督回来之后有关,当然到现在还没有实现。

My purpose in quoting this book is not just to decry it. I want to put on record that in all this collection there is only one “unfulfilled prophecy” that causes me any difficulty.

    我摘录这本书的一些话的目的并不是想谴责它。这本书当中只有一个“没有实现的预言”让我也感到难以解释。

This is a prophecy in Ezekiel about Egypt which apparently has never come to pass.43 Perhaps it is to be fulfilled in the future-although this seems rather unlikely. Perhaps the language is intended to be figurative-although this does not look very likely, either. Per­haps we shall have to wait a while for the real solution of the problem.

  在以西结书2910-13中关于埃及的预言似乎从来没有实现过。可能它要在将来实现,尽管可能性看起来非常小。也有可能这个预言的语言是象征性的——尽管读起来不像。也有可能我们两国需要等待一段时间问题才能真正解决。

Think of what this implies. Two good brains wrestled for years, trying to prove the Bible full of unfulfilled prophecies and broken promises. And the result?  Only one solitary passage that presents a real problem.

我们来看看,两只聪明的脑袋绞尽脑汁好多年,为了证明圣经充满了没有实现的预言和应许,结果呢?并没有带来实质性的问题。

Since so many other problems have been solved in course of time, there is little doubt that this one also will be solved one day.

因为随着时间的流逝,很多问题已经得到了解决。毫无疑问,留下来的一点点疑问同样可以在某一天得到解决。

To the question, “Does God ever break His promises?” only one logical answer is possible.

对于“ 神是否曾经违背自己的应许”这样的问题,唯一符合逻辑的答案是:可能。

As far as we are able to tell-no! 现在为止我们能够告诉你的答案是:没有。

 

21

Is The Bible Unscientific?

圣经不科学吗?

“But what about the scientific objections to the Bible?” asks the un­believer. “Surely you must admit that a scientist can’t possibly believe everything in the Bible?”

一个不信圣经的人问我说:“如何看待一些科学家对圣经的异议?你必须承认科学家不可能相信圣经中的每一件事情。”

To hear people talk like that, you would think that every scientist was an unbeliever. But this is very far from the truth.

听见一些人这样谈话的时候,你可能以为每一位科学家都不相信  神。但是这种判断远非事实。

I personally know many well qualified scientists who know the Bible far more intimately than almost any of its detractors. They include two full professors in British universities, and at least a dozen with doctorates awarded for scientific research. Nearly every one of the Bible-reading scientists known to me has come to the conclusion that the whole Bible is true. And there are thousands of other scientists outside my own circle-including some eminent men in their field - who are equally convinced of the truth of the Bible.

我本人就知道很多够资格的科学家,他们比大多数攻击圣经的人更熟悉圣经。其中有两位英国大学的全职教授,还有十多位拥有博士头衔的科学研究员。几乎所有我知道的阅读过圣经的科学家都下结论说,圣经都是真理。还有数千名在我认识的人以外的科学家也完全相信圣经的真实性。

Since scientists are divided in their opinions about the Bible, we can afford to look at the matter without prejudice, and form our own opinions. What, then, are the real facts?

科学家在对待圣经的观点上有不同的意见,因此我们不可以带着偏见下结论。那么,事实是什么?

First of all, it is important to realise that science and the Bible do not often come into contact. There is no reason why they should. They are concerned with different things.

首先,我们要认识到科学和圣经并不是一直都发生联系。没有理由说圣经和科学的研究范围是一致的。

Science is concerned with the question of how things happen. But the Bible tells us why things happen.

科学研究的问题是事情是怎样发生的,但是圣经告诉我们事情为什么会发生。

To appreciate the distinction, consider the question of death. Medical science is gradually unlocking Nature’s mysteries, and ex­plaining what happens in our organs as we grow old and die. This new knowledge is very valuable. It has enabled doctors to combat death so effectively that the average span of human life has been doubled within a century.

为了更好地理解这个问题,我们用死亡这个问题来作为例子。现代医学逐步解开了自然界的奥秘,解释了当我们变老时各个器官也变老,最后我们会死亡。新的知识是非常宝贵的。知识可以帮助医生与死亡有效地搏斗,20世纪人类的平均寿命比19世纪增加了一倍。

But science can never explain (a) why we die, or (b) the way to live for ever. This is the Bible’s job. It tells us:

但是科学家永远不能解释为什么我们会死亡,也不会找到长生不老的办法。这是圣经的工作。

“The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life, through Jesus Christ our Lord.”1

   “因为罪的工价乃是死;惟有神的恩赐,在我们的主基督耶稣里,乃是永生。”

 (罗马书623

In this one verse the Bible explains both (a) why we die-because of sin-and (b) the way to live for ever-by accepting God’s gift.

这段经文告诉我们:我们死亡是因为我们犯罪,而永远摆脱死亡的唯一方法是接受  神的恩赐。

Thus science and the Bible each have their place. Each tells us something we could not learn from the other. Usually their spheres of interest do not overlap.

因此科学和圣经有各自的轨道,告诉我们的事情也各不相同。通常情况下,二者涉及的事物是不相交的。

But sometimes the two do come into contact. Then the question arises: does the Bible conflict with scientific knowledge? 

但是圣经和科学的研究对象也有接触的时候,此时问题出现了:圣经和科学是不是相矛盾?

To answer this question we must look carefully at the two main areas where conflict is said to occur. One of these is in the stories of miracles in the Bible. The other is the account of creation in Genesis.

为了回答这个问题,我们必须仔细看观察所谓冲突的两个最主要方面:第一是圣经中的奇迹(或神迹),其次是有关圣经创世记的记载。

It is essential to do this in a spirit of reasonableness. There are some Christians who take the attitude, “If science contradicts the Bible, so much the worse for science. Who cares?” And there are some scientists whose reaction is the exact opposite: “Of course the Bible is un­scientific. It’s a load of ancient folklore.” 

看待问题的关键是要有理性的精神。有一些基督徒持这种态度:“如果科学和圣经相矛盾,这是科学出了问题,谁在乎存在这些矛盾?”而一些科学家的观点却刚好相反:“当然圣经是不符合科学的。圣经只是一系列的古代的传说而已。”

Both these shut-minded attitudes are sadly mistaken. They do no service to Christ, to Science, or to Truth. Neither Bible-believers nor scientists have anything to lose from thoughtfully considering the other side’s point of view. They have much to gain from doing so.

这两种封闭的态度都是错误的,它们对基督教没有帮助,对科学、真理也没有好处。不管是相信圣经的人,还是科学家,都不要抛弃站在对方的立场思考问题,这样做会大有益处。

 

Miracles关于奇迹

 

The general public seems to think that scientists are unusually logical people, with minds as accurate as electronic computers. But those who work among scientists know that this is not true.

大部分人似乎认为科学家是非比寻常的、富有逻辑性的人,像电子计算机一样精确。但是那些从事科学工作的人知道这种认识是不正确的。

We scientists are just as human as anyone else. We make the same foolish mistakes, and we suffer from vanity, impatience and prejudice, just like the rest of mankind. 

我们科学家和别人一样,也是人。我们同样也会犯愚蠢的错误,我们也会感到空虚,不耐烦、有偏见,和别的人一样。

When a scientist declares that miracles cannot happen, he is not stating a scientific fact. He is merely expressing his own prejudiced opinion. And a thoroughly unscientific opinion it is, too.

当一个科学家断言奇迹是不可能发生的时候,他并不是在陈述科学事实,仅仅是在表达他自己带有偏见的观点,也是一个完全不科学的观点。

Professor Horrobin, a medical scientist who shows no sign of being a Bible-believer, has recently warned his fellow scientists about this. He says:

霍拉宾教授是一位医学科学家,没有迹象表明他相信圣经,但是他也警告他的同行说:

 

“The scientist begins with the belief that the universe operates entirely according to law. He begins by believing that unique events which cannot be explained by natural law do not happen. Since by definition, by act of faith, the scientist excludes miracles from the realm of science, he can hardly use science to demonstrate that they cannot occur.

“The non-occurrence of miracles is part of the scientific creed. It is therefore arguing in a circle to say that science demonstrates that miracles do not occur. The premise is the same as the con­clusion. - . . I am not saying that true miracles do Occur. All I am showing is that science has not demonstrated that they do not occur, and nor will it ever be able to make such a demonstration.”2

 

“科学家研究的基础是相信宇宙运行完全根据某一法则。他相信不能用自然法则解释的独特事情是不存在的。由于这种定义和信仰,科学家将奇迹排除科学领域之外。因为他不能用科学来证明这些事情不能够发生。

奇迹不可能发生是科学准则的一部分。如果谁争辩说,科学能够证明奇迹不会发生,实际上是在循环论证。因为结论和前提是一致的。我并不是说科学能够证明真正的奇迹可以发生。我这里要说明的是,科学不能证明奇迹能够发生,也不能够证明奇迹不能够发生。”

 

Horrobin is unquestionably right. Scientists cannot prove that miracles do not occur. They assume it.

霍拉宾(Horrobin)教授的观点无疑是正确的。科学家不能够证明奇迹不可能发生,他们在假设奇迹不会发生。

This is not just perverseness on the part of scientists. We have to make this assumption about our experiments, for a very good reason. We should never make any progress unless we did.

这里并不是说某些科学家的研究方法不恰当。我们在作实验时要有假设条件,这些条件是出于很好的理由。除非这样做,否则我们永远都不会进步。

Let me illustrate what I mean. Some years ago medical scientists noticed a horrifying increase in the number of deformed babies being born. They could conceivably have said, “This is a miracle. This is a curse from God on our wicked world.”

让我来举例说明我的观点。多年以前,一位医学家注意到畸形婴儿的数量急剧增加。有人说:“这是一个奇迹,因为  神在诅咒我们这个邪恶的世界。”

But that would have gone against the basic principle of science

但是这种判断可能与科学研究的基本原则相违背。

“Look for the cause.” So scientists ruled out the idea of a miracle, and looked for a scientific explanation. They found one. The deformities were being caused by a drug, thalidomide.

科学家说:“让我们来寻找原因”,一些科学家排除了奇迹的可能性,寻找科学解释。他们找到了。畸形的出现是由药物和镇定剂造成的。

It is therefore reasonable, and necessary, for every scientist to say to himself, “I shall assume that miracles are not occurring in my laboratory today.”

如果某位科学家自己说:“我必须假定今天在我的实验室里没有奇迹发生”。这种假定是合理的,也是必要的。

But some scientists are not content with this. They want to go a big step further. They add, “And I shall also assume that miracles never have occurred, anywhere, and never will.” This is not necessary, and not reasonable either. No scientist who has thought the matter out would ever make such an absurd statement.

但如果有些科学家不满足,他们想进一步说:“我要假定神迹在任何地方没有出现过,将来也永远不会发生”。这个假定就没有必要了,而且也是不合情理的。认真思考的科学家是不会发出这样一个可笑的声明的。

Science cannot possibly tell us whether the miracles recorded in the Bible occurred or not. All that science can do is to agree with common sense, and admit that the Bible miracles could have occurred.

科学家不可能告诉我们记载在圣经的奇迹是否发生过。科学家所能够做到的事情是:承认圣经中的奇迹是可能发生的。

But is it likely that they really did? To answer that question we must look more closely at the facts.

但是他们真的有可能?要回答这个问题,我们必须仔细研究一些事实。

 

 

The Miracles of the Bible圣经中的奇迹

 

The very first thing a scientist looks for in a new theory is what he calls “internal consistency”. In other words, do the various parts of the new theory agree with each other; or does one part contradict another? Before he does anything else, the man who produces a new theory must make sure it is internally consistent. 

科学家在创造新理论时,首先要满足“内在的和谐’的原则。这就是说,科学家首先要想到:新理论之间彼此是否没有矛盾?一部分同另外一部分没有冲突?

You would be surprised how many promising new theories fall down because of this. Internal consistency does not prove a theory true. But it does at least give the new theory a chance. 

很多新理论正是被这一原则被证明是站不住脚的。“内在和谐”不能确保一种理论是正确的,但是至少给这种新理论一个机会。

The great thing to remember about the miracle stories of the Bible is this. They are part of an internally consistent picture. In other words, they are what you would expect.

有关圣经中的奇迹,我们必须牢记一件伟大的事实:这些奇迹都存在内在和谐性,也就是说,这些奇迹的发生是你可以预料到的。

Christianity is an altogether miraculous religion. The existence of an inspired Bible is a miracle. The coming of the Son of God into the world was a miracle. His resurrection was a miracle. Our hope of eternal life, in a world where death is the universal rule, is a miracle. The fact that God hears prayer is a miracle. 

基督教总体来说是一种奇迹的宗教。圣经的存在就是奇迹。 神的儿子来到世界也是奇迹。他的复活是奇迹。永生是我们的盼望,而这个世界死亡是普遍存在的,因此永生也是一个奇迹。  神能听见我们的祷告也是奇迹。

Against this background, is it surprising that the Son of God, and some of the prophets and apostles, are reported as working some miracles? Of course not. It would have been much more surprising if they hadn’t worked any miracles!

在这种背景下,难道  神的儿子,以及一些旧约的先知、使徒能够做出常人认为是奇迹的事情会令人惊讶吗?当然不是。如果他们没有做出奇迹的话反而让人感到惊讶。

There is another important point in favour of accepting the miracle stories of the Bible. They are all so eminently sensible. None of them occurs without a good reason. They all take place in a seemly way.

关于圣经中的奇迹,我还有重要的一点要说。这些奇迹都是有理性的。所有奇迹的出现都有美好的理由。所有奇迹的出现都是适宜的。

Most of the miracles of Jesus were miracles of healing. A few involved the most extreme form of healing-restoring the dead to life. On a few occasions He provided food or drink or money for people who needed it. Twice He rescued His disciples from probable shipwreck.

This leaves only one miracle unaccounted for: the cursing of the barren fig tree. And we saw in the previous chapter that there was an extremely good reason for this.

耶稣作的神迹的大部分是医治疾病。其中有一些极端的例子,就是让人从死亡中复活。还有一些时候,他为需要的人提供食物和钱财。有两次,他将自己的门徒从即将发生的海难中拯救出来。

只有一件奇迹在圣经里没有直接告诉我们理由,那就是耶稣诅咒没有结果子的无花果树。但是圣经的前一章给出了恰当的理由。

So every single miracle of Jesus was performed for a purpose. Every one was necessary. He never did anything merely to be able to say, “Look, everybody! See what wonderful things I can do.” He was, in fact, tempted to use His power in that way, but refused to do so.3

因此,耶稣所作的每一次神迹都是有目的的,都是必要的。他从来没有这样做是为了夸耀说:“你们快来看那,我能够做多奇妙的事情。”事实上,魔鬼曾经诱惑他去做这样的事情,但是他没有。

His miraculous birth from a virgin was equally necessary. He had to have one human parent. Otherwise He would not have been able to share our human feelings. But He can, because through His mother He inherited our weak human nature. Consequently, as the New Testament says,

耶稣由童贞女出生这个奇迹同样也是必要的。他必须有一位人类的母亲,否则他就不会体会到我们人类的感情。他必须通过他母亲的遗传继承我们人类的天性。结果,正如新约圣经所说的:

“We have not a High Priest who is unable to sympathise with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are-yet without sinning.”4

   “因我们的大祭司并非不能体恤我们的软弱。他也曾凡事受过试探,与我们一样,只是他没有犯罪。”(希伯来书415

Without one human parent He would never have known what temptation was. But if He had had two human parents He could never have conquered every temptation. And the last three words of the quotation above declare that He did conquer all temptations. He had to have one divine Parent to inherit enough strength to do that.

如果没有一位人类的母亲,耶稣就永远不会知道什么是试探。如果他的父母都是普通人,他就永远不会战胜每一个试探。他的父母之一必须是完全圣洁的,这样他才能够有力量来做到战胜每一个试探。

So the virgin birth is not just a wonder-story tacked on to the Gospels as an afterthought. It was an absolute essential to the life and work of Jesus. Without it He could never have been what He was.

因此,童贞女生子不仅是一个神迹,更不是后来添加上的,而是对耶稣的生活和工作必不可少的一个。没有它,耶稣就决不是圣经中的耶稣。

This is equally true of His resurrection from the dead. God’s plan of salvation revolves around it. Our assurance of eternal life depends upon it, says Paul.5 And, as we saw in Chapter 7, it provides a powerful argument for belief in the Bible.

耶稣的复活也是这样。神的拯救计划的中心围绕着耶稣复活。正如保罗说的,我们永生的盼望建立在此基础上。并且,如在第7章中叙述过的,耶稣的复活是我们相信圣经的一个强大的证据。

All the miracles in the Bible fall into this general pattern. They all have a purpose, even though, in a few cases, the purpose is not obvious at first glance. And they all fit into the overall theme of the Bible, namely, the working out of God’s great scheme of redemption for our world.

圣经记载的奇迹都是以这种形式出现的。它们都有自己的目的,在大多数情况下目的是明显的,甚至一眼就可以看出来。它们都与圣经的主题非常协调,勾画出  神对世界的拯救计划。

Bible miracles are on an altogether higher level than the miracles recounted in other ancient books. The book of Tobit, written between 200 and 100 B.C., tells how a demon called Asmodeus slew one after another the seven husbands of a Jewish girl on their wedding nights. But then she married Tobias, and this time the demon was driven off by the smell of burning fish, and so they all lived happily ever after.

圣经中所记载的奇迹的水平远远高于其它的古代书籍。例如,写于公元前200年至公元前100年的托比特书(The book of Tobit)告诉我们说,一个魔鬼(Asmodeus连续在新婚之夜杀死了一位姑娘的7位丈夫,但是后来这位姑娘嫁给了Tobias,他们用烤焦的鱼发出的味道赶走了魔鬼,终于他们能够快乐地生活在一起。

If the Bible contained stories like that, we might have something to worry about.

如果圣经中记载的故事也是这样的,我们就会感到忧虑了。

 

Language We Can Understand用我们能够明白的语言

 

The Bible always recounts miracles in the language of the common man. This again is what you would expect. If God had told us the exact scientific explanation of the miracles we probably should not be able to understand half of them, even today. And earlier genera­tions would not have understood a word of it.

圣经总是用普通的语言来记载这些奇迹。这也是你可以预料到的。如果 神用科学术语来解释这些神迹,即使在今天,我们可能连一半都听不懂。对上个世纪以前的人来说更是如此。

A university lecturer in geography once said to me, “I never like to touch a drop of liquor until the sun goes down.” It would have been childish had I replied, “As a geographer, old man, you should know that the sun doesn’t go down; the earth goes round.”

一位大学地理老师对我说:“太阳落山之前我会….,如果我对他说:“你是一个地理学家,应该知道太阳永远不会落山,而是地球围绕太阳在旋转。”这样就太孩子气了

Yet people make just that sort of objection to a story in the Book of Joshua. Towards the close of a successful battle, night was drawing on. Joshua prayed for the opportunity to complete the mopping-up operations. His prayer was answered. The record says: “And the sun stood still, and the moon stayed.”6

一些人对于约书亚记的记载表示怀疑。圣经记载说,在一次战斗快要结束时快到了天黑,约书亚向  神祷告,希望在天黑之前结束战斗,结果他的祷告应验了。圣经记载说:“于是日头停留,月亮止住”。 约书亚记10:23

So the objectors rush in with their fatuous comments. “This teaches that the earth is the centre of the universe, and the sun and moon go round it!”

怀疑圣经持的人急忙发表评论说:“这是在教导人们,地球是宇宙的中心,太阳和月亮都是围绕地球转的!”

Or, only one degree less absurd: “This would mean that the earth stopped rotating for a time. That would have been like slamming on the brakes in a bus travelling at a thousand miles an hour. The earth’s surface would have been wrecked.”

或者是发出疑问:“这就是说,地球在一段时间之内暂时停止旋转,意味着地球表面的万物都会被毁灭。”

If Joshua could have heard these comments, how he would have laughed. “Don’t be awkward,” he might have said. “I merely intended to convey the idea that God miraculously lengthened the daylight for me. I was not concerned with the astronomy, or the physics, of the situation. My readers understood me perfectly, and I don’t see why you shouldn’t.”

如果约书亚本人听见了这些评论,他可能会发笑:“别傻了。这仅仅是  神奇迹般地为我延长了白天的时间,与天文学或物理学无关。”

Similar principles apply to a number of other miracle stories. When Jesus went to heaven, He went “up”. His rising body disappeared into a cloud.7

同样的原则应该适合于圣经所记载的其他奇迹。例如,当耶稣“升”天的时候,他“向上”升,直到身体消失在云彩中。

This was not intended to teach that the earth is flat, and that God lives just above the clouds. It conveys a simple message which men of all ages have been able to understand. We live on earth; God lives somewhere else, called heaven.

这并不是教导我们说,地球是平的。神生活在云彩的上面。这只是用每一个时代都能够听懂的话来告诉我们简单的事实。我们生活在地球,  神生活的地方被称为天堂。

We do not know, and we need not care, just where that is-or even if it has a location within the “space-time continuum” that scientists speak of. When the work of Jesus on earth was done, He went to join His Father. That is all we need to know.

我们只是知道耶稣在地上完成了他的工作以后,去了他的父亲那里。这是我们需要知道的。我们不知道,也不必在意那里是不是有科学家所说的“时空隧道”。

One more comment, before we leave miracles. Always resist the temptation to pooh-pooh something because it sounds unlikely. Scientists are always coming unstuck when they do that.

在我们离开奇迹这个话题之前,我想做一个评论。我们永远都不要急于下结论。即使是科学家也一直都有犯错误的时候。

When I was a small boy my mother told me of balls of fire that would sometimes descend from the sky during thunderstorms. “Thunderbolts”, she called them.

在我小的时候,我母亲告诉我,在雷暴雨的时候会有火球从天上降落在地上。我母亲称这些火球为“霹雳”。

At secondary school I was told that this was an old wives’ tale. The standard dictionary of the day8 said that thunderbolts of this sort were “imaginary”, and that settled it.

后来我上初中时,老师告诉我们这是老巫婆的传说。那个时候的标准词典说,“霹雳”这一类东西只是人们的想象。

But not for long. Nowadays thunderbolts are “in” again. They have a new name, “ball lightning”, to make them respectable, and eminent scientists publish papers about them.9

但是没有过多久,“霹雳”这个词又出现了。它们有了一个新的名字,“球状闪电”ball lightning ,一位著名的科学家还专门发表了一篇关于球状闪电(ball lightning的文章。

Some people have never been able to accept the idea that God knows everything. “It’s an utter impossibility,” they have said, “for any Being, no matter how mighty, to store up all the information there ever was, on every subject.”

很多人从来不接受  神知晓每件事情这种观点,他们认为:“这完全是不可能的。任何一种存在,不管力量有多么伟大,不可能储存每一件事情的每一个方面”。

This sort of objection looks pretty feeble, nowadays. There is a chemical in our bodies, called DNA, that stores up information in its molecules. Those blue eyes you inherited from your mother, for example, were passed on from her to you by a molecule of DNA.

A scientist has described how efficiently DNA holds information.

今天看起来,反对者的理由多么的无力,我们的身体有一种被称为DNA的化学物质,它的分子中可以储存信息。例如,如果你从你的母亲那里继承了蓝眼睛,这是因为你母亲通过DNA分子将这些她的信息遗传给你。

“The information stored in one man’s DNA would, if put into books, require a shelf to hold them so long that it would go round the earth ten million times.”10

    “储存在一个人DNA的信息,如果写成书并且放置在抽屉里的话,排列起来可以围绕地球1000万次”。

If those shelves were put into a tightly packed library, in book-cases ten shelves high, with gaps only five feet wide between them, the library would fill the whole of Europe and Asia, or nearly half the total land surface of the earth. And that’s the amount of information now thought to be stored in your own body.

   如果这些抽屉组成一座图书馆的话,这个图书馆将充满整个欧洲和亚洲,或者是充满整个地球陆地表面的一半。而这一些仅仅是存在于一个人的身体之内的信息。

 

The Flood大洪水

 

Of all the miracles recorded in the Bible, the biggest by far is the Flood. It is also the one that has provoked the greatest amount of disbelief.

在圣经所有的奇迹当中,大洪水是最大的问题,也是让不信圣经的人感到难以接受的问题之一。

In this particular case the objections are not unreasonable. They deserve careful consideration. If the Biblical Flood ever took place, it ought to have left some traces. Where are they? 

在这个特别例子中,反对者的意见并不是没有道理的。他们的疑问值得认真思考。如果圣经记载的大洪水真的发生过,那肯定会留下很多痕迹。它们在哪里呢?

In the old days the answer given to this question was, “Everywhere”. For many centuries it was thought that the varied surface of the whole earth was just as the Flood had left it. But when men began to study geology, about two centuries ago, problems began to arise. A great deal of evidence was found that showed the structure of the earth’s crust has been millions of years forming. The idea of a world-wide flood was gradually abandoned by practically all geologists, for want of evidence.

过去人们的答案是:“在任何地方”。因为好几个世纪以来,人们认为整个地球的表面都是被洪水浸泡过的。但是大约两个世纪之前当人们研究过地理学以后,问题出来了。大量的证据显示,地球的外壳是经过了数百万年才形成的。因为缺乏证据,大多数的地理学家实际上放弃了世界性的大洪水的观念。

From time to time some Bible-believer has tried to prove that the foundations of modern geology are quite false, and that the earlier “Flood Theory of Geology” fits the facts better. Price11 tried this in 1923; Morris and Whitcomb12 in 1962.

一些相信圣经的人一直都在试图证明现代地理学的基础是错误的,早期的“大洪水地理学”“Flood Theory of Geology”更好地符合事实。在1923年的普里斯(Price)先生,1962的莫里斯(Morris Whitcomb都曾经进行过这样的尝试。

Even many Bible-believers, who would like to be convinced, have found these arguments unconvincing.13 So it is not surprising that practically all geologists reject the theory of “Flood Geology”. With­out wishing to dismiss it out of hand, I can only say that it is not an impossible theory but a very unlikely one.

 即使是很多相信圣经的人,他们希望“大洪水地理学”是事实,却发现这种理论不能让人信服。所以,毫不奇怪,大多数的地质学家都不相信“大洪水地质学”。我也不想彻底放弃希望,但是我只能够说,这种理论成立的可能性不大。

Fortunately there is a much simpler solution to the problem of the Flood. It depends to some extent on a recognition of our old friend, Hebrew idiom.

 很幸运地是,有一个很简单的方法可以解决这个问题。这种办法是我在认识了我的一个朋友以后想到的。这位朋友是一位希伯来文习惯用语教授。

This affects the issue in two ways. First, as we shall see in Chapter

*3, Hebrew methods of dating were not exact like ours. Because of this we cannot be at all sure when the Flood occurred. It may have been many thousands of years ago.

Secondly, we need to consider the following Biblical statements:

有两种方式影响这个问题。首先,我们从第3章中看到,希伯来的测定年代的方式与我们的不同。因此我们不能完全确定大洪水发生的时期。这次大洪水可能在好几千年以前。

    其次,我们需要考虑以下的圣经陈述:

(a)        All countries came to Joseph in Egypt to buy corn.14

各地的人都往埃及去,到约瑟那里籴粮,因为天下的饥荒甚大。创世记4157

(b)   The nations under the whole heaven became afraid of Israel.15

我要使天下万民听见你的名声都惊恐惧怕……申命记225

(c)        Ahab looked everywhere for Elijah, missing no nation or kingdom.16

  无论哪一邦哪一国,我主都打发人去找你。列王纪上1810

(d)   Nebuchadnezzar ruled wheresoever the children of men dwelt.17

  凡世人所住之地的走兽,并天空的飞鸟,他都交付你手。但以理书238

(e)   Cyrus ruled all the kingdoms of the earth.18

  耶和华天上的神已将天下万国赐给我。以斯拉记12

(f)         In Paul’s day the gospel was preached to every creature under heaven.19

     这福音……也是传与普天下万人听的(原文作凡受造的)。哥罗西书123

 

In all six passages the words in italics look like a tremendous over­statement. Obviously they were not intended to be taken literally. We are up against a Hebrew idiom, which can fairly be stated like this:

在这6段经文中,斜体字看起来有一些夸大。很明显,这些词汇不能够按照字面的意思来理解。如果我们根据希伯来的语言习惯来理解,这些陈述就会合理。

When the Hebrews spoke of “All the peoples of the earth” (or some such phrase) they often meant it in a limited sense. They meant either “All the peoples with whom we have contact”, or “All the peoples with whom God is dealing.”

当希伯来人说:“各地的人”,或其他类似这样的词,他们通常的含义是有限度的。他们的意思是“所有与我们保持联系的人”,或者是“所有与 神发生联系的人”。

We must take this into account when we read the Genesis record of the Flood. This says that “All the high hills that were under the whole heaven were covered.”20 Does this necessarily include Ben Nevis and the Himalayas and the Rockies, and all the other mountains that Israel had never heard of? In the light of the sayings (a) to (f) quoted above, the answer seems inescapable: no.

我们在阅读关于大洪水记载时,必须将这一点考虑进去。圣经记载说:“水势在地上极其浩大,天下的高山都淹没了”,(创世记719是否这些高山包含喜马拉雅山、洛基山、以及其它当时以色列人从来没有听说过的山呢?如果我们将前面的理由考虑进去,答案似乎是否定的。

Under this watery covering, “All flesh died that moved upon the earth.”21 Did this necessarily include the kangaroos in Australia, and the llamas in South America? To any Hebrew reader the most reason­able answer would again be: no.

在洪水覆盖大地的时候,“凡在地上有血肉的动物……都死了”,(21节)是否这些动物包含澳大利亚的袋鼠,南美洲的骆驼?对于希伯来读者来说,最合理的答案应该是否定的。

This all adds up to one thing. There is nothing in Genesis to prove that the Flood was world-wide. In the idiom of its Hebrew readers, Genesis indicated that the Flood certainly affected all of that part of the world with which God was dealing. It does not tell us whether or not it affected the rest of the earth.

还有一件事情。创世记并没有说洪水是世界性的。对希伯来文读者来说,创世记表明的洪水肯定影响了圣经记载所涉及所有国家,但是并没有告诉我们是否涉及到地球的其余部分。

The cradle of human civilisation was the land of Iraq, and especially the valleys of the Tigris and Euphrates. This is the area where Eden was. This was the country where the Tower of Babel was built. This was Abraham’s homeland. This, and the land stretching northward to Ararat,22 must have been the area where the Flood occurred.

伊拉克是人类文明的摇篮,特别是其底格里斯河和幼发拉底河谷地。这也是伊甸园所在的地方,这也是人类建造巴别塔的地方,也是亚伯拉罕的家乡。并且这一片土地向北一直延伸到的亚拉腊山,肯定也是洪水发生过的地方。

It may have occurred in the days when the whole human race (and I am speaking now of “true men”, “sons of Adam”-see Chapter 23) lived in that area. If so, the whole human race except Noah and his family would have perished in the Flood. In this case it must have happened a very long time ago, and any direct evidence of it would seem to have been erased by time.

在那个时代,它可能是整个人类生活的地方。(我说的是真正的人,亚当的后裔,参考本书23章)如果是这样,整个人类只有诺亚一家被拯救了。这个时间一定是非常久远的,很多直接证据已经随着时间的流逝被淹没了。

But there is plenty of geological evidence of an indirect nature to support the possibility of a great flood having occurred in those parts. Some very great earth movements have occurred in this area since the end of the last Ice Age-that is, during the past ten or fifteen thousand years. The region is surrounded by four seas, the Black Sea, the Caspian, the Mediterranean and the Persian Gulf. If the whole region was once depressed below sea level, great walls of water would have rushed in from all sides. The Genesis Flood might well have happened in this way.

有足够的地理学证据证明当时这个地方存在大洪水的可能性。有一些大的地壳运动发生在那个地方,时间为最近一次的冰川运动,在过去的10000年或者是15000年之前。这个地区被4个海洋所环绕:黑海、里海、地中海以及波斯湾。如果这个地方地平面下降到水平面之下,那么洪水就会从四面涌向这个地方。创世记中的大洪水可能就是这样发生的。

To sum up, we do not know for sure whether the Flood was world­wide or not. Although there are many obstacles to believing in a world-wide Flood, and no real evidence that one ever occurred, the difficulties can be resolved by regarding the Flood as a more local affair. The idiom of the Old Testament strongly supports such an interpretation.

