shane lems 编辑/Maria
Marta译
我曾經告訴我的一個朋友，如果他不讀《基督教真偽辨》（Christiannity
and Liberalism），我們就不再是朋友了。雖然我（也許？）是開玩笑的，但我確實認為，這本書屬於諸如《神的聖潔》（The
Holiness of God by Sproul）、《認識神》（Knowing
God by Packer），以及二十世紀其他著名的基督教書籍這一類。以下是梅晨論信心的部分；這部分同樣適用於我們目前的處境，好像是他昨晚剛寫好似的。
「今天信心被高舉到一個地步，人聽到信心就說好，不問是哪一種信心。他們說信什麽都一樣，只要有信心就是有福的。他們說這種不講教義的信心比講教義的信心更好，因為不講教義的信心更純，更沒有知識的摻雜。」
梅晨繼續說，這種普通的信心沒有對象。「如果信心的對象其實不值得信，那麽這信心就是虛假的。這種虛假的信心也常能幫助人，這是千真萬確的。虛假的事也能成就許多對世人有用的大事。我如果用一張假鈔買一份午餐，這份午餐和真鈔買的午餐一樣好吃，一樣有營養。」
「他們說，信心很有用，我們就睜雙眼閉雙眼吧，別再拿放大鏡檢驗它的根基是真是假了。不過主要的問題是，這樣迴避別人的檢驗，本身就意味著信心的崩盤，因為信心基本上是講究教義的。你不管怎樣努力，也無法挪去信心中理智的部份。信心就是認為某個人會為你作某件事。如果那人真的為你做了那件事，這信心就是真的。如果那人沒為你做那事，這信心就是假的。就後者言，不是世上的好處都能使信心成真。」
這是問題的關鍵：「盡管 [這種信心] 使世界從黑暗轉向光明，盡管它使成千上萬的人得到榮耀健康的生命，這還是一個病態的現象。這信心是假的，遲早會被揭穿。」
「如果基督徒的信心是以真理為根基，則拯救基督徒的不是信心本身，而是信心的對象，就是基督……….相信基督的意思就是不再嘗試靠自己的品格贏取上帝的喜愛; 相信基督的人只是接受基督在加略山上所獻的祭。」
[ 摘錄自《基督教真偽辨》Christiannity
and Liberalism, P.126-128，梅晨（Gresham
Machen ) 著/包義森（Rev. Samuel Boyle) 譯，改革宗出版有限公司，2003。]
我推薦這本書給那些甚至不在傳統改革宗/長老會的人。梅晨是一位寫作大師，他不僅全面掌握時代的精神（在二十世紀早期），而且對基督教有深入透切的認識。
Machen on Faith
by Reformed Reader
I once told a friend of mine that we
could no longer be friends if he didn’t read Christianity and Liberalism. Though I was (maybe?) somewhat kidding, I do
honestly think that this is one of those books like The Holiness of God (by
Sproul) and Knowing God (by Packer) and right up there with other notable 20th
century Christian books. Here’s a
section by Machen on faith; this is so applicable to our situation today, it
seems as if he could have written it last night.
“Faith is being exalted so high today
that men are being satisfied with any kind of faith, just so it is faith. It makes no difference what is believed, we
are told, just so the blessed attitude of faith is there. The undogmatic faith, it is said, is better
than the dogmatic, because it is purer faith – less weakened by the alloy of
knowledge.”
Machen continues by saying that this
type of general faith has no object. “If
the object is not really trustworthy then the faith is a false faith. It is perfectly true that such a false faith
will often help a man. Things that are
false will accomplish a great many useful things in the world. If I take a counterfeit coin and buy a dinner
with it, the dinner is every bit as good as if the coin were a product of the
mint.”
“Faith is very useful, they tell us,
that we must not scrutinize its basis in truth.
But, the great trouble is, such an avoidance of scrutiny itself involves
the destruction of faith. For faith is
essentially dogmatic. Despite all you
can do, you cannot remove the element of intellectual assent from it. Faith is the opinion that some person will do
something for you. If that person really
will do that thing for you, then the faith is true. If he will not do it, then the faith is
false. In the latter case, not all the
benefits in the world will make the faith true.”
Here’s the nail: “Though it [this
kind of faith] has transformed the world from darkness to light, though it has
produced thousands of glorious healthy lives, it remains a pathological
phenomenon. It is false and sooner or
later it is sure to be found out.”
“If Christian faith is based upon
truth, then it is not the faith which saves the Christian but the object of the
faith. And the object of the faith is
Christ…. To have faith in Christ means to cease trying to win God’s favor by
one’s own character; the man who believes in Christ simply accepts the
sacrifice which Christ offered on Calvary.”
[From J. Gresham Machen, Christianity
and Liberalism (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1977), 141-3.]
I recommend this book even for those
not in the Reformed/Presbyterian tradition.
Machen was a master with the pen and had a firm grasp on not only the
spirit of the age (in the early 20th C.) but also a solid understanding of
Christianity.
shane lems
sunnyside wa
