三个孩子

 很久以前，有三对夫妇，他们在同一天结婚，也都在同一天向上帝祈祷：“伟大的上帝啊，请您赐给我们一个孩子，赐给他聪明、勇敢、爱心和健康。”第二年，三对夫妇如愿以偿，都生下了一个小宝宝。他们从此开始了快乐而忙碌的生活。

二十年过去了，这三对夫妇又来到了教堂向上帝祈祷。第一对说：“上帝啊，您为什么要这样惩罚我们？我们的孩子变成了一个残忍暴虐的人。”第二对也走上前说：“上帝啊，求您救救我们的孩子吧，他变成了一个自私、懒惰的人，我们不知道他将来能够靠什么养活自己。”轮到最后一对夫妇祈祷，他们却欣慰地说：“万能的上帝啊，感谢您给我们送来了这样一个好孩子，他热情开朗又充满爱心，他是我们生活快乐的源泉。”

这时候，教堂的穹顶上亮起一道光，洪亮的声音从光中传出：“我的子民啊，二十年前，我应你们的要求把三个孩子交给你们。正如你们当时所见，他们一样的聪明可爱，各有各的特长，每个人的潜能都足以使他们成为社会的栋梁。但是后来呢，你们之中的人，有的悉心去培养孩子，像照料一粒麦种；有的却忘记了孩子的教育，像丢弃一棵幼苗，任其疯狂生长，甚至走上歧途。那些悉心照料和培育孩子的父母，并不全是富有或有权势的，有的甚至屡遭厄运，但他们的信心和耐心使他们得到了应有的回报。而有的父母尽管富有，却早早地在教育上抛弃了自己的孩子，直至今天自吞苦果。我的子民啊，难道你们还不明白吗？”

What Does the Word "Christian" Mean?

Nowhere in the four canonical gospels are the disciples of Jesus called “Christians.” As “disciples” they were learning the Jesus-way of life and thought. As “apostles” they were sent out to practice the Jesus-way of life and thought in relation to others. But they were not called “Christians” by Jesus, or by anyone else, and certainly not by themselves.

Acts 11:26 - By that time the groups of believers in Jesus, scattered throughout the Mediterranean world, were talking about him as “the Anointed” (Gk. Christos), the one ordained of God to save the world. Outsiders coined the adjective, christianoi, probably with derogatory undertones, to match the outspoken confession of the followers of Jesus. The writer of Acts affirms (1) that the term was used first at Antioch, and implies (2) that the term was applied to the disciples by persons other than themselves. 

Acts 26:28 - “Christian” clearly comes from the mouth of an outsider, an accuser with political power in Judea. His question is more a sarcastic taunt than a sincere inquiry. Notice that Paul’s reply does not repeat the name “Christian” from Agrippa’s mouth. Paul, the ridiculed and accused believer in Jesus, is in chains. At the time of writing Acts, “Christian” was not a title attached to people in polite society, people like Agrippa. It was more a term of shame than honor. In Paul’s case in the narrative of Acts, the shame of chains.

1 Pet 4:16 - when people were labeled “Christian” for believing in Jesus as the Anointed of God in the socio-political context of First Peter, the label was not a badge of honor, but of disgrace. There was no conventional Christos to save believers from their suffering. Yet they continued to confess Jesus as the Messiah. Their accusers thus employed the derisive “Christian” label to degrade and persecute them. But the suffering believers in the context of First Peter are encouraged to bear the name, ironically, to glorify God.

            - excerpt from V. George Shillington, Jesus and Paul Before Christianity: Their World and Work in Retrospect, 2011

When God Was Obvious

Why doesn’t God intervene more? Why doesn’t he directly feed the hungry, heal all the sick and stop all wars? If God really exists, at the very least why doesn’t he make himself more obvious? People who ask such questions often assume that if God ever did spectacularly reveal himself, all doubts would vanish. Everyone would line up to believe in him.
 
Astonishing Reactions
 
Exodus tells of a time when God made himself perfectly obvious. The plagues on Egypt revealed his mighty power. An enormous miracle at the Red Sea provided sensational deliverance. A recurring miracle supplied food for the Israelites every morning. And, if questions about God’s existence arose, doubters needed only to look to the ever-present glory cloud or pillar of fire. It must have been hard to be an atheist in those days.
Yet every instance of God’s faithfulness seemed to summon up astonishing human unfaithfulness. The same Israelites who had watched God crush a pharaoh quaked at the first sign of Egyptian chariots. Three days after a miraculous escape across the Red Sea they were grumbling to Moses and God about water supplies.
 
