智慧人生篇章 第16期:信仰是心靈的療傷圣藥

Surely nothing tests the faith of the believer as muchas this - the sudden, frightening, violent death ofthose we love.There have been many attempts toreconcile intellectually such unbearable tragedieswith faith in a loving God. They range from the notwholly convincing to the quite appalling. The Bookof Job has both. When it says that we are meremortals so could not begin to understand the waysof God, perhaps there is some truth in it. But theidea that human tragedies are deservedpunishments for wrongdoing merely compoundsthe grief and pain.The ordinands I spoke with will need to take into their pastoral ministry arecognition that living by faith will sometimes mean being assailed by doubt. But they mightalso note this paradox of the human condition. When those most bitter and painful tragediesstrike us down, faith can be a consolation - sometimes the only consolation - even as at thesame time it's tested to breaking point.

確實，沒什么比所愛的人慘遭橫死更能考驗一個人的信仰了。人們不斷嘗試將這些慘劇跟信仰上帝聯(lián)系起來，跟《約伯記》一樣，有些歪曲牽強，有些言之鑿鑿。它說，我們這些凡人是無法理解上帝的行事方式的，可能有那么點道理。但是因為人的惡行而遭受懲罰，只會加劇不幸和痛苦。神職預備人員必須讓牧師公會知道，有信仰的活著必然會時不時的遭遇各種疑問，但這種自相矛盾本來就是人的一種狀態(tài)。當我們遭受極端辛酸和痛苦的打擊時，信仰是一種慰籍，有時候是唯一的慰籍，即便當時我們已處在信仰崩潰的邊緣。