简单地说,我们不能肯定洪水是否为世界性的。有很多障碍让人难以相信洪水是世界性的,而且也没有真实的证据出现过。如果我们将洪水看成是地区性的就可以解决这个问题。旧约希伯来语典故可以支持这种解释方法。

Consequently there is no reason for disbelieving in the Flood, and one overwhelming reason for believing: Jesus Christ believed in it.23

    我们没有理由不相信洪水的存在。其中最有力量的证据是:耶稣相信大洪水的存在。

 

Creation 创造天地

 

The Bible starts off with a grand statement: “In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.”24

圣经以这样的声明开始:“起初,神创造天地。”(创世记11

In the old days men regarded this as an obvious truth. The universe did not come from nowhere. Somebody must have made it. If God did not make it, who did? 

过去人们将这一段圣经看成是非常明显的真理。因为宇宙肯定有一个起源,肯定有一个造物主。如果不是  神创造天地,那么是谁创造的?

But nowadays men are not so simple-minded. They pounce on that word, “somebody”. “Why assume it was made by a person?” they ask. “It might just as well have been made by the action of natural forces.”

 但是今天的人可不像从前那样头脑简单。他们会置疑:“为什么一定要有一位造物主呢”?“可能宇宙是由一些自然的力量形成的”。

There is one thing wrong with that argument. Scientists have so far failed completely to explain how the universe could have come into being on its own. And even when they try to do so, they still find themselves using the word “creation”.

这种论调是错误的。到目前为止,没有一个科学家能够揭示宇宙是靠自己的力量发展成为今天这个样子。有些科学家试图这样做,却发现自己依然使用了“创造”这个词。

The fly in the atheists’ ointment is a scientific law called the Second Law of Thermodynamics. This says that in any system of things, some­thing called “entropy” keeps on increasing. We have found the law to be true for every system we have been able to investigate, from tiny little test-tubes in the laboratory, right up to the world as a whole. There is every reason to suppose that it applies to the solar system, and to the greatest system of all-the universe.  

 飞进无神论者的膏药中的苍蝇是一条科学法则,被称为热力学第二定律。这种理论说,在任何的系统中,有一种被称为“熵”的东西能够一直保持增加。我们已经发现了这条法则在每一个能够调查的系统中都能够成立,从实验室的试管,到作为一个整体的世界。有理由可以假定这条法则适合于太阳系,以及更大的系统——整个宇宙。  

What is this “entropy”? It can only be defined accurately by using the language of mathematics. But it is near enough to say that it means “mixed-upness”. It applies particularly to the mixed-upness of the heat in a system.

“熵”是什么东西?这个词只能够用数学语言才能够给出准确的定义。但是如果你说“熵”是“混合状态”,就已经非常接近“熵”的含义。这个词汇特别适用于表达在特定系统中热量的混合状态。

For example, when you add cold cream to boiling coffee, the cream warms up and the coffee cools down. Very soon you have a cup of “coffee-with-cream”, all at the same temperature. Now try and get back your cold cream and boiling coffee. Obviously, you can’t. Why not? Because mixed-upness always increases, never decreases.

例如,如果你在一杯滚烫的咖啡之中加上了一些冷冻的冰激凌,冰激凌将会融化,而咖啡却凉了下来,咖啡和冰淇淋的温度将变得一样。如果你想变回从前的状态,想要一杯热的咖啡和凉的冰激凌,显然你做不到。为什么呢?因为混合状态永远只能增加,不能减少。

Think of your house and garden as a self-contained system. In winter you have a nice warm house in an unpleasantly cold garden. Go away for a week, and leave the house to itself. It cools down to the temperature of the garden. The “entropy”, mixed-upness, of the system has increased.

如果你的房子和花园是一套独立的系统。在冬天里的房间很温暖,而花园的温度却非常低。如果你外一个星期,让房子处于开放的状态,最后房子的温度就会和花园的温度一样。这是因为“熵”增加了,也就是“混合的状态”增加了。

As soon as you come home you set to work to put things right. You want to reduce the mixed-upness, and make the house hotter than the garden again. There is only one way you can do this. You could, if you were desperate, burn your furniture and floorboards. But this would not last long. Sooner or later you would have to bring in a source of heat-coal, gas, oil, electricity-from outside. There is noth­ing you can do inside a closed system to reduce its mixed-upness.

当你回家的时候,你希望让事情回到正常的状态,你希望减少这些“混合状态”,让自己得房屋比花园暖和,只有一种方法可以做到。如果你绝望的话,你可以燃烧家具和地板,但是这样的情形不会持续很长的时间。迟早你会不得不使用外面的能够燃烧的原料——煤炭、煤气、石油。你没有任何办法在里面去减少这种“混合的状态”。

Bringing in heat from outside is fine for you. But it is not so good for the world as a whole. Every time you heat your house you help to increase the mixed-upness of the world. One day all the world’s sources of heat-coal, and oil, and natural gas, and uranium for atomic power stations, and any other sources we may yet discover-will all be used up. The earth’s mixed-upness will have become complete.

从外面带入的热量对你来说很有用,但是对于作为一个整体的世界来说没有什么作用。每一次你给房间加热,这样有助于增加世界的“混合状态”,有一天世界所有的热量的来源---煤炭、石油、天然气和制造原子能的铀矿以及任何我们能够发现的能量全部用光,地球的“混合状态”将会全部完成。

There will then be only one hope for the future. We shall have to bring in heat from outside. This would mean relying on the sun as our only source of heat.

对于未来来说,只有一个希望。我们从外界得到热量。这就意味着我们唯一的热量来自太阳。

But the sun is losing weight at a tremendous rate. It is millions of tons lighter now than when you started reading this chapter. One day the sun’s resources will all be finished. Then the mixed-upness of the solar system will have reached its limit.

但是太阳的重量也在以非常惊人的速度降低。从你开始阅读本章起到现在太阳的重量已经减轻了几百万吨。迟早有一天,太阳的能源会耗尽,然后太阳系的这种“混合状态”达到自己的极限。

After that we might, if we were clever enough, bring in energy from outside the solar system. But this would only increase the mixed­upness of the universe as a whole. Eventually the mixed-upness of the whole universe would be complete.

在这样的时代以后,如果我们有足够的智慧的话,我们只能从太阳系以外得到能量。但是这样只能增加作为一个整体的宇宙的“混合状态”。最终整个宇宙的“混合状态”也将达到完全的地步。

 

And that would be that.

将来的情况可能是这样。

I have been speaking as if Man were solely responsible for increasing the mixed-upness of the universe. In fact he is only making a very small contribution to Nature’s own programme. The universe is in­creasing its own mixed-upness by natural processes at a fantastic rate, without any help from us.

我在说明这些事情的时候,好像只有人类要对整个宇宙的“混合状态”负责似的。实际上,人类对于自然自己的运行只有一点点影响。在没有受到人类任何影响的情况下,宇宙的“混合状态”正在以惊人的速度在不断地增加。 

 

This means that the universe can be likened to a wrist watch, steadily ticking away. There are, however, two very different theories as to what kind of a wrist watch it is. Some scientists regard it as being like an ordinary wrist watch, that was wound up once and will go on running down until it stops. A second group of scientists think of it as more like a self-winding watch, that will go on ticking away for ever.

这就意味着整个宇宙就像我们手腕上的手表一样,稳定地运行。然而,在描绘这只手表时,有两种不同的理论。有一些科学家认为宇宙就像是一只普通的手表,上满发条以后就可以运行,但是会停下来需要再次上发条。另外一种理论认为宇宙就像是一只能够自动上发条的手表,自己能够运行不息。

But in both theories the scientists cannot quite get away from the need for a Creator. In both theories they still use the word “creation”, despite themselves.

不管是哪一种理论,都需要一个造物主。两种理论尽管存在差异,他们都使用了“创造”这个词。

The first theory is often called the theory of the “Big Bang Universe”. According to this theory there must have been a time, long ago, when the “watch” was first “wound up”; that is, when the universe was at its starting point, as un-mixed-up as it could possibly be. One leading adherent to this theory, Professor A. R. Ubbelohde of London University, shows no sign of wanting to uphold a belief in God. Yet in a book dealing with this topic, he describes the universe’s starting point as: “The Heat Birth of the world, in a kind of luminous dawn of creation in time.”25

第一种理论通常被称为“创世大爆炸”(Big Bang Universe),根据这种理论,在很久很久以前,一定存在这只“手表”第一次上发条的时间,就是当整个宇宙还是一个开始点(starting poin)的时候。这种理论的代表人物是伦敦大学的A. R. Ubbelohde教授。他的理论中没有提到上帝,然而他在解释宇宙的开始点时说:“在创造开始的时候,也是世界热量的开始”。

In another part of the same book he discusses whether we might ever be able to reverse the universal tendency towards increasing mixed-upness. By a highly mathematical argument he shows that we cannot, but that it might be done by “intelligent beings not depen­dent on our ordinary methods.”26

在这本书的另一部分,他讨论了我们是否能够改变整个宇宙的“混合状态”不断增加的趋势。通过一些复杂的数学计算,他认为我们做不到这一点。但是他说,“超出我们能力的一种有智慧的存在”可能可以做到这一点。

Apart from the use of the plural, this reads like an excellent defini­tion of God. “Intelligent beings not dependent on our methods”, indeed! How determined to resist the obvious can you get? Why can’t the Professor say, “The Creator could do it”?

除了使用复数形式之外,他好像在说  神可以做到这一点。 神确实是“超出我们能力的有智慧的存在”。这位教授为什么不说:“创造者可以做到”呢?

The other theory of the universe is officially called the “Steady-State Universe” theory. But, in practice, its adherents prefer to use a more descriptive title: “The Continuous-Creation Universe”.27

另外一种理论被称为“稳定状态宇宙”理论。实际上它的支持者们更愿意是用另外一个名称:“不断更新创造的宇宙论”。

This theory proposes that, to keep the mixed-upness of the universe constant, fresh matter is being created throughout the universe all the time. The amount needed would be vast. The Astronomer Royal estimated it at the equivalent of 50,000 bodies the size of our sun, being created every second.28 Yet the theory does not explain how this matter could be created, or what (or who) is doing the creation.

这种理论鼓吹,为了维持整个宇宙的“混合状态”持续不断的运行,新的物质一直都在源源不断地被创造。天文学家Royal估计每秒钟大约有50,000个等同于太阳大小的物质出现。尽管这种理论并没有解释这些物质是如何被创造出来的,或者是谁创造了这些物质。

Which takes more faith? To believe in a theory like this? Or to believe that “In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth”?

   那一种理论需要信心?是相信这种理论,还是相信“起初,神创造天地”?

 

A Six-Day Job?  6天的工作?

 

“It’s not the actual fact of creation that bothers me,” said Larry. “I can accept that easily enough. What I can’t swallow is the teaching of Genesis that God did the whole job in six days, just a few thousand years ago.”

一位女士说:“我接受 神创造天地的记载,但是我不能理解为什么创世记说,神只用了六天时间就完成了整个创造工作,而且就在几千年之前。”

A great many people will sympathise with Larry. If Genesis really did teach this, then it would be in head-on collision with the facts of science. And by, “facts of science”, I mean facts; not just theories, or opinions, but well established facts.

很多人同意这位女的看法。如果创世记真的是这样教导我们的,那么就可能同科学事实发生冲突。在这里我的意思是,科学事实就是事实,不是理论,也不是个人的观点,而是已经确定的事实。

Many of the statements trotted out by scientists about prehistoric events are only opinions. I shall be discussing some of these in the next two chapters, where the origin of life will be considered.

很多科学家关于历史前的阐述仅仅是个人观点。我将在接下来的两章中进行讨论,内容有关生命的起源。

But we cannot treat the facts of geology like this. Many lines of evidence show that the earth is immensely old. Much of this evidence is too technical to discuss here. Some of it is extremely simple.

但是我们不能用这种方式对待地理学事实。很多证据显示地球是非常古老的星球。很多证据太专业,不方便在这里进行讨论。我只说一些特别简单的例子:

The earth’s crust abounds in fossils. These are pieces of rock bear­ing traces of plant or animal life. For instance, coal is fossilised vegeta­tion. Although only a small part of the earth’s crust has been explored, a million million tons of coal have already been discovered.

地壳的表面充满了化石,它们包含动物或者是植物生命遗留下来的痕迹。例如,煤炭是植被遗留下来的痕迹。尽管人类只探索了一小部分的地壳,已经探明了数十亿吨的煤矿。

That may not sound very much, but it is actually enough to provide half a bucketful for every square yard of the earth’s surface. And a far greater quantity of coal must still lie undiscovered. It is obvious that countless generations of plants and animals must have lived and died to produce all the fossils in the earth.

这个数量听起来不大,但是它实际上可以将地球的表面全部覆盖,而且深度达半桶高。肯定还有更多数量的煤炭藏在地下未被开采。很显然,有无数代的植物和动物生活过,它们的尸体产生了地球上的化石。

Some Christian writers have disputed this. They have argued that perhaps all these fossils were produced at one time, either at the time of the Flood or of some earlier worldwide disaster. But this is quite impossible. Coal is almost pure carbon, whilst vegetation contains only a small proportion of carbon. Consequently it must have taken something like a ton of vegetation to produce a hundredweight of coal. Even if Noah had lived when the earth was completely covered with dense jungle, there would still not have been nearly enough vegetation in his world to produce all the coal that exists today.

有些基督教作家对此表示异议。他们争辩说,所有的这些化石都是在同一个时代形成的,要么是大洪水时期,要么是洪水之前的一次世界性的大灾难。但是这是非常不可能的。煤炭几乎全部由炭元素组成,而植被中炭元素的比例只有一小部分,大约1000公斤的植被才能产生100公斤的碳。即使在诺亚的年代整个地球完全被茂密的森林所覆盖,依然不能够产生足够的今天已经存在的炭。

Others have suggested that God created all these fossils just to mis­lead scientists. This obviously will not do. As one Christian writer has said about this, “God is not the Author of a lie-even a white lie.”29

还有被人认为,可能是  神故意制造这些化石,让科学家感到迷惑。这显然是不可能的。正如一位基督教作家所写的:“  神绝不会撒谎,即使是白色的谎言”。

There is a better way to approach the problem. That is, to accept the evidence that the earth is many millions of years old, and then to have another look at Genesis to see what it really does tell us.

这是一条更好的看待问题的方式,就是要接受证据,地球是一个有几百万年历史的星球,然后再来看看创世记真正告诉我们的内容。

We must begin by realising that Genesis was never intended to teach science. It was written in very simple language, to teach some profound truths to all mankind. Those simple words made sense to the Hebrews in the dawn of civilisation. The marvel is that they still make a very favourable impression on many scientists today.

我们必须认识到,创世记从来没有打算教导人们科学知识。创世记用简单的语言教导人们深奥的真理,这些简单的语言对于处在文明早期的希伯来人来说是合乎情理的。但是对今天掌握了太多科学知识的我们来说感到迷惑不解。

The simplicity of the language is itself remarkable. It is said that the vocabulary of Genesis 1 contains only seventy-six root words, in the original Hebrew.30 Just what is this simple language trying to tell us?

这些简单的记载自身有着非比寻常的意义。据说创世记第1章的希伯来文中仅仅有27个词根,这些简单的话中告诉了我们什么?

We have already had a number of lessons in not jumping to con­clusions. Hebrew is a highly figurative language, full of word-pictures and figures of speech which are not intended to be taken literally. Hebrew idiom is quite different from English idiom.

不要急于下结论,我们已经看到了很多这样的例子。希伯来语充满多种修饰方式,充满了诗情画意,这些话我们不能按照字面意思来理解。希伯来的很多习惯用语和英语有相当大的差别。

So there is no simple answer to the question, “What does Genesis 1 teach?” The general picture is quite clear. It teaches that God created the universe and everything in it. But when we try to under­stand the details, various possibilities arise.

因此,“创世记第一章教导我们什么”这样简单的问题并不存在。创世记第一章描写的画面是清晰的,教导  神创造了整个宇宙和充满宇宙的万物。但是当我们想理解问题的细节时,会看到有多种可能性出现:

One suggestion is that the chapter describes a re-creation, not the original creation of the earth. It begins with a picture of an earth “without form and void”. This expression is used by Jeremiah in a passage where he is talking about a land brought to destruction.31 So, this theory suggests, the earth was teeming with life in earlier geolo­gical ages, and then, for some reason, God wiped everything out. Then He restored it to working order, as described in Genesis 1.

有人认为这一章描写的是重新创造,而不是最原始(最初)的创造。创造开始的时候,“地是空虚混沌”,这个词同样在耶利米书423中出现过,表示一些地方将受毁灭性的打击。因此,这种理论认为,地球在其形成的早期充满了生命,后来,因为某些原因,  神毁灭了地球的一切。接下来  神又让一切恢复了次序,正如创世记第一章所描写的。

There are many variations on this theme. It has fairly recently been advocated by Dr. L. M. Davies, a geologist with high qualifications.32 He argued that the withdrawal of the sun’s light brought on a sort of “super ice age”, long before the ice ages of recent times. This would have destroyed every living thing, and set the stage for the events described in Genesis I.

   在这个主题中有很多不同的变化。L. M. Davies博士是这一观点的支持者。他是一位高级地理学家,他认为,由于太阳光线的收缩导致了“超级冰川世纪”( super ice age)的出现,比最近的冰川世纪更早。“超级冰川世纪”会导致一切生命的毁灭,达到创世记11所记载的状态。

 

When is a Day Not a Day? 什么时候一天不是一天?

 

There are two major objections to all these “re-creation” theories. First, they depend upon a global disaster so tremendous as to wipe out every vestige of life on earth-and yet so gentle as to have left no record to show geologists that it ever occurred.

对于这些“重新创造”理论,有两种主要的反对意见。第一,这个理论认为发生过一次全球性的大灾难,地球上生命的都被毁灭,然而地理学家找不到这些事情发生过的证据。

Secondly, Genesis 1 does not seem like a re-creation story. It reads like a record of the entire creation as we know it. In the days when scientists were not ashamed to refer to the Bible, one wrote in a leading scientific journal:

其次,创世记第1章看起来并不像是一个重新创造的故事,而是像一个完全的创造。在那个时代,科学家愿意引用圣经作为参考。一位科学家在一份顶级的科学杂志上说:

“The order in which the flora and fauna are said, by the Mosaic account [the Genesis story, written by Moses] to have appeared upon the earth, corresponds with that which the theory of Evohlu­tion requires, and the evidence of geology proves.”33

   “根据摩西在创世记中的记载,创世记中出现的次序同进化论的要求,以及地理学家的证明是相符合的。”

This is broadly, though not precisely, true. We must also explain the appearance of the sun, moon and stars on the “fourth day” of Genesis-that is, about half way through the work of creation. This can be done fairly simply. It probably means that they became visible at that time, through the thinning mists of the cooling earth’s atmosphere.

这种说法尽管不是很准确,但是从大的方面来说是正确的。我们必须解释创世记第4天出现的太阳、星星和月亮,这个时候大约是创造的工作进行到一半的时候。这样   非常简单。它可能意味着在那个时候它们在这个时候变得可以看见了,尽管在地球的冰凉的空气中有一层薄雾。

The order of events in Genesis 1 then becomes remarkably close to the order that a modern geologist would draw up. Many scientists have been deeply impressed by this similarity. It seems far too great to be a mere coincidence. No, it seems almost undeniable that Genesis 1 is a broad picture of the entire geological history of the earth-and a remarkably accurate one, at that.

创世记第一章记载的事件发生顺序同现代地理学家勾画出来的顺序非常接近。很多科学家对这种相同表示感叹。这种高度的一致看起来不像是巧合。看起来,创世记第一章从大的轮廓方面描绘了地球的地质学历史,而且是非常准确。

In that case, what are we going to do about those six days?

在这种情况下,我们如何看待创世记中的创造世界的6天时间?

In our day and age that should present no problem. (What’s that-”our day and age”? Evidently here is one expression where a day is not a day.)

Now consider Genesis 2: 4, which concludes the record of creation with a one-sentence summary:

现在,让我们来思考一下创世记24这一节经文。它总结说:

“These are the generations (the story) of the heavens and of the earth when they were created, in the day that the Lord God made the earth and the heavens.”

  “创造天地的来历,在耶和华  神造天地的日子(原文是那一天),乃是这样”

So Genesis evidently uses “day” in a figurative sense. The whole process took six days. Yet those six days added up to only one day. If a day always means a day, then this arithmetic becomes impossible. But if a day means “a period”, everything makes sense.

因此,很明显,创世记中的“一天”是象征性的。因为整个过程用了6天时间,然而在这里只说一天。如果一天永远意味着一天,那么这种算术就成了不可能的事情。如果一天代表“一个阶段”,这段记载才合乎情理。

Moreover, during the first five-and-a-bit of those six days there were no men or women upon the earth. Those “days”, therefore, are un­likely to have been days measured on a human scale. They must surely have been days measured on God’s scale-and those are very different from the days we know.

在创造天地的6天当中(包括前5天和第6天的一小部分),还没有人在地上出现。这些“天”,当然不能按照人的尺度来衡量。他们只能够按照  神的尺度来衡量,并且 神的一天和我们知道的“一天”有很大的不同。

In two places the Bible warns us that God’s time scale is far greater than ours. Peter says that “one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.”34

圣经中有两处地方告诉我们, 神的时间尺度要远远大于我们的。彼得说:“主看一日如千年,千年如一日”。(彼得后书38

Moses stretches out the time scale still further, when he says that “a thousand years in Thy (God’s) sight are . . . as a watch in the night.”35

    摩西将  神的时间尺度的范围扩展得更大。他说:“在你看来,千年如已过的昨日,又如夜间的一更。”(诗篇904

These statements are obviously not meant to be taken as literal scales, like the “one inch to one mile” of an Ordnance Survey map. They are merely warnings, expressed in poetic language, that the eternal God is not bound by the same time scale as ourselves. So one way of solving our problem is to say that the world was created in six “divine days”. And those days can be as long as the geologists want to make them.

这些陈述中的尺度显然并不是实际的尺度,仅仅像“一英寸代表一英里”的地图比例尺一样。他们仅仅是一些警告,用诗歌般的语言表达了:永恒的 神不会像我们一样被尺度所束缚。

But there is an even better way of viewing Genesis 1. The “days” may not have been the actual days when God did the work of creation. They could have been the days on which God revealed the story of creation to one of His inspired historians. This idea goes back to a nineteenth-century German, J. H. Kurtz, and has been worked Out in great detail by a modern archaeologist.36

但是有一种更好的方法来看待创世记第1章的记载。这里的“天”可能并不是  神创造世界的实际天数,而是 神启发那位接受启示的历史学家的天数。这种想法可以追溯到19世纪一位名叫J. H. Kurt的德国人身上。很多现代考古发现的细节符合他的推论。

If we view Genesis 1 in this way, practically all the problems dis­appear. It harmonises with the teaching of the rest of the Bible. It enables every scientist to hold up his head and say, as did the first astronauts ever to approach the moon: “IN THE BEGINNING, GOD CREATED THE HEAVEN AND THE EARTH.”37

如果我们采用这种方法来看待创世记第一章,所有带着问题的疑问都得到了解决。而且这种方法会与圣经的其它部分的教导相吻合,也可以让所有的科学家接受:“起初,神创造天地”。

To many a scientist this not only makes sense. It solves a problem that science cannot touch.

对于很多科学家来说,这种解释不仅合理,而且解决了科学触及不到的问题。

 

22

Why Some Biologists Think Darwin Was Wrong

为什么有一些生物学家认为达尔文的理论是错误的

 

I can see him now, sitting in my office with his jaw hanging down. The look of horror on his face was matched by the tone of his voice.

坐在我的办公室,我看见他眼目低垂,面孔看起来有些可怕,说话的声音也变了调。

“You don’t mean to say you actually don’t believe in evolution?” He was a fellow scientist from a British university, come to discuss the research I was doing. We got on famously for a few hours. And then he happened to mention evolution, and I told him what I thought about it.

“难道你是在说你实际上不相信进化论?”他是一所英国大学的科学家,过来和我讨论我从事的研究。我们最开始的几个小时气氛极其友好,然后他开始谈论进化论,我就将我自己的看法告诉他。

He could not have been more shocked if I had said I did not believe in the Law of Gravity. When I added that plenty of biologists as well qualified as himself (he had a doctorate in a biological science) shared my views, he just would not believe me. We parted good friends, but I think he still considers me a trifle mad.

当我将自己的观点、以及一些和他同样著名的科学家对进化论的态度告诉他的时候,我无法表达他的惊奇,那种表情好像听见我说我不相信地球存在吸引力似的。虽然我们彼此的态度都很客气,但我还是认为他把我看成轻微的疯子。

The trouble was that he was an Expert-Worshipper. We saw in Chapter 13 that experts are usually right about facts, but very fre­quently wrong in their opinions. And unfortunately they have got the public just where they want it-accepting the experts’ opinions as if they were unquestionable.

问题在于他是一位专家崇拜者。在第13章我们看到,专家们通常会在事实方面正确,但常常在意见方面犯错误。很不幸,专家通常得到大众的支持,大众通常认为应该接受专家的意见,好像专家的意见是不容置疑的。

(If you cannot recall to mind the evidence produced in Chapter 13, it would be a good idea to read it again, now. It forms a very necessary introduction to this chapter and the next one.)     

如果你现在不能想起本书第13章的一些证据,最好将这一章在重新再看一遍,因为第13章是本章和下一章必要的介绍。)

I gave him four reasons why I, as a scientist, regard the theory of evolution as one of the most unlikely theories I know.

我以一个科学家的身份给出了他4点理由,告诉他为什么进化论是我所知道的最不可靠的理论:

(1) Several eminent biologists have shot holes through it. 很多著名的科学家已经揭示了进化论的漏洞。

(~) Other eminent biologists have admitted that they only hold it for philosophical reasons, not because the biological evidence is sound.另外一些著名的科学家承认,他们相信进化论仅仅是由于哲学上的原因,而不是出于生物学的证据。

(3) There is not just one version of the theory of evolution, but a hundred and one. Many gaps have to be filled in by guesswork, and the guesses change from biologist to biologist and from day to day.进化论作为一种理论,不只有一个版本,而是有上百个。很多漏洞是靠想象来填补的。而每个生物学家的想象是不同的,同一个生物学家在不同的年代也有不同的思考方式。

(4) There are a number of serious objections to the theory, that no biologist has yet answered.对进化论的很多非常严肃的质疑,然而没有任何一个生物学家能够回答。

I shall expand each of these four reasons below, but only briefly. There are plenty of specialist books on the subject where the evidence is set out in more detail.1~2

我将会对上面的4条理由进行进一步地、简要地叙述。在这个课题上,很多专业的书籍提出了更多的证据。

Before launching out on these reasons, one thing needs to be made clear. The word “evolution” means different things to different people. People use the word in engineering, for instance.

在说明这些理由之前,有必要弄清楚一件事情。“进化论”这个单词对于不同的人来说代表着不同的意义。例如,有人将这个词用在工程方面。

You can see a collection of aeroplanes, from the earliest to the most modern, in the aviation section of the Smithsonian Museum at Wash­ington. This collection is said to illustrate the “evolution” of the modern aircraft. But nobody supposes that each successive generation of aircraft gave birth to the next.

在航空博物馆,你可以看到各种各样的飞机,从最开始的到最现代的。有人说,这一系列飞机可以说明飞机的“进化”,但是没有人简单地认为是一代飞机“生”出了下一代飞机。

As we saw in the previous chapter, there is evidence that life has been on the earth for millions of years. The simpler forms of life came first, the more complicated later. In some natural history museums you can see fossils of these ancient animals lined up, from the earliest to the latest.

在本书的第21章中已经指出,有证据表明地球上的生命已经存在了数百万年。而且是简单的生命在前,复杂的生命在后。在一些自然历史博物馆,你能够看到古代动物的排列次序,有早期的,也有近代的。

Some people use the word “evolution” to describe the mere exis­tence of these fossils. If that is how you use the word, well and good. I shall not use it that way myself, because I think it is misleading. Personally, I prefer to speak of the “progressive creation” of both the aircraft and the fossil animals. But the most scientific expression is “progressive appearance”, because it is completely neutral.

有些人使用“进化论”这个词来表示这些化石的存在。如果你也用这种方式使用这个词,那没有什么问题。然而我不会采取这种方式使用这个词,因为它会导致很多误解。我个人喜欢使用“逐步创造”(progressive creation)来表示飞行器或已经成为化石的动物。但是最科学的表达方式是“逐步出现”(progressive appearance),因为这个词是中性的。

I shall use the word “evolution” in one way only: to mean “evolu­tion by natural processes alone”. In other words, to describe the belief that God played no active part in the development of life on this earth. This is the way biologists commonly use the word. This is the way it is used by the writers whose words I shall quote.

我使用进化论这个词的唯一方式,是指“所有的自然过程都是通过进化来的”,用另外的话来说,  神在地球生命的形成过程中没有发挥实际作用,这也是生物学家普遍采用的概念。我采用的这个词汇的含义,并以这种方式引用生物学家的话。

All the quotations that follow are from scientific books and jour­nals. None of them was written with any religious purpose in mind, so far as I have been able to tell.

    以下的所有文摘都来自科学书刊和杂志。就目前我所知道的情况来看,这些文章都不是为了任何宗教信仰的目的而写的。

 

(1) Biologists Who Doubt Evolution那些怀疑进化论的生物学家

 

If you have a biologist friend who is hooked on evolution, persuade him to go to France for a year. He will come back a changed man. French biology has for many years been in a turmoil over evol­ution.

如果你有一个执著于进化论的生物学家朋友,可以劝他到法国呆上一年。他回来的时候就会变成另外一个人。法国生物学界最近几年一直处于进化论骚乱之中。  

A few years ago an American scientific journal reviewed the scene in France.

  几年以前,一本美国科学杂志的记者发表了一篇关于法国科学现状的评论:

“This year saw the controversy rapidly growing, until recently it culminated in the title, ‘Should We Burn Darwin?’ spread over two pages of the magazine Science et Vie.

“今年,反对进化论的人数急剧上升,直到最近达到了高峰,甚至有一篇文章的标题说:“我们是否应该烧死达尔文?”这篇篇幅为2页的文章出现在法国的一个科学杂志上。

“The article, by the science writer Aimé Michel, was based on the author’s interviews with such specialists as Mrs. Andrée Tetry, professor at the famous Ecole des Hautes Etudes and a world authority on problems of evolution, Professor Réné Chauvin and other noted French biologists ...

“这篇文章是由科普作家Aimé Michel所写的,根据作者见到过的一些专家谈话为基础,例如Andrée Tetry夫人,她是著名的Ecole des Hautes Etudes教授,以及世界知名的进化论权威,还有Réné Chauvin教授和其它著名的法国生物学家。

“Aimé Michel’s conclusion is significant: the classical theory of evolution in its strict sense belongs to the past. Even if they do not publicly take a definite stand, almost all French specialists hold today strong mental reservations as to the validity of natural selection.”3

Aimé Michel的结论具有深远的意义:经典的进化论从严格的意义上来说已经过时。几乎所有的法国专家都对自然选择理论的可靠性持强烈的保留态度,即使他们没有公开表明立场。

In 1960 an evolutionist upset his fellow evolutionists. His “crime” was that of being too honest. He published a book4 mildly pointing out that many of the arguments on which evolution was based were unsound. He did not reject evolution out of hand. He merely declared that it was “not a proved fact”. He said, in effect, “For pity’s sake let’s hurry up and find some decent arguments to base it on.”

1960年,一位进化论者给他的同伴出了一道难题。他的“罪过”只是因为他太诚实了。他出版了一本书,温和地指出进化论所依赖的很多论点是站不住脚的。他仅仅是宣布进化论是“没有经过证明的事实”。他说:“因为怜悯的缘故,让我们尽快找到一些像样的证据作为基础。”

But the most impressive testimony of all has come from one of the world’s most distinguished biologists. The late Dr. W. R. Thompson was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society-the greatest scientific honour in the British Commonwealth. He held the important post of Director of the Commonwealth Institute of Biological Control.

但让人感到印象最深刻的证据来一位世界知名的生物学家。W. R. Thompson博士      晚年当选过皇家科学院院士,这是英联邦国家科学界最光荣的头衔。他还担任过联邦生物控制研究会的主席。

Because of his high standing, he was invited to write the intro­duction to a new edition of Darwin’s Origin of Species which was published in 1956. If you would like an authoritative statement of where the theory of evolution stood then, you should read Dr. Thompson’s

introduction for yourself. It will probably amaze you.