A month or so later, when hunger pangs began to gnaw at them, they bitterly complained, “If only we had died by the LORD’s hand in Egypt! There we sat around pots of meat and ate all the food we wanted, but you have brought us out into this desert to starve this entire assembly to death” (Exodus 16:3). God responded with a provision of manna (that would continue for 40 years) and quail, but the Israelites were soon grousing about the water supplies again.
 
The Great Rebellion
 
Exodus 32 shows the Israelites at their worst. People who had eaten manna for breakfast, who had just solemnly agreed to keep every word of the covenant, who were at that moment standing beside a mountain stormy with the Lord’s presence—those very people proceeded to melt down their gold jewelry and flagrantly flout the first commandment. “Stiff-necked,” God called the Israelites as he burned in anger against them. Only Moses’ eloquent appeal saved their lives.
 
The history of the Israelites should nail a coffin lid on the notion that impressive displays of God’s power will guarantee faith (Jesus would later say, “If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be convinced even if someone rises from the dead,” [Luke 16:31].) People who had everyday proof of God demonstrated only one thing: the monotonous consistency of human nature.
 
The offenders would pay for their acts by wandering 40 years in a desolate wilderness while a new, untainted generation grew up to replace them. But a pattern was beginning to emerge: If the Israelites failed God in the shadow of Mount Sinai, how would they possibly withstand the seduction of new cultures in the promised land? The next generation, too, would fail God, as would all their descendants. The old covenant, as Paul would so convincingly argue in the book of Galatians, succeeded mainly by proving undeniably the need for a new one.
Life Questions
 

- from NIV Student Bible

The Basics of Forgiveness

The Bible is called on to provide at least two clear reasons (but not definitions) for forgiving: fear and gratitude.
 
The first incentive to forgive is that God commands it. Refusing or stalling thus constitutes sinful behavior. This view of forgiveness primarily as a religious imperative also tends to preclude a reflective analysis of what forgiveness is or even how to do it. If God has commanded us to do something, we need to obey without question or else risk angering God, which can lead to consequences more severe than any ulcer.
 
The second motivation is due to gratitude. The fact that we are all undeserving recipients of God’s forgiveness forbids us from withholding forgiveness from those who have wounded us (so the argument goes). We assume that since it was a good thing for God to forgive us, it would likewise be a good thing for us to forgive others (again, definitional ambiguity aside). Thus, whether it is out of obligation or thanksgiving, the idea remains that forgiveness is something
 

- Bryan Maier, Forgiveness and Justice: A Christian Approach, 2017.

《诗篇》

《诗篇》流露的情感是这么的多姿多彩，它的格式自然也变化多端，各有其心境与风味。

其中有宣召诗，呼召听众同来赞美上帝，邀请我们“向耶和华歌唱”。这种诗歌常用于敬拜前的宣召。诗的内容告诉我们为何要赞美上帝：赞美上帝的创造，上帝在历史上大能的作为，上帝赐给敬拜者的好处。这种诗歌通常以欢呼结束，在上帝面前有着不可言喻的喜乐。

第二种是感恩诗。开始也是赞美，然后回顾过去一段悲痛之情(受伤的情感或已痊愈，或正在医治中)。这些诗有属个人的，也有整体的。结语通常是“耶和华垂听了我”、“将我从祸坑中救出来”，或其他类似的话。诗末所表达的是一种胜过痛苦忧伤的喜乐。

第三种是向上帝求救的哀歌，为数不少。诗人一开始就呼求上帝，将惶恐不安的问题一股脑儿地向上帝倾诉。然后他向上帝恳求具体的帮助，甚至还列出为何上帝应介入的原因。在确信上帝会垂听并应允后，诗人以许愿结束祷告；这许愿大部分是保证要更加感谢赞美上帝，更加热切地为他活。这类诗歌有些是私人性的(呼求疾病得治、沉冤得雪)，有些是整体性的(求上帝保守国家免受敌人侵害或战败)。后者结束时，通常会再次申明上帝必如往常一样会保护他的百姓。总的来说，哀歌或乞求的诗歌约占《诗篇》三分之一以上。

第四种是信心的凯歌，虽然强敌当前，困难重重，似乎上帝不再眷顾，但敬拜者仍然信心坚固，他安息于上帝里面，全然信靠。这些诗歌虽有哀叹，但诗人内心的平安却使他胜过眼前的困境。

第五种是记念诗，缅怀上帝在过去(特别是出埃及时)所施行的大能。回顾建国之时所蒙的恩，诗人很自然地涌出赞美。这些诗歌记满了上帝大能的作为，并邀听者：要向他唱诗歌颂，谈论他一切奇妙的作为。(诗105:2) 叙述上帝的作为就是赞美他，因为这些诗具体说明上帝是怎样恩待他的百姓。《诗篇》136篇，每一节后面都有句赞美的话：“他的慈爱永远长存。”

