我們的信仰是歷史可驗證的，否則就不值一提OURFAITH IS HISTORICALLY VERIFIABLE OR IT'S NOTHING
作者： Kathy Keller 譯/修訂者：楊忠道/駱鴻銘
「相信，但要查驗。」（Doveryai, no
proveryai）是一句俄國諺語，它的翻譯比起它的原文更有名。「相信，但要確認」（Trust,
but verify）這句話，在各種國際談判場合中廣泛被人拿來使用，並且在必要時不斷被人拿來說嘴。這個觀念沒什麼錯。相信是好的；如果能證明你的相信不是無憑無據的，甚至更好。
Doveryai,
no proveryai is a Russian proverb that is probably more famous in translation
than in its original language. “Trust, but verify” was used extensively in
various international negotiation settings, and continues to be trotted out as
needed. It’s not a bad idea. Trust is good; proof that your trust is not
unfounded is even better.
這句話如何應用在有信仰的人的生活中呢？有些人將信仰和「信心的跳躍」當作同義詞。或者，如馬可吐溫認為的那樣：「信仰就是去相信你知道不是真實的東西。」儘管這種說法看似巧妙，但我懷疑這能說明任何人的信仰實況，無論他有多天真。堅信神話、虛假、謊言，不會給你帶來什麼好處。生活已經夠艱苦、夠悽慘的了，唯一能讓人安心的就是真理，無論它究竟在哪裏。
Where
does that apply in the life of a people of faith? Some people equate faith with
the phrase “leap of faith,” or, as Mark Twain is reputed to have said, “Faith
is believing in what you know ain’t true.” Though cleverly put, I doubt that is
true of any person of faith, however untutored. There is nothing to be gained
by clinging to a myth, a falsehood, or a lie. When life is raw and wretched,
the only stability to be found is the truth, wherever that may lie.
今天當我在沉思歷史性的、可以證實的事實有必要成為基督信仰的根基時，我想到了這個問題。在所有信仰體系中，基督教是唯一堅持其本身的真理必須建立在一位名叫耶穌的人身上的宗教，祂曾經在歷史上存在過，而且，祂在歷史中說過話，並且作成了宣稱是出於祂的話和出於祂的事。最重要的是，如果耶穌沒有死（祂真的死了，死得非常徹底），然後復活（通過一個物質的身體，一個可以行走、可以談話、吃東西，和朋友恢復關係的身體），那麼，正如保羅在哥林多前書十五章17、19節所說的……「基督若沒有復活，你們的信就是徒然，你們仍在你們的罪裏。19如果我們在基督裏只在今生有盼望，就比所有人更可憐了。」（新譯本）
I was
thinking of this today as I mused on the necessity of historical, verifiable
fact as the foundation for the Christian faith. Of all belief systems,
Christianity is the only one that insists that its truths must be founded on
the historical existence of a person named Jesus, and that further, he
historically said and did the things claimed of him. Most importantly, if Jesus
did not die (really die, dead-as-a-doornail-die) and then rise again (in a
physical body, one that walked, talked, ate, and resumed relationships with his
friends), then, as Paul said in 1 Corinthians 15:17,19 …if Christ has not been
raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins. 19 If only for this
life we have hope in Christ, we are of all people most to be pitied.
為何可憐呢？「如果相信基督能幫助你度過漫漫長日」，就像很多懷疑論者告訴我的那樣，「那麼，祝你好運！我們都有安慰自己的護身符，如果耶穌是你的護身符，很好，只是不要把它推銷給我。」這個論證的問題在於，我們的信仰是在於耶穌所完成的事；或者說，如果耶穌沒有完成那些事，那麼這整件事就是徒然的，沒有任何意義。其他的信仰體系，即使是對科學、教育、政治權力的信仰，都是從它能提供給其追隨者的良好建議中得出自身的意義。如果你是以某種方式生活，遵守一些重要的法則，按照這些觀念行事為人，你的日子就會過得不錯。你就會得到尊重、也許會受人景仰，因為你對文明的進展作出了貢獻。即使不是現在，也必然會在以後，在另一個領域裏（這是伊斯蘭教的觀念），或是在另一次的輪迴裏（這是印度教的觀念），或是在涅槃的平靜裏（這是佛教的觀念），或是在《紐 時》裏的死亡訃告裏，你在那裏會得到你的獎賞。
Why
pitied? “If believing in Jesus is what gets you through the day,” as many a
skeptic has told me, “then good for you. We all have our lucky rabbit’s foot to
comfort us; if Jesus is yours then, fine. Just don’t push it on me.” The
problem with that argument is that our faith is in things that Jesus did; or,
if he did not do them, then the whole thing is useless. Every other faith
system, even faith in science, or education, or political power, draws its
significance from the good advice it provides to its adherents. If you live a
certain way, observe a number of important rules, act in accord with these precepts,
well, life will be good to you. You will be respected, possibly revered, for
making a difference in the progress of civilization. If not now, definitely
later, in another realm, where you will get your reward (Islam) or in another
incarnation (Hinduism) or in the peace of non-existence (Buddhism) or in your
laudatory obit in the NY Times.