因为他在科学界的崇高地位,他被邀请为1956年重新出版的达尔文的物种的起源(Origin of Species)这本书写序言。如果你希望看到当时有关进化论的权威声明,那么Thompson博士所写的这篇文章就是。

He drew the following conclusions:他的结论是:

(1) That the general public should be warned to take the theory of evolution with a large grain of salt, because it is still a long, long way from being proved.应该告诫公众,要证明进化论是正确的还有很长的路要走。

(2) That respectable scientific theories are based on solid facts, but the theory of evolution is based on a weird hotchpotch of facts and guesswork.科学理论应该建立在坚固的事实基础之上,但是进化论作为一种理论,是建立在事实和想象的大杂烩的基础之上。

(3) Biologists are even guilty of deceiving the general public, by deliberately suppressing the true facts about the theory of evolution.

生物学家甚至为欺骗大众感到内疚,因为他们故意压制一些与进化论相关的事实

Here are some of Dr. Thompson’s actual statements. (The italics are mine.)

以下就是Thompson博士声明的一部分:(我在一些话中加上了斜体字)

“Evolution, if it has occurred, can in a rather loose sense be called a historical process; and therefore to show that it has occurred historical evidence is required. History in the strict sense is dependent on human testimony. Since this is not available with respect to the development of the world of life we must be satisfied with something less satisfactory.

“It does appear to me, in the first place, that Darwin in the ‘Origin’ was not able to produce palaeontological evidence suffi­cient to prove his views, but that the evidence he did produce was adverse to them; and I may note that the position is not notably different today. The modern Darwinian palaeontologists are obliged, just like their predecessors and like Darwin, to water down the facts with subsidiary hypotheses which, however plausible, are in the nature of things unverifiable.

“进化论如果存在的话,按照非严格的标准只能够被称为历史进程,并且该理论的成立还需要历史证据的支持。而历史证据严格来说需要人的证明,然而这是不可能的,我们对于在生命形成过程中有的一点点证据就不得不感到满足。

我认为,首先,达尔文的“物种起源”并不能够产生能够支持自己观点的足够证据。而且他自己制造的证据是反对自己的观点的,我还注意到这种情况在今天并没有明显的变化,现代的达尔文主义者就像他们的先驱者达尔文一样,在无法证实事情性质的时候,将事实和他们的想象力混合在一起。

“The advent of the evolutionary idea, due mainly to the ‘Origin’, very greatly stimulated biological research. But it appears to me that owing precisely to the nature of the stimulus, a great deal of this work was directed into unprofitable channels or devoted to the pursuit of will-o’-the-wisps. I am not the only biologist of this opinion.

“进化论这种观点的出现,主要在于“起源”这个字眼在生物学研究领域具有非常大的刺激性。但在我看来,正是由于喜欢刺激的本性,所以在这个没有意义的领域投入了大量的精力或追求,我并不是唯一的持有这种观点的生物学家”。

“A long-enduring and regrettable effect of the success of the ‘Origin’ was the addiction of biologists to unverifiable speculation.

“进化论”的持久不衰,应该归功于生物学家愿意沉醉于无法证实的猜想中。

“As we know, there is a great divergence of opinion among biologists, not only about the causes of evolution but even about the actual process. This divergence exists because the evidence is unsatisfactory and does not permit any certain conclusions. It is therefore right and proper to draw the attention of the non-­scientific public to the disagreements about evolution. But some recent remarks of evolutionists show that they think this unreason­able. This situation, where scientific men rally to the defence of a doctrine they are unable to define scientifically, much less demon­strate with scientific rigour, attempting to maintain its credit with the public by the suppression of criticism and the elimination of difficulties, is abnormal and undesirable in science.

我们知道生物学家之间存在着极大的分歧,不仅仅包括进化的原因,而且还有进化的实际过程。这些分歧的产生是因为证据不能令人满意,不能够得出肯定的结论。现在就是要提醒不具备专业知识的大众注意进化论者之间的分歧的时候了。但是最近一些进化论者反对这样做,认为这样不合理。在这种情况下,一些从事科学的人接力来捍卫某种自己都不能科学地下定义的原则,通过压制批评和消除难以解决的问题来让公众相信这种理论,这在科学界是不正常的,也是不应该的。

“Thus are engendered those fragile towers of hypotheses based on hypotheses, where fact and fiction mingle in an inextricable con-fusion. That these constructions correspond to a natural appetite there can be no doubt. It is certain also that in the ‘Origin’ Darwin established what may be called the classical method of satisfying this appetite. We are beginning to realise now that the method is un­sound and the satisfaction illusory. But to understand our own thinking, to see what fallacies we must eradicate in order to estab­lish general biology on a scientific basis, we can still return with profit to the source-book which is ‘The Origin of Species’.”5

   “建立在假设的基础上的假设加在一起,事实和虚构混合在一起,共同构成了一个虚构的塔,它肯定是人类自己愿望的结果。同样可以肯定,“原始的”达尔文建立了一种可以称之为经典的方法,满足了这种胃口。我们现在开始意思到这种方法是为了满足人们的好奇心,是不可取的。但是要明白并且根除这种思想谬误,建立在科学基础上的生物学,我们依然可以回到“物种的起源”这本书中。    

Did you ever read anything like it? It is doubtful whether anything to match it has occurred in the recent history of science. Here is a world authority setting Out to expose the sorry state of his own branch of science, and to warn the general public that the wool is being pulled over people’s eyes.

你曾读过类似的东西吗?最近科学发展史上还有类似的事情吗?这是一位世界知名的权威向外界暴露了自己研究领域的现状,警告普通公众正在受蒙蔽。

 

 (2)Biologists Who Walk by Faith, not Fact
那些不按照事实而按照信仰进行判断的生物学家

 

Now compare this with the words that follow. They were written only a few years earlier by another famous man, H. G. Wells.

    现在,将这些评论同下面的讲话进行比较,这些话是几年以前由著名的H. G. Wells先生写的。

“One thing is certain. Not one fact has ever emerged, in a stupendous accumulation of facts, to throw a shadow of doubt upon what is still called the “Theory” of organic evolution.

No rational mind can question the invincible nature of the evolutionary case.”6

“有一件事情是肯定的:不曾有一种事实出现,是因为事实的积累,让人们可以怀疑至今仍然称为“理论”的有机进化论。任何一个有理性的思想都不会怀疑进化论的可靠性。”

Well, well. As Hamlet’s mother would have said, the gentleman doth protest too much, me thinks. H. G. Wells was a qualified scientist and a respected historian. He was far too intelligent and well-read a man not to know the truth about evolution. Why should he over­state his case in that blustering fashion?

好了,好了,就像哈姆雷特的母亲说的那样,这位绅士抗议提得太多了。我认为H. G. Wells是一位称职的科学家,也还是一位值得尊敬的历史学家。但是他太聪明了,却不知道关于进化论的真相。为什么在这一件事情上他会夸大其词呢?

There is one obvious explanation. Look at it this way. Throughout this book I have tried to be fair. Where a particular argument against the Bible is childish, I have said so. Where an objection is weighty I have admitted it, and said it needs careful examination. Occasionally I have admitted that, as yet, a certain problem cannot be solved.

有一种非常明显的答案。请用另外一种方式来看这个问题。本书从头到尾我一直极力保持公平。在面对一些反对圣经的证据时,即使是很幼稚的证据,我也是这样说的。如果这些证据有份量,我就承认。并且说,这些证据需要经过仔细地检验。也有这样的时候,我承认个人无法解答一些问题。

Suppose that, instead of doing this, I had used Mr. Wells’ tactics. Suppose I had used his very words in defence of my own case, like this:

假定我采取Wells先生的策略,用他自己的话来为我辩护,就会是这样:

“Not one fact has ever emerged, in a stupendous accumulation of facts, to throw a shadow of doubt upon the Bible. No rational mind can question the invincible nature of the Bible-believer’s case.”

“从来没有任何一种事实出现过,能够让我们怀疑圣经,没有一个理性的思维能够怀疑圣经的可靠性。”

Whatever would you have thought of me? You would have said to yourself, “Poor fellow. His religious fervour has got the better of him. His judgement as a scientist has all gone to pot.” And you would have been right.

那么你怎样会看待我呢?你可能在心理这样说我:“可怜的家伙,他的宗教狂热已经让他失去了理智,他已经失去了作为一个科学家应该有的判断。”

Isn’t it obvious that this criticism applies to Mr. Wells, who actually did use this language? He was well known for his strong views as an atheist. Evidently his religious fervour or irreligious fervour or whatever you call the fervour of an atheist-must have affected his attitude to evolution.

这种批评也适合于Wells先生自己,因为他实际上就是采取这种语言。他以自己强烈的无神论观点而出名。很明显,他的宗教狂热或者是反宗教信仰狂热或者是无神论观点已经影响了他对进化论的态度。

Professor Kenneth Walker is another popular author who plugged evolution in his books. Fortunately he was not so starry-eyed about it as Wells. He frankly admitted why he and others accepted Darwin’s theory:

 Kenneth Walker教授是一位宣传进化论的通俗作家,然而幸运的是,他不像Wells那样狂热。他坦率地承认了他接受达尔文理论的原因:

 

“Darwin’s theory of evolution is retained because scientists have found nothing more satisfactory to put in its place. A mechanical explanation of the procession of life on this planet is required and no such explanation, other than that offered by Darwin, is forth­coming. This being so, there is no alternative to that of retaining Darwinism with all its weahnesses.”7 (The italics are mine.)

“达尔文的进化论被保留,因为科学家没有发现更理想的理论来代替其地位。生命如何在这个星球上起源?人们需要一个的解释,没有一种理论比达尔文的进化论更加先进。将达尔文的理论连同错误一起保留下来,这是没有办法的办法。

 

He spoke for many other evolutionists besides himself. A “mechanical explanation”-that is, one that leaves God out of account-was “required”. By hook or by crook some explanation acceptable to an atheist had to be found. Darwin’s explanation was a poor one, but it had to fill the gap. It was the best of a bad lot.

    除了自己以外,他还谈论很多进化论者。所谓“机械的解释”,就是将  神排除在外,而且是“必需的”,因为无神论者必须找到一种可以接受的理论。达尔文的理论是贫乏的,但是他们需要这样的一个理论。它是不好之中的最好的。

Another evolutionist has told some interesting tales in a recent magazine article:

还有一位进化论者通过文章向某杂志吐露了一些事情:

“Not long ago a professor wrote an article questioning a former teacher, in the mildest possible terms, about the authenticity of a certain find-and ended a friendship of thirty years. On another occasion an eminent anthropologist arose to speak at a meeting given in his honour, and began reminiscing about the early days of his career when his ideas concerning human evolution had been ignored. But he managed to complete only a few sentences of his talk. Then, overcome by the recollection of years of frustration, he lowered his head and burst into tears. Investigators have stalked out of meetings, indulged in personal vituperation (in technical journals, as well as privately), argued over priorities, accused colleagues of stealing their ideas.

不久以前,一位教授写了一篇文章,尽量以最中性的语气提问他从前的老师,关于他以前某一发现的真实性,结果导致了两人30年友谊的中断。还有一次,某位著名的人类学家在一次会议上,当人们邀请他发表演讲的时候,他提到自己早期的研究(人类的进化)被忽视了。接着,由于数年挫折的积累,他低下头并且大哭。调查人员不得不暂时停止会议,让这位发言者发泄自己的情绪。这位发言者还指责自己的研究伙伴偷窃了自己的观点。

“Such behaviour may be somewhat less common than it once was, and it is by no means unknown in other areas of science, but its incidence has been strikingly high among pre-historians. The reason for this occupational ailment is obscure, but it may have something to do with the shortage of solid evidence.”8 (The italics are mine.)

  “现在这种行为没有从前那样普遍了,在其它科学领域也不是没有这样的事情,但史前历史学家中表现得特别突出。我们不知道这种职业病的原因,可能与没有足够的证据有关。

 

(3) The Way they Change their Views 他们改变自己观点的方式

 

Take a good look at the picture facing page 216. It may be the last of its kind you will see.

You have seen pictures like it before, of course. They appear in school text books and children’s encyclopaedias, as well as in more sophisticated volumes.

Those things lolloping around in the water like a group of Loch Ness Monsters are called “brontosaurs”. There is no doubt that creatures like this existed. There are plenty of brontosaur fossils, some of them practically complete.

The imaginary part of the picture is not the animals, but the water. In 1971 a paper was published in a top-level scientific journal, “proving” that brontosaurs didn’t like swimming after all.9 The old ideas were “convincingly demolished” commented the editor. Bronto­saurs weren’t long-necked hippopotamuses as was previously thought, but just prehistoric giraffes, so to speak.

这幅图片的想象部分不是动物,而是水。在 1971年的一份顶级科学杂志刊登了一篇文章,“证明”了  根本不喜欢游泳。

One of the really great problems for evolutionists is how life began.

Once upon a time there was a young planet, steaming hot and lifeless.

It cooled down a bit. Then, presto! life appeared, says the evolutionist.

But how?

对于进化论者来说,真正的问题是生命是如何起源的。从前,有一个星球,特别热,没有生命。后来变冷了一些,接下来,哈!生命开始了,进化论者如此说。

One snag is that “dead” matter is composed of very small molecules. Somehow or other, before life could even think of appearing on the stage, thousands of small molecules had to gang up together and form one big molecule. How did they manage it?

问题在于,没有生命的“死”物质是由非常小的分子组成的。从这个意义上来说,在生命的形成阶段,数以千计的小分子必须组合成为一个大分子。它们是如何做到这一点的?

For some time experimental scientists were baffled. Their attempts in the laboratory to conduct shotgun marriages between small molecules were frustrated. Then came a breakthrough. They found that small molecules were quite happy to hold hands with each other under one condition: there must be no oxygen around. But one fifth of the air we breathe consists of oxygen. Wouldn’t that put paid to any chance of molecules joining up?

在很长一段时间里,从事试验工作的科学家感到没有办法。在实验室让小分子结合的努力最后都失败了。后来终于有了一些突破。他们发现小分子在某种条件下比较容易地结合在一起。这种条件就是:周围没有氧气。但是地球上的空气中的五分之一是氧气。这种情况下,这些分子还有结合在一起的可能吗?

In 1965 two scientists, L. V. Berkner and L. C. Marshall, came up with a brilliant solution. They “proved” that the amount of oxygen in the air has been steadily increasing; in the far-off days when life appeared, there was practically no oxygen present at all. Evolutionists were jubilant, and showered Berkner and Marshall with praise.

1965年,两位科学家找到了一种聪明的解决办法。他们“证明”了空气中的氧气数量是稳步上升的,在生命起源的远古的时代,可能根本就没有氧气。进化论者得意洋洋,他们大大赞扬了BerknerMarshall的工作。

Their joy was somewhat premature. In 1970 R. T. Brinkman of the California Institute of Technology spoilt everything. He had re-­examined the Berkner and Marshall theory, and found that they had got their sums wrong. There was thousands of times more oxygen in the air when life appeared than Berker and Marshall had thought.

但是他们的高兴太早了。1970年,加州理工大学的R. T. Brinkman破坏了他们的好事。他重新检查了Berkner Marshall的理论,发现他们的结论是错误的。在Berkner Marshall所认为的生命开始阶段,空气中的氧气要比他们推测的多几千倍。

In an article describing the impact of Brinkman’s work, a scientist concluded: “Brinkman’s result precludes biological evolution as presently understood.”10

在一篇描写Brinkman的影响的文章中,一位科学家下结论说:“Brinkman的结论排除了现在我们所知道的生物学进化论”。

In simple English that means, “The theory of evolution, as we now understand it, won’t work.” Yet hardly an evolutionist turned a hair. Presumably they are so used to that sort of thing happening that it does not worry them any more.

用简单的话来说:“我们现在所理解的进化论不成立。”然而进化论者依然我行我素。可能是因为他们经常碰到这样的事情,所以就不再让他们感到烦恼了。

It is a pity that the layman is unable to follow the controversies in the biological journals. If he could, he would realise that the founda­tions of evolution are as firm as quicksands in a hurricane.

可惜的是,这些外行们后来没有能够参与生物学杂志上举办的这一场辩论。如果他们参加了的话,他们会认识到,进化论的理论基础就像在飓风中的流沙一样不可靠。

Fortunately, we are not entirely dependent on the technical press. Evolutionists often Write books for the general public. You only need to read a few of these with an open mind to realise the true situation.

幸运地是,我们现在并不完全依靠科技出版物。进化论者常常为公众书写一些通俗书籍。你只需要带着开放的心态阅读一些这样的读物,就会意识到真正的情况。

A popular book of this kind is The Naked Ape, by Dr. Desmond Morris.11 It is his attempt to explain in simple language what evolutionists believe about man.

Desmond Morris 写过一本通俗书,书名叫《裸体的猿人》(The Naked Ape),这本书试图用简单的语言解释进化论关于人类进化的观点。

In one chapter he poses the question in the book’s title: why are we naked? Why don’t we have hairy bodies, like our supposed ancestors?

在书中他提出一个问题:为什么我们的身体不像我们的“祖先”(作者自己假定的)那样有很多毛?

He outlines six theories which evolutionists have used to explain this.他总结了进化论者用来解释这个问题的6种理论:

(1) Because we are able to keep cleaner, and hence healthier, with our smooth skins. So the dirty, parasite-infested ape-man with his nasty hairy coat died off, while the sleek clean true-man survived.因为光滑的皮肤会能够让我们保持清洁,因此更健康。那些身上多毛的猿人不能保持卫生,最后逐渐消失,而真正的有光滑皮肤的人生存了下来。 

(2) Because Man no longer needed a fur coat when he mastered fire. It became more of a liability than an asset, so it gradually faded away.当人类学会使用火以后,他们就不再需要皮毛遮盖身体。毛对于人来说逐渐成为一种负担,因此逐步消失。

(3) All animals are more or less hairless before they are born. For some unexplained reason, Man finally decided to stay in the before-birth condition all his life.所有的动物在出生之前都或多或少地头发稀少。但是由于某些不能解释的原因,人最终决定一辈子都停留在出生以前的状态。

(4) Because the particular ape-man from which we are descended was an aquatic creature, That is to say, he spent most of his time in the water, like a seal. And who would dream of going swimming in a fur coat? 因为人类的祖先是特别的猿人,他们的大部分时间生活在水中,就像海豹一样。因此这些猿人当然不喜欢身上有很厚的毛了。

(5)  Because his bare skin formed a convenient signalling device, thus giving him an advantage over his competitors. 因为光滑的皮肤更有利于打手势,比起其他的竞争者来更有优势。

(6) Because he was originally a meat-eater, who had to catch his dinner each day. The world’s climate grew warmer, and the hairy ape-man found his coat just too much for high-performance athletics. So, more often than not, the dinner got away. The poor old hairy one starved into extinction. But because the suitably attired true-man could run like lightning, he grew fat and prospered.因为猿人最初是肉食动物,每天都要打猎。后来地球的温度越来越高,这些长发猿人认为长毛对于打猎不方便。很多时候因为长毛的影响,猎物逃走了。因此长毛猿人经常挨饿,陷于灭绝的境地。但是那些短发的人跑起来就像闪电一样快,结果他们能够生存并且繁衍起来。

Dr. Morris helpfully explains which five of these theories are Wrong, and why the one he believes in is “right”. 

Morris博士帮助我们解释,为什么有五种理论是错误的,为什么他只相信其中的一种理论是“正确”的。

You should read stuff like this occasionally. You will find it enter­taining. And it will let you see how an evolutionist’s mind works.对于这种东西你应该不经意地读。你会觉得它们非常有趣,可以让你体会到进化论者是如何思考的。

But remember as you read to keep asking yourself the sixty-four thousand dollar question:

“Is this science? Or science-fiction?”

  但是你应该问自己这样一个价值重大的问题:

“这是科学,还是科学幻想?”

 

(4)     Questions Evolution Has Not Answered进化论者没有回答的问题

 

It was pointed out in Chapter 12 that you expect to find some unsolved problems in every field of knowledge. There are some problems about the Bible that Bible-believers have not yet solved.

本书的第12章指出,每一个知识领域都存在一些没有解决的问题。圣经也有相信圣经的人暂时不能解答的问题。

The trouble with the theory of evolution is that the problems are such big ones, and there are so many of them. An article in a recent issue of New Scientist began like this:

    但是进化论所面临的是非常大的问题,而且问题还有很多。新科学家杂志(New Scientist)曾经刊登过这样一期文章:

“Though it is nearly a century since Darwin wrote his treatise On the Origin of Species, there are still a few weak points in the theory of evolution. Often evolution seems to have made huge jumps, leaving no traces of any intervening steps and no hint that anything but the complete system could have functioned at all.”1

   尽管达尔文的《物种起源》这本书出版已经接近100年,进化论作为一种理论依然存在少数的薄弱环节。这种理论通常存在巨大的跳越性,根本没有留下中间的任何痕迹,也没有暗示任何关于这种体系能够起作用的系统。”

This statement is very revealing. It shows the extent to which evolutionists have brain-washed themselves. Carefully compare the first and second sentences, and note the differences.

这份声明告诉我们很多问题。它显示出进化论者给自己洗脑的程度。请仔细比较第一句话和第二句话,注意其中的差别。

If “often” at the start of Sentence 2 is the right word (which it is) then “a few weak points” in Sentence 1 is a shocking understatement. There are a lot, not a few.

如果在第二句话中的“通常”这个词是正确的话,那么第一句话中的“少数薄弱环节”就非常难以理解。这样的“薄弱环节”有很多,不是“少数”。

But that is not all. If “evolution has made huge jumps, leaving no traces of any intervening steps and no hint that anything but the complete system could have functioned at all” are these “weak points” or tremendous obstacles?

但是这并不是全部。如果这种理论存在“巨大的跳越性”、“也没有暗示任何关于这种体系能够起作用的系统”,那么它们是“薄弱环节”还是巨大的障碍?

This is the sort of “weak point” that he was referring to. A mother whale has a most extraordinary nipple. She needs it because she feeds her babies under water. The nipple is designed to keep the sea-water out of the baby whale’s sucking mouth, while letting the mother’s milk in.

以下是他提到的“薄弱环节”中的一种:鲸鱼妈妈有着生物界最特别的奶嘴。它必须在水下喂养自己的宝宝。鲸鱼妈妈奶嘴必须在鲸鱼宝贝吸妈妈的奶的时候不让海水进来,而同时能够确保自己的婴儿能够吃上奶。

Ask an engineer to design you a whale’s feeding bottle, to do the same job. He would say, “But that will cost you thousands. It would be terribly difficult to produce such a complex mechanism. And it would be sure not to work first time. We should have to go through a long programme of trials, to get it just right.”

如果你叫一位工程师设计一个鲸鱼用的奶嘴,他可能说:“这个奶瓶可能要花费你自己的上千元。这种复杂的机器特别难以制造。并且可能在第一次不能够正常工作。我们应该经过很长时间的试用才能行。”

Yet Mrs. Whale’s nipple had to work first time. Otherwise Junior would have got a mouthful of salt water instead of milk, and whales would soon have become extinct. A half-developed whale nipple would be worse than useless. If the whale nipple evolved it must have done so in one mighty leap-from nothing, to perfection, in one go.

然而为鲸鱼太太设计的奶嘴必须一次成功,否则小鲸鱼吞进肚子的是满嘴盐水而不是奶水,鲸鱼很快就会灭绝。因此,这个奶嘴必须从没有一下子跳跃到完美。

But can anyone call such a great leap forward “evolution”? Wouldn’t “creation” be a better name for it? The whole idea of evolution depends on progress by lots of small steps, each one small enough to occur by blind chance.

谁能称这样的巨大的跳越叫做“进化”?难道“创造”这个词不比进化更适合?进化论者认为整个进化过程取决于逐步积累的许多微小步骤,每一步都非常小,而且纯粹是偶然的。

There are certainly hundreds, probably thousands, of equally complex organs that would have been of little or no use until fully formed. The little archer fish is able to shoot a jet of water several feet into the air, to bring down an insect for his supper. He is a crack shot. He should be, because he has a very special pair of eyes, quite unlike those of most fish.

生物体中至少有数百、甚至数千复杂的器官,如果不是完全成功,就没有任何的用途。弓箭鱼能够在水中向天空发射数英尺高的激流,将天空中的昆虫带到下来做自己的食物。它是很高明的射手,应该有非常特别的眼睛,和其余的鱼不一样。

Thus he possesses three things: (1) Those special eyes (2) His water pistol (3) The skill to use it. Until he had all three, the other two were no use to him. They must have come to him all three at once. How? Even now he has it, he does not really need this extra­ordinary equipment. He can survive perfectly well without it, by eating insects that happen to fall into the water. Yet evolution insists that the need for survival is the force behind all natural development!

弓箭鱼必须同时拥有3样东西:1)特别的眼睛 2)它的水枪3)它使用它们的技巧。除非它同时拥有这三样,否则另外两样都毫无用处。这种鱼怎样才能同时拥有这三种东西?即使它拥有了,它可能并不需要这些特殊的技巧。它可以吃掉进水里面的昆虫,不用这些技巧而生活得很好。

Migrating birds find their way back to their old nests, thousands of miles away. How did they develop this extraordinary skill? Biologists don’t even know how they do it, let alone how they could have evolved the ability to do it.

候鸟能够循着从前的道路回去,并且找到它们数千英里之外的旧巢。这些技能是如何能够形成的?生物学家一度还不知道它们拥有这种技能,更不用说明白这种技能是如何形成的。

Zoologists would probably disagree, saying, “Yes, we do know how they do it. They steer by the stars.”

某些动物学家可能不同意,说:“我们知道。鸟类是通过星星导航的”。

What do they mean, steer by the stars? No doubt that is part of the answer. But is it the whole story? Of course not. I should like to see a biologist find his way to one particular tree in a forest five thousand miles away, “steering by the stars”.

通过星星导航?这是什么意思?毫无疑问这不是问题的全部回答,只是一部分。我也想说,一个生物学家找到五千英里外的一颗特别的大树,“是靠星星导航的”。

Another problem badly needing an answer is that of the time scale of evolution. Development rarely goes at the right speed to suit the theory. It either takes place far too rapidly (in these enormous jumps we have just looked at) or else it goes far too slowly.

另外一个问题需要进化论者回答的是进化的时间刻度。生物的发展很少是按照这种理论的速度进行的,或者是太快(巨大的跳跃),或者是太慢。

The horse is a case in point. This animal may be a fast runner, but it has been a dreadfully slow evolver. We have a splendid “family tree” of fossils for it. The sequence starts with a little fellow called Eohippus, who is supposed to have lived about fifty million years ago, and works through a series of intermediate sizes until we get the present-day horse.

马就是一个例子。这种动物可能是一个跑步健将,但是也有可能随着进化跑步速度越来越慢。我们曾经有一幅根据化石绘制的马的“家族”图谱,最早的马名叫始祖马(Eohippus),这种马的个头特别小,有人猜测这种马生活在1500万年以前,通过这种马演变出各种中等个头的马,然后进化成今天我们马的样子。

But the world’s record for slow evolving is held by a fish called the coelacanth. Fossil remains indicate that this lived some two or three hundred million years ago. For many years scientists thought it had died out two million centuries ago. Then in 1939 a South African professor, J. L. B. Smith, discovered that specimens of this “extinct” species were still swimming happily around the Indian Ocean. Evidently with this fish evolution has stood still for two hundred million years. 

但是速度最慢的进化(变化)世界纪录是由腔棘鱼(coelacanth)保持的。腔棘鱼是一种被认为已经灭绝的鱼,直到1939年发现其仅有的一个活着的类种——非洲海水系的Latimeria chalumnae之前,仅知其以化石形式存在,而且化石表明其生活在2-3百万年以前。1939年,南非教授J. L. B. Smith发现了这种被认为是灭绝了的鱼依然生活在印度洋,证明了腔棘鱼在这2-3百万年期间其进化演变过程处于静止状态。 

As the director of Madagascar’s Institute of Scientific Research commented:

正如非洲马达加斯加国家科学技术协会的主席发表的评论说:

“Throughout hundreds of millions of years the coelacanths have kept the same form and structure. Here is one of the great mysteries of evolution….13 (The italics are mine.)

“在整个数亿年间,腔棘鱼(coelacanth)始终保持同样的身体结构。这是进化论的最神秘的地方之一”。(斜体是作者加上的。)

Now the length of time life is thought to have been on earth is in the region of a thousand million years. This cannot, of course , be anything other than the roughest of rough estimates. But let’s assume that it, and the estimated ages of Eohippus and the coelacanth, are

correct. Then what is the total length of time available for the first blob of jelly to have evolved into a man? Only five times as long as the coelacanth has been lounging around, doing nothing. Only twenty times as long as it took a small horse to evolve into a big horse. Obviously somebody has some explaining to do.

    据认为地球出现生命的时间是在数十亿年以前,当然,我们对具体的时间只能作最大概的估计,但是在这里让我们来估计,始祖马和腔棘鱼类的时代是正确的。那么,从第一个单细胞生物体进化成为一个人需要多少时间?腔棘鱼在5倍这样长的时间里其身体结构没有改变,一匹体形小马用了20倍这样的时间才进化成一匹大马。很显然必须有人解释是怎样进化的。

 

Man-A Unique Creature -独特的生物

 

Of all the “big jumps” that evolution has failed to explain, one stands out above the rest: the gap that separates man from the animals.

进化论最大的跳跃是动物如何进化到人的:因为人与动物之间存在巨大的差别。

Even that high priest of Evolution, Sir Julian Huxley, has admitted that this is so. He says:

即便是进化论的高级吹鼓手,Julian Huxley爵士也承认如此。他说:

“Only along one single line is progress and its future possibility being continued-the line of man. If man were wiped out it is in the highest degree improbable that the step to conceptual thought would again be taken even by his nearest kin. After 1,500 million years of evolution progress hangs on but a single thread. That thread is the human germ-plasm.”14 (The italics are mine.)

“人类的形成是沿着一条单一的线索不断地进步的,这条线索一直进化到人类的出现。如果人类全部灭绝的话,即使是最接近人类的动物进化成为人类的可能性几乎没有。人类15亿年的进化系于一条单一的线索,这就是人类的基因坯质”。

In other words, the appearance of man was a most unlikely event. It was so utterly improbable that it will almost certainly never happen again. The evolutionist has no idea how this highly improbable event occurred. Yet his prejudice compels him to dismiss out of hand the obvious explanation-that Divine Power might have caused it.

用另外的话来说,人类的出现是最不可能的事情。这种可能性可以说从前几乎完全没有,将来永远不会再次发生。进化论者不知道这种高度的不可能是如何发生的。然而,他的偏见迫使他排除了非常明显的事实:一种神圣的力量是造成这一切的原因。

In particular, there are three things that form an unbridgeable gulf between man and the animals:

特别是人类和动物之间存在三种本质的差别:

(a)    The power of abstract thought抽象思维的能力

(b)    Moral and religious sense道德感受和宗教领悟能力

(c)    Language语言能力

 

None of these can be explained by the evolutionary principle of “survival of the fittest”. The invention of philosophy, and logic, and higher mathematics (yes, and the theory of evolution) are the outcome of our ability to think abstractly. But they did not help our ancestors to survive.

所有这些能力按照“适者生存”的原则都解释不通。人类发明的哲学、逻辑学、高等数学(还有进化论)是人类具有抽象思维的结果,但是这些知识不会帮助人类的祖先生存下来。

Nor did the development of man’s moral sense. Jesus said, “The meek shall inherit the earth.”15 This is true if we take into account the age to come. But it does not make evolutionary sense today. By and large, trying to live up to Christ’s high moral standards is a hindrance to survival. This is particularly true of primitive societies, where “might is right” still prevails.

人类的道德也不会帮助人类的生存。耶稣说:“温柔的人有福了!因为他们必承受地土(马太福音55。在将来  神的国中情况是这样的,但是在今天不是这样的。对于那些希望按照基督的崇高道德标准生活的人来说,它是一种生存的阻碍。只有生活在原始社会的人,“胜者为王”这条原则特别行得通。

Above all, evolutionists are completely baffled by man’s ability to speak. On any sort of evolutionary theory, language should have started with, “Grrr, snarl”, and worked its way up. It should have become more and more complex as time went by.

