[利用基督教的基督徒]
All the gods, all the heavens, all the hells,
are within you.
( Joseph Campbell )
The belief in a supernatural source of evil
is not necessary;
men alone are quite capable of every wickedness.
( Joseph Conrad, Under Western Eyes, 1911 )
I never wonder to see men wicked,
but I often wonder to see them not ashamed.
( Jonathan Swift, Thoughts on Various Subjects, 1711)
Well, I’ll put it this way: you can certainly
say belief in God makes people behave worse.
That can be proved beyond a doubt.
( Christopher Hitchens )
當我們發現邪惡並非完全在外,
當我們發現在很多人的心中,都有或多或少的邪惡,
那些利用基督教的基督徒當然不會例外。
不少偽基督徒既恐懼魔鬼,又拒絕完全信任神,
結果讓「虛偽」和「貪婪」乘虛而入,
成為了社會上道貌岸然的偽基督徒和偽君子。
教會一向並非姜太公釣魚,往往需要欺騙純樸的羔羊,
所以偽基督徒在教會內的確有存在的價值。
When a man is getting better he understands more
and more clearly the evil that is still left in him.
When a man is getting worse he understands his
own badness less and less. A moderately bad man
knows he is not very good; a thoroughly bad man
thinks he is all right. This is common sense, really.
You understand sleep when you are awake, not
while you are sleeping. You can see mistakes in
arithmetic when your mind is working properly;
while you are making them you cannot see them.
You can understand the nature of drunkenness
when you are sober, not when you are drunk.
Good people know about both good and evil;
bad people do not know about either.
( C. S. Lewis, Mere Christainity )
當我們發現所謂「自我批判」和儒家所說的「慎獨」,
其實都是「宗教精神」的必然要求,
我們對邪惡的想法就會改變。
如果既要愛人,又不能夠縱容邪惡,
那麼我們可以怎麼辦?聖經中有甚麼指示?
「我差你們去,如同羊進入狼群,
所以你們要靈巧像蛇,馴良像鴿子。」
《馬太福音 10:16》
中國傳統民間智慧亦說:
「莫信直中直,須防仁不仁」,
「寧向直中取,不可曲中求」,
「害人之心不可有,防人之心不可無」。
筆者的個人意見是即時的邪惡要立即制止,
制度的邪惡及為數不少半正半邪的人的邪惡,
就要靠建設一個光明正大的「批判平台」來譴責,
光明正大的批判平台可以令存在於灰色地帶的邪惡,
暴露在太陽之下,
能夠產生「十目所視,十手所指」的真正功效,
使灰色地帶的邪惡無所遁形,
使眉宇間泛出權力和銅臭氣色者懂得收歛。
No vice exists which does not pretend
to be more or less like some virtue
and which does not take advantage of
this assumed resemblance.
( La Bruyere, Characters, 1688 )
我們明白「橫眉冷對千夫指」依仗的,
可以是「權力」,可以是「迷信」,可以是「信念」,
並不一定需要「信仰」來支撐。
如果我們打算做一位基督徒,我們必須明白:
所有稱得上是「神聖」holy 的東西,
可以包容初犯的無知和愚昧,
可以原諒這些無知和愚昧的人,
但必然公開批判無知和愚昧,必然公開譴責虛偽。
否則甚麼叫做「神聖」?
「神聖」之中不會有拒絕智慧的愛!
「神聖」不會包容屢犯的無知和愚昧!
「神聖」絕對討厭虛偽!
智慧和虛偽同樣令思考複雜,
為何這麼多人寧願選擇虛偽?
為甚麼我們討厭讓智慧綻放出耀眼的光芒,
但卻容許虛偽在燈火欄柵處閃閃發光?
The nature of our love determines the nature of our life
and in fact our entire nature as a human being.
( Emanuel Swedenborg )
第六類的基督徒,這種利用基督教的基督徒,
在《修行的地方》(八) 一文中已然提及,不贅。