在確定的根基上建造Building on a Sure Foundation
[每日靈修] 12/14/2018, 駱鴻銘編譯
笛卡爾(René Descartes)故意懷疑他可能會懷疑的一切,直到他意識到有一件事是他無法懷疑的。他無疑懷疑的就是他正在懷疑。懷疑他正在懷疑,就證明了他正在懷疑。這是毫無疑問的。
在無可質疑的懷疑前提下,笛卡爾訴諸直接推理法所產生的形式上的確定性。通過使用無可挑剔的演繹法,他得出此結論,即懷疑的前提是他會思考,因為思想是懷疑的必要條件。從那裏出發,就與他著名的公理只剩一步之遙了:「我思故我在。」最後,笛卡爾得到了確信:他個人的存在是有保證的。
我們從笛卡爾那裏學到的教訓是:在我們被懷疑所困擾時,就是努力尋找確定的第一原則的時候了。我們必須在可靠的基礎上建造。這影響了護教學的整個結構。這是有關順序的問題。
活在神的面光中(在神面前禱告):
反思保羅所說的希伯來書六章1~3節的基本原則。您對這些原則有基本的了解嗎?
進一步研讀:
來六1~3 所以,我們應當離開基督道理的開端,竭力進到完全的地步,不必再立根基,就如那懊悔死行,信靠神、 各樣洗禮、按手之禮、死人復活,以及永遠審判各等教訓。神若許我們,我們必如此行。
林前三10~11 我照神所給我的恩,好像一個聰明的工頭,立好了根基,有別人在上面建造;只是各人要謹慎怎樣在上面建造。因為那已經立好的根基就是耶穌基督,此外沒有人能立別的根基。
提前六18~19 又要囑咐他們行善,在好事上富足,甘心施捨,樂意供給(或作:體貼)人,為自己積成美好的根基,預備將來,叫他們持定那真正的生命。
提後二19 然而,神堅固的根基立住了;上面有這印記說:「主認識誰是他的人」;又說:「凡稱呼主名的人總要離開不義。」
Building
on a Sure Foundation
René
Descartes intentionally doubted everything he could possibly doubt until he
reached the point where he realized there was one thing he couldn’t doubt. He
could not doubt that he was doubting. To doubt that he was doubting was to
prove that he was doubting. No doubt about it.
From
that premise of indubitable doubt, Descartes appealed to the formal certainty
yielded by the laws of immediate inference. Using impeccable deduction, he
concluded that to be doubting required that he be thinking, since thought is a
necessary condition for doubting. From there it was a short step to his famous
axiom, “I think; therefore I am.” At last Descartes arrived at certainty, the
assurance of his own personal existence.
The
lesson we learn from Descartes is this: When assailed by doubt, it is time to
search diligently for first principles that are certain. We build upon the
foundation of what is sure. This affects the whole structure of apologetics. It
is a matter of order.
Coram
Deo
Reflect
on what Paul calls the foundational principles of Hebrews 6:1–3. Do you have a
good basic understanding of these principles?
Passages
for Further Study
1
Corinthians 3:10–11
1
Timothy 6:18–19
2
Timothy 2:19