还有,进化论者完全不能解释人类有语言能力。任何一种进化论理论都解释说,人类的语言是从简单到复杂,随着时间的流逝,将来会越来越复杂。

But the evidence points the other way. Languages nearly always grow simpler with use.

但是证据却刚好相反。语言几乎全部都是变得越来越简单。

English is a good example. It has three main parents: Latin, Anglo-Saxon, and Norman French. The earliest English we can understand is that of Chaucer’s time (about 6oo years ago). His English had a simpler grammatical structure than the parent languages. Since his day our language has become simpler still.

英语就是一个最好的例子。英语有三个来源:拉丁语、盎格鲁撒克逊语言、法语。我们能够明白的最早的英语是600年以前的乔叟(英国诗人,被认为是中世纪英国最伟大的文学家)时期,乔叟时期的语法就比他父母时代的简单,而且从此以后,英语变得越来越简单。

This tendency to grow simpler with time can be seen in many “developing” languages. Nevertheless there are thousands of different languages in the world today, many of them almost incredibly com­plex. How did they arise? Nobody can say.

这种趋势在很多“发展中”的语言中特别明显。今天世界上有数千种语言,很多语言特别复杂。这些语言是如何产生的?没有人能够解释得清楚。

Or, rather, nobody but Bible-believers can say. There is a perfectly reasonable explanation in the Bible. It fits the facts. Only prejudice prevents men from accepting it.

或者,除了那些相信圣经的人能够解释以外,没有人能够做出合理的解释,圣经中包含特别有道理的解释,它符合事实。

In the beginning, God created the first man with the power of speech. His children had only one language. Then God said:

起初, 神创造的第一个人就具有说话的能力。他的后代们使用同样的语言,后来  神说:

“Go to, let us go down, and there confound their language, that they may not understand one another’s speech. So the Lord scattered them abroad from thence upon the face of all the earth.”16

    “我们下去,在那里变乱他们的口音,使他们的言语彼此不通。」于是耶和华使他们从那里分散在全地上”。(创世记117

What is true of language applies also to the many forms of life on earth. The evolutionists have not really begun to explain how all these complex living things could have evolved on their own. Again and again they reach a point where the evidence calls for an ad­mission: “There must have been some Creative Hand behind this.” And yet they remain unwilling to admit it, not because of the facts but because of their prejudices.

在语言起源方面的原则也同样适用于地球上很多中形式生命的出现。进化论者实际上并没有真正地解释这些复杂的生命能够自己演化成为今天的样子。在他们的研究中,很多次有证据要他们承认:“在这些生命的背后一定有造物主的存在”。他们拒绝承认,不是因为事实,而是因为偏见。

Fortunately there is no need for us to wear blinkers like them. It is necessary to accept the facts of science. It is not necessary to accept the opinions of certain scientists, not even when they are palmed off as so-called facts. Genesis 1 may have suffered a thousand attacks. But it has come through them all, unscathed.

同这些人不一样,我们没有必要也带上有色眼镜。我们有必要接受科学事实,但是没有必要接受一些科学家的观点、甚至他们编造的“事实”。创世记第一章即使受到一千次攻击,但是它依然矗立,不可动摇。

As we saw in the previous chapter, Genesis 1 does not set out to tell us how God created the world and everything in it; or when He did it; or how long He took to do it. But this it does tell us, and this many a scientist believes:

从本书第21章可以看出,创世记第1章并没有告诉我们 神是如何创造世界和世界的一切所有的,也没有告诉我们什么时候这样做的。创世记告诉我们的,也是很多科学家相信的,是:

“And God said, ‘Let the earth bring forth the living creature after its kind, cattle and creeping thing and beast of the earth after its kind.’ And it was so.”17

  神说:「地要生出活物来,各从其类;牲畜、昆虫、野兽,各从其类。」事就这样成了”。(创世记124

 

23

How the Human Race Began

人类的起源

In the third chapter of the gospel of Luke there is a list of Jesus Christ’s ancestors. His descent is traced back through David, Abraham and Noah to “Seth, which was the son of Adam, which was the son of God.”1

Who was this Adam? We open our Bibles at Genesis chapter ~ and read of his creation as the very first man. We turn over to chapter 3 and read that his wife was “the mother of all living”. If our Bible is an old-fashioned edition we see the date at the top of the page:

4004 B.C.

路加福音第3章列举出了耶稣的各位祖先。他的祖先可以通过大卫、亚伯拉罕、挪亚往上一直追溯到塞特,“塞特是亚当的儿子;亚当是神的儿子”(38节)。

亚当是谁?创世记说他是  神造的第一个人。第三章告诉我们他的妻子是“众生之母”。在一些比较古老的英文圣经版本,我们可以看到这一页的顶部还标明了年代: 

公元前4004年。

Then we shake our heads. How can we possibly believe this? Wasn’t there already a flourishing civilisation in Egypt in 4004 B.C.? Were not cave men living in the south of France in ten or twenty thousand B.C.? And various kinds of shaggy ape-men, long before that?

然后我们会摇头。我们怎么会相信这种说法?公元前4004年的埃及文明不是已经很繁荣了吗?公元前1~2万年以前法国不是已经有了穴居人吗?更早以前不是已经有了各种各样的猿人吗?

This is a very real problem. It is probably the biggest, most serious problem that the Bible-believing Christian has to face. But even so, with patience and careful thought a solution can be found.

这真的是一个问题。它可能是一个相信圣经的基督徒要面临的最大、最严肃的问题。即使是这样,如果我们持小心而严肃的态度,问题的答案是可以找到的。

One thing we dare not do. We must not take the easy way out and say, “Adam was just a myth.” That way lies disaster.

有一件事情我们不敢去做。我们不能把问题轻易地抹煞掉,说:“亚当仅仅是一个传说”。这会导致灾难性的后果。

I have tried to show throughout this book that we must let the Bible speak for itself. We must not twist it, to make it mean what we think it ought to have said. We must let it make its own message clear to us.

在本书中,我们一直都在强调要让圣经自己说话。我们不能够扭曲圣经,让圣经看起来和我们所认为的一样。我们要让圣经中本来的信息对我们明了、清晰。

It is necessary to make due allowance for figures of speech in the Bible. We must not treat poetry as if it were prose or parables as if they were literal truth. We need to be very, very careful not to read the Bible as if it had been written by Englishmen; instead, we must read it in the light of the Hebrew idiom that shines through into the English translation. 

我们必须认识到圣经描写有时会采用象征性手段我们一定不要把诗歌看成是散文,或者是将比喻句看成是陈述句。我们在阅读圣经的时候必须非常仔细,不要把圣经看成是由英国人写成的;我们要根据希伯来人的语言习惯来理解圣经所翻译成的英语。

And, above all, we simply must let the New Testament provide us with the key to the Old. If we doubt what Jesus and His apostles taught about the Old Testament, we shall end up doubting them in other matters too. Our faith will then prove to be a house built on sand.

最重要的是,让新约圣经成为解释旧约的钥匙。如果我们对耶稣和耶稣的门徒关于旧约的教导表示怀疑,我们也会对其它的教导表示怀疑,我们的信心就好像是建造在沙滩上的房子一样。

So we have to begin with the question: what does the New Testament say about Adam?

我们用这个问题来开始:新约是怎样提到亚当的?

The answer is sharply defined, clear and unmistakable.

答案是非常简单的、明确无误的。

Adam was a real person. He and his wife, Eve, were the ancestors of the whole human race.

亚当是一个真实的人。亚当和他的妻子夏娃是所有人类的祖先。

Several lines of evidence lead to this conclusion. There are the words quoted from Luke’s Gospel in the first paragraph of this chapter.1 There is the way that Jesus referred to Adam and Eve. He spoke of them in the same literal way as the other historical characters of the Old Testament.2

很多证据让我们得出了这样的结论。刚才引用的路加福音就是这样认为的,耶稣提到亚当和夏娃是也是这样认为的。他采用平实的语言描述了这个人,将他和旧约中的其他人物一样看成是真实的人物。

Above all, there is the teaching of Paul. As was shown in Chapter 14, his whole teaching about sin and death and salvation had two foundation stones. One was a historical Adam, whose sin started a pattern of sinfulness that has affected all his descendants. The other was a historical Jesus, who came to save some of the sons of Adam from sin and death, and give them everlasting life.3

还有,就是保罗的教导中也将亚当看成是真实的人物。在第14章他说,关于死亡和罪的教义建立在两个基本点之上:第1个是历史上的亚当,因为他的犯罪导致了他的后裔都有犯罪的天性,第2个历史性人物是耶稣,耶稣来是为了拯救亚当的子孙脱离犯罪和死亡,并且给他们永恒的生命。

Remove one of those twin foundations and the whole structure of Christianity collapses. If Adam’s sin was a myth, then Christ’s righteousness might have been a myth, too.

这两个根基中的任何一个发生动摇,基督教的理论体系就会垮掉。如果关于亚当的犯罪仅仅是一个神话,那么无罪的基督的也可能是一个神话。

One thing is certain: Christianity-that is, real Christianity, Biblical Christianity, the Christianity of Christ and His apostles-starts with the sad, true story of events in the Garden of Eden.

有一件事情是非常明确的:基督教——这里指真正的基督教,由耶稣和他的门徒们建立起来的基督教,都将在伊甸园中所发生的故事看成是真实的、又令人悲伤的故事。

This is our starting point. Within this framework we must look for a solution to our problem.

这是我们的出发点。我们必须在这个框架之内寻找问题的答案。

A number of solutions have been suggested, but I shall not list them all. Most of them have serious snags attached. The one I shall describe is the one that seems most reasonable to me.

对于这个问题人们已经提出很多建议,我不会全部列举出来。我列举的是我个人认为是合理的答案。

It appeals to me for two reasons. First and foremost, it is based upon careful Bible exposition, and (unlike some of the other pro­posed solutions) not merely upon a superficial reading of the English text. Secondly, it makes better scientific sense than any other sugges­tion that has come my way.

我对于这个答案感兴趣有两个方面的原因:第一,也是最重要的,它建立在对圣经完全仔细理解的基础上。(与一些方法不同),它不是建立在仅仅肤浅地阅读了英语圣经之后得出的结论。第二,相对于其它我所知道的方案而言,这种方案更科学。

 

How Long Ago Was Adam?亚当的年代

 

In a way, the problem is largely an artificial one. That date, 4004 B.C., is not a part of the original Bible at all. It was put there in the seventeenth century by Archbishop Ussher, who worked out what he thought was the actual date of creation.

从很大的程度来说,这是一个人自己编造出来的问题。公元前4004年并不是圣经的开始,这是Ussher大主教公元17世纪的工作成果。他认为这一年是创世记开始。

Here and there the Bible fails to supply the exact figures the Arch­bishop needed for his calculations. So he had to make a few assump­tions. But for a long time most Bible-believers thought that he was right to within a century or two.

然而圣经并没有提供精确的数据供这位大主教来计算。因此他不得不做一些猜测。但是在以后近100-200年的时间里,大部分的圣经信仰者认为他是对的。

Many Bible-believers still think so. And this is at the root of our problem. Because it was shown more than eighty years ago that the Archbishop was probably wrong, not by hundreds but by thousands of years.

很多相信圣经人至今也这样认为。但是这正是问题的根源。大约在80多年以前,就有一些证据显示这位主教可能是错误的,而且误差的时间不是几百年,而是几千年。

This was clearly demonstrated by a Bible-believing scholar, W. H.Green.4 His discoveries were taken up and amplified by Urquhart, in a book crammed with first-class Biblical exposition.5 Summaries of these ideas can be found in several more recent books.6

    W. H.Green是一位信仰圣经的学者,他非常明确地指出了这位主教的错误。他的发现被Urquhart所吸收,后者在一本书中进行了详细地解释。他的观点在很多最近出版的书中也有介绍。

These Bible students stressed what has been said repeatedly in this book: the Bible was written by Hebrews, who looked at things differ­ently from ourselves. They certainly did not write history in quite the same way as western historians. They knew what they meant, and so did their original readers, but we can easily reach wrong con­clusions if we read Hebrew history wearing European spectacles. 

这些圣经学生多次反复强调这本书的一些特点:圣经旧约是由希伯来人用希伯来文写成的,与我们自己的表达方式有很大的不同。在描写历史的时候和当今西方的历史学家肯定不一样。他们知道自己的意思,那些希伯来读者也能够明白,但是如果我们用欧洲人的眼睛来看待希伯来历史,就会很容易得出错误的结论。

For example, when Hebrew writers gave a genealogy (that is, a family tree) they would sometimes-perhaps quite often-skip a generation or two. In Matthew’s account of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, it says that “Joram begat Uzziah”.7 Yet Joram was actually the great-great-grandfather of Uzziah, as the Old Testament shows. Matthew deliberately skips over a very black period in Jewish history.

例如,希伯来人写家谱的时候,常常跳过了一两代人。马太福音在记载耶稣的家谱的时候,说“约兰生乌西亚”,(马太福音18)但是约兰实际上是乌西亚的曾曾祖父,我们从圣经旧约的历史书中可以看出来。马太故意地跳过了犹太人历史上的一段非常黑暗时期。

In the same passage Matthew says there were fourteen generations from the carrying away into Babylon to Christ.8 Yet, as we would count generations, there are only thirteen in Matthew’s list.9 There are, however, fourteen names; perhaps Matthew reached his total by counting both Mary, the mother, and Joseph, the step-father, of Jesus.

同样在这一段中,马太说,从巴比伦到基督是十四代,然而,如果我们数一下,只能发现13代。然而有14个名字。可能马太的名单中既包括了马利亚,耶稣的母亲,也包括约瑟,耶稣的养父。

Thus when Matthew speaks of “generations” he evidently means, “officially reckonable generations”-not actual generations, as we would regard them. Those men whose names were worthy of inclusion went in; those whose names were deemed unsuitable were left out. Sometimes the reason for these omissions is apparent, sometimes not.

因此,当马太说起这些“代”的时候,他实际上是说,“被正式承认的一代”,而不是我们通常认为的实际有多少代人,这些人的名字值得放在家谱中。而那些不值得放在家谱中的人的名字被忽略了。有的时候,这种省略是很明显的,有的时候不是。

The Book of Ezra provides us with another example. In quoting his own genealogy, Ezra lists sixteen generations between himself and Aaron.10 This covers a period of about a thousand years. Obviously Ezra, too, is concerned only with the “officially reckonable” names. 

在以斯拉记中我们也可以找到这样的例子。在引证自己的家谱的时候,以斯拉列出从亚伦到自己的16代人。从亚伦到以斯拉的时间大约有1000年,很明显,以斯拉涉及的人物也只是包括“正式承认的”的人名。

Thus we must not regard a Biblical genealogy as a complete record, but as a highly selective one. We can sometimes learn lessons by noting what is left out, and what is kept in. 

因此,我们一定不要认为圣经中的家谱是完整的记录,而是经过高度选择的。我们可以从这些选择中学会一些教训。

There are signs that the genealogies in the early part of Genesis are selective, too. Genesis says: “Arphaxad lived five and thirty years, and begat (the father of) Sala.”11 The words in brackets are not in Genesis, but they appear to bring out the literal truth of the situation. For we learn from the New Testament that Arphaxad was the grand­father of Sala.12

有证据显示,创世记早期的家谱是经过选择性的。创世记说:“亚法撒活到三十五岁,生了沙拉”(创世记1112。但是实际情况是“亚法撒活到三十五岁,生了沙拉(的父亲)”。我们从新约圣经来看,亚法撒是沙拉的祖父。(路加福音336说:沙拉是该南的儿子;该南是亚法撒的儿子)。创世记实际意思是:“亚法撒活到三十五岁,生了沙拉的父亲”。

Evidently Cainan, the father of Sala, was not fit to be included in the “reckonable genealogy”. This would explain why his name was left out of the Hebrew text of Genesis, although the Jews knew of his existence, because they included him in their Greek translation of Genesis. How many other generations are missed out of the early chapters of the Old Testament? We have no way of telling.

很显然,该南是沙拉的父亲,他被认为不适合包括在“被认可的家谱”中,这就解释了为什么他的名字从希伯来文的创世记中删除,尽管犹太人知道他的存在。因为他的名字出现在创世记的希腊翻译版本中。还有其他多少代人的名字没有记录在创世记中呢?我们无法知道。

This is not the only problem in trying to “date” Adam. The Hebrews had a habit of listing the most important son in a family first, not the eldest.

然而这还不是“测定”亚当“年代”的唯一困难。希伯来人习惯于将最重要的儿子摆在一个家庭的最前面,而不是长子。

For example, Genesis says that, “Terah lived seventy years and begat Abram, Nahor, and Haran.”13 But by comparing several Bible passages14 and doing a little arithmetic, we discover that Terah was at least 130 when Abram was born. So the passage quoted above apparently means: “Terah lived seventy years and begat the first of his sons, of whom Abram (though not the first) is the most important.”

例如,创世记1126说:“他拉活到七十岁,生了亚伯兰、拿鹤、哈兰。”但是我们比较一下圣经的各个段落并计算,我们发现当亚伯兰出生的时候,他拉已经至少130岁了。因此,这一段经文实际上是说:“他拉在70岁的时候有了第一个儿子,而亚伯拉罕(尽管不是长子)是最重要的儿子”。

Similar reasoning15 leads to the conclusion that Genesis ii, verse 10, quotes the age of Shem when his eldest son was born, but gives the name of the most important son, instead of the (presumably un­worthy) eldest son.

同样类似的原因,创世记210告诉我们当这个家庭长子出生时闪的年龄,但是将最重要的儿子的姓名列举出来,而不是长子的姓名。

Consequently we cannot possibly date the Flood, or the Garden of Eden, from genealogies in Genesis. They were not given us for this purpose. The Biblical evidence shows that they were typical Hebrew genealogies, not exhaustive lists like those a European historian would compile.

因此,我们无法从创世记所记载的家谱中得知大洪水的年代,或者是伊甸园的年代。圣经没有告诉我们。我们从一些圣经中可以找到证据,这些家谱是典型的希伯来家谱,与欧洲人编辑的家谱包含全部的人有所不同。

They give only the names of the “reckonable” men. Instead of naming the literal firstborn sons, they name the “reckonable” first­born.16 We can learn moral lessons from this sort of genealogy; that is why the Hebrews kept them. But one thing we cannot do is to build up a calendar of early Old Testament history.

这些名字仅仅包括一些“被认可”的人。而在在写出长子的名字的时候,他们不是列举的真正的长子,而是那些佩得上作长子的人。我们可以通过一系列家谱中的记载明白这一点。所以希伯来人保留了它们。但是我们不能因此建立一个早期历史的时间表。

So now we can answer the question: how long ago was Adam? The answer is that we do not know. The Bible does not tell us.

因此,现在要我们回答这个问题:亚当是多少年以前的人?我们只能回答不知道。因为圣经没有告诉我们。

 

How Good is Modern Anthropology”? 现代人类学的工作有多好

 

Anthropology is the name of a branch of science. It is concerned with the study of Man. The branch of it which is concerned with pre­historic Man is called palaeoanthropology. This is the branch we are concerned with here. To avoid using such an awful mouthful writers often just call it anthropology.

人类学是科学的一个分支,范围涉及到对人的研究。人类学有一个分支机构,专门研究史前人类,被称为古人类学。有的时候为了方便,也称为人类学。

Most anthropologists put on a charming front when they face the general public. To read their popular books you would think they knew a great deal about the origins of mankind.

在面对普通公众的时候,大部分的人类学家有着迷人的面孔。阅读他们写的通俗书之后,你以为他们一定知道很多关于人类起源的知识。

But if you go behind the scenes and see what they say to each other, a very different picture emerges. An eminent anthropologist, F. Bordes, the Professor of Pleistocene Geology and Prehistory at Bor­deaux University in France, published a long letter in a scientific journal in 1969. 

但是如果你走到舞台的后面,就会看到不同的情景。F. Bordes是一位著名的人类学家,也是法国一所大学的教授,1969他在一份著名的科学杂志上发表长篇文章。

Here are a few extracts.

以下是这篇文章的相关事实的摘录:

“If some of them [English and American anthropologists] con­sider the European thought to be ‘musty’, we Europeans consider their theories as good as science-fiction, entertaining, but not always true....

 “I agree we need a sound theoretical framework, but only if it is not contrary to facts. Facts about European prehistory are the weak point of Anglo-Saxon anthropologists....

“I am rewriting my course on human palaeontology [the study of fossil Man] which will be very different from what it was last year. Now that I have seen new facts, not theories.”17

“如果某些英美人类学家认为欧洲大陆的思想是“陈腐的”,我们欧洲大陆的人类学家则认为他们的理论就像是科幻小说一样有趣,但并不一直是正确的。

  我同意我们需要建立一个能够站立的住的理论框架,和事实不能够矛盾。对于盎格鲁撒克逊人来说,有关史前的事实是英美人类学家理论的薄弱点。

我现在正在编写的人类学教科书与去年相比较将有很大不同。现在我看到了新的事实,而不是理论。”

  

Not very encouraging reading for the student about to go to uni­versity to study anthropology. He had better choose his college care­fully, to avoid being taught what another college calls “science fiction”. And whatever college he chooses, next year’s course may be entirely different from last year’s! 

 对于那些准备学习人类学的大学新生来说,这可不是能够令人鼓舞的消息,他最好仔细地选择自己的专业,避免在大学期间学到的是一些“科幻小说”。不管他选择哪一所学院,明年的课程与上一年的完全不同!

And this is not such an overstatement as it sounds. Modern anthro­pology is full of changing, controversial theories. It has to be, because our actual knowledge about ancient man is woefully incomplete. Just how incomplete it is can be seen by comparing the two pictures of Zinjanthropus facing page 217.

这可不是夸大其词的描写。现代人类学充满了变化,有很多相互对立的理论。过去不得不是这样,因为我们实际上对于史前人类的知识非常不完全。通过比较一些东非原始人的照片就可以得出结论。

Zinjanthropus is the name given by Dr. L. S. B. Leakey to a fossil he found in Olduvai Gorge, Kenya. Scientists are still arguing whether he was one of our ancestors or not.

东非猿人化石(ZinjanthropusL. S. B. Leakey博士在东非肯尼亚的Olduvai 峡谷发现并且命名的,科学家至今依然在争论这些东非人是否为人类的祖先。

What did old Zinjy look like? A kind-hearted professor in need of a shave, as Dr. Leakey’s picture suggests? Or a savage ape on the warpath, as would appear from Dr. Oakley’s picture? Nobody knows.

这些东非猿人看起来象什么?是像Leakey’s博士描绘的那样,像一个善良的长头发的教授,还是像Oakley教授的图画所描绘的那样是一个好斗的野蛮人?没有人知道。

The scientists seem to think that there is no harm is guessing. Neither would there be, if only they made it plain to the general public that they were guessing. Unfortunately the popular press and the broadcasting media seem to have convinced the general public that the anthropologists know most of the answers. And this is so mis­leading that it verges on deceit. 

科学家似乎认为猜测是无害的。如果他们让大众知道他们仅仅是在猜测的话,确实没有什么坏处。可是大众传媒和广播似乎在让公众相信,这些人类学家知道最好的答案。这就是误导,这种误导已经站在了欺骗的边缘。

In fact, anthropology is about the most dubious branch of science there is. Anthropologists were warned of this not long ago by one of themselves, Dr. Bernard G. Campbell. Although accepting evolu­tion, Dr. Campbell was clearly unhappy about the state anthropology was in.

事实上,人类学是科学领域可信性最差的分支之一。他们自己,例如 Bernard G. Campbell博士就曾经提出这样的警告,他本人就对于人类学的现状非常不满意。

His paper, “Science and Human Evolution”, was published in Nature, which is one of the most important scientific journals in the world.

他的论文“科学与人类的进化”曾经在自然(Nature)杂志出版,这是世界最重要的科学杂志之一。

He declared that anthropologists have frequently behaved in a most unscientific way. Prejudice has often led them to reach false con­clusions, and human vanity has also sometimes led them astray. He concluded with a stirring appeal to his fellow anthropologists to behave more scientifically in future.

Here are just a few of his pointed remarks.

他宣称,人类学家通常用一种不科学的方式在工作。而且偏见常常使他们不能得出正确的结论。而且在这个方面的空白常常使他们走错路。他呼吁他的同行将来要采取更加科学的方法。

下面就是他的评论的一些要点:

“Even in other fields of scientific research the investigator is subject to a host of prejudices. - . . How much more serious this problem is in anthropological research, when man investigates himself. –

“即使在科学研究的其它领域,调查者也受到偏见的影响…..但人类学家调查人类自己,就会知道问题是多么更加严重。

“Aberration resulting from the subjectivity of observation may be so serious as to render interpretation of fossil data of no value to science. [He illustrated this accusation by the two pictures of Zinjanthropus, reproduced in this book facing page 217.]

   由于观察的主观性导致的失常可能  对于化石的解释没有科学价值。(他通过两张想象的东非猿人的照片之间存在巨大的差别为例子来证明他的结论。)

“An understanding and strict use of scientific method may help us to avoid some of the problems which arise in palaeoanthropology…­ Since improvement in method, and better presentation of observation and hypothesis are open to palaeoanthropologists, it would be the height of folly to ignore them.”18

  “理解并且严格地使用科学方法可能帮助我们避免一些在古人类学方面的问题…...既然更先进的方法、更好的观察手段对古人类学都是公开的,忽视它们将是一件很愚蠢的。

In 1972 a scientific textbook was published, called The Origin of Homo Sapiens. It contained papers by a number of leading anthro­pologists. What they wrote is so full of uncertainty that a scientist reviewing the book said:

1972年,一本科学教科书出版,书名是《原始人的起源》(The Origin of Homo Sapiens)。这本书包括很多顶尖的人类学家的文章,充满了很多不确定性,正如一位科学家在评论这本书的时候说:

“Perhaps it is good to have on record that we still don’t know what modern man is, still less where he came from.”19

   “可能我们最好应该记录下来:我们依然不知道现代人是什么,他们是从那里来的”。

 

Dating the Past测定过去的年代

 

Most laymen are aware that scientists have various methods of estimating the age of fossils. But they are usually unaware of the real facts about these scientific methods.

大部分外行都知道科学家有很多测定年代的手段。但是他们对于这一种科学方法的一些真实事实并不了解。

Popular science writers are largely to blame for this, because of the glib way they speak of ancient dates. The following statement is a typical example. It occurred in a popular magazine article.

   科普作家应该对此负主要责任,因为他们不能没有严格地应用科学数字。下面就是一个典型的例子,这篇文章出现在一份受欢迎的科普杂志上:

“Ash deposits in Chinese caves indicate that fire had been tamed as early as 360,000 years ago.”20

    “在中国的一些洞穴种发现的灰烬表明人类在360000年以前已经能够使用火。”

That figure of 360,000 years creates a completely false impression. If you asked a man, “How long is this garden?” and he replied, “About a quarter of a mile,” you would know that he was only making a rough estimate. But if he replied, “360 yards,” you would assume that he really knew the true length, to within a few yards.

然而,36万年这个数字给读者带来了完全虚假的印象。如果你问一个人:“这所花园有多长?”他回答说:“大约1/4英里,”你可能知道他只是做一个初步的估计。然而,如果他回答说,“360码,”你就可以估计他知道比较精确的数据,误差在几码之内。

Similarly, when popular writers quote figures like “360,000 years”, the public unconsciously assumes that the date is known quite accurately. But scientists know that this is not so. Many methods of dating the remote past are in use, and ever)’ one of them has disadvantages.

类似地,如果当一个科普作家引用“360000年”这样的数据,公众会无意识地假定这个数据是已知的、很确切地。但是科学家知道不是这样。有很多种测定物体年代的方法,但是每一种方法都有自己的缺陷。

Several of the methods make use of the traces of radioactive elements which are present in rocks and fossils. Radioactive elements change their nature slowly, in a remarkably steady fashion. They can be likened to clocks that have been running down for some time.

有多种方法用来跟踪存在于岩石和化石中放射性元素的痕迹。放射性元素改变能够非常稳定地慢慢地改变他们的特性,就像时钟过了一段时间以后会变慢一样。

By studying just how far “run down” they are, scientists can calculate how long it must be since they were first “wound up”.

通过研究它们变得有多慢,科学家就能够计算出从他们最初“上发条”( wound up)以后的时间。

Scientists using these methods, however, find that all is not plain sailing. They can never be quite sure how much radioactive material was present in the beginning. Another problem is that some foreign matter may have soaked in to contaminate the specimen. In other words, they never know whether the “clock” was “fully wound up” in the first place, or whether it has been given a few extra “winds” in the meantime.

不管怎样说,科学家通过采用这些手段的时候,发现事情不会很顺利,因为他们永远不能确定物质开始的时候有多少放射性物质,另外一个问题是,有些外来物质会污染样本。用另外的话来说,他们永远不会知道“时钟”是“完全上满了发条”,还是同时有另外的“发条”。

Because of the uncertainties involved in all methods of dating, a large number of dates that were accepted a few years ago are now regarded as highly dubious. Scientific journals bristle with papers pointing out mistakes that have been made in this field.

正是因为这些不确定性,很多在过去被看成是确定的数据现在看起来是值得怀疑的。一些科学杂志曾经多次指出在这个方面所犯的错误:

The most popular method for estimating “recent” dates (within the past few thousand years) is called the radiocarbon method. It has taken many years of research to develop this method to a point where it can be relied upon to give accurate results.估计物体“最近”年代最普遍的方法是炭-12法。研究人员花费了很长的时间形成这种方法,并且指出,这种方法的结果非常可靠。

This has been possible only because scientists were able to check their results experimentally, on objects whose age was known for certain. For example, historical records tell us that the volcano, Vesuvius, erupted suddenly in A.D. 79 and buried two Roman cities, Pompeii and Herculaneum. Consequently we know the exact age of the food left on the tables in those buried cities.这种方法只有在科学家能够检查样本结果的时候才有可能。例如,历史告诉我们意大利维苏威山火山突然爆发的时间为公元79年,两座罗马城市(包括庞培)被埋葬在火山灰以下,因此我们知道留在餐桌上的食物的时间。

By checking their answers on such objects, radiocarbon workers were able to tell where they had gone wrong. And they often did go wrong. As recently as 1965 two experts in this field could write:

将测定的结果与实际年代对照,科学家能够知道测定结果是否错误。他们经常犯错误。正如在1965年,两位从事这方面工作的专家写道:

“Most laboratories are in agreement that, wherever possible, bone should not be used for radiocarbon dating.... In conclusion, it can be seen that the majority of radiocarbon dates on bone are in error.” 21

“大部分从事试验的人都认为尽量不要测定骨头的年代。大多数使用骨头测定的数据都有错误”。

For technical reasons the radiocarbon method cannot be applied to very ancient objects. The present limit of its usefulness is a very few tens of thousands of years. Beyond that, we are forced to rely on other methods that have not been developed to the same pitch of accuracy as the radiocarbon method.

由于技术上的原因,碳测定法不能应用到非常古老的物体。在今天这个局限使得这种方法在测定几万年前的物体的年代时没有用处。除此之外,我们不得不依赖其它的方法,这种方法没有放射性碳那么精确。 

Moreover, we can only check the accuracy of methods of dating the past over a limited period. Beyond about 3,000 years ago there are no objects whose age is known with anything like certainty. Beyond about 5,000 years ago all we can do is to check one method of estimating with another, and hope for the best.

而且,我们只能够测定在某些年代之内的时间,超过3000年的物体我们无法知道确定的年代是否准确,而对于超过5000年的物体,我们只能够通过不同方法的估计结果,希望能够得到最好的结果。

Scientists are all well aware of these reasons for treating very ancient dates as only rough estimates. But there is a much more serious objec­tion to relying on these ancient dates, which many scientists deliber­ately ignore.科学家都知道这些原因,将非常古老年代的数据看成是大约的估计。但是,有很多   更加严肃的   ,而很多科学家却故意地忽视了:

Every method depends upon what is called “the principle of unifor­mitarianism”. In simple terms, “uniformity” means assuming that the same conditions have existed and the same natural laws have operated all along. In other words, that the atomic “clocks”, and the geological “clocks”, have always ticked away at the same steady rate.