然而，基督徒的信仰不在於聖經裏的道德教訓（儘管它有，而且與其他信仰的教訓並沒有天壤之別，正如魯益士C. S. Lewis在其精彩的書《人之廢》[The Abolition of Man]的最後所證明的。）相反的，基督徒乃是將他的信仰、更新的盼望、得著赦免的信心，放在另一個人的行動上，而不是放在自己的行動上……事實上，就是放在耶穌身上。如果祂沒有照著祂說的那樣活過、那樣死過，那樣復活了，那麼我們基督徒就是把我們的生命浪費在追逐一個童話故事當中。幼稚！愚笨！可憐！
The
faith of a Christian believer, however, is not in the ethical teaching of the
Bible (though it is there, and not wildly different from that of other faiths,
as C. S. Lewis demonstrated at the end of his brilliant book, The Abolition of
Man.) Rather, the Christian places his faith, his hope of renewal, her
confidence in forgiveness, in the actions of someone other than him or herself
… in Jesus, in fact. If he did not live as he lived and die as he died, and
rise as he said he would, then we Christians are spending our lives chasing a
fairytale. Childish! Stupid! Pitiable!
正是出於這個理由，保羅在哥林多前書的同一個段落裏，列舉出復活的目擊者，作為他的信息來源。他本是個頭腦冷靜、受羅馬教育的猶太人，他精通哲學也精通聖經，但他倚靠的不是這些，而是從親眼見證的人們那裏得到他的確據。
It is
for this reason that Paul, in that same passage of Corinthians, lists the
eyewitnesses of the resurrection as his sources. He was a hardheaded,
Roman-educated Jew, conversant in philosophy as well as the scriptures, but he
relied on none of that. He drew his assurance from the people who saw with
their own eyes.
有趣的是，當我在考慮這些事情的時候，我每天的讀經帶我從頭讀到馬太福音最後面，也就是耶穌的復活；這個故事我太熟悉了，以至於我讀它時，我以為我不會學習到任何新的東西。然而，（我事先對離題說抱歉）當我在一台老舊的跑步機上走路時（一部沒有電視螢幕的跑步機，在我四十分鐘漫無目的的散步裏，它不至於用不需要花腦筋的烹飪節目來分散我的注意力！），我正在聽著貝多芬的《艾格蒙序曲》。艾格蒙是我最愛的一首作品之一，我一直在想像，這部作品的勝利凱旋結尾，對復活來說會是很棒的電影配樂——天使輥開了石頭，耶穌充滿喜樂地走出墳墓，在祂復活的、榮耀的身體中，成為人類的救主和睡了的人初熟的果子。銅管樂就是那個提示！
Interestingly,
as I was considering these things, my Bible reading took me through the end of
Matthew, the resurrection of Jesus, a story that is so familiar that I thought
I couldn’t learn anything new from reading it. However, (and I apologize in
advance for the digression) I have been listening to Beethoven’s Egmont
Overture as I walk on an older treadmill (one that doesn’t have a TV screen to
distract me with mindless cooking shows during my 40 minutes of
walking-to-nowhere!) The Egmont is one of my favorites. I have always imagined
that the triumphant conclusion of the piece would have been a good sound track
to the resurrection — the angel rolls away the stone, and Jesus walks out,
joyous, in his resurrected, glorified body, the savior of mankind and the first
fruits from the dead. Cue the brass.
