爱或真理? 爱和真理? Loveor Truth? Love and Truth?
著/译/:Carson/李晋马丽, 编/译:Shane Lems/ Maria
Marta
卡森2012年出版的着作《宽容的不宽容》（The Intolerance of Tolerance）中的要点是一个很重要的观点: 「新的，当代版的宽容，就其本质而言，已经变成了不宽容。」（2页） 卡森在整本书中对这观点作了精彩的剖析。在其亮光下，我想指出的是，卡森在稍后的第五章中对基督信仰中爱和真理的教导所作的论述。
「新宽容观常常把真理和爱放进一个零和博弈中：认为这两者中的一方一定会被消灭。如果你的教会有信仰告白，你可能是在高举真理，但对于教外人的爱就减少了。如果你认为基督教信仰一定是和表达、宣传和维护真理相关的，你的爱就会减少，因为真理会划定一些边界，把那些不认同你的人定义为其他人，这样一来不可避免的后果就是：没有爱心和不宽容。你不可能真实地爱 ，又激情地追求真理。」
「就圣经而言，不论这种观点在今天多么普遍，都是一种奇怪的立场。例如，在使徒约翰的第一封书信中，他确立了真基督教信仰告白的三个测试：一个真理的测试（信徒必须相信一些事物是真的），一个爱的测试（信徒必须真诚地彼此相爱），以及一个顺服的测试（信徒必须按耶稣说的去做）」。很明显，我们所有人都过不了这些测试，而且是常常失败；接下来，约翰提出唯一的（也是完全充足的）安慰，就是上帝之子耶稣的血，洗去我们所有的罪。」
「要注意的一点是，这三个测试必须同时实行：不能三项中符合两项就行，也不能只在一项上优秀，其他两项上平平。尤其是，约翰不觉得同时实践真理和爱有什么不妥。所以，必须得出一个结论是，如果我们赏得要把这两者中的一个与另一个对立起来，那我们对真理、爱或两者的观念就是明显少了些最基本的东西。」
摘录自《宽容的不宽容》（The Intolerance of Tolerance），卡森（D. A. Carson着）（中文版由李晋马丽翻译，团结出版社2012出版发行）。
Shane
Lems
Hammond,
WI
Love
or Truth? Love and Truth? (Carson)
by
Reformed Reader
The
main point of D. A. Carson’s 2012 book, The Intolerance of Tolerance, is a good
one: “[The] new, contemporary tolerance is intrinsically intolerant” (p.
2). Carson unpacks that statement pretty
well throughout the book. One thing I
want to point out in light of this statement is how Carson discusses the
Christian teachings of truth and love later on in chapter five:
“It
is not uncommon for the new tolerance to pit truth against love in a zero-sum
game: one or the other will be diminished.
If your church has a statement of faith, you may be trying to uphold
biblical truth, but love for outsiders will be diminished. If you think of the Christian faith as
articulating, proclaiming, and defending the truth, you will diminish in love,
for truth draws borders and establishes that those who disagree with you are
‘other,’ and the inevitable result is lovelessness and intolerance. You cannot truly love and be passionate for
the truth [they say].”
“Biblically
speaking, this is a strange position, however popular it is today. For instance, in his first letter the apostle
John establishes three tests of genuine Christian profession: ‘a truth test’
(believers must believe certain things to be true), a love test (believers must
genuinely love one another), and an obedience test (believers must do what
Jesus says). Transparently, all of us
fail these tests, more or less frequently – and then the only comfort John
provides (and it is entirely sufficient) is that the blood of Jesus, God’s Son,
cleanses us from all sin.”
“The
point to observe is that these three tests must be applied together: it is not
best two out of three, nor is there an option to excel in one and flunk the
other two. In particular, John senses no
discomfort in pushing both truth and love.
One must conclude, therefore, that if we are tempted to pit one against
the other, then clearly there is something fundamentally amiss in our
conception of truth, of love, or of both” (p. 121).
D. A.
Carson, The Intolerance of Tolerance (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2012).
Shane
Lems
Hammond,
WI