   这里说的每一种方法都建立在一种被称为“地质均变说的原则”的基础上, “地质均变说” 简单地讲,就是假定同样的条件会一直存在,同样的自然法则会永远运行。也就是说,原子的“时钟”、地质学的“时钟”,永远按照同样的速度稳定地运行。

This amounts to an assumption that God does not exist, or at least that He has left the world alone. It is obvious that if the Creator has been at work there has not been “uniformity”, and that all scientific methods of dating the remote past are based upon a false foundation.

这些原则都存在一个假定,就是  神不存在,或至少  神不干涉世界的运行。很明显,如果造物主在工作,就不会有所谓的“地质均变说”,所有这些科学的方法的基础就是错误的。

This means that many scientists are making an elementary mistake. They begin by assuming “uniformity”, and hence by assuming that the Creator has not been at work. From this assumption they work out a method of dating very ancient fossils. Then they use these dates as part of an argument to “prove” that Genesis is wrong, and that there has been no Creator at work.

这就意味着很多科学家犯了根本性的错误。他们以“地质均变说”为基础,假定造物主不存在或没有进行创造,从这个假设出发,他们用这些数据来“证明”圣经创世记的记载是错误的。

Thus they go right round in a circle, and end up where they started. They have to start by assuming “no creative activity”, in order to end up by concluding “no Creator acting”.

因此,他们在循环论证,结束时又回到自己开始的地方。他们从假定“没有造物主的创造”出发,是为了证明“没有造物主”的结论。

 

 

Closing the Gap如何弥补缺口?

 

We have now noted two very important facts. First, the Bible does not give us enough information to enable us to say when Adam lived. Secondly, there is so much guesswork involved in anthropology that the conclusions drawn by anthropologists must be treated with great caution.

我们注意非常重要的两个方面的事实。首先,圣经确实没有给出足够的信息让我们知道亚当生活的年代,其次,我们必须对一些人类学家在人类起源方面所作的很多猜测表示警惕。

These two facts help to close the gap between the Bible and scientific knowledge.

这两方面的事实有助于我们弥补圣经与科学知识的隔阂。

If Adam really lived as much as ten or twelve thousand years ago, this would place him before the earliest civilisations known to arch­aeology. The history of fully civilised man did not begin until much later. When the uncertainties attached to scientific methods of esti­mating ancient dates are allowed for, there is no difficulty in regard­ing even the half-civilised men of the Neolithic period (the New Stone Age) as the descendants of Adam.

如果亚当真的生活在10000或者是12000年以前,那么亚当必定生活在人类考古学已知的任何文明之前。人类文明的历史确实是在后来很久才产生。如果在研究古代历史的年代的科学研究中允许出现估计的话,那么我们可以毫不费力地认为新石器时代的半文明人类就是亚当的后裔。

But what about early prehistoric man? Scientists may not have a clue what Zinjanthropus really looked like, but it is difficult to deny that the hairy gentleman may have lived long before Adam.

但是如何看待那些在有人类历史之前出现的人?科学家可能已经找到了东非原始人的相貌,但是我们很难否定这些长发绅士可能生活的年代远比亚当早。

The real question, however, is not whether Zinjy and all the other early prehistoric “men” existed before Adam, but whether they were men in the Biblical sense of the word.

问题的本质不在于史前 “猿人”是否在亚当之前就存在,而在于这些 “猿人”是不是圣经字面意义上的人。

A great deal of confusion has occurred because people have not realised that the word “man” has been defined in two different ways. Anthropologists define it in one way, the Bible in another.

造成混乱的原因在于,人们没有意识到人们使用的“人”这个词与圣经意义上的人是不同的概念。人类学家使用的是一种概念,而圣经采用的是另外一种概念。

Dr. Leakey, the discoverer of our old friend Zinjy, has said that anthropologists define man like this:

   Leakey博士是东非猿人的发现者,他说,人类学定义的人的概念是:

 

“To qualify as man there must be reasonably good evidence suggesting that the creature probably made tools to a set and regular pattern. 22

“有资格被称为人,必须有好的证据能够暗示这种生物可能会制造使用工具,并且已经形成一定的规范”。

Notice those cautious words, “reasonably good evidence”, “suggest­ing”, and “probably”. The classification is evidently based upon what the scientist thinks, not what he knows. He defines as man any creature that he thinks used tools.

请注意这些词:“好的证据”,“可能”以及“暗示”,这种划分是科学家自己认为的,而不是他所“知道”的。他将能够使用工具的动物定义为人。

Now compare with this the Bible’s definition: “So God created man in His own image, in the image of God created He him.”23

现在我们来比较圣经的概念:“  神就照著自己的形像造人,乃是照著他的形像造男造女。”(创世记127

In this one verse the Bible gives its definition of man twice over, because it is such an important definition. Man is a creature in God’s own image.

在这一句经文中,圣经两次强调了人是按照  神的形象创造的。因为这是一个非常重要的定义。

It is clear from the way the New Testament quotes this verse that the word “image” refers to God’s moral character, rather than His physical shape.24

在新约圣经中,当引用这句经文的时候,“形像”代表  神的品德,而不是他的身体形象。

In modern English, therefore, the Bible’s definition of man amounts to this: man is a creature capable of serving God.

在现代英语中,圣经人的概念应该是:人是能够服事  神的生物。

The difference between these two definitions is most important. When anthropologists speak of man, and when the Bible speaks of man, they are not necessarily speaking of the same thing.

这两种之间的差别是非常重要的。人类学家谈论人的时候,当圣经谈论人的时候,他们在说不同的事情。

The ability to make crude tools, or even to light fires and cook food, is evidence of intelligence. But it is not evidence of the ability to serve God. And this-not mere brain power-is what distinguishes man from the lesser animals, according to the Bible.

而能够使用工具,甚至能够生火、烹饪食物,这是智力发展的证据,并不是服事 神的能力。根据圣经也不是区分人和低等动物的区别。

There is no proof that early prehistoric “man” had this ability to serve God. Consequently he can be regarded, from the Biblical stand­point, as merely a highly intelligent animal.

没有证据表明,史前人有服事  神的能力,按照圣经的观点,它们仅仅是一种高智商的动物。

Moreover, there is no proof that the human race is descended from any of these early prehistoric “men”. Anthropologists assert that we are descended from some of these prehistoric “men”, which they classify under “Homo sapiens” (a term which includes ourselves) and earlier species of Homo.

而且,没有证据表明,人类是任何一种史前“人”的后代。有些人类学家声称我们是某些史前“人”的后代,他们将这些猿人定义为“Homo sapiens”(类人猿)。

But we must remember that this is only an opinion. And anthro­pologists’ opinions are constantly changing. Not so long ago they thought we were descended from a shaggy creature they called “Nean­derthal man”. Then they came to regard “Neanderthal man” as an evolutionary dead-end, an extinct creature with no direct links to the human race.

但是我们必须清楚地认识到,这仅仅是一种观点。而且人类学家的观点经常变化。不久以前,他们认为人类的祖先是尼安德特人“Neanderthal man”(一种穴居人),后来他们又认为“尼安德特人”已经灭绝,与人类没有任何关系。

And that is how a large number of Bible-believing scientists regard early prehistoric “man” in general: as a collection of intelligent two-legged animals, long since extinct. This view has recently received powerful support from an unexpected quarter, by the discovery that there are tool-using animals alive today. Dr. Jane Goodall has found that chimpanzees in the wild state regularly use simple tools.25

这也是很多相信圣经的人对早期的史前人的看法:它们是有智慧的能够直立行走的动物,已经灭绝了很长时间。今天依然有能够使用工具的动物。Jane Goodall博士曾经在野外环境下发现非洲黑猩猩能够使用简单的工具。

Some of the views about prehistoric “man” expressed in this chapter may not agree with current scientific opinions. But they do not clash with any known scientific facts. And they do not disagree with any­thing the Bible tells us, either.

本文中部分关于史前“人”的观点可能与流行的科学观点不同,但是并不与任何已知的科学事实像矛盾,也不与圣经中告诉我们的任何事实像冲突。

The Bible’s teaching about the origin of mankind is beautiful in its simplicity. By a special creative act God made the first man and woman, after He had made all the rest of creation. From these two the whole human race is descended.

圣经关于人类起源的教导既美丽,也简单。通过特别的创造, 神造了世界上最早的两个人,所有的人都是这两个人的后裔。

This explanation satisfied men and women three thousand years ago. It is still eminently sensible today. It can stand up to the critical scrutiny of our scientific age.

这种三千年以前的解释让人们知道人类的起源,在今天依然不通寻常。在我们今天这个用科学的眼光挑剔一切的年代,依然能够站立。

How can this be? Every other ancient account of creation and the origin of life reads like childish nonsense in the modern world. Why is the Bible so different?

There is an obvious answer.

The Bible is the inspired Word of God.

这如何解释?除了圣经之外,其它任何关于创造和生命起源的记载在现代社会你看来,充满了幼稚的荒谬,为什么圣经会如此不同?

有一种明显的答案。

那就是:圣经是  神所启示的,是 神的话语。

24

The Problem of Suffering

关于痛苦的问题

If there is a loving God, why does He stand back and do nothing while the world is full of suffering?

如果  神就是爱,为什么在世界充满苦难的时候他不出现?

This is a very big problem to many people. Some of them say they will never be able to believe in God or the Bible until they find an answer to this question.

对于很多人来说,这真的是一个很大的问题。有些人说,他们在找到这个问题的答案之前不会信仰  神。

I know how they feel about it. The problem of suffering used to worry me too at one time. But that was before I knew Marjorie.

我知道他们的感受。因为有关受苦受难的问题曾经也一度困扰着我。但是这些都是在我认识马乔里(Marjorie)以前。

When I first met her she had spent the previous five years of her life in one small room, on the top floor of a dismal tenement block in a northern city. Laid low by a painful and crippling ailment, she hardly ever moved outside her tiny home. But although she is never wholly free from pain, Marjorie is one of the few people who never wonder why God allows suffering. Her constant companion is the Bible; and she helped me to see that the Bible holds the key to the problem of suffering.

当我第一次遇见她的时候,她已经在一个房顶的一间昏暗的出租房住了好几年。由于疼痛,加上腿疾病,她很少走出那间小屋。尽管疼痛从来没有完全离开她,马乔里却是少数几个不曾怀疑为什么  神会允许受苦的人之一。圣经是陪伴她时间最长的伙伴,并且,是她帮助我明白了:圣经中就包含有关受苦这个问题的答案。

The solution is not a simple one. It is bound up with the whole history of the human race. Part of the answer lies in the distant past. Another part belongs to the present day. And part of it is concerned with the future, with the world of tomorrow.

这个答案不是很简单。因为它和人类的整个历史联系在一起。其中的一部分在遥远的过去。答案还有一部分属于现在,而另一部分和将来联系在一起,和世界的明天联系在一起。

After we have looked at each of these three aspects-the past, the present and the future-we shall, like Marjorie, begin to understand why people have to suffer.

我们在看答案的三个方面——过去、现在和将来以后,就像马乔里(Marjorie)一样,我们就能够明白为什么人类会受苦。

 

Long Ago很久以前

 

The story of human suffering begins in the Garden of Eden. As we saw in the previous chapter, there is good reason to believe that Adam and Eve were real people, although they must have lived a very long time ago. There is only one way to understand their story. Take a Bible and read the first three chapters of Genesis for yourself.

人类的苦难经历要从伊甸园开始。前面一章告诉我们,亚当和夏娃是真实的人物,尽管他们生活在远古年代。这是唯一能够理解他们故事的方法。请你打开圣经,阅读创世记的前3章。

It may surprise you to discover that some common beliefs about the Garden of Eden are not in the Bible at all. For instance, you will find that man’s first sin was not connected with an apple, and had nothing to do with sex.

你可能会觉得很奇怪,普通人相信的一些与伊甸园相关的故事并不在圣经中。例如,亚当的第一次犯罪和苹果没有任何联系,而且和性无关。

Instead, you will find a simple account of how the first man was given freedom of action, and a chance to use his freedom wisely. He lived in a world described as “very good”, and he had the chance to live a very pleasant life. But poor Adam misused his opportunity: he chose to disobey God. Through this choice he started a sort of habit, the habit of sinning, which has gripped the human race like a python ever since.

相反,在圣经简单的记载中,你会发现  神是如何给这个最早的人行动自由的,给他明智使用自由的机会。他生活的伊甸园被称为“非常好”,并且他有机会生活的非常愉快。可怜的亚当却错过了机会。他选择了违背  神。他的选择使他从此有了犯罪的习惯,而且从此以后的整个人类都就像着魔一样染上了这种犯罪习惯。

Their Maker told the first human pair that two tragic consequences would follow from their sin. First, that they and their children would experience “sorrow”-which in modern English we would call “suffering”.1 And secondly, that they must suffer death-the greatest and most final form of suffering there is. 2

造物主宣判说,犯罪会给他们带来两种后果,第一,他们和他们的后代要终身劳累,用现在的话来说就是要经历“痛苦”,其次,他们肯定会死——这是最大的也是最终的受苦。

So Genesis tells us how suffering came into the world, when the first man chose to disobey God. Because we are Adam’s children we inherit his sinful tendencies. And so we too must suffer, and we too must die.

创世记就是这样告诉我们苦难是如何进入世界的,是从第一个人违背  神的旨意之后开始的。我们都是亚当的后裔,我们继承了祖先的犯罪天性,因此我们也必须受苦,也必须死亡。

But this only leads to another question. Since God is infinitely wise,

He must have known from the beginning what was going to happen.

Why then did He give mankind so much freedom in the first place?

Why did He not make us so that we could not possibly sin? Why

doesn’t God stop us from doing harm, and making each other suffer? There is a surprisingly simple answer to this. The Bible tells us that “God is love”.3 Because of this, love matters more than anything else in the world. God’s main aim in creating men and women was to let them enjoy His love, and to give them the opportunity to return it.

但是这会让我们提出另一个问题:既然  神有无限智慧,他一开始就知道什么事情会发生,为什么还要给人类自由?为什么在创造我们的时候就不让我们有犯罪的天性,让人类不能犯罪?问题的答案非常简单,而且出乎我们的意料:圣经告诉我们“  神就是爱”。(约翰1书)因此,爱就比世界上的其它任何东西更重要。  神造人的主要目的是让人享受  神的爱,然后给他们报答的机会。

For this reason God simply had to provide us with what is usually called a free will. For by its very nature, love is a voluntary thing. Even God’s almighty power cannot make men and women love Him.

因此, 神只是简单地给我们行动的自由,我们通常称呼这种自由叫自由意愿(free will)。因为从本质上来讲,爱是一种心甘情愿的事情。即使是  神是全能的,也不能强迫让世人都爱他。

If this puzzles you, think of the classic picture of the caveman. He provides an example of what power can and cannot do. The caveman can seize his bride by the hair and drag her away captive. He can compel her to stay and be his wife. But he cannot force her to love him.

如果这个问题让你感到困惑,思考一下穴居人生活的典型情节。野蛮人可以拉着一个女人的头发,强迫她和他结婚,他能够强行地占有她,但是不能强迫她爱他。

Many of us will know from our own experience that it is worse than useless to try and compel people to love us. Unless it comes freely and willingly, there can be no such thing as love. And God Himself is a God of love.

很多人从自身的经验知道,如果我们强迫别人爱我们,结果会更糟糕。除非爱是自由的,自愿的,否则就没有爱。并且  神是充满爱的 神。

So God did not want a race of man-sized puppets dancing on strings. He wanted people who would really love Him, of their own choice. So He gave us free will.

因此, 神并不希望人像木偶跳舞那样被线控制着。他希望的是真正爱他的人。因此, 神给予我们自由的意志。

But instead of choosing to love, we choose, all too often, to act selfishly. “If ye love Me, ye will keep My commandments”, said Jesus.4 Every time we break one of God’s commandments, we show that in our hearts we do not love Him as we ought. And by giving way to the hatred in their hearts, many men inflict terrible trouble upon their fellows.

但是通常我们的选择不是去爱别人,而是自私自利。耶稣说:“你们若爱我,就必遵守我的命令。”(约翰福音1415每一次我们违反  神的命令,就是从心里表示我们不爱  神。由于被心中的仇恨所控制,很多人都给别人了带来了很大的伤害。

Many people forget this when they talk as if God were responsible for all the suffering in the world. God certainly created illnesses and death. But it was human fiendishness that invented the rack and the lash, the concentration camp and the gas chamber, the flamethrower and the hydrogen bomb. It is humiliating, but essential, to remember how much suffering in the world is man-made.

很多人忘记了这一点。他们谈话的时候,好像应该由 神来对所有的痛苦负责。  神制造了疾病和死亡,但是,是人类自己制造了毒气室、拷问台、集中营、火焰喷射器和氢弹。回忆这个世界有多少困苦是由于人自己造成的,对于我们来说是一种羞辱,但是也很重要。

It was tragic that our race chose the path of disobedience, the way of hatred instead of the way of love. But God was prepared for this. The Book of Genesis reveals that He was ready with a plan to bring great good Out of the disaster in Eden. And in this plan, suffering plays a very important part.

人类自己选择了一条违背  神的道路,这是一场悲剧,因为仇恨代替了爱。但是  神已经为我们预备好了一条路。创世记告诉我们, 神已经准备好了对伊甸园的灾难的拯救计划。在  神的计划中,痛苦担当了非常重要的角色。

God began by sentencing the whole sinful race to death. Not to immediate death, though; He allows us to live a while, before we suffer the just penalty of sin. This is really a great act of mercy on God’s part. Every single day we live is an unearned, undeserved, gift from God.

   神宣布所有的人最终都将死亡,尽管不是马上死亡。在接受犯罪的最终惩罚之前,他允许人生活一段时间,我们在世的每一天都  神对我们的恩赐。

But His mercy does not stop there. God went further, and provided a way of reconciliation, so that those people who really want to love Him might learn to do so.

但是  神的仁慈并不停留在这里,他为世人提供了一条与  神和解的道路。那些真正爱  神的人必须学习并走在这条道路上。

Later chapters of the Bible fill in the details of God’s way of life and love. “Learn to love and obey Me,” He said, in effect, “and you shall be raised from the dead to live for ever.”

   在圣经以后的章节中告诉我们  神的生命道路以及爱。  神实际上是在说:“那些爱我并且按照我的话去做的人,我将让他们从死亡中复活,并且永远活着。”

 

The Reason for Death 死亡存在的理由

Every engineering works has an inspection department. Here the manufactured parts are tested, to see if they measure up to the speci­fication. Those that fail are classed as scrap and find their way back to the smelting furnace, where they finally cease to exist.

每一个机器制造厂都有一个质量检测部门。在那里已经制造出来的准备测试的零件。那些出现质量问题的零件堆积在一起准备回炉,这些零件将不复存在。

The Bible shows that death serves the same sort of purpose for human “rejects”. Those that fail to meet God’s requirements will be sentenced to eternal death-which simply means that they will cease to exist. When machine parts are found to be no use, they are destroyed; and when men and women have finally shown that they are no use to God, He will blot them out of existence too.

圣经告诉我们,死亡的存在也是出于这种目的。那些没有达到  神要求的人将被宣判永远死亡,简单地说他们将不再存在。当一个机器零件不再有任何用途的时候,它们将会被抛弃。当一些人最终显示他们对  神来说已经毫无用处的时候,  神会让他们消失。

This simple, sensible, teaching is found throughout Scripture. Here are three examples:

这些简单、敏感的教义体现在整个圣经之中。下面的三个例子说明了这一点:

“The Lord preserveth all them that love Him, but all the wicked will He destroy.”5

“Whoso despiseth the Word (of God) shall be destroyed.”6

“Them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ; who shall be punished with everlasting destruc­tion from the presence of the Lord.”7

     耶和华保护一切爱他的人,却要灭绝一切的恶人。(诗篇14520

     藐视训言的,自取灭亡(箴言1313

     那不认识神和那不听从我主耶稣福音的人。他们要受刑罚,就是永远沉沦,离开主的面和他权能的荣光。(贴前189

These passages are clear and straightforward. But there is a compli­cation that must be faced. A number of other Bible passages speak of the punishment of the wicked in a different way. They say the wicked will be punished for ever in hell.

这些经文的意思非常明确,但是我们还要面临一些的复杂情况。有另外的一些圣经经文说,这些作恶的人要受到另外一种方式的惩罚,那就是他们要在地狱永远受惩罚。

These other passages create two problems. First, they appear to contradict the passages quoted above. If the wicked are going to suffer for ever in hell, why do quite a lot of Bible passages say the wicked will be destroyed? If you are wiped out of existence, you obviously cannot go on suffering.

这些段落带来了两个问题。第一,他们似乎和前面我们所引用的经文相矛盾。如果这些恶人在地狱要永远受到惩罚,然而有很多圣经段落告诉我们这些作恶的人将来要灭亡。如果他们不再存在,当然他们就不会继续受惩罚。

Secondly, the idea of everlasting suffering makes it impossible to answer the question with which this chapter began: if God is love, why does He let people suffer? The problem of temporary suffering can perhaps be explained; every surgeon creates temporary suffering for the best of reasons. But everlasting suffering would pose an everlasting problem.

其次,认为永远受苦的观点无法回答本章开始的问题:如果  神就是爱,为什么会让人受苦?如果痛苦是暂时的,这个问题可能还可以回答;每个医生都会让自己的病人在一段时间之内感到痛苦就是一个很好的回答。但是永远痛苦会意味着问题永远存在。

Happily, evangelical Christians today can see the way out of this dilemma. The latest edition of the Inter-Varsity Fellowship’s New Bible Commentary refers to a verse that resolves our problem:

令人感到高兴的是,今天的基督教福音派能够认识到摆脱这种两难处境的方法。最新版的圣经评论(New Bible Commentary)提到的耶稣说的一段话能够解决我们的问题:

“Jesus said) And fear not them which kill the body but are not able to kill the soul. But rather fear Him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.”8

    那杀身体,不能杀灵魂的,不要怕他们;惟有能把身体和灵魂都灭在地狱里的,正要怕他。(马太福音1028

The commentator says:

“Him who can destroy both soul and body in hell must refer to God, rather than to Satan. The soul in Biblical thought is not immortal, except when new life is conferred upon it through Christ (1 Timothy 6:16; 2 Timothy 1:10). Hell is therefore the place of its destruction as Hinnom, the valley of Hinnom, was of the rubbish of Jerusalem.”9 (The italics are mine.)

该书作者发表评论说:

 “能把身体和灵魂都灭在地狱里的”代表  神,而不是撒旦。圣经思想中的灵魂并不是永恒的,除非代表着与耶稣基督新的生命相联系(提摩太前书616,提摩太后书110。因此地狱是毁灭的地方,就像欣嫩子谷是耶路撒冷的一个抛弃垃圾的地方一样。

The commentator is right. The punishment of hell actually is destruction. It is called an “everlasting punishment” because the destruction, once it has taken place, will never be reversed. This explains why the New Testament phrase for “hell-fire” is actually “Gehenna-fire”. Gehenna was the place outside Jerusalem where the city’s unwanted rubbish was burnt up-not a place where people were tortured.

这一则评论是正确的,地狱的惩罚实际上是毁灭。它被称为“永远的刑罚”,因为这种毁灭一段发生,就永远不会回复到从前的状态。这可以解释为什么新约中“地狱的火”实际上是“欣嫩子谷”的火。“欣嫩子谷”是耶路撒冷燃烧垃圾的地方。

In recognising these facts about hell, modern Bible-believers are not inventing a new idea. They are merely returning to the original principles of the Reformation. Tyndale, the great Bible translator, has left it on record that this was how he understood the Greek “Gehenna”, or the English “hell”.10 Martin Luther also at one time expressed similar views.11

在看待地狱方面,现代的圣经信仰者没有发明新的观点。他们仅仅是回到改革以前的本来原理当中。Tyndale是一位伟大的圣经翻译家,曾经写文章解释他是如何理解希腊文的“Gehenna (欣嫩子谷)或“地狱”概念的。马丁-路德也表达过类似的观点。

 

The World We Live in我们生活的世界

 

We have seen the reason for death, and we have seen that a large part of the world’s suffering is man-made. But this still leaves a great deal of suffering for which God is undoubtedly responsible. It is necessary now to look at the present-day world with Bible in hand, to find a reason for this.

我们看到了死亡的原因,我们也看到了人类世界的大部分痛苦是人自己制造的。但是依然有大量的痛苦应该是由  神来负责的,需要我们带着圣经的眼光来看待今天的世界,并且找到其中的原因。

In essence, this is what we find. Suffering actually serves an ex­tremely useful purpose. Surprising though this may seem, the world would be worse off, not better off, if there were no suffering in it.

在本质上,这就是我们的发现。痛苦是一种非常有用的工具,尽管这些观点看起来很令人吃惊,但是如果没有痛苦的话,这个世界将会更糟,而不是更好。

The truth of this statement is most obvious in connection with pain. Pain is not the only form of suffering, but it is probably the most unpleasant. And it is not too difficult to see that pain is really very useful to mankind.

疼痛是最明显的例子。疼痛并不是痛苦的唯一表现形式,但有可能是最让人感到不舒服的。我们很难认识到疼痛对于人类是非常有益的。

The story of a nine-year-old American boy demonstrates this. George’s mother brought him to the famous Johns Hopkins medical school in Baltimore, one November day in 1937. In most respects he was a normal healthy boy, with more than average intelligence. But in one particular way he was different from any boy that you are ever likely to meet: he had been born without any sense of pain whatever.

九岁的美国男孩乔治(George)的故事说明了这一点。193711月的某一天,他母亲带他到著名约翰-霍普金斯医院。从大多数情况来说,乔治是一个正常、健康的孩子,智商超过平均水平。但他有一点和别的孩子不同:从出生开始他就不会感到疼痛。

It is tempting to think that George was a very lucky lad, and to wonder why, if God could make one boy entirely free from pain, He could not make the rest of the world like it too. But wait. There is another side to the story. “Scars were found on almost every part of the body,” the examining doctor wrote in his report.

我们会情不自禁地认为乔治是一个非常幸运的小孩,并且会感到奇怪:既然  神能够让一个人没有感到疼痛,为什么不让世界上其他人都这样?然而问题也有另外一个方面。为他检查身体的医生在报告中写道:“他身体的每一个地方都有疤痕”。

One enormous scar stretched right across his buttocks, where George had once sat on a heater, and, because he felt nothing, had not moved until his flesh was burnt almost to the bone. He was partly blind in one eye because sand had one day worked its way in, and George had never noticed it until permanent damage had been done. His left foot was permanently deformed, as he had broken a bone and then walked about on it for months before the damage was spotted by his parents. Both hands had been so badly cut that he would never again be able to straighten his fingers. Pain acts as a danger signal for the rest of us, but poor little George had nothing to warn him when his body was being injured.

最大的一块疤在他的臀部,乔治曾经坐在一个电热器上,但他没有任何感觉。乔治的眼睛也几乎失明,因为他从来没有感觉会对自己带来永远的伤害。他的左脚已经永久性地畸形,因为他骨折时却没有发现,他的双手被刀子割伤,永远也不能够伸直。疼痛对我们来说是一种警告,但是可怜的乔治来说,在身体受伤害的时候却得不到警告。

Whom would you rather have for a son? A normal boy, who hurts himself, and cries, and gets over it-and takes more care next time? Or a carefree little George, with his total freedom from pain-and his multiple deformities?

你自己喜欢于一个什么样的孩子,是一个正常的孩子,在受到伤害的时候会哭泣,在下一次会注意?还是像可怜的乔治那样,没有痛苦,却被造成多次的畸形?

 

Developing Character培养品德

 

George’s story shows that pain is necessary if a child’s body is to develop into that of a normal, healthy adult. But God is even more concerned with the growth of people’s characters than He is with their bodies. And suffering also plays an important part in the development of character.

乔治的故事告诉我们,疼痛对孩子成长变成正常、健康的成年人是必要的。但是  神关心一个人的品德胜于关心一个人的身体,痛苦在人格的形成方面担当了非常重要的角色。

Needless to say, this does not mean that every time you have toothache you grow a little more virtuous. It would obviously be wrong to think that the best people in the world are those who have suffered the most. In the language of science, there is not a one-to-one correspondence between suffering and character. 

 当然,这并不代表你的牙痛病发作一次,你的道德就增加一些。很明显,我们不能认为世界上最好的人就是受苦最多的人。用科学术语来说,痛苦与品德不是一对一的对应关系。

Nevertheless there is a very important connection between them. Strong characters can only be developed in a world where suffering is always present. If there were no such thing as suffering, there would also be no such things as courage, or compassion. If nobody ever fell among thieves, there would be no Good Samaritans in the world.

然而,痛苦与品德之间有非常重要的联系。强烈的品德只能在一个痛苦长存的世界中形成。如果没有各样的痛苦,也就没有勇气、同情。如果没有人被抢劫,世界上就没有好心肠的撒玛利亚人。

Men who have suffered greatly are sometimes the first to recognise that this is true.

那些经受过痛苦的人最先能够领会到这一点。

Paul, the apostle, was such a man. A mob once set upon him, stoned him, and left him for dead.12  He survived this terrible ordeal, and not long afterwards he returned to the very town where it had happened. There he told the disciples, “We must through much tribulation enter into the Kingdom of God.”13

使徒保罗就是这样的一个人。一群暴徒用石头打他,并且以为他死了。保罗侥幸活了下来,不久又回到自己挨打的地方。他告诉别的门徒说:“我们进入神的国,必须经历许多艰难。(使徒行传1422

Paul obviously knew what he was talking about when he spoke of tribulation. Yet perhaps the very fact that he was a Bible character makes him seem rather remote. It is hard for us to realise that these are the words of a real human being like ourselves.

保罗在讲这些话的时候,很明显他明白痛苦的作用。尽管保罗具有的圣经品德使得他看起来相当孤立,我们很难意识到这些话来自于一个和我们一样真实的人物。

But there is no such difficulty about the woman I mentioned at the start of this chapter. Marjorie is a British citizen, still very much alive today. One day, while lying on her sickbed, she startled me by remarking, “Do you know, I often thank God for treating me like this!”

但是我们不难想到本章开始提到过的那位妇女。Marjorie是一位英国公民,至今生活的很好。有一天,她躺在病床上说:“你知道吗?我常常为  神这样对待我而表示感谢!”

I asked her what she meant and in reply she told me a little about her past. “Twenty years ago I was a typical, healthy young girl. I was too busy enjoying life to have any time for God. Besides, I felt that I had no need of Him. I could get along quite well on my own.

我问她这些话是什么意思,在回答的时候她告诉我一些关于她过去的事情:“二十年以前,我是一个典型的健康女孩。我忙于享受生活,从来没有时间考虑有关  神的事情。此外,我觉得我不需要  神,没有 神我一样生活得很好。”

“Then came the day when God decided to show me whether I needed Him or not. He put me here, on my back. For a few years I was miserable. All the joy had gone out of my life and I could see no point in going on living.

“有一天, 神决定告诉我是否需要他。他将车祸安置在我的背部,好几年我一直觉得非常悲惨。我生命中所有的快乐都离我而去,我看不到继续活下去的理由。

“That's how I was when a woman came to see me, with a Bible in her handbag. In the old days, when people talked about religion I used to shut my ears. But this time I was prepared to listen. And so I came to hear about the offer of a place in God's Everlasting King­dom.”

“这是我当时的状态,直到有一天一位女士带着圣经过来看我。过去人们讨论宗教话题的时候,我总是闭上眼睛。但是这一次我准备认真听。我听到了进入  神国的问题。”

Marjorie raised herself up a little in her bed, and spoke with great emphasis.

  Marjorie稍微在床上一起身,强调说:

“Now I know that these are the best days of my life. If you offered to take me out of this bed, free me from pain, and put me back where I was twenty years ago, I just wouldn't thank you. Without this pain, I should never have come to accept God's Way of Life. He knew that I needed this illness, and so I can only thank Him for the way that He has shaped my life.”

“现在我知道这是我生命中最好的时光。如果你能够让我离开病床,不再感到疼痛,并且将我回到二十年以前的状态,我不会感谢你。如果没有痛苦,我可能永远不会接受  神的道路, 神知道我需要疾病,因此我对  神的安排只能表示感谢”。

 

The Sufferings of the Innocent 无辜者的受苦问题

 

It is easy to see a reason for Marjorie’s sufferings. But there are many people whose sufferings appear to serve no useful purpose at all. The native in the Amazon jungle who has never heard of Jesus Christ, but is bitten by an alligator and dies after weeks of agony; the baby in an English village who dies when his pram is crushed by a falling tree. They are not being prepared for God’s Everlasting Kingdom by their sufferings, so why, we may wonder, does God let them suffer?

