作者: Burk Parsons 翻譯:
Maria Marta
1956年，總統艾森豪（Dwight David Eisenhower）簽署法令，將「我們信靠上帝」（In God we trust）正式定為美國的國家格言。最初實施這項法令的部分原因是，要把美國與蘇聯及其明確聲明的無神論區別開來，這句格言一直沿用到今天。然而，與許多格言一樣，這片語不幸地成為許多美國人的一次性陳述，而非真正信靠聖經的獨一真神的宣告。
我們的確希望，我們的國家和每個國家都真正信靠上帝。雖然許多人都聲稱信靠上帝，但他們的行為好像他們的生活不受任何掌管。他們自我掌管，他們自我授權的基礎與他們隨變的心所出現的情緒那樣不穩定。無論他們知道與否，他們都已屈服於始於內心，終結於死亡的世俗主義。世俗主義是一種信念：人在社會、政府、教育、或經濟事務中不需要上帝或上帝的律法。具有諷刺意味的是，世俗主義拒絕宗教，但它本身卻是一種宗教。在整個美國，在宗教自由的標題下，隨著人本自主性(human autonomy)的提高，我們的許多政治家、法院、學校、與企業都擁抱和促進世俗主義這種宗教，這樣不可避免地導致無政府狀態。
世俗主義在我們的文化中是一個日益嚴重的問題，這已經夠糟糕的了，但更糟糕的是，它侵入教會。崇拜往往滿足感覺需要，和符合世俗人士的需要。許多牧師不宣講地獄，因為害怕將人嚇走。我們當中的一些最受歡迎的宗教領袖只不過在傳達自助的，再以基督教的粉飾裝扮的信息。一些傳道人甚至擁抱世俗主義的教導，即我們定義我們自己的現實。因此，他們很樂於重新定義性別、婚姻、和許多上帝啟示的制度和規範。
世俗主義不僅是文化上的問題，更是在我們的內心、我們的家庭、我們的教會裡，我們必須要對抗的問題。我們很容易受試探誘惑忘記上帝，和避免與世界發生沖突。有時似乎更容易生活，上帝好象真的不存在，我們過我們的日子，沒有反映出祂的掌管，和我們所蒙的吩咐：要活上帝的面前, 與上帝面對面。但是若果我們忘記祂，我們便會忘記我們是誰。我們是祂的子民，我們蒙吩咐必須堅決反對世俗主義黑暗的蔓延，和向我們的心、我們的家、我們的教會、與我們的國家宣告：全能的上帝掌管一切，而且我們堅定不移地信靠上帝。
本文原刊於Tabletalk雜誌2017年三月號 。
The Religion of Secularism
by Burk Parsons
“In God we trust” officially became the national motto
of the United States in 1956 when President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed it into
law. Originally implemented in part to distinguish the United States from the
Soviet Union and its explicit state atheism, the motto has remained to our day.
Like many mottoes, however, the phrase has unfortunately become more of a
throwaway statement for many Americans than a declaration of true faith in the
one and only God of Scripture.
It is indeed our hope that our nation—and every
nation—would genuinely trust God. Although many people claim to trust God, they
act as if He has no authority whatsoever over their lives. They are an
authority unto themselves, and the foundation for their self-appointed
authority is as unstable as the emotions of their ever-changing hearts. Whether
or not they know it, they have succumbed to secularism, which begins in the
heart and ends in death. Secularism is the belief that man does not need God or
God’s laws in man’s social, governmental, educational, or economic affairs.
Ironically, secularism rejects religion, yet is itself a religion. In these
United States of America, many of our politicians, courts, schools, and
businesses embrace and promote the religion of secularism under the rubric of
freedom from religion and by the advancement of human autonomy, which
inevitably leads to anarchy.
It’s bad enough that secularism is a growing problem
in our culture, yet it’s even worse that it’s making inroads in the church.
Worship is often shaped by the felt needs and wants of secularized people. Many
pastors will not preach on hell for fear of scaring people away. Some of our
most popular religious leaders do little more than take self-help messages and
dress them up with a veneer of Christianity. Even some preachers have embraced
secularism’s teaching that we define our own reality. Thus, they are happy to
redefine gender, marriage, and a host of other divinely revealed institutions
and norms.
Secularism is not only a problem out there in the
culture, it is something we must fight in our hearts, our homes, and our
churches. We are too easily tempted to forget God and to avoid conflict with
the world. It sometimes seems easier to live as if God really isn’t there, to
go about our days without reflecting on His authority and that we’re called to
live all of life coram Deo, before His face. But if we forget Him, we’ll forget
who we are. We are His people, and we are called to stand firm against the
creeping darkness of secularism, declaring to our hearts, our homes, our
churches, and our nation that the Lord God Almighty has authority over all and
that, unwaveringly, in God we trust.