然而，這次通讀馬太福音，我注意到一些細節，第廿八章第2節確實說到，一位天使來到，並把石頭輥開（可能好幾噸重，設計成滾入墳墓入口前的斜坡，因此人力無法搬動），但令我驚訝的是，這裏沒有說「然後，耶穌走出墳墓」！天使對來到墳墓前觀看的婦人說：「祂不在這裏」（6節）。實際上，祂已經在她們之前，在前往加利利的路上了（7節）。
However,
this time through Matthew I noticed something. Chapter 28:2 does indeed say
that an angel came and rolled back the stone (it would have been several tons,
designed to roll into a declivity in front of the tomb entrance and therefore
unmoveable by human agency), but to my surprise, it does NOT say that “then
Jesus walked out of the tomb”! The angel informs the women who have come to
visit the tomb that “he is not here” v.6. and, in fact, is already on his way
to Galilee ahead of them v.7.
用俗話來說，貓王已經離開了這棟樓了（貓王已經不在了）！（註[1] ）耶穌不必等天使來移開石頭，讓祂出來……祂是個真實的、有身體的存在體，但是可以在不必扯破它們的情況下穿過裹屍布，同樣也可以穿過鎖上的門，祂不需要天使的幫助就可以離開墳墓。
In
colloquial terms, Elvis had already left the building! Jesus did not have to
wait for the angel to move the stone to let him out…he was a real, physical
being but one who could pass through grave clothes without disturbing them, as
well as through locked doors. He would not have needed angelic help to get out
of the tomb.
那麼，為什麼要把石頭輥開呢？嗯……想像一下，如果天使才剛來，並且坐在石頭上，卻沒有移動它，然後傳遞了同樣的信息：「祂不在這裏了，祂復活了，就像祂說的。」那些婦人會相信天使的話嗎？可能會，也可能不會。一位天使大概很有說服力，但其他人呢？如果沒有一個已經打開的、可以看見的空墳墓，復活就不是可以證實的了！自稱看過復活的耶穌的人可能只是幻覺，畢竟屍體還在墳墓裏面，不是嗎？
Why,
then, roll away the stone at all? Well, imagine if the angel had just arrived
and sat on the stone, but without moving it, and delivered the same message.
“He is not here; he is risen, just as he said.” Would the women have believed
him? Maybe, maybe not. An angel is probably pretty persuasive. But what about
everyone else? Without an open, visibly empty tomb the resurrection was not verifiable.
People who claimed to have seen the resurrected Jesus could have been
hallucinating. After all, the body was still in the tomb, wasn’t it?
令我驚訝的是，我明白到石頭必須被輥開，不是為了讓耶穌出來，而是要讓我們進去！相信，但要確認。復活必須得到目擊者的證實，他們可以見證空墳墓和空的細麻布。我們的信仰是建立在發生在時空和歷史當中的事件上的，而且它乃是始於一位禮貌性打開墳墓的天使，好叫我們能查看空墳，並且明白祂已經不在那裏了。
To my
surprise, I realized that the stone needed to be rolled away NOT to let Jesus
out, but to let US in! Trust, but verify. The resurrection needed to be
verified by eyewitnesses, who could testify to the empty tomb and empty grave
clothes. Ours is a faith founded on an event that took place in space, time,
and history, and it began with an angel politely opening the tomb so that we
could look into the empty space and see that he was no longer there.
所以，提出你的問題，發出你的懷疑吧！基督徒無懼於任何問題，無論這些問題如何追根究柢，也無懼於任何的懷疑，無論這些懷疑多麼刻薄。歷史站在我們這邊，這是真實發生過的事。它改變了一切！
So,
ask your questions, raise your doubts. Christians have nothing to fear from
questions, however searching, or doubts, however scathing. History is on our
side. It really happened. That changes everything.
This article originally appeared in Redeemer
Presbyterian Church’s monthly Redeemer Report. Used with permission.
[1]Elvis
had already left the building! 這是個美國諺語，字面意思是「貓王已經離開這裡了」或「貓王已經離開現場了」，意思是說表演已經結束，不會再有安可 (encore)，大家可以散場回家了。