我们容易明白马乔里Marjorie受苦的原因。但是世界上还有很多人,他们受到的痛苦看起来没有任何作用。亚马逊森林的一位居民被鳄鱼咬伤,经受了很多的痛苦死去,英国某村庄的一位小孩因为摇篮被树压垮而夭折,这些人将来不会出现在  神的国里。我们可能在思考:为什么  神还要让他们受苦呢?

One way to answer that question is to ask another one. If God did decide to protect such people from suffering and to allow nobody but Christians to suffer, what would the result be? Can you imagine anybody ever becoming a Christian in such circumstances? Obviously a system like that would never work.

我们可以通过问另外一个问题的方式来回答这个问题。如果  神决定保护这些人不受伤害,只有基督徒能够感到痛苦,这样会有什么结果?你能够想象有人会在这种环境下成为基督徒吗?显然这种体系不会起作用。

So God has adopted a more practical scheme. He has created a world subject to certain natural laws, where a measure of suffering is bound to come to everyone, sooner or later. We live in a world where, as the Bible expresses it:

  因此,  神采用了更加实用的安排。他创造的世界必须服从某些自然法则,痛苦会迟早临到每一个人。我们生活在一个这样的世界,圣经是这样表达的:

“Time and chance happeneth to them all... so are the sons of men snared in an evil time, when it falleth suddenly upon them.”14

   原来人也不知道自己的定期。鱼被恶网圈住,鸟被网罗捉住,祸患忽然临到的时候,世人陷在其中也是如此。(传道书98

The problem of suffering is most likely to worry us when we our­selves are in great distress. At such times a comforting Bible passage is Hebrews 12:1-13. It is too long to reproduce here but it is worth reading, several times over, in your own Bible. It hinges about verse 3 which says:

当我们感到情绪失落的时候,痛苦这个问题最能够让我们担忧。在这个时候,想想希伯来书121-13对我们是一个莫大的安慰。这些经文太长,我没有全部引用,但是它值得我们反复阅读。其中第3节说:

 

“Consider Him that endured such contradiction of sinners against Himself, lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds.”

   他因那摆在前面的喜乐,就轻看羞辱,忍受了十字架的苦难,便坐在神宝座的右边。那忍受罪人这样顶撞的,你们要思想,免得疲倦灰心。

This tells us that whenever we feel sorry for ourselves we should think about Jesus. He suffered dreadfully-very much more than most of us are ever likely to suffer. And He was as innocent as a new-born babe. Yet He accepted His agony without complaining. He knew there was a good reason for it. As it says a little earlier in the same book, He “learned obedience by the things which He suffered”.15

这段经文告诉我们,当我们感到痛苦的时候,我们应该思考耶稣。他承受的巨大痛苦,比我们任何一个人都难以承受。然而耶稣接受了一切痛苦,没有埋怨。他知道痛苦后面是有很好的原因的。“他虽然为儿子,还是因所受的苦难学了顺从。(希伯莱书58

If only we can accept this advice and think about Jesus, we shall find our own troubles much easier to bear. Many people say in their distress, “But why should all this happen to me? I have never done anyone any harm. I am not a wicked person. Why should I have to suffer so much, while the wicked get off Scot free?”

如果我们肯接受这个建议,并且思考耶稣,我们就会发现我们的困难变得容易承受。很多人在绝望中说:“但是为什么这样的事情发生在我身上?我从来没有伤害过别人。我不是一个坏人,为什么要我承受这么多的困难,而坏人却逍遥自在?”

Yet Jesus, the only man in all history who might have been excused for talking like that, never did so. Jesus Christ, alone among mankind1 could truly have said, “I have never done any harm.” But He never once asked, “Why should all this happen to Me?”

“Consider Him,” the Bible advises. If we think of how the righteous Jesus was willing to accept such terrible suffering, we are much less likely to feel indignant about our own hardships.

耶稣是人类历史上唯一没有这样抱怨的人。耶稣也是整个人类唯一可以真正地说:“我没有做过任何坏事的人”。他从来没有问:“这些事情为什么都发生在我身上”?

圣经建议我们思考耶稣。如果我们思考耶稣这个人完全正直,愿意接受如此可怕的痛苦,我们对于自己的困难就不会感到愤怒。

 

Summing Up总结:

 

Before we start to look at the future it will be useful to take stock. We have learnt from considering the past and the present world that:

    总结过去对于展望将来是有好处的。我们已经学过了如何看待过去和现在的世界:

(1)  God gave man free will, so that he would have the opportunity to love.

(2)  But man chose hatred rather than love, thus bringing suffering into the world.

(3)  Death and hell put an end to both sin and suffering. This is God’s way of wiping out of existence those who do not choose to love Him.

(4)   But there is a hope of life after death for those who do try to love God.

(5)  A very useful purpose is served by pain. Without it we could not develop healthy bodies.

(6)  In much the same way, suffering is of value to us. We could never develop strong characters fit for eternal life if this world were free from suffering.

(7)  Our own sufferings become much easier to bear if we think about some other person’s-especially those of Jesus.

   

1.        神给于人自由意志,让人有机会去学会爱。

2.        但是人选择了恨而不是爱,因此将痛苦带入世界。

3.        死亡和地狱是犯罪也是痛苦的终点。这是  神清除那些没有选择爱他的人的方式。

4.        但是那些真正尽力去爱神的人,他们死亡以后有复活的盼望。

5.        痛苦是为了这个目标服务的。没有痛苦我们就没有健康的身体。

6.        同样,痛苦对于我们具有价值。如果没有痛苦,我们就不会发展值得得到永生的品德。

7.        如果我们思考别人所受到的痛苦,特别是耶稣的十字架,我们的痛苦就变得更加容易忍受。

 

The World to Come 将来的世界

 

A man and a boy were walking past a building site. Young Johnny

looked at it with a puzzled expression, then turned to his father.

父亲带着儿子经过一座建筑工地。小约翰带着困惑的表情问他父亲:

“Look, Dad, is that the new town hall going up there?”

“Yes, that’s it my boy.”

“爸爸,你看,将来要在这里建设一座新的城镇吗?”

“是的,孩子,你说的对。”

“Well I don’t think much of it. What a mess!” He pointed to the piles of sand, heaps of bricks, concrete mixers, reinforcing wire and wheelbarrows all mixed up together. “And look at that ugly scaffold­ing all over the outside. I think the man in charge doesn’t know his

   “但是我看起来不像,瞧,这里是一团糟!”他指责一堆一堆的沙子、砖头以及水泥的建筑垃圾说:“并且每一个房子外面都有这些难看的脚手架!我认为负责这项工程的人没有做好自己的职责!”

“You’re in too much of a hurry,” his father chuckled. “You must wait until next year before you decide whether the architect is any good. That ugly stuff will have done its job by then, and will be cleared away. You can’t judge the building until it is finished.”

父亲笑着回答说:“不要这么快就下结论。你应该明年再回到这里看一看,然后再判断这个建筑师好不好。这些难看的建筑垃圾在房子建设好以后就会被运走,送到垃圾场。你不能在房子没有建设好以前就开始评价。”

“But surely, Dad, there must be some way of seeing what the finished building will look like?”

“那么,爸爸,有没有办法让我们现在就知道将来的建筑是什么样子?”

“Yes, son, there is, but you won’t be able to see it here. You’ll need to go down High Street to the public library. There’s a large picture hanging on the wall there, labelled, ‘Artist’s Impression of the New Town Hall’. That will give you a pretty good idea of what’s coming.”

“有啊,孩子。但是在这里你是看不到的。你应该到公共阅览室去,那里挂着一些很大的图片说,‘这是某某地方将来得规划图’,过后你就明白将来的样子。”

Johnny is like the people who cannot imagine why God allows so much suffering in the world. They fail to realise that pain and death are like the scaffolding and the ugly piles of building materials. These things are only temporary. They are here until their purpose has been served, and then God will do away with them.

那些不能理解为什么  神允许的痛苦存在的人,就像这位小孩一样。他们没有认识到疼痛与死亡就像是脚手架和建筑垃圾一样,只是暂时存在的,当目的达到的时候,  神就会清除它们。

Our Bible explains that God is planning a glorious future for the world. It provides a kind of “Artist’s Impression” of what this world will be like when God has finished developing it. It tells how Jesus is coming back again, to judge the living and the dead, and to set up God’s Everlasting Kingdom. The faithful followers of Jesus will enjoy everlasting life in that Kingdom, serving Him for ever in a perfect world.

我们的圣经解释说,  神正在计划让将来的世界充满荣耀。圣经已经告诉我们将来  神的工作完成之后的情形。圣经告诉我们,耶稣会回来审判死人与活人,建立永远存在的  神国。那些对耶稣有信心的跟随着将会享受永远的生命,永远生活在一个完美的世界上。

For the time being suffering is needed in the world, whilst God is building the characters of those men and women who want to live for ever. But when enough characters of the right type have been formed, there will be no more need of suffering. Eventually God’s plan of redemption will be complete; then there will be no more pain, no more suffering, no more sin, and no more death.

  神在磨练在那些盼望得到永生的人的品德的时候,也就是现在的时代,痛苦是世界所必需的。当这样的人的数量足够的时候,将来痛苦就没有必要存在了。最终  神拯救的工作会完成,将来的世界没有痛苦、没有悲伤、没有犯罪,也没有死亡。

At that time, when all these temporary things have been cleared away, there will be no doubt that the Architect of the Universe has been building wisely.

这时,当所有临时性的东西被清除掉的时候,我们会对这位伟大的创造者、整个宇宙的建筑师的智慧坚信不疑。

 

Marjorie Chooses a Chapter 马乔里自己选择的圣经章节

 

At the time when I first met her, Marjorie was never free from pain. But on some days she suffered more than others. Once I called to see her on one of her off days, and she was obviously relieved when I said that I would not stop long.当我第一次见到她的时候,马乔里时时刻刻处在痛苦当中。但是有的时候疼痛的特别厉害。有一次我打电话在他休息的时候去看她,当我对她说我很快就要走的时候,她才觉得放松了一些。 

“But before you go,” she asked, “would you read my favourite chapter for me?”在你离开之前,你能够为我阅读我最喜欢的那一章吗?

When I asked her what it was, she replied, “Isaiah 35.” “I might have known,” I said to myself as I found the place in my Bible, “that it would be a chapter about the world to come.”

我问是哪一章,她回答说:“以赛亚书35章”。

Marjorie listened expectantly as I began to read.

在我阅读时,马乔里非常仔细地在听,带着期盼:

“Strengthen ye the weak hands, and confirm the feeble knees. Say to them that are of a fearful heart ‘Be strong, fear not; behold your God will come … and save you.’

“Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped. Then shall the lame man leap as an hart, and the tongue of the dumb shall sing; for in the wilderness shall waters break out, and streams in the desert . .

“The redeemed shall walk there, and the ransomed of the Lord shall return, and come to Zion with songs, and everlasting joy upon their heads.

“They shall obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away.”

“你们要使软弱的手坚壮,无力的膝稳固。对胆怯的人说:你们要刚强,不要惧怕。看哪,你们的神必来报仇……他必来拯救你们。那时,瞎子的眼必睁开;聋子的耳必开通。那时,瘸子必跳跃像鹿;哑巴的舌头必能歌唱。在旷野必有水发出;在沙漠必有河涌流。发光的沙要变为水池;乾渴之地要变为泉源………耶和华救赎的民必归回,歌唱来到锡安;永乐必归到他们的头上;他们必得著欢喜快乐,忧愁叹息尽都逃避。”

She wished me Godspeed, and I walked slowly down three flights of echoing stone stairs to the street. I thought of the woman lying upstairs with her pain and her Bible. She was stronger now than when I had gone in. While I had been reading to her a tranquil expression had lit up her face. The furrows of constant pain were less noticeable when I left. Marjorie was thinking of the dawn of God’s new age, and she was well content.

   她对我说了声平安,我就慢慢地下了楼梯走向街道。我在想着这位躺在楼上、带着疼痛也阅读着圣经的女人。她应该比我刚刚进入她的房间的时候更加坚强。我想起我阅读圣经时她安静的面容所露出的微笑。而我在离开的时候,她的痛苦似乎轻松了许多。Marjorie当时正在思考  神带来的新时代,她非常满足。

 

Three Men Suffered on Calvary 十字架上的三个人

 

Three crosses stood on the hill of Calvary. Three men hung there, dying. In the centre the Lord Jesus Christ; on either side a condemned thief.

三座十字架树立在山上。三个垂死的人被挂在上面,中间的那一位是耶稣基督。两边各有一位已经被定罪的强盗。

These three were face to face with the problem of suffering in its most intense form-death by torture. It was too much for the two thieves. They began to curse Jesus.

这三个人都面对最强烈的痛苦——被折磨一直到死亡。这对于两个强盗来说太难受了。

Nowadays when people are in trouble they are liable to say, “If there really is a God, why doesn’t He put a stop to all the suffering in the world?” At Calvary the thieves said something very similar:

现在,当人们面对麻烦的时候,他们倾向说:“如果真的有  神的话,为什么他不停止世上所有的痛苦?”在十字架上,一名强盗说出了类似的话:

“If you really are Christ, then save yourself and us too!”16

“你不是基督吗?可以救自己和我们吧!”

At last one of the thieves became silent. He turned and rebuked the other thief, who was still cursing Jesus.

另一个强盗沉默了。随后他转身斥责前面的那一位说:

 

“Have you no fear of God? You are under the same sentence as He. For us it is plain justice. We are paying the price of our mis­deeds. But this man has done nothing wrong.”17

  “你既是一样受刑的,还不怕神吗?我们是应该的,因我们所受的与我们所做的相称,但这个人没有作过一件不好的事。”

He then turned to Jesus and pleaded, “Lord, remember me when Thou comest into Thy Kingdom.”

接着他向耶稣请求:「耶稣啊,你得国降临的时候,求你记念我!」”

And Jesus promised to do so.18

耶稣答应了他的请求。(见马太福音2744 路加福音2339

Those two thieves were two real people. But they also form a kind of parable of the whole human race. All of us are represented there, on Calvary. Like the two thieves we are all suffering, dying people, and, as the thief said, “For us it is plain justice.” We are all condemned sinners, who deserve to die.

这两个强盗都是真实的人物,也是人类两种不同类型的代表。我们所有的人都通过这两个十字架上的人所代表,因为我们和这两个强盗一样,都是正在承受痛苦、奔向死亡的人。“我们所受的与我们所做的相称”,因为我们都是罪人,死亡是我们应该得到的代价。

Just like the two thieves, we all start off as God’s enemies. The problem of suffering is too much for us in our early years, as it was for the thieves. We think that God has been unfair to us, and complain about our pains.

就像这两位强盗一样,我们开始的时候都是  神的敌人。关于痛苦这个问题对于我们的早期是很难理解的。我们认为  神对我们不公平,我们埋怨自己的痛苦。

After a while the problem of suffering sorts us into two different groups, just as it distinguished between the two thieves.

对于痛苦的态度将我们分成了两类,就像这两个强盗的分别一样。

The first thief stands for those who never learn any better. Such people go through life asking, “Why doesn’t God deliver me from my suffering?” They die in their ignorance like the first thief, with no promise of a future life. 

第一个强盗代表那些从来没有不知道真像的人,他们喜欢抱怨:“  神为什么要让我受苦?”他们就像第一个强盗那样无知地死去,对未来没有任何的希望。

The other thief represents all those who come to accept the problem of suffering, and its answer in Jesus Christ. They come to recognise that God knows best; that He is wise and just and loving in the way He directs our lives. Like the wise thief they learn that this present world of suffering is only temporary, a training ground for the King­dom to come. They cease to be wrapped up in their present troubles, and concentrate on asking, “Thy Kingdom come. Remember me when Thou comest!” 

第二类人代表了那些接受痛苦的问题的人,他们从耶稣那里找到了答案。他们认识到  神知道最好的办法,  神是有智慧的,公平的,他爱我们。就像那位聪明的强盗最后认识到当今世界的痛苦是暂时的,是为了训练我们进入将来的  神国。他们不再纠缠于当今世界的困苦,而是集中注意力求问:“耶稣啊,你得国降临的时候,求你记念我!”

Death is still an enemy, even to these people. But it is no longer a conqueror. They can face death unflinchingly, with the promise of a place in God’s Everlasting Kingdom ringing in their ears. They are the people referred to in this New Testament vision of the age to come:

    即使是对后者来说,死亡同样是他们的敌人,但不再是征服者。他们能够毫无畏惧地面对死亡,带着进入  神永远的国的盼望。他们就像是新约圣经所描绘的那样:

“These are they which came out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. Therefore are they before the throne of God, and serve Him day and night in His temple. And He that sitteth on the throne shall dwell among them.

“They shall hunger no more, neither thirst any more, neither shall the sun light on them, nor any heat. For the Lamb which is in the midst of the throne shall feed them, and shall lead them unto living fountains of waters.

“And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes.” 19

“这些人是从大患难中出来的,曾用羔羊的血把衣裳洗白净了。所以,他们在神宝座前,昼夜在他殿中事奉他。坐宝座的要用帐幕覆庇他们。

他们不再饥,不再渴;日头和炎热也必不伤害他们。因为宝座中的羔羊必牧养他们,领他们到生命水的泉源;神也必擦去他们一切的眼泪。”(启示录714-17

 

25

The Real Problems

真正的问题

The great detective looked at his friend Watson.

大侦探对他的助手华生说:

“Circumstantial evidence is a very tricky thing; it may seem to point very straight to one thing, but if you shift your own point of view a little, you may find it pointing in an equally uncompromis­ing manner to something entirely different.”1

   “间接证据(旁证)是非常具有欺骗性的。间接证据似乎指向某一件事情,但是如果你偏离自己的观点一点点,你就会发现这些间接证据指向完全不同的另外一件事情。”

Sherlock Holmes was right. Circumstantial evidence really is a tricky thing. So much depends on the way you look at it.

福尔摩斯的观点是正确的。间接证据真的具有欺骗性,其程度取决于你是如何看待它们的。

Many millions of people regard the circumstantial evidence against the Bible as damning. But almost all of them have taken a very one-sided view of it.

有数百万人将对圣经不利的间接证据看成是可恶得。但是他们中的大部分的人只是看到证据的一个方面。

In this book I have tried to look at this evidence from another point of view. You know now-perhaps for the first time-nearly all the things that can be said against the Bible. But does the Bible appear any the worse for this?

本书试图站在对方的立场上来看待这一类证据。你可能是第一次听说这样的观点:几乎所有的事情都可以说成是对圣经不利的。但是圣经能够因此失去其价值吗?

You will remember how, in Part One, we saw a great deal of positive evidence that the Bible is a superhuman book. That evidence has never been properly answered by the Bible’s enemies. They may try to shrug it off, but they cannot dispose of it. 

你可能还记得,在本书的第一部分,我列举出很多能证明圣经是超出人类能力所写的积极证据。圣经的敌人从来没有恰当地回答这些问题。他们试图躲开问题,但是不能让这些问题不存在。

Thus we started Part Two in a position of strength. We knew of many good reasons to believe that the Bible is true. We were going to keep those in the backs of our minds as we started to look at the case against the Bible.

因此在本书的第二部分开始我们的证据就有分量。我们已经知道了相信圣经是真理的很多很好的理由。接下来我们还要看看那些否定圣经的理由。

In Chapter 12 we noted that difficulties were bound to exist. There are unsolved problems in every area of human knowledge. We can hardly expect the Word of the Almighty to be so simple that every question can be answered.

在第12章,我们注意到困难是注定存在的人类知识的每一方面都存在没有解决的问题。我们、很难期盼  神的话语是如此地简单,每一个问题都够有直截了当的回答。

Chapter 13 debunked those twentieth-century idols, the Experts. We cannot do without experts; our modern civilisation depends upon them. (I earn my own living as a specialist in one narrow field of science and technology.) Experts are usually right on questions of fact. But they are often hopelessly wrong in their opinions. And yet they have somehow managed to bluff the general public into accepting their opinions as practically unquestionable.

 在本书的第13章,揭露了那些二十世纪的偶像,专家。我们的生活离不开专家,现代文明依靠专家。我自己也是靠专家的身份来生活。专家们通常在问题的事实方面有着正确的看法,但是通常在结论、意见方面存在着错误。而且还有一些专家诱导公众,将它们自己的看法当成是不可置疑的。 

Chapter 14 showed that there can be no half measures about the Bible. It claims to contain the very words of God. We cannot water down this claim and accept only the bits we like. There are over­whelming reasons for accepting the whole Bible as an inspired message from the Lord. 

在第14章中,揭示了对待圣经不可能半信半疑。圣经声明自己是  神的话语,我们不能将这个声明掺杂水分,只接受自己所喜欢的那一部分。有无可置疑的证据显示圣经是  神所启示给人类的信息。

We saw the disastrous effects of trying to compromise, in Chap­ter 15. First you reject just a little here and a little there. Gradually you whittle away at the Bible until you have nothing left. Then comes the moral landslide. The present sorry state of our “Christian civilisa­tion” is the direct result of its leaders’ glib rejection of the Bible.

在第15章中,我们看到了那些试图作妥协的灾难性后果。起初他们只是拒绝圣经中的一小部分,后来又拒绝其中的其它一小部分,然后一步一步地,他们完全抛弃了圣经。今天我们所谓的“基督教文明”的状态其实就是教会的领导人对圣经信仰不坚定的结果。

In Chapter 16 we looked at the question of authorship. Some scholars consider that the Old Testament was written by the men whose names it bears. But many other scholars disagree. We looked at the reasons for both points of view, and found that modern criticisms of the Old Testament are based more on guesswork than on facts. In the New Testament we saw that there was a far greater supply of solid evidence; and this evidence strongly favours the traditional views about the authors of the New Testament.

在第16章,我们看到了权威带来的问题。有一些学者认为圣经的旧约是人所写的,但是有很多学者不同意这种观点。如果我们察看双方的理由,就会发现那些现代人对待圣经旧约的评论更多地建立在猜测的基础之上,而不是建立在事实的基础上。而对于新约圣经,有很多坚强的证据支持圣经的作者就是圣经所声明的。

Chapter 17 told the astonishing story of how the Bible has come down to us, across a gap of nineteen centuries or more. We saw strong evidence for the Bible’s claim that each book was recognised as “Scripture” as soon as it was written, and for ever after was preserved as such. We marvelled at the accuracy of the ancient scribes who copied it by hand. We admired the efforts of hundreds of scholars to give us the best possible translation into our mother tongue. And we saw that there is no need to worry about the problem of interpretation

-so long as we are prepared to read the Bible for ourselves.

在第17章中告诉我们一些令人感到震惊的历史:圣经是如何跨越长达19个世纪传递给我们的。我们看到了圣经每一本书的声明,在每一本书书写之后马上被看成是经文,并且永远被保存下来。我们对于我们所得到的古代圣经的抄写手稿的准确性表示惊讶。我们对于那些数百人将圣经翻译成自己的母语的人表示钦佩,他们尽了自己最大的努力。并且我们也看到了,只要我们准备认真读圣经,我们没有必要担心圣经的翻译问题。

We saw in Chapter 18 that the Bible as a history book is second to none. Again and again new finds by archaeologists have proved it right, where once it was accused of being wrong. We saw that there is no real reason to reject its claim to be absolutely right, always.

在第18章中我们看到,圣经作为一本历史性的书籍无出其右者。考古学家的发现反复证明了圣经记载的正确性,也证明对圣经的指责是错误的。我们还看到,这些指责没有一样是完全能够站的住脚的。

So-called contradictions in the Bible were examined in Chapter 19. We saw that everyday life is full of things that look like contradictions, but which, when you know all the facts, are nothing of the kind. We found reassuring evidence that no real contradictions have ever been proved to exist in the Bible.

在本书的19章检查了那些所谓的圣经存在自相矛盾的说法。在我们的日常生活中,很多事情看起来是互相矛盾的,但是,但你了解了所有的事实之后,你会明白其实不是这样的。我们会找到证据,那些认为圣经存在矛盾的指责

In Chapter 20 we looked at the slanderous things that are said about the Bible. We saw that it was neither indecent, nor bloodthirsty, nor unreliable, nor unfair-but just misrepresented by its critics.在第20章中,我们看到了那些对圣经各种各样的诽谤。我们看到圣经根本不是像批评家所说的那样,是下流的、残忍的、不可信的、不公平的。

Chapter 21 was the first of a series of chapters about the impact of modern science. We saw that it was more logical to believe in the miracle stories of the Bible than to reject them. And we saw that scientists themselves can’t explain the existence of the universe with-out talking of “creation”.

从本书第21章开始我们讨论了现代科学的影响。我们看到,接受圣经中出现的奇迹比排斥这些奇迹更难。而且科学家自身在解释宇宙的存在时,如果不用“创造”就无法解释。

Then we saw in Chapter 22 that it takes more faith to believe that evolution could have occurred without a Creative Power behind it than to believe the Book of Genesis.22章我们看到,相信进化论要比相信创世记更需要信心。

Chapter 23 showed that the shakiest part of this shaky theory is that which deals with the evolution of man. We saw that Adam and Eve were real people; that they were specially created by God as the ancestors of the whole human race; and that we are not told how long ago they lived. We saw no clash between Bible-believing Christianity and anthropology-once the misconceptions on both sides were stripped away.23章告诉我们,进化论这种站不住脚的理论在解释人的进化是就更加漏洞百出了。我们看到,亚当和夏娃都是真实的任务,他们是  神的特别创造,他们是整个人类的祖先。我们不知道他们生活的年代。如果相信圣经的基督教和人类学家各自退步的话,双方就不会产生冲突。

Finally, in Chapter 24 we saw that the existence of suffering is no reason for disbelief. Far from it: the Bible’s own explanation of the reason for suffering is so convincing that it provides another powerful reason for belief

最后,在第24章中我们看到,痛苦的存在并不是我们不相信圣经的理由。而且,圣经关于痛苦存在的理由的解释是如此的令人信服,给了我们信仰的有力证据。

 

Then Why Do Men Disbelieve? 那么为什么还是有人不相信呢?

 

We have looked at the evidence on both sides.

我们要从两个方面来看待这些证据。

We saw that the evidence for a God-given Bible is impressive. We saw that the evidence against the Bible is nothing like as weighty as its opponents suppose.

我们已经看到,关于圣经是  神的启示,我们有很多令人印象深刻的证据。我们还看到,反对圣经的证据并不像一些人所说的那样具有分量。

And yet most people disbelieve. 然而大部分的人还是不相信圣经。

Why?这是为什么呢?

Have they weighed the evidence, and found it wanting? Or is there some other reason?

是他们曾经衡量过这些证据,认为这些证据没有足够的分量?还是有其他的原因?

Yes, there is. There are several other reasons, in fact. It is not difficult to recognise the following six factors as the major causes of twentieth-century unbelief.

   是的,其它方面的原因确实存在。我们不难找到以下6个方面的原因:

(1)  Sensitivity太过敏感

Once I was involved in a minor car accident. It was all my own fault. I said as much to the panel beater who was straightening out my dented wing.有一次我被牵涉到一个小的交通事故之中。这全部是我自己的过错。我

“Lumme, guv’nor,” he said, “you’re the first bloke what’s been in here this year who hasn’t been in the right!”

I could well believe him. Motorists never like to admit that they are in the wrong. But motorists are not a special class of people. They are just ordinary human beings. And the sad fact is that none of us likes to be told off; we all hate facing up to our shortcomings. Hence the unpopularity of the Bible, which tells us fairly and squarely what God thinks of the way we behave.

我可以相信他的话。司机们从来不喜欢承认他们错了。但是司机并不是一类特别的人,他们只是普通人。我们没有人喜欢听到自己的   我们不喜欢面对自己的缺点。因此,圣经由于非常直白地告诉我们  神是如何看待我们的行为的,因此就不受欢迎。

A missionary once gave a Bible to an educated native. A few weeks later he asked him how he had enjoyed reading it.

有一位传教士曾经送给一位受过教育的当地人一本圣经。几周以后他来问他是否喜欢读。

“I didn’t like it at all,” replied the native. “That book knows too much about me! It is like a second conscience.”

“我很不喜欢”,这位土著说:“这本书知道了太多的我自己的情况!”

The truth often hurts. The things that the Bible tells us about our­selves are particularly painful. To admit that they are true is as un­pleasant as admitting that the other fellow in a road accident was in the right. Our natural instinct is to defend ourselves against the Bible’s criticisms. And the easiest way to do this is by convincing our­selves that the Bible is not true.

真相通常会使人感到伤害。而且圣经告诉我们自己的事情特别使我们受到伤害。 圣经对人的本性提出了批评,而我们的本性喜欢为自己辩护,最容易做到的事情就是让自己相信圣经圣经是错的。

(2)  Prosperity财产的原因

In 1969 Mr. Charles Holme moved away from an old farmhouse in Staffordshire to a smart new bungalow. When he moved he disposed of some of his furniture, including an old painting that had once belonged to his father. He thought it was a dull old picture that wouldn’t suit his bright new home. So he accepted £4 for it.

1969年,Charles Holme先生从一个斯塔福德郡的农庄移居到新的有走廊的平房中。在搬家的时候,他扔掉了一些旧家具,包括一些属于他父亲的旧画。他认为这一幅旧画风格太沉闷,和他的新家格格不入。这幅旧画他只卖了4英镑。

Two years later he had the shock of his life, when he recognised the picture on a TV programme. Someone had spotted it in a London junk shop and identified it as a genuine Van Gogh. It had just fetched £46,000 at a sale in New York.2

两年以后,电视上的一则新闻让他大吃一惊,有人辨认出这幅旧画是凡高的真迹,并且这幅画在纽约以46000英镑的价格出售。

Poor Mr. Holme! He had so many attractive things in his new bungalow that he had no room for a “dull old picture”. And so he lost a fortune which passed to someone else.

可怜的Holme先生!他在自己的新房子中排放了那么多的能够吸引他的装饰物,却没有一点地方安置那幅“古老而沉闷”的画。这样他就丢失了一笔真正的财富。

We must not laugh at Mr. Holme’s misfortune. His story is a parable of our time. We have all been spoilt by the abundance of nice bright things in our lives. We have been so dazzled by them that we cannot recognise true riches when we see them. We have no room for a “dull old book” in our way of life. So like Mr. Holme, and like the Biblical character Esau,3 we settle for short-term happines-and miss the opportunity of untold riches.

我们一定不要嘲笑  先生的不幸。他的故事也是我们这个时代的缩影。我们的生活被丰富的物质生活宠坏了,我们被这些物质财富所迷惑,当我们看到真正的财富的时候却不能辨别出来。在我们自己的生活道路上没有这本“古老而沉闷的”书的位置,就像圣经中的人物以扫那样。我们寻求短期的快乐,却错失真正的无价之宝。

 

(3)  Security 安全

Bibles are scarcer than diamonds in Russia today. A friend of mine has a young son who tried to smuggle a load of Russian Bibles to a church in Leningrad. Unfortunately his suitcase was searched at the Russian customs, and his precious cargo was discovered. The Bibles were confiscated while he was fined heavily and deported. Undeterred, he asked his accusers a searching question:

今天的俄罗斯,圣经比钻石还稀少。我的一个朋友的儿子试图向列宁格勒的一个教堂偷运圣经,然而不幸的是,俄罗斯海关的官员检查了他的箱子,结果,这批珍贵的货物被发现了。这批圣经被没收了,他的儿子受到了惩罚,被流放。但是这个年轻人并没有害怕,他问当局一个值得思考的问题:

“Why are you making such a fuss? Why should the mighty Soviet Union be afraid of this little book?”

“你们为什么这样紧张?为什么强大的苏维埃共和国会害怕这本小小的书?”

He was not surprised that they ignored his query. But he knew the answer. Bible-believing Christians do not make enthusiastic supporters of Russia’s atheistic rulers. So the men in the Kremlin regard the Bible as a threat to their security, and suppress it. 他毫不奇怪他们没有理会他的问题。但是他知道答案。相信圣经的人不会狂热地支持俄罗斯的无神论统治者。因此,克里姆林宫的人认为圣经对他们的安全是一种威胁,因此要清除它。

Although we may not realise it, many of us feel the same way about the Bible, deep down. If we were to let the Bible rule in our hearts, most of us would have to change our whole way of life. We cannot tolerate such a threat to our peace of mind. We want to remain securely entrenched in our present way of living. So we suppress the Bible in the only way open to us-by convincing ourselves that it is untrue.

