作者: Albert Mohler 譯者: Maria
Marta
http://www.ligonier.org/blog/enemy-my-enemy-my-friend/
http://www.ligonier.org/blog/enemy-my-enemy-my-friend/
我們並非生活在和平時期。有思想的基督徒必定意識到，一場巨大的道德和屬靈沖突正在我們身邊形成，戰爭的多條戰線和至關重要的問題正處於關鍵時刻。先知耶利米曾再三警告那些在沒有平安的時候卻還在虛報平安的人。聖經用屬靈爭戰一詞來定義基督徒的生命，這一代的信徒都要面對這一事實：真理的存在在我們當前的鬥爭中岌岌可危。
作戰條件將一系列獨特的道德挑戰帶到檯面上，我們這時代的巨大的道德和文化戰役並沒有什麽不同。甚至古代的思想家也清楚這一點，他們的許多戰爭格言仍被引用。其中最受歡迎的，也是許多古人所知曉的一句就是：「敵人的敵人是我的朋友」。
這句格言作為現代外交政策的原則而得以延續。它解釋了為什麽在戰爭中彼此敵對的國家，能夠在很短的時間內變成同盟，一起對抗共同的敵人。在第二次世界大戰中，蘇聯在開始時是納粹德國的同盟國。但在戰爭結束時它是美國和英國的主要盟國。怎麽會這樣呢？因為他加入了反對希特勒的行動，變成美國人和英國人的瞬間「朋友」。然而，隨著這場龐大戰爭的結束，蘇聯與其前同盟國便進入了稱為冷戰的公開敵對的新階段。
當我們思考我們當前的鬥爭，這項有用的外交政策準也則適合於基督徒嗎？這不是一個簡單的問題。一方面，某些意識，即團結一致對抗共的同敵人是無可避免，甚至是必不可少的。另一方面，某些想法，即共同的敵人導致真正的合一，甚至如歷史所顯示的，是一個錯誤的前設。
我們決不能低估我們所面臨的形勢。我們代表人類生命與人類尊嚴去面對一場與死亡文化，與流產、殺嬰、安樂死等極大罪惡對抗的巨形抗爭。我們為一男一女結合的婚姻的完整性而戰。我們面對一場決心要推動性革命的文化聯盟，而性革命將會爆發徹底混亂，給個人、家庭、整個社會帶來普遍的巨大傷害。我們為維護性別，這一上帝創造的美好部分而戰；我們為維護客觀道德秩序的存在而戰。
除了所有這些挑戰外，我們正參與一場捍衛真理自身的存在；捍衛上帝在聖經中啟示的事實和權威；捍衛聖經的所有教導的戰鬥。普遍存在的反超自然主義試圖否認上帝的存在，和我們有能力認識上帝的任何宣稱。自然主義世界主觀在學術界占了主導地位，新無神論的書籍銷量數以百萬計。神學自由主義者揭盡所能與教會的敵人和平共處，但忠心的基督徒無法逃避這一代信徒蒙呼召要參與的戰鬥。
那麽，我們的敵人的其他敵人是我們的朋友嗎？在這方面，摩門教徒、羅馬天主教徒、正統猶太教徒、和其他許多人都與我們有著共同的敵人。但是，我們之間的合一可達到什麽程度呢？
在這一點上，我們必須非常謹慎、誠實地思考。在某個層面上說，我們可以不管世界觀如何，與任何人一起去把困在燃燒著的房子裡的人救出來。我們很樂意幫助一位無神論者搭救鄰居免遭危險，或者甚至美化社區。這些行動並不需要共享的神學世界觀。
在另一個層面上說，我們當然視所有捍衛人類生命和尊嚴、婚姻和性別、家庭完整性的人為當前文化戰爭中的關鍵盟友。我們彼此傾聽，相互借鑒，我們彼此感謝對方給予的關心與支持。我們甚至認識到，我們的世界觀有著共同的元素，這些元素解釋了我們在這些問題上的共同信念。然而，我們的世界觀的確是相當不同的。
我們與羅馬天主教擁有許多共同信念，其中包括諸如婚姻、人類生命、家庭等道德信念。除此之外，我們一致肯定神聖三位一體、正統基督論這些真理，以及一些其他教義。但在生死攸關的------ 耶穌基督的福音這真理上，我們的觀點不一致。這種至關重要的差別導致其他極重要的分歧，其中包括聖經的性質和權威、事奉的性質、聖餐與洗禮的意義，和所有各種關乎基督信仰核心的議題。
改教家的信仰所界定的基督徒必須緊記，迫使改教家從羅馬天主教會中分裂出來，完全是出於對耶穌基督的福音的忠心。我們現在需要同樣的清晰和勇氣。
在文化沖突時期，我們的敵人的敵人很可能是我們的朋友。 但是，當永恒觀和福音岌岌可危之際，我們決不能將我們的敵人的敵人誤作耶穌基督的福音的朋友。
本文原刊於Tabletalk雜誌。
Is
the Enemy of My Enemy My Friend?