第六种是朝圣诗，是以色列人庆祝特定宗教节日时所咏唱的诗歌。上帝吩咐摩西，以色列男人每年必须上圣殿三次：逾越节、五旬节、住棚节，这三次都是为欢庆上帝以往的美善和赐福。朝圣旅程的高潮之一就是惊见圣城的那一刻：“万军之耶和华啊，你的居所何等可爱！”(诗84:1)不论在旅途上或在圣城内，朝圣者都在唱赞美感恩的歌。

第七种是智慧诗，指点听者分辨愚昧邪恶与智慧敬虔之路。《诗篇》第1篇就开宗明义教导我们，要明智地活在上帝面前的重要功课：不从恶人的计谋，不站罪人的道路，不坐亵慢人的座位这人便为有福。

- 侯士庭，《转化生命的友谊》, 遨游旧约（下）

Praying Hands

阿尔布雷特·丢勒的名画《祷告的手》，其背后蕴含着两个好朋友的故事。

据说1490年有两位新进的艺术家，他们是好朋友，其中一位是丢勒，另一位是耐斯坦。当时两人的生活相当穷困，为了成为艺术家，必须充分利用时间干活维生。然而工作的辛苦和忙碌，影响了他们的艺术训练。

面对困境的无奈，他俩抽签决定一人去谋生赚钱，支持另一人到艺术学校进修。丢勒中签，得以随名师习艺，耐斯坦只好更加辛苦地挑起养活两人的担子。

日后丢勒达成梦想，成为相当有名气的艺术家，这时他已有能力支持耐斯坦去进修学画。然而，令丢勒大为震惊的是，他发现耐斯坦在吃重的工作下已使双手扭曲变形。耐斯坦不可能成为艺术家了，他为了信守和朋友之间的约定，牺牲了自己的艺术前途。

有一天，丢勒看见耐斯坦合起双手，屈膝跪下祷告，扭曲的双手象征着爱的祭献给上帝，丢勒将眼前所看到那象征祷告意义的一幕，立刻画成素描。自此以后，那幅象征代祷意义的杰作，不断提醒我们：祷告与友谊彼此相属。然而，更美的是，听我们祷告的那位，他的双手也曾为我们被刺穿。

——侯士庭，《转化生命的友谊》，18-19。

To believe in Jesus

 Note on “believing” in the Fourth Gospel The noun “belief” (πίστις) and the verb “believe” (πιστεύω) are each used (by a strange coincidence) 243 times in the NT. Neither word occurs in 2 John or 3 John, while Col, Phlm, 2 Pet and Rev use only the noun. These two terms represent the appropriate human relationship to God and Christ, and they point to the essence of Christianity and its most distinctive feature in comparison with Greek and Jewish thought.
 
John never uses πίστις in the Four Gospel, although it is found once in 1 John (5: 4) and four times in Revelation (2: 13, 19; 13: 10; 14: 12). His preference for πιστεύω over πίστις illustrates his preference for verbs over nouns. The verb “believe” (πιστεύω) is very common in the Four Gospel (98 uses), so it is not surprising this Gospel has been called “the Gospel of Belief.” Sometimes the verb refers to facts (“ believe that,” “be convinced that/ of,” 9: 18; 11: 26b; 16: 27; 20: 31a) and sometimes things (4: 50), but often it is a person who is believed (πιστεύω with dative) where “believe” means “give intellectual credence to (the testimony of)” (4: 21; 6: 30) or “entrust oneself to” (5: 24, 38; 8: 31).
 
But John has a characteristic idiom, “believe in” (πιστεύω with the prep. εἰς; only 9 of the 45 NT uses are outside the Four Gospel and 1 John), used only of a divine object of faith (surprisingly, of God only in 12: 44c; 14: 1a, but usually of Christ), never of a human object of faith. It is in Christ that God meets the individual in salvation so there are not two competing objects of human faith. 
 
This distinctive prepositional phrase “believe in” depicts the total committal of one’s total self to the person of Christ as Messiah and Lord, something more than an intellectual acceptance of the message of the gospel and a recognition of the truth about Christ, although these aspects are involved. For John, belief involves not only recognition and acceptance of the truth but also adherence and allegiance to Jesus as the Truth (14: 6).

 To believe in Jesus is
to come to him (5: 40; 6: 35, 37, 44– 45, 65; 7: 37),
to receive him (1: 12),
to drink the water he offers (4: 13– 14),
to follow him (8: 12), 
to love him (14: 5, 21, 23; 16: 27).
 

---  Murray J. Harris, John, B&H Publishing.