尽管我们可能没有意识到这一点,我们中间的很多人有同样的感受。如果我们让圣经在我们的心中占据统治地位,我们中间的大多数人就得改变自己的生活。我们不能在我们的心里面忍受这样的一种威胁。我们希望停留在安全的过去。我们向在我们现在的生活当中也保留安全,我们可以这样做的唯一办法是让自己相信圣经是不正确的。

 

(4). Conformity 同其他人保持一致

Through an administrative mistake a perfectly healthy little boy was sent to a school for handicapped children. As the one normal boy in a crowd of cripples he felt dreadfully uncomfortable. But within a week he had solved his problem. He taught himself to walk with a very convincing limp. Nothing would convince him that his healthy condition was “right”, and that of everybody else was “wrong”.

由于管理当局的错误,一位身体健康的孩子被送到了一所专门为残疾儿童开设的学校。在一群瘸腿的孩子面前,他感到特别不舒服。但是不到一个星期,他就已经解决了这个问题。他学会了瘸腿的走路方式,而且学得非常逼真。没有人告诉他,在这里只有他是“正常”的,而别人都“有缺陷”。

The desire to conform is deep-rooted in every one of us. Jellyfish always go along with the tide; it takes a fish with a backbone to swim against it. The argument, “But hardly anybody believes that sort of stuff today!” has no logical force at all. Yet psychologically it is tremendously powerful.

与周围的人保持一致是我们每一个人根深蒂固的愿望。水母永远跟随潮流而游动,   “周围的人都不相信圣经”,并不能从逻辑上证明什么。尽管从心理上来说跟随大众会让人舒服一点。

There is only one way to resist that sort of argument. Remember that all through history men have been led astray by it. Within living memory hardly anybody believed that it would ever be possible for man to travel faster than sound. An early nineteenth-century pro­fessor, Dionysius Lardner, told the Dublin Royal Society that “men might as well expect to walk on the moon as cross the North Atlantic in one of those steamboats!” The world agreed with him. Hardly anybody thought that man would ever do either.

只有一种方法可以拒绝这种论调。记住,在人类的整个历史当中,人们都被这种思潮引导走向歧路。在我自己的记忆中,我还记得曾经很少人能够相信人类可以以超音速飞机来旅行。十九世纪早期的一位教授Dionysius Lardner,曾经在都别林皇家科学会说:“人类可以像跨过北大西洋一样在月球上散步”!当时世界上几乎没有人赞同他的观点。

On the day that Jesus Christ was crucified, hardly anybody thought that the world would ever hear any more of Him. Most people thought He was finished. How wrong they were!

在耶稣被钉死的那一天,世界上几乎没有人认为还能够再次听见他的声音。大部分人认为这个人结束了。然而看看他们犯了多大的错误!

Yet human beings go on reacting in the same old way. Most people reject the Bible just because most other people reject the Bible, and they can’t bear to be different.

然而,人类还是按照过去的方式来。大部分的人拒绝圣经,仅仅是因为大部分其他的人拒绝圣经,他们不能忍受自己的与众不同。

(5).Obstinacy固执

The practical psychologist, Dale Carnegie, used to say that the only way to win an argument was to avoid it. This is only a slight over­statement of the truth. When a man once gets deeply involved in an argument, he is likely to stick to his guns whatever happens. His emotions become stirred, and after that no amount of logical evidence will move him. “I jolly well won’t give in!” he says to himself, in effect.

实践心理学家   过去常说,唯一的一条赢得争辩胜利的方法就是不去争辩。这的论述有一点点的夸大。当一个人陷于争辩当中时,他会紧紧地坚持自己的观点。他的情绪受到刺激,即使是有逻辑性的证据也不能说服他。在争论中的任何一方其实都在说:“我绝不会让步!”

The behaviour of a man called Hiel is typical of this attitude. The story begins some thirteen or fourteen centuries before Christ, when Joshua destroyed the city of Jericho. He forbade anyone to rebuild it, and prophesied what would happen if anyone disobeyed:

  一个名叫  的人就是这样的一个典型例子。故事发生在公元前13~14世纪,约书亚占领并且摧毁了耶利哥城。他禁止重修这座城市,并且预言说:

“May the Lord’s curse light on the man who comes forward to rebuild this city of Jericho. The laying of its foundations shall cost him his eldest son; the setting up of its gates shall cost him his youngest.”4

  “有兴起重修这耶利哥城的人,当在耶和华面前受咒诅。他立根基的时候,必丧长子,安门的时候,必丧幼子。”(约书亚记626)

About 500 years went by. The Bible and the archaeological record agree that during that period Jericho lay desolate. Then along came friend Hiel. Like so many of the people around us today, he appeared to have no fear of Bible prophecy coming true. He determined to rebuild Jericho.“亚哈在位的时候,有伯特利人希伊勒重修耶利哥城;立根基的时候,丧了长子亚比兰;安门的时候,丧了幼子西割,正如耶和华藉嫩的儿子约书亚所说的话。”

大约500年过去了,圣经记载、考古学家的发现一致认为在这段时间没有人建造耶利哥城。这个时候来了一个朋友希伊勒。就像今天我们周围的人,他不害怕圣经的警告。他决定重新建造耶利哥城。

在他立城的根基的时候,他的长子亚比兰死了。我们会情不自禁地想到,希伊勒的太太一定会对他说:

He laid the foundations of the city-and his eldest son, Abiram, died. It is tempting to imagine what his wife might have said to him.

“You fool! You have defied the Scripture, and Abiram is dead. Let that be a lesson to you. Stop this crazy plan before the second part of the prophecy is fulfilled, and our other son dies.”

“你这个傻瓜!因为你不听从圣经的话,亚比兰死了。现在停止你的这个疯狂的计划,因为已经有预言,如果你接着干,我们的另外一个儿子也会死!”

But Hiel took no notice. Perhaps he regarded his first son’s death as a coincidence. Anyway, he pressed on obstinately and at last set the gates of the city in their place. And then his second son died.5 A tearful Mrs. Hiel had every justification for saying, “I told you so!”

但是希伊勒没有放在心上。可能他认为第一个儿子的死只是一个意外。不管是什么原因,他接着盖城墙。在安门的时候 ,他的小儿子西割死了。希伊勒的夫人可能会哭着说:“我早就告诉你会这样!”

Millions of unbelievers today act just like Hiel. They brush aside the evidence of prophecy already fulfilled, and stride on regardless of the Bible’s warnings about the future. Christ commented that they will go on pursuing their own ways, right up to the day when He returns to fulfil the remaining prophecies of the Bible.6 As with Hiel, their obstinate refusal to face the facts will be their undoing.

  有那么多部相信圣经的人就像这位希伊勒一样 ,他们不看圣经中已经得到实现的应许,也不管圣经对于将来的警告。耶稣基督曾经评价过这样的人,他们将继续走自己的老路,就像是这位  先生一样,他们拒绝接受圣经的结果就是他们自己的毁灭。

(6).The Way We Are Made 我们人类的本性

This is the greatest reason of all. In a way it embraces all the other reasons. Human nature has a natural rebelliousness about it, a kind of built-in opposition to everything that comes from God. He did not create us that way; we have become like it of ourselves.7  The result is, in the words of Paul: 这是最主要的原因。从某种程度来说,这条原因包含前面所有的原因。人类的本性中包括反叛,这是一种内在的反对  神的情绪。  神并没有将我们造成这个样子,是我们自己选择这样的。结果呢,正如保罗所说的那样:

 

“The desires of the flesh ["flesh” is Paul’s word for what we call “human nature"] are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh; for these are opposed to each other, to prevent you doing what you would.”8

   “因为情欲和圣灵相争,圣灵和情欲相争,这两个是彼此相敌,使你们不能做所愿意做的。”(加拉太书517

This inborn perversity of human nature has operated all through history. It caused the ancient Israelites to turn against Moses, even though he had just delivered them from a life of slavery in Egypt.9 It caused their descendants to disregard the words of the prophets, and persecute them. 10 It caused the Jews of the first century to crucify their King. And it is at the root of men’s unreasonable attitude to the Bible, all through history.这种天生的人类反叛的本性贯穿了整个历史。它造成了古代的以色列人反对摩西,甚至在摩西刚刚将他们从埃及的奴隶生活中解脱出来。这种本性也使以色列的后代违背先知们的警告,迫害他们。这种本性让他们将他们自己的王耶稣钉死在十字架上,从整个历史上来说,他们也是这样对待圣经的。

 

 

Up To Us 至于我们

 

Thus God gives us a word of advice. Because of the way we are made, it is difficult for us to be fair to the Bible. Recognising this fact is half the battle. If we once determine to give the Bible a fair chance, despite our instinctive dislike for it, we shall soon begin to see it in a very different light. 在圣经中 神已经给我们忠告。因为我们的本性,我们很难公平地对待圣经。认识到了事实只是战争的一半。如果我们决定给圣经一个公平的机会,我们就会按照不同的观点来看待圣经。

For one thing, the opinions of the unbelievers around us will gradually come to seem less important. We shall begin to recognise them for the blind expressions of prejudice that they are. The objections men raise against the Bible will look less and less weighty. And we shall find ourselves discovering more and more positive evidence that the Bible is true.这样的话,我们周围哪些人的反对意见将逐渐变得不在重要。我们将认识到,他们的偏见。圣经对于这些人的重要性越来越低。我们却发现越来越多的证据告诉我们圣经是正确的。

Part One of this book ended with a suggested prayer from Mark’s Gospel, for you to pray as you studied the Bible: “Lord I (want to) believe; help Thou mine unbelief!”

在本书的第一部分以路加福音中的一篇祷告为结束语。在你研究圣经的时候,你也可以这样祷告:“”。

Now is a good time to add to this a second prayer, drawn from Luke’s Gospel: “God, be merciful to me, a sinner.”11

现在,在我们祷告的时候可以加上一句话,同样来自路加福音:“”。

This can be your way of recognising where you really stand. We are not in a position to set ourselves up as judges of the Bible. On the contrary, the Bible is going to judge us, one day.12

这能够帮助你认识到自己所处的位置。不是我们能够评判圣经,相反,将来是圣经来审判我们。

So we need to continue our studies with this sort of feeling in our hearts:

因此,但我们决定继续学习圣经的时候,要常常带着这样的感情:

“Oh, Lord, I am beginning to see why the Bible always looked wrong. It was because there was something wrong with me. It was as if I had always looked at it through dirty, half-closed eyelashes. Now I want to look at it fairly and squarely-even though I know it is going to be painful to do so. I want to give the Bible a fair hearing, at last. Help me, Lord.”“主啊!我现在想看看为什么圣经总是看起来是错的。这是因为在我自己当中有错误。这是因为我自己带着不干净的、有偏见的眼睛来看待圣经。”

To give the Bible a fair hearing. Yes, of course, that’s what we need to do. But how do we set about it? 

给圣经一个公平的说话的机会,这是我们理所当然应该做的。但是我们应该从那里开始呢?

Part Three will point the way.

在本书的第三部分我们将对此作出陈述。

 

PART THREE3部分

Now What?现在该做什么?

 

26

First Steps in Bible Study

学习圣经的第一个步骤

So we are going to give the Bible a chance to speak for itself. In other words, we are going to set about reading it. Perhaps you have never read it before, at least, not since childhood. What is the best way to begin?

因此,我们已经打算好了:给圣经一个为自己说话的机会,用别的话来说,就是我们准备读读它。可能你从前从来没有读过圣经,至少不是从小就开始读,那么从哪一部分开始读最好?

This is not easy, because there are several things about the Bible that tend to put off the beginner. To begin with, there is its sheer size: more than a thousand large pages. The older versions are usually bound in a forbidding black. They are written in an unfamiliar, old-fashioned style of English. Some chapters seem almost impossible to understand, even in a modern translation. Other parts are just lists of names, which are about as interesting at first glance as a page from the telephone directory.

对初学者来说,这不是一件容易做决定的事。因为很多事情会妨碍他们。首先,光看看这本书的厚度超过1000页,就知道不容易。而且圣经的老版本通常有看起来令人敬畏。圣经又是用一种让人不太熟悉的中古代英语写成,(对于中文读者也是如此)。有一些章节似乎容易看懂,即使是现代文翻译版本也是如此。有一部分仅仅是一系列名单,就像是电话本一样让人不感兴趣。

What’s that? You were about to give it up as hopeless before you had even begun? Hold on! Remember that this is the book that has transformed the lives of millions. Countless multitudes of ordinary, uneducated men and women have found it a delight to read. Large numbers of them have willingly faced martyrdom on account of it. Don’t give up too easily. There must be more in this book than you think. 

难道我们会在没有开始的时候就绝望地放弃?请坚持下去!牢记这本书已经改变了数百万人的生活。无数普通人、没有受过教育的人都发现了阅读此书的乐趣。为了这本书,很多人愿意面对牺牲。请不要轻易地放弃。书中肯定包含有超过你的想象东西。

Cheer up. It is possible to break yourself in as a Bible reader, quite painlessly, if you use the right method. In fact you should be able to enjoy it, right from the word, “go”. The three essentials are:

振作起来。只要采取正确的方法,你同样会发现阅读圣经的乐趣。而且你应该享受到阅读圣经的乐趣,只要说:“开始把。”有三个关键问题:

(1)       Choose an attractive modern translation to begin with.选择有其吸引力的现代翻译版本。

(2)       Don’t try to read right through from Genesis to Revelation at your first attempt. Instead, begin by concentrating on the most readable parts of the Bible.不要试图从创世记一口气看到启示录。要把注意力集中在从圣经最具可读性的部分开始。

(3)       Most important of all: use the well-tried technique of reading the Bible with a purpose in mind.最重要的是,要带着目的阅读圣经。

Choosing your “beginner’s Bible” will not take long. It is essential to have a complete Bible, and not just a New Testament. Translations made by whole teams of scholars are obviously to be preferred to those made by one man. Protestant versions are to be preferred to Roman Catholic versions, because all Catholic translations are affected to some extent by the Catholic doctrine that the Church has the right to interpret the Bible.

选择一本“供初学者使用的圣经”不会长远,有一本完整版本的圣经很重要,而不是仅仅有新约的版本。集体翻译的版本明显好于只有一个人翻译的版本,新教徒出版的圣经要比天主教版本好,因为所有的天主教圣经版本的都受到了天主教教规的影响,认为教会有权力解释圣经。

This narrows the field to two modern translations, the Revised Standard Version and the New English Bible. The Revised Standard Version has the advantage that it sticks fairly closely to the meaning of the Hebrew and Greek. The New English Bible, on the other hand, is less accurate because it tends to interpret the Hebrew and Greek more freely; but many people find it more readable. Either will serve your purpose, as a Bible to begin on.

   因此,我们推荐两种圣经版本:修订标准版(the Revised Standard Version)和新英语版(the New English Bible)。(对于我们中文读者来说,目前有接近文言文的和合本,以及现代中文译本可供选择。)

 

Selected Readings经过选择的读物

 

The Old Testament tells the story of God’s people, from the very beginning up to about 400 B.C. Right from the very first book it fore­told the coming of a Saviour-King, who would save men from sin and rule the world in righteousness.

旧约圣经告诉我们有关  神的选民——以色列人的故事。从很早以前一直到公元前400年。然而从旧约第一本书开始就预先告诉我们:人类的救世主将要来到。

The New Testament begins with the birth of this Saviour-King (Jesus). It goes on to tell of His life, death, resurrection, and ascension to heaven. It describes the early history of the Church that He founded, and includes a number of letters written by His followers. It ends with a vision of the future, and an oft-repeated promise that one day He will come back to the earth.

新约圣经从人类的救世主耶稣的出生开始。接下来告诉我们耶稣的生平,他的死亡,出生,复活以及升天。新约还描写了早期教会的历史,耶稣的追随者所写的书信。最后一本书是关于将来的异像,多次重复耶稣将来要再次回来的应许。

The two Testaments are like two halves of a jig-saw puzzle. It is impossible to make complete sense of one without the other. For this reason Old and New Testament readings are interspersed in the table given below.

   新约和旧约就像是一块智力拼图的两个部分。如果没有阅读其中的一个部分,就不能完全理解另外一部分的内容。因此我们认为新约与旧约应该交替来阅读。以下是我们推荐的圣经阅读次序:

The Gospel of Mark

Genesis

Exodus (chapters 1 to 24)

The Gospel of Luke

Joshua (chapters 1 to 10, and chapter 24), Judges and Ruth

The Acts of the Apostles

1st and 2nd Samuel

The Gospel of Matthew

1st and 2nd Kings

Paul’s Epistles to Timothy, Titus and Philemon

Ezra, Nehemiah and Esther

The Epistles of James, Peter and John

Proverbs

Paul’s Epistles to the Corinthians and the Philippians

Isaiah

The Gospel of John

Jonah and Malachi

马可福音

创世记

路加福音

约书亚记第1-10章,24章,士师记、路得记

使徒行传

撒母耳记上、下

马太福音

列王记上、下

保罗写给提摩太、提多、腓利们的书信

以斯拉记、尼希米记、以斯帖记

使徒雅各、彼得、约翰的书信

箴言

保罗写给哥林多教会和腓尼比的书信

约翰福音

约拿书以及玛拉基书

At the rate of one long chapter or two short chapters a day, that list should last you about a year. By the end of that time you will have quite a good idea of what the Bible is about.

You may then be tempted to go on and read the books you have missed. My advice is: don’t. First spend another year working through this selected list again. You will be surprised how much more you learn on the second time round.

如果以每天一章比较长的篇幅或者是两章比较短的篇幅来读,完成这些阅读任务可能需要一年。一年以后,你对圣经会有一个大概的了解。那时候你可能想接着阅读没有读到的内容。但是我建议你不要这样做。将上面的阅读表的再次阅读一次,你就会对于在第二次阅读中取得如此多的收获感到惊奇。

 

Reading with a Purpose 有目的的阅读

For a little while you may find it hard to stick to your resolve to read at least a chapter a day. Make a real effort to do this. It is worth it. You would never make a pianist unless you were prepared to practise regularly. Similarly, to get to know the Word of God you need to read it every day-or, at any rate, nearly every day

.过了一段时间,你可能觉得自己很难再坚持每天阅读至少一章的目标。你需要努力做到这一点,因为你付出的努力是值得的。除非每天练习,否则你永远不会成为一个钢琴家。同样的,要知道  神的话,你需要每天阅读它,或者是几乎每天阅读。

Prayer will help you here. Tell its Author that you want to read His Book each day. Ask Him to strengthen your resolve to do so. And each day, as you settle down to read, ask Him to make your reading enjoyable and fruitful.

祷告会对你有帮助。要告诉  神你愿意每天阅读他的话语。每一天在阅读圣经的时候向  神祷告会让你有喜乐的心情,并且让你的阅读能够结出果子来。

There are many Bible-readers’ prayers in Psalm 119. Here is one of them that may help you: “Open my eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of Thy Law.”1

诗篇119章充满了人们在阅读圣经时的祷告,或许这一节对于你会有帮助:“求你开我的眼睛,使我看出你律法中的奇妙。”(18节)

If possible, do your Bible readings in company. Perhaps husband, wife, parents, or children will agree to join you. Perhaps you can get together with one or two friends; if they are already Bible-believers, so much the better.

如果可能的话,和别人一起阅读圣经。有可能你的丈夫(或妻子)、父母或者是孩子愿意和你一起读。如果他们已经相信了圣经,这样会更好。

But whether you read alone or in company, don’t just read and shut the book. You will benefit only a little that way. The real value of the reading comes from looking (or talking) it over afterwards, to see what you can learn from it.

不管你是自己阅读或者是与其它人一起阅读圣经,不要仅仅看过就过去了。这样的话你不会得到很多收获。阅读圣经的真正价值在于过后如何看待圣经、看到你从中学会了什么。

This is what is meant by “reading with a purpose”. When you have read a chapter, try to answer these three questions about it:

这就是说,你要带着目的阅读。当你阅读一个章节的时候,要努力回答下面的三个方面的问题:

(a)  What did it convey to its first readers?这些经文向它的第一个读者传递了什么样的信息?

(b)  What does it tell us about God’s work in the world?这些经文告诉我们 神的工作的哪一个方面?

(c)  What lessons can we learn from it to help us in everyday life? 我们从中能够学习到什么?如何应用到我们日常的生活当中?

You will soon find that nearly every chapter becomes interesting when you ask these questions. You won’t always be able to answer all three. But with practice you will generally be able to answer at least one of them. Here are a few examples, based on readings from the Revised Standard Version. Open your own Bible and follow the chapters concerned.

如果你肯带着问题来读,你就会发现几乎每一章都很有趣。当然并不是每一次你都可以发现这三个问题的答案,但是通过实践,你可以至少回答其中的一个问题。下面我们列举了一些例子。请打开圣经到相关的章节:

 

Example 1: Philippians 4 例子1:阅读 腓尼比书4

 

This is an example of a chapter where all three of our basic questions are easy to answer.

Question (a). This letter was written by Paul when he was in prison. (You would have learnt that fact if you had previously read chapter 1, verses 7 to 14.) Verse 4, “Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice!” must have shown Paul’s readers that his spirit was uncrushable. His concern for them, which runs throughout the chapter, would have made them realise that he was still as unselfish as ever. His gratitude to them for their kindness to him must have stirred them deeply. Altogether, they must have been moved almost to tears by Paul’s example of Christian courage, faith and selfless love.

 

在这个例子当中,三个问题都很容易得到回答。问题1 这一封信是保罗在监狱的时候写的。(从第一章7-14节中就可以看出)。第4节中说:“”这就告诉我们保罗的精神   是不可战胜的。他关心他们,这一点贯穿这一张的所有部分。他们会认识到保罗还是像过去一样无私。        他们肯定会被保罗具有的基督徒的勇气、信心和无私的爱所感动。

Question (b). Verse 3,   my fellow workers whose names are in the book of life”, shows that God promises eternal life, not to every­body, but to those who join His team of workers. Verse 18,  “…the gifts you sent, a fragrant offering, a sacrifice acceptable and pleasing to God”, shows that God is aware of every real sacrifice that men make for Christ’s sake. And verse 19, “my God will supply every need of yours”, shows that God repays such sacrifices, even in this present life.2个问题,第3节:“”告诉我们,  神永生的应许并不是对每一个人,而是对于那些加入  神的家庭的人。在第18节说:“”,告诉我们,  神将来要偿还我们所作的牺牲,甚至包括我们今生的需要。

 

Question (c). The lesson of verse 2, “I entreat Euodia and I entreat Syntyche to agree in the Lord”, is obvious: there is no place for long­standing quarrels in Christ’s church.

The lesson of verses 6 and 7 is especially appropriate to our affluent, hectic, ulcer-ridden society. “Don’t worry about tomorrow. Trust God to supply all your needs. That way you will receive a blessing that money cannot buy: contentment”, it promises us. Verse 12 carries much the same message.6节和第7节的教训特别适合于我们生活在今天物质充分、   的社会。“”在第12节中告诉了我们同样的信息。

Verse 8 has another special message for our age: “Whatever is true, whatever is honourable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is gracious, if there is any excellence, if there is any-thing worthy of praise, think about these things.” How can we do this if we feed our minds solely on the endless diet of crime and sin, violence and sex, supplied by TV, press and cinema?

8节告诉我们有关我们这个时代的信息:“”。如果我们的头脑中充满了电视、杂志和电影所提供的犯罪、暴力和性,我们如何做到这些呢?

 

Example 2: Genesis 24 例子2:阅读创世记24

This is primarily a “Question (c)” chapter. It is packed full of valu­able lessons about marriage. Why not try a little exercise here? Read the passage carefully with a pencil and paper at hand. After making allowance for the differences in customs between Abraham’s day and ours, note down all the lessons you can derive from this chapter of the Bible.这一章主要要问自己第三个问题:内容主要于婚姻中的一些教训有关。在阅读本章的时候要带着字和笔,注意亚伯拉罕时代与当今婚姻习俗的差别,将你能够总结到的教训全部写下来:

Do this now-before you read any further in this book. Then compare your own list with the list given below.在你阅读这本书的其他部分之前开始这个练习:将自己的  与下面的进行比较:

(1) Parents ought to take a close personal interest in the well-being of their children, and seek to influence them in their choice of life partners (verses 1 to 4). 做父母的要密切注意孩子的教训,尽量对他们选择生活方式施加影响。(1-4节)

(2) It is vitally important that believers should not marry un-believers (verse 3; note the emphasis implied by the word, “swear”).不要与不同信仰的人结婚,这一点非常重要。(第3节,请注意“”这个强调的词汇。)

(3)        Don’t rush into a compromise solution of a difficult marriage problem (verses 5 and 6).

在婚姻中出现困难的时候,不要急于妥协()

(4)        Instead, trust God to provide a really satisfactory solution (verse 7).

要相信  神已经预备了好的解决办法。()

(5) But don’t be starry-eyed about the matter. Take whatever prac­tical steps are called for in seeking a suitable marriage partner (verse 10).

不要对事情抱着不切实际的看法(过于乐观)。在寻找合适的婚姻伙伴的时候需要采取实际的行动(10节)。

(6) At the same time, pray earnestly for God’s guidance (verses 12 to 14).

在任何时候,都要向 神急切地祷告,寻求 神的指导(12-14节)。

(7) Base your choice of a partner on character, rather than on looks (verses 14 and 20; only a big-hearted, generous girl would have offered to water ten thirsty camels!).

选择的基础在于性格,而不是外貌(第14节,20节;只有心胸宽广,大度的女孩才能够为10只饥渴的骆驼提供饮水)。

(8) Rely upon it, God will supply the right partner for us if we trust Him completely (verses 27 and 51).

(9) Love-real love, lasting love-will surely follow, if only we let these principles guide us (verse 67).

 

 

Example 3: 1 Corinthians 15: 1-28 例子3:阅读哥林多前书151-28

This is essentially a “Question (b)” chapter. Try the same exercise as in the previous example, but this time note down the main prin­ciples of Christian doctrine contained in this passage. Then compare your list with the one below.这一章实际上是回答第二个问题的。尝试着和上一章一样,要抓住本章中表达的最主要的基督教原则。然后建立自己的总结和下面的列表相对照。

(1) The way to be saved is to accept the true Christian gospel that Paul taught, and then abide by it (verses 1 and 2).

拯救的道路在于:接受保罗所教导的真正的基督教福音,并且遵守(1节、2节)

(2) Christ died as a sacrifice for our sins (verse 3).基督为了我们的罪而死,(3节)

(3) Then He rose from the dead. There is irrefutable evidence of this, because there were over 500 eye-witnesses (verses 4 to 8).后来耶稣从死亡中复活了。耶稣的复活有大量的证据,因为有超过500人亲眼看见过。(4-8节)

(4) The fact that He rose is an absolutely essential part of the Christian religion (verses 12 to 19).

耶稣的复活绝对是基督教非常重要的一部分。

(5) Christ’s followers also will rise bodily from the dead, one day (verses 20 to 22).

那些跟随基督的人将来也会从死亡中复活,是身体的复活。(20-22节)

(6) This will take place when Christ comes back to the earth (verse 23).

复活将发生在耶稣回来的时候。

(7) Some time later, death will be entirely abolished and God’s supremacy will then be unchallenged (verses 24 to 28).

   以后,将不再有死亡,  将来不再有谁挑战  神的权威。

 

The Next Step下一步

 

When you have worked through the “short list” of Bible books twice, you will be ready for the next step. Don’t make the mistake of going straight for all the books that were left out of the selected list. Re­member that they were omitted because they were the more difficult books of the Bible. To tackle them one after the other would only be to invite mental indigestion and disappointment.

当你已经阅读了这个“圣经阅读短名单”两次,并且准备开始下一个计划。不要直接阅读其余的书。请记住,我们暂时不推荐你阅读,因为这些书是圣经中比较难懂的。如果一定要读,只会导致精神上的消化不良以及失望。

A better way is now to approach the Bible as a whole, resolved this time to miss out nothing. That way you will be reading a happy mixture of familiar and unfamiliar, simpler and more difficult books.更好的方法是将圣经作为一个整体,

There are two good methods of setting about this. One way is to continue the simple system of “one long or two short chapters a day”. To avoid spending too long on either Testament it would be best to read a book from each in turn-Genesis, Matthew, Exodus, Mark, Leviticus, Luke, and so on.有两种方法可以解决这个问题。一种办法就是继续“每天阅读一章长的或者两章短的圣经经文”,为了避免单独在新约或者是旧约上花费太长的时间,最好对交替阅读新约旧约,例如:创世记,马太福音,出埃及记,马可福音,利未记,路加福音,等等。

The other method is to use one of the published “Bible Calendars”, in which certain chapters are allocated to each day of the year. The best known of these is probably the one drawn up many years ago by R. M. McCheyne. It allocated four separate portions to every day, starting like this:另外一种方法就是利用一些出版的“圣经日历”,这种日历包含每天要阅读的某一章。最有名的圣经日历可能是有   多年以前所编写的,每天的阅读包括4个部分,这个日历的开始部分是这样的:

January 1               l Genesis 1              Matthew 1               Ezra 1                     Acts 1

11  创世记第1  马太福音第1 以斯拉记第1 使徒行传第1

and finishing like this:

结束部分是:

December 31     2 Chronicles 36 Revelation 22     Malachi 4          John 21

1231   历代志下36     启示录22  马拉基书4  约翰福音21

 

The man with enough stamina to keep this up for a whole year would find he had read through the New Testament and the Psalms twice, and the rest of the Bible once. A generation ago these tables were still being bound up in one edition of the Authorised Version.2 Unfortunately they have since gone out of print, but similar tables in booklet form can still be obtained from some of the sectarian publishers.那些有毅力坚持一年的人,就会阅读新约以及诗篇2次,圣经其余部分1次。在几十年前,这些圣经阅读表出现在英文圣经的钦定版本中,但是现在没有了。不过一些出版社出版了类似的包含阅读计划表的小册子。

Tables like this are mainly useful in a Bible reader’s early years. They force the pace, and enable him to gain a broad acquaintance with the whole Bible quickly. When this has been achieved he will want to look at a smaller number of chapters in a day, but to study them in greater depth.

   这种阅读计划对于一个刚开始阅读圣经的人来说是非常重要的。按照这个计划阅读可以使圣经初学者很快地熟悉圣经。当这一步完成以后,他应该更加深刻地专注地学习,阅读范围可以小一些。但是学习程度要跟深一些。

 

Progressing from Bible Reading to Bible Study从阅读圣经到研究圣经的进步

 

There is no sharp line of demarcation between Bible reading and Bible study. Every thoughtful Bible reader is a Bible student. Never­theless, there comes a time when the Bible reader realises he has passed the stage of being a beginner. He has read the whole Bible through two or three times, and feels at home anywhere in its pages. Now he feels ready to start digging deeper. What next?

圣经阅读与圣经学习之间并没有严格的划分。任何带着思考的头脑阅读圣经的人就是一名圣经学生。然而,终究有一天,他(她)会意识到自己已经达到了研究圣阶段。在已经阅读了整本圣经2-3次,能够打开圣经找到大致的位置,现在他认为自己需要更深刻地研究圣经,下一步该怎样做?

Without a doubt, the first priority is to acquire a good study Bible. The modern translations recommended so far are excellent reading Bibles for beginners. They are also useful tools for a student’s shelf, to turn to when he wants a second opinion about a difficult passage. But as basic study Bibles they are woefully inadequate.

毫无疑问,第一步的是有一本适合于研究用的圣经。圣经的现代文翻译版本是供初学者学习的非常好的阅读版本,对于圣经研究者也非常有用,但是对于那些打算研究圣经的人来说是不够的。

The best study Bible, of course, is a Hebrew Old Testament and a Greek New Testament, for those who can handle them competently. Most of us, however, have to be content with an English translation. Nearly all students are agreed that the best of these for study pur­poses is the English Revised Version of 1886.