FROM Albert Mohler
We are not living in a season of peace. Thinking
Christians must surely be aware that a great moral and spiritual conflict is
taking shape all around us, with multiple fronts of battle and issues of great
importance at stake. The prophet Jeremiah repeatedly warned of those who would
falsely declare peace when there is no peace. The Bible defines the Christian
life in terms of spiritual battle, and believers in this generation face the
fact that the very existence of truth is at stake in our current struggle.
The condition of warfare brings a unique set of moral
challenges to the table, and the great moral and cultural battles of our times
are no different. Even ancient thinkers knew this, and many of their maxims of
warfare are still commonly cited. Among the most popular of these is a maxim
that was known by many of the ancients—“the enemy of my enemy is my friend.”
That maxim has survived as a modern principle of
foreign policy. It explains why states that have been at war against one
another can, in a very short period of time, become allies against a common
enemy. In World War II, the Soviet Union began as an ally of Nazi Germany. Yet,
it ended the war as a key ally of the United States and Britain. How? It joined
the effort against Hitler and became the instant “friend” of the Americans and
the British. And yet, as that great war came to an end, the Soviets and their
former allies entered a new phase of open hostility known as the Cold War.
Does this useful maxim of foreign policy serve
Christians well as we think about our current struggles? That is not an
uncomplicated question. On the one hand, some sense of unity against a common
opponent is inevitable, and even indispensible. On the other hand, the idea
that a common enemy produces a true unity is, as even history reveals, a false
premise.
We must not underestimate what we are up against. We
face titanic struggles on behalf of human life and human dignity against the
culture of death and the great evils of abortion, infanticide, and euthanasia.
We are in a great fight for the integrity of marriage as the union of a man and
a woman. We face a cultural alliance determined to advance a sexual revolution
that will unleash unmitigated chaos and bring great injury to individuals,
families, and the society at large. We are fighting to defend gender as part of
the goodness of God’s creation and to defend the very existence of an objective
moral order.
Beyond all these challenges, we are engaged in a great
battle to defend the existence of truth itself, to defend the reality and
authority of God’s revelation in Scripture, and to defend all that the Bible
teaches. A pervasive anti-supernaturalism seeks to deny any claim of God’s
existence or our ability to know him. Naturalistic worldviews dominate in the
academy, and the New Atheism sells books by the millions. Theological
liberalism does its best to make peace with the enemies of the church, but
faithful Christians have no way to escape the battles to which this generation
of believers are called.
So, are the other enemies of our enemies our friends?
Mormons, Roman Catholics, Orthodox Jews, and a host of others share many of our
enemies in this respect. But, to what extent is there a unity among us?
At this point, very careful and honest thinking is
required of us. At one level, we can join with anyone, regardless of worldview,
to save people from a burning house. We would gladly help an atheist save a
neighbor from danger, or even beautify the neighborhood. Those actions do not
require a shared theological worldview.
At a second level, we certainly see all those who
defend human life and human dignity, marriage and gender, and the integrity of
the family as key allies in the current cultural struggle. We listen to each
other, draw arguments from each other, and are thankful for each other’s
support of our common concerns. We even recognize that there are elements
common to our worldviews that explain our common convictions on these issues.
And yet, our worldviews are really quite different.
With the Roman Catholic Church our common convictions
are many, including moral convictions about marriage, human life, and the
family. Beyond that, we together affirm the truths of the divine Trinity,
orthodox Christology, and other doctrines as well. But we disagree over what is
supremely important—the gospel of Jesus Christ. And that supreme difference
leads to other vital disagreements as well—over the nature and authority of the
Bible, the nature of the ministry, the meaning of baptism and the Lord’s Supper,
and an entire range of issues central to the Christian faith.
Christians defined by the faith of the Reformers must
never forget that nothing less than faithfulness to the gospel of Christ forced
the Reformers to break from the Roman Catholic Church. Equal clarity and
courage are required of us now.
In a time of cultural conflict, the enemy of our enemy
may well be our friend. But, with eternity in view and the gospel at stake, the
enemy of our enemy must not be confused to be a friend to the gospel of Jesus
Christ.
This post was originally published in Tabletalk
magazine.