当然,最好的供研究的圣经是希伯来文的圣经旧约部分与希腊文的新约部分,然而,我们中间的大多数人还是满足于自己的母语圣经翻译本。几乎所有的圣经学生都同意,最好的英文圣经版本是1886年的修订版。

There are two main reasons for this. It sticks more closely to the words of the original languages than any other leading translation. And in its more expensive editions it is supplied with a magnificent set of cross-references, which are invaluable to the student. 这样说是因为两个原因:这个版本比其他翻译版本更加忠实于原文。而且提供了页边参考,对于圣经研究是

Another advantage of this version is that it can be bought in a sort of sandwich edition, which contains the Authorised (or King James) Version on the same page. In this way the reader gets two complete translations for the price (and the bulk) of one-and-a-bit.

这个版本的另外一个好处是:它提供了两种圣经版本的对照,在同一页中包含钦定版和修订版的内容。

 

 

This unique book is called The Interlinear Bible. It was originally published by the Cambridge University Press, but was dropped from their lists a few years ago. Fortunately it has now been reissued by another publisher, who has given it what it previously lacked: wide margins, for the student to write notes on.This edition is not cheap, but it is almost certainly the best buy in study Bibles today.

   最独特的圣经版本被称为  ,这个版本最初由剑桥大学出版社出版,这个版本提供了较宽的页边距,读者可以写下注释。这个版本价格不菲,但是值得购买。

 

Cross References圣经的串珠版

 

Any good study Bible will bristle with footnotes and cross-references. Readers often refer to these as being “in the margin”, because once upon a time they were printed down the edges of each page. Nowa­days they usually appear in a centre column, or at the foot of the page. But the old name sticks. How, then, does the student make the best use of his “margin”?

As an example, take the very first verse of the New Testament, Matthew 1:1. In my edition of the Revised Version (which, as already mentioned, has been provided with an unusually good “margin”) the verse is printed like this:

任何一个好的供研究用的圣经总是有注脚和   ,这些内容一般在页边,通常在中间。那么,如何利用这些参考?

例如:

1a  The book of the 2 generation of Jesus Christ,

b the son of David, the son of Abraham.

 

In this short verse there are five interruptions, two indicated by numbers and three by letters. The numbers refer to the translators’ comments, which appear at the bottom of the page like the footnotes in an ordinary book. (The translators of this version were very good at telling the reader where they were not sure of themselves, or where two alternative translations are possible. Full marks to them for this habit! I only wish modern translators did it to the same extent.)在这个

 The note (1) tells us that “the book of the generation of” can equally well be translated “the genealogy of”. Note (2) says that the Greek word translated “generation” can also be translated “birth”, and that it is translated this way in verse 18.

Now we turn to the letters. These link up with a long list of Bible references, running down the centre of the page. Against (a) we find, “Cp. Luke 3:23-38”. The letters “Cp.” stand for “compare”. When we compare the passage mentioned, we see that Luke gives another list of ancestors of Jesus Christ-a useful piece of information.

When we follow up the letters (b) and (c) we really strike a gold-mine. Why should the very first sentence of the New Testament link Jesus Christ with two Old Testament characters? Turning up the cross references will supply the answer to this question, and a very interesting answer it is.当我们跟踪这些文字的时候,我们实际上是在挖掘一座金矿。

(b) invites us to turn up the following passages: 2nd Samuel 7:12-16; Psalm 132:11; Isaiah 11:1; Jeremiah 23:5; Luke 1:32, 69; John 7:4*; Acts 2:30; Acts 13:23; Romans 1:3; 2nd Timothy 2:8; Revelation 22:16.

The first passage in this list is part of a promise that God made to David. It begins like this:

 

“And when thy days be fulfilled, and thou shalt sleep with thy fathers, I will set up thy seed after thee, which shall proceed out of thy bowels, and I will establish His kingdom. He shall build an house for My name, and I will stablish the throne of His kingdom for ever. I will be His Father, and He shall be My Son.”

 

If you turn up all these passages you will soon see that these promises made to David are very important. They tell us quite a lot about God’s plan of salvation and what He intends to do in the world. The New Testament writers clearly regarded this as a vital part of the Gospel message.如果我们将这些段落自己找出来,我们很快就会发现, 神对大卫的这些应许是非常重要的。这些应许告诉我们很多关于  神拯救的计划,以及  神计划作的事情

 

When we come to (c) we find another list of passages, referring to some other promises made by God to Abraham. There are only three in this list (Genesis 22:18; Galatians 3:16; Romans 9:5). But we need not stop there. Each of these passages has, in turn, its own list of cross-references. By following these up we can compile a long list of passages about God’s promises to Abraham.

 

It is evident from these passages that God’s promises to Abraham also formed an important part of the Gospel. Among them we read Paul’s declaration that the Gospel was actually preached to Abraham,4 and the words of Jesus, “Abraham rejoiced to see My day, and he saw it and was glad.”5 In other words, the Christian Gospel does not begin in Matthew-it begins in Genesis.

All this we can learn from the very first verse of the New Testament, just by using the cross-references in the margin. No wonder that old hands at Bible study regard a good margin as the first essential in a Bible.

 

 

Other Aids to Study 其它对研究圣经有帮助的手段

“Bible study?” said Margaret. “Oh, no, I could never do that. I’m not brainy. I should think you’d need a good education and a lot of books before you could be a proper Bible student.”

一提到研究圣经,马哥利特过去总是说:“我可能永远都不会。我们为那些研究圣经的人是受过高深的教育,并且阅读了很多的书的人。”

Like a lot of other people, Margaret had been put off by that un­fortunate word, “study”. But Bible study is not like the type of study she had in mind. It is more like “nature study”, which just means taking an interest in nature and finding out what you can about it.

   与其他很多人一样,  

To be a Bible student you need only three essentials: a Bible, a pencil and paper, and the right attitude of mind. If you use these regularly and enthusiastically you can go a long way, as I have tried to show in the earlier part of this chapter. Even if you never progress beyond these simple methods, you should end up knowing the Bible better than a good many ordained ministers.成为一名圣经学生,只需要一本圣经,纸和笔,已经正确的态度

But the time may come when you want to go a little further than these methods will take you. At that stage it is worth investing in three more tools: a concordance, a Bible dictionary, and a com­mentary.

A concordance is simply an index to the whole Bible. They come in three kinds: (1) short concordances, (2) complete English concor­dances, (3) complete concordances based on the Hebrew and Greek words, but set out in a form that an ordinary English reader can follow.

The first kind are not worth very much. They are cheap, but exasperating. To keep them short the compilers have to omit lots of passages. So they try to select just the verses that they think you will find useful. This, of course, is an impossible task, and half the time you will find that the passage you want is not there.

A complete concordance is a substantial volume. It lists all the words found in the English Bible (except for trivial words like “if”, “but”, “for”, “to” and “the”) and after each word quotes all the passages where that word occurs. A concordance like this has two main uses.

In the first place, it helps you to find half-remembered passages. If you cannot recall where “God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son” occurs, the concordance will soon tell you. All you need to do is to look up the most uncommon word (in this case, “begotten”) and then glance down the list of passages containing that word until you see the one you want. You could, of course, find the verse by turning up one of the other words in it, such as “God”, “loved”, or “gave”. But then you would have a much longer list of passages to look through. So it always pays to choose the most unusual word.

The second use of a concordance is to enable you to study a theme. You may decide to make a character study of the apostle James, to see what lessons you can learn from his failures and successes. A com­plete concordance will point you to every place in the Bible where he is mentioned. Or you may want to study the history of a place, like Babylon, or of an object, like the tabernacle. Once more your con­cordance will show you where to look.

But if you want to study the use of a Bible word, like ~ or “salvation”, or “redeem”, an ordinary English concordance will not take you very far. It is here that the third type of concordance-that based on the occurrence of Hebrew and Greek word-comes into its own. Don’t be put off at the thought of dabbling in strange languages; you can use these concordances without even knowing a single letter of the Greek alphabet.

For a simple example, suppose that you want to know what the New Testament teaches about Holy Communion. You look up the English word “communion”, and find that it occurs only four times. Twice it is applied to the sacrament;6 once it is used to refer to the Christian’s intimate association with the Holy Spirit;7 and once to warn Christians not to become too intimate with unbelievers.8

But this is only a beginning. The concordance also tells us that “communion” is a translation of the Greek word koinonia, which is used twenty times in the Greek New Testament. In our English Bible (the Authorised Version) it is translated “fellowship” twelve times, and ‘‘communication’’, ‘‘communicate’’, ‘‘contribution’’, and ‘‘distri­bution”, once each.

The concordance leads us to all these passages, and immediately we see how the early Christians used this word. “Communion”, to them, meant fellowship, togetherness, comradeship, the spirit of one happy family obeying its Father in heaven, When they helped one another, that was “communion”, just as surely as when they took bread and wine together. For instance, Paul could write:

 

“It hath pleased them of Macedonia and Achaia to make a certain contribution for the poor saints which are at Jerusalem.”9

“They glorify God for... your liberal distribution unto them.”10

 

In both cases the word in italics is the translation of that Greek word koinonia (communion). Thus we learn that real Christian com­munion is a living, loving activity, of which the sacrament is only one aspect. Woe betide the so-called Christian who “takes com­munion” and then goes straight home to live a selfish life! He does not even know the meaning of the word “communion”. And all this useful information, of great practical importance, emerges from look­ing up just one little word in a good concordance.

Two concordances of this kind are available, Young’s 11 and Strong’s.12  Strong’s contains fewer mistakes, and includes some useful features not found in Young’s. But Young’s is cheaper, and, because of the way it is set out, easier for the beginner to use.

 

 

Dictionaries and Commentaries

 

All sorts of questions crop up that can best be answered by reference to a Bible dictionary. We all know what gold is, but what are frankin­cense and myrrh? And who were the Wise Men who brought these gifts? How big was a shekel, and a talent, and a bath, and an ephah, and all the other coins and weights and measures of the Bible?

If you want information of that sort, as well as snippets of history, geography, archaeology, biography, and a hundred and one other subjects, you need a good Bible dictionary. It should be reasonably up-to-date and comprehensive. And it is essential that it should have been compiled by Bible-believing scholars. For English readers this narrows the choice to one book: The New Bible Dictionary.13 This 1,400-page work is splendid value for money.

When it comes to commentaries produced by Bible-believing scholars there is a wider choice. Even so, one of them stands out above all the others: The New Bible Commentary Revised.14 As with its companion volume, the dictionary recommended above, its price is much less than its size and its quality would lead one to expect.

There are two main rules about commentaries. The first is to get hold of a good one; the second is to use it as little as possible! This advice may sound strange, but there is a good reason for it. About a hundred years ago a great Bible student, Dean Burgon, preached a sermon on Bible study. Although he was himself a writer of com­mentaries, he said this:

 

“Pray avoid commentaries and notes. - . - they will do more to nullify your reading than anything else which could be imagined. Your object is to obtain an insight into Holy Scripture, by acquiring the habit of reading it with intelligence and care; not to be saved trouble, and to be shown what other persons have thought about it.”15 (The italics are Burgon’s.)

 

It is for this reason that I have not previously recommended the popular series of notes on daily Bible readings issued by the Scripture Union.16  No doubt these serve a purpose, in persuading some people to read the Bible “the easy way”, who otherwise could not be per­suaded to read it at all. But reading ten or a dozen verses, and then reading another man’s comments on them, can easily become like walking on crutches. It is important to develop your own spiritual muscles, by thinking out your own comments on what you read.

The best way to use a commentary is to treat it as a last resort. Always begin by seeing what you can get out of a passage yourself. If some problem baffles you, and you’re sure that you are really stuck, then see if you can find an explanation in your commentary. And always remember that commentators are only human, just like the rest of us. Never take it for granted that everything you read in a commentary is correct.

 

 

Is It Really Necessary?

 

Well meaning people give all sorts of reasons for not reading the Bible.

“Salvation is by faith, not by Bible study. I’ve got faith, so what more do I need?”

“The essence of Christianity is love, and unselfishness. Bible study is a selfish thing, it only benefits the person studying. I believe it’s better to go out and help other people, than to sit at home studying the Bible.”

“The Christian religion is centred on a divine Person, not a book.”

There is some truth in these remarks. Salvation is indeed by faith. Christianity certainly is a religion of unselfishness. It undoubtedly does centre on Jesus Christ. But does it follow that Bible reading is unnecessary? Or is there a good reason for every man and woman to read the Bible?

Let’s stop for a moment and see how we reached this point. This book, in the first place, was addressed to people who lacked faith in the Bible. Part One gave them some reasons why they should believe; Part Two disposed of some of the excuses for unbelief. But that did not settle the issue. There is only one way for a person to decide finally whether he believes the Bible or not: he must read the Bible diligently for himself.

This is because Bible study will help to create faith in those who lack it, and strengthen the faith of those who already possess it. But it does even more than that. Consider these words of the apostle Paul:

 

“Thou hast known the holy Scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation, through faith which is in Christ Jesus. All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteous­ness: that the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works.”17

 

In other words, the Bible brings men and women to Jesus Christ.

It helps them to live better lives. It develops Christian character. Bible reading generates love, as well as faith in Christ.

That, at least, is what Paul claims. But is this true? Does the Bible really have this power, to transform the hearts, the minds, the lives, the characters, of those who read it?

This book has asked, and tried to answer, many questions about the Bible. This question is the greatest of them all. The one remain­ing chapter will be devoted to it.

 

 

27

A Power in the Earth

一种力量

The three of us walked down an ill-lit side street in an Eastern European city. Carl and Jan spoke to me in undertones, glancing furtively over their shoulders from time to time, to make sure we could not be overheard. 我们三个人走在一个东欧城市的大街上。 我们低声细语地交谈,同时不停地左顾右盼,看看是不是有人在监视我们。 

Jan was carrying a large bag. It looked as if it could have held guns, or explosives. By all appearances we could have been plotting some act of violence against the State.  

Jan扛着一只大包裹。看起来里面好像装着枪支或者是弹药包。从外表来看,我们好像是密谋采取暴力推翻政府的反叛分子。

But appearances were deceptive. The bag contained nothing but Bibles and Christian literature. We were discussing ways of spreading the gospel behind the Iron Curtain. Nevertheless, this was a risky business for Carl and Jan. Jan had already been caught and punished for smuggling Bibles into the country from the West, and another conviction for “subversive activities” could lead to a long prison sentence.

但是外表是欺骗人的。这些包裹中包含的只是一些圣经和基督教书刊。我们在讨论如何在铁幕下传递福音的问题。毫无疑问,对于Carl  Jan  来说,这是非常冒险的举动。 Jan曾经因为发现偷运圣经而被逮捕,如果被指控犯有“颠覆活动罪”,就会导致漫长的监狱生涯。

In every communist country men like Carl and Jan are risking their liberty to distribute the Bible. They have various sources of supply: 在每一个共产主义国家,都有向 CarlJan 这样的人冒着失去自由的代价偷偷地向当地的人运送圣经。而且有好几个不同的机构在做这样的工作。 

Bibles smuggled in from the West; Bibles printed secretly on primi­tive printing presses or duplicators concealed in private houses; even Bibles written out by hand with the aid of carbon paper.从西方国家走私圣经,在东方国家偷偷地印刷或者是复印圣经,偷偷地将圣经送到千家万户, 甚至用复写纸用手抄写圣经。

Savage persecution has not stopped them. Many of them have spent long periods in prison; some have died through the hardships inflicted on them. But the work goes on. Those who are imprisoned comfort themselves with the words that Paul wrote from a Roman gaol:

  野蛮的迫害没有是他们停下来。他们中的很多人已经在监狱当中度过了漫长的刑期,有一些人由于受到折磨而死在监狱。但是传递福音的工作没有停止。那些

“I am exposed to hardship, even to the point of being shut up like a common criminal; but the Word of God is not shut up!”1

    “”!

I asked Carl who were winning, the Bible-believers or the com­munist authorities.

“In this country our numbers are increasing steadily,” he replied with a sparkle in his eyes. His face clouded a little. “In Russia things are more difficult. A great evangelical revival is stirring there, but it cannot get enough Bibles to feed upon. The Russian government is more efficient than ours in the battle to suppress the Bible. But despite everything, the Book is still circulating in Russia. And you should see how the Power of God works in those Russians who are able to read it!”

    我曾经问卡尔,谁是赢家,是相信圣经的人,还是共产主义当权者。卡尔回答说:“在我们国家,相信圣经的人数一直在增加。”他说话的时候  “在俄国,情况更加困难一些。     而且娥国政府在组织方面比我们更有效率。尽管有这么多的困难,”

 

The Bible in History 历史上的圣经

 

No one can say how the circulation of the Bible in communist lands may influence the history of our times. But one thing is certain. The Bible has already had far more influence on the history of mankind than any other book-the writings of Karl Marx not excepted.

The historian, Lecky, was an unbeliever. Yet he felt obliged to write:

没有人能够说出由于圣经在这些共产主义国家的流通会对于历史产生什么样的影响。但是有一件事情是肯定的,圣经对于人类的影响已经超过了任何一本其他的书,卡尔.马克思的剧作也不例外。

   是一位历史学家,他本人并不相信圣经。但是他也不得不承认:

“The simple record of three short years of active life [he was referring to the life of Jesus] has done more to regenerate and to soften mankind, than all the disquisitions of philosophers and than all the exhortations of moralists.”2

    “有关耶稣生平的中的3年多时间的简单记载,对于人类的启发和     ,超过任何哲学家和道德吹鼓手的总和”。

In his heyday Napoleon was the most powerful ruler the earth had ever seen. Yet he recognised a power greater than his own, when he said:

   在鼎盛时期,拿破仑是世界上最有力量的统治者。但是他认识到有一种力量比他自己更加伟大。他说:

“The Bible is no mere book, but a living power that conquers all who oppose it.”3

   “圣经不仅仅是一本书,而且是能够征服任何反对它的力量”。

Only very rarely has a whole community taken the Bible to its heart. But when this has happened, the results have been dramatic. Before the Bible came to Fiji its inhabitants were cannibals, feared throughout the South Pacific for their cruelty. Then missionaries came, taught the Fijians to read, and gave them a Bible in their own language. Within a generation Fiji became a land of peace and friend­ship.  只有非常少的团体能够真正地将圣经放在心中。但是当这种情况发生的时候,结果是戏剧性的。在圣经传递到    ,当地的居民是食人一族,让太平洋岛的居民都害怕他们的残酷。然后传教者到了那里,教导当地的居民认字,然后给他们用自己文字书写的圣经。只用了一代人的功夫,这个岛屿就成为一个充满和平和友谊的地方。

On other occasions the Bible has been only one of several factors influencing history at the same time. The Protestant Reformation is perhaps the best example of this. Some of the reformers were true men of the Bible, prepared to lay down their lives peaceably in Christ’s service. Some were men of mixed motives. Others were little more than political schemers in disguise, prepared to stain their hands with blood to achieve their own ends. 在其他的场合下,       基督教新教的改革可能是最好的例子。他们中间的一部分改革者是真正的圣经信仰者,已经准备为了基督的  而和平地献身。还有一些只是一些 

It would be ridiculous to blame the Bible for the crimes of such men. Instead, we should be thankful that in that age, and in every age since, the scene was lightened by a minority of real Bible-believers. Without their influence the history’ of Europe would have been dark indeed.

  如果为此而指责圣经为这些人所犯的罪而负责,这显然是很荒谬的。相反,我们应该感谢那个时代,从那个时候起,历史的舞台是由那些少数相信圣经的人所照亮的。没有他们的影响,欧洲的历史将会是一片黑暗。

 

Power in the Heart 心中的力量

 

One day in 1940 a Korean pastor of the name of Son was sent to prison by the Japanese authorities.4 His crime: refusing to bow down and worship at a shrine to the Japanese “Divine Emperor”.

1940年的一天,一位韩国牧师被日本当局送进监狱。他的罪名是:拒绝向卢本“神圣的天皇”鞠躬。

His wife was allowed to spend a few precious moments with him before the guard took him away. She opened a Bible, and urged him never to yield. Her finger pointed out a verse as she spoke: “Be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life.”5

他的妻子在他离开的最后一刻,翻开一本圣经,叫他的丈夫决不屈服。她的手指指向一段经文,念着说:“”。

Pastor Son endured years of suffering, first under the Japanese and later under the Chinese communists. But he never did give in. That verse, and others like it, made him feel he could face anything. Like many another man in distress, he found that the Bible in the mind is a power in the heart. 这位牧师在几年的时间中一直忍受痛苦,首先在日本人的手中,后来又落在共产党人的手中。就像很多处于困苦中的人一样,他从圣经中发现了力量。

A few years ago my friend John wrote to me from another continent, and told me that he was now separated from his wife. A series of little incidents had led to a bitter quarrel, in which he was sure he was in the right. His wife had gone home to her parents and said she would never return unless he apologised. Since he considered he had nothing to apologise for, the result was a deadlock. The situation looked hopeless.

多年以前,我的朋友约翰写信给我,他告诉我他和他的妻子分开了。因为一点小事导致了激烈的争吵,他认为他做的是正确的。而她的妻子则回到了自己父母的家中,并且说,除非他道歉,否则她绝不回去。

I wrote and told him that, whether he was in the right or not, his Christian duty was to humble himself before his wife for the sake of peace. “Christianity,” I said, “is the one religion in the world where the person in the right has to give in to the person in the wrong.” I quoted the words of Paul:

我写信告诉他说,不管他是对的还是错误的,基督徒的责任是为了和平的缘故,必须在自己的妻子的面前谦卑。我说:“基督教,是一种宗教,正确的却要让步于错误的。”我引用了保罗的话:

 

“Why do ye not rather take wrong? Why do ye not rather suffer yourselves to be defrauded?”6

   “”

He was a very strong-willed man. No other power on earth would have moved him to go against his own desires. But he could not resist the power of the Word of God. He lost his pride-and saved his marriage. 他是一个个性很强的人,地上没有一种力量能够是他感动转变自己的意愿。但是他不能违背  神的话语。他抛弃了自己的骄傲,却挽救了自己的婚姻。

In 1962 Russia began installing atomic missiles in Cuba. The Americans reacted vigorously, and for a few days the world trembled on the brink of war. One day my two children heard what was going on, and became terrified. When they said they were too scared to go to bed, my wife and I wondered what to do.

1962年,俄罗斯古巴安装导弹。美国为此做出了激烈的反应,世界在恐怖的核战争的边缘。我的两个孩子听见了世界发生的事情感到害怕。他们说,他们感到恐惧,睡不着觉。于是我和我的太太就考虑该如何去做。

We decided it was a time to put our religion to the test. Since the age of five the children had been encouraged to join with us in daily Bible readings, and were taught to respect the Bible as God’s Book. So we set them to work, copying out this verse in coloured crayons:

   我认为,这是考验我的宗教信仰的时候。在他们5岁的时候,我就鼓励他们每天阅读圣经。

 

“The angel of the Lord encampeth round about them that fear Him, and delivereth them.”7

    

Within the hour two coloured texts were pinned triumphantly above the heads of the youngsters’ beds. Soon after they contentedly fell asleep.

在一个小时之内,这一段经文在这两个小朋友的书中被打上了记号。他们很快就安然入睡。

 

To Trust or Not To Trust? 相信还是不相信?

 

Those three stories have a common feature. In each case the people concerned accepted the whole Bible as the infallible Word of God. Thy did not stop to ask, “But is chat particular verse trustworthy?” They had the same attitude to Scripture as Jesus and His apostles: if it was in the Bible, then they could trust it, implicitly.

这三个故事都有一个共同的特点。在每一个事例之中,人们都是将整本圣经看成是没有错误的  神的话语。他们一直没有停止探讨:“”

Take away this conviction, and at once the Bible is robbed of most of its power. If Pastor Son had been like a lot of modern pastors, he might have replied to his wife, “Yes, but some scholars doubt whether the Book of Revelation is genuine. That verse might be a second-century addition to the text of the Bible.” If that had been their attitude, would he and his wife have had the inner power to stand up to long years of persecution? Probably not.

将这种   带走,圣经马上就没有这种力量。如果这位牧师像现代的很多牧师一样,他可能这样对他的妻子说:“”如果他们持这样的态度,他和他的妻子能够在心中有如此的力量面对长时间的迫害?何人不会。

This illustrates the great tragedy of our age. Unbelievers sneeringly refer to Christianity as a spent force. So far as a majority of church members is concerned, this accusation is undoubtedly true. They lack the conviction that the Bible is the living Word of the living God, and they have stopped (or never started) reading it. Thus they have thrown away their birthright. The Word of God has no chance of being a power in their lives. Without even realising it, they are fulfilling Bible prophecy:

    这就已经说明了一个我们时代的大悲剧。不相信圣经的人将基督教看成是失去效能的力量,到目前为止,就大部分的教会成员来说,这种指责可能是对的。他们缺乏坚定地相信  圣经是  神的话的立场。

“In the last days perilous times shall come. For men shall be lovers of their own selves, ... having a form of godliness but deny­ing the power thereof.”8

   “”

But the unbeliever only sees part of the picture. He ignores the vital minority of believers to whom the Word is still a source of great power. Some years ago the manager of an overseas depot of the British and Foreign Bible Society came to my home town on leave. We had a meal together, and the conversation ran something like this:

但是那些不相信圣经的人看到的只是画面的一部分。他忽视了那些关键的一小部分信仰者依然是伟大力量的源泉。在几年以前,

“I suppose you must meet a lot of missionaries in your work?”我猜测在你的工作当中,肯定会遇见很多传教士。

“Of course! I’m dealing with them all the time.” 那当然,我一直都在和他们打交道。

“In that case perhaps you can answer a question for me. I’ve heard it said that most Protestant missionaries-unlike most church mem­bers in this country-are believers in a wholly inspired, infallible Bible. Is this true?” 在这种情况下,可能你可以回答我的一些问题。我听说大部分的新教传教士和这个国家的大部分了个人不一样,相信圣经完全是  神绝对正确的话语。这是对的吗?

“Yes. In my experience, that is true.” “是的。根据我自己的经验,这是对的”。

“Then why is this?” “那么为什么会这样呢?”

“I should have thought it was obvious. A missionary’s life is extremely hard. Few men and women have the strength of character to endure it by themselves. Something else is needed, to give them strength beyond their own. When you believe that the Bible really is the Word of God, it gives you that extra power.” “我猜测这个答案是非常明显的。一个传教士的生活是非常艰难的。只有很少的人有力量去考自己忍耐承受。他们需要另外的力量。当你相信圣经是  神的话语的时候,这个信念会给你力量”。

In 1969 statistics were quoted to support this view. At that time 62 per cent of all the Protestant missionaries in the world were said to be believers in a wholly inspired Bible.9 What a contrast with the situation in the western world as a whole! In Britain the real Bible-believing Christian stands out as a comparative rarity. People tend to regard him as a hangover from the nineteenth century, like a horse and cart in a city street.

1969年,统计报告支持这种观点。在那个时期,大约有62%的新教传教士说他们完全相信圣经是  神的启示。那种情况和西方的现状形成明显的对照!在英国,真正相信  圣经的人只是一小部分,人们认为他十九世纪的遗留物,就像是马和马车走在城市的街道上。

Yet it is men and women like him who form the bulk of the world’s Protestant missionaries. It is largely due to their efforts that the know­ledge of Jesus Christ is still spreading in Africa and Asia. There may not be much power left in the churches of Europe and America. But what there is must surely be due to the power of the Word of God, working in the hearts of those who believe it.

   尽管在这样的环境中,还是有大量的传福音的人。这主要归功于他们在亚洲和非洲传言耶稣基督的知识。尽管他们没有像在欧洲和美洲的影响力,但是依然是一种传递  神的话语的力量,在那些相信的人的心中工作。

 

Slow, but Sure 缓慢但是确凿的功效

 

Jesus told several different parables about a farmer sowing seed. “The seed,” He said, “is the Word of God.”10

耶稣曾经讲过好几个有关农夫撒种的故事。

There was never anything wrong with the seed. When it was treated aright it yielded a great crop.11 But often it fell on stony soil, or was allowed to be choked by weeds or eaten by birds.12 When that happened, even the best of seed never had a chance.

Thus Jesus appealed to men and women: give the Word of God a fair chance; open your hearts to receive it. And then He offered a further word of warning:

   因此,耶稣呼吁我们,将  神的话语交给我们,让我们敞开自己的心们来迎接它,耶稣还警告我们说:

“The Kingdom of God is like a man who scatters seed in his field. He sleeps at night, is up and about during the day, and all the while the seeds are sprouting and growing. Yet he does not know how it happens. The soil itself makes the plant grow and bear fruit: first the tender stalk appears, then the head, and finally the head full of grain.”13

 

It takes a long time for a plant to grow and bear fruit. Given the right conditions the seed will certainly develop. But beyond certain limits there is nothing we can do to speed up the development. The process must take place in its own time. 一粒种子需要时间才能成长成为可用之财,给种子合适的条件它肯定能够成长。这个过程之能够按照自己的时间表。

So Jesus warns us: don’t expect changes to occur all at once. The Word of God can work wonders in us-if we let it. But the Word of God has a tough job to do. Human nature-your nature, and mine 耶稣也这样警告我说,不要指望自己马上就能够改变。只要我们愿意, 神的话能够在我们身上发生奇迹。但是需要  神的话作很多艰难的工作。人的本性,包括你我每一个人的本性

-is poor material to start with. The Word of God can do great things with it; but it takes time.

This is the kind of thing that the Bible says it can do for you:

   圣经的这些话同样应该能够适用在你的身上:

Rebirth: “Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of in­corruptible, by the Word of God.”14

Power:  “The Word of God is quick (living) and powerful.”15

          “The Word of God which effectually worketh also in you that believe.”16

Salvation: “Receive with meekness the implanted Word, which is able to save your souls. But be ye doers of the Word and not hearers only, deluding your own selves.”17

 

In this last quotation James tells us something more. It is not enough to believe the Word and read the Word. We must also exert ourselves to “do” the Word of God.

在最后的一句引文中,雅各告诉我们更多的东西。仅仅相信  神的话,并且阅读 神的话是不够的。我们自己必须按照  神的话来做。

This book is mainly about believing the Bible. Only one chapter has dealt with reading it. And “doing” (or living) the Bible has hardly been mentioned until now.

这本书的主要内容是关于相信圣经的问题。只有一章讨论的是阅读圣经的问题。并且按照圣经去做,这是目前为止最难的事情。

Yet all three are important. They are, or should be, inseparable. If we really believe the Bible, we can’t help but read it and try to live up to it. 然而这三个部分都是很重要的。他们不是孤立的,也不应该是孤立的。我们不能只是阅读圣经却不按照圣经的要求去做。

And even if we don’t quite believe it, there is still only one safe course to take. We still have everything to gain by reading it and obeying it, because then belief will surely come to us in time. Paul wrote, “I know Him whom I have believed.”18 To “know” Jesus-really know Him, intimately and understandingly-was to believe in Him. And in the same way today, to “know” the Bible is to believe it. 即使是我们不是很相信圣经,按照圣经的话语去做依然是一条保险的办法。通过阅读圣经并且按照圣经的话去做,我们就拥有所需要的一切。正如保罗所写的,“”。“知道”或者是“明白”耶稣,真正的知道耶稣是完全地、带着理解能力地“知道”,我们就会完全相信耶稣。同样对于今天的我们来说,明白圣经最终就是要相信圣经。

You may not notice much change in yourself during your first few weeks of Bible reading. But if you keep it up, the time will come when you realise that something has begun to happen. The world around you will begin to look different, just as it does when the train you have been sitting in starts to move. With a thrill of excitement you will realise that it’s not the world that is changing-it is you! 在最初的几个星期当中,你可能不能体会到自己有多大的变化。但是如果你坚持下去,你会有一天发现  你会用一种不同的眼光来看待世界,就好像是你做在火车上,火车就要开的时候。在    你会意识到,不是世界在变化,而是你的人在变化。

After this first exquisite taste of God’s power working in you, you will have setbacks. We all do. Even Paul became frightened and depressed,19 and Peter once sobbed his heart out at the realisation that he had let Jesus down.20

在你尝到  神的力量之后,很可能要旧病复发。我们都曾经有这样的经历。保罗曾经为此感到害怕和担忧,彼得为自己不承认耶稣而出去痛哭。

But if you persevere you will find that the power of God’s Word can triumph over all your weaknesses. You will find your convic­tions growing steadily stronger. You will find your character being moulded, as if by an unseen Hand. 但是如果你能够坚持下去,你就会发现  神的话语中的力量能够战胜你所有的软弱。

You will come to see ever more clearly how God is working in the world today, and how you may work with Him. Life will become full of purpose, richer and happier. Like King David three thousand years before you, you will want to say to all the world: “Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good!”21