[沉默的羔羊]
也許老人家會說:
這時代不比從前了,壞人多了很多,
最痛恨的是由於教育的缺失,
沉默的人和半好半壞的人增長得更快!
If throughout your life you abstain from murder,
theft, fornication, perjury, blasphemy, and
disrespect toward your parents, church, and your
king, you are conventionally held to deserve
moral admiration even if you have never done a
single kind, generous or useful action. This very
inadequate notion of virtue is an outcome of
taboo morality, and has done untold harm.
( Bertrand Russell )
如果沉默是金,沉默的人不就是明哲保身的識時務者嗎?
如果沉默是金,沉默的羔羊不就是金羔羊嗎!
The world suffers a lot.
Not because of the violence of bad people,
but because of the silence of good people!
( Napoleon )
The world is a dangerous place, not because
of those who do evil, but because of those
who look on and do nothing.
( Albert Einstein )
中國共產黨喜歡說「必須旗幟鮮明地與邪惡勢力作鬥爭」,
但甚麼是「邪惡」evil?甚麼不是邪惡?由誰來定義?
用黨的語言來表達,就是由黨中掌權的人來定義。
擁抱懷疑和批判精神的思想家,當然不會接受這個定義!
Silence in the face of evil is itself evil:
God will not hold us guiltless.
Not to speak is to speak.
Not to act is to act.
( Dietrich Bonhoeffer )
Noncooperation with evil is a sacred duty.
You assist an evil system most effectively
by obeying its orders and decrees.
An evil system never deserves such allegiance.
Allegiance to it means partaking of the evil.
A good person will resist an evil system
with his or her whole soul.
( Mahatma Gandhi )
一位教會牧師馬丁。路德。金 Martin Luther King, Jr.
亦有這樣的看法:
He who passively accepts evil
is as much involved in it
as he who helps to perpetrate it.
He who accepts evil without protesting
against it is really cooperating with it.
( Martin Luther King, Jr.)
In the end, we will remember
not the words of our enemies,
but the silence of our friends.
( Martin Luther King, Jr.)
馬丁。路德。金其實是間接地指出:
「故意胡塗」、「虛偽」和「怕事」都是邪惡的根源。
中國人說:姑息養奸,形同幫兇!
但馬丁。路德。金當然不知道某些醒目的香港基督徒,
由於擁抱中國傳統裡「鄉愿」的遺傳基因,
可以隨心所欲地對邪惡大細超!
這些完全拒絕批判的基督徒,
用來支持自己信念的聖經金句就是:
「凡事謙虛、溫柔、忍耐、
用愛心互相寬容、用和平彼此聯絡、
竭力保守聖靈所賜合而為一的心。」
《以弗所書 4:2-3》
「聖靈所結的果子,就是仁愛、喜樂、和平、
忍耐、恩慈、良善、信實、溫柔、節制,
這樣的事,沒有律法禁止。」
《加拉太書 5:22-23》
有西方的基督徒甚至會這樣指出:
Martin Luther King, Jr. was not kind.
He was judging accusingly.
He didn’t speak gently !
He was sending out negative energy.
He refused to find solutions
that are acceptable to us.
Since we must also be kind to ourselves
and stay away from negativity,
we shouldn’t listen to what he said.
Kindness is character. It is morality.
Kindness is a holy lifestyle !
當世界越來越複雜,當壞人越來越多時,
做一個「正正常常」,袖手旁觀,不理世事,不理公義,
故意胡塗,只顧自己享樂的「無知人」或者「第五類基督徒」,
就會越來越困難!
第五類基督徒認為
1. 由於自己信了神,自己就不會邪惡。
2. 部份邪惡的人會悔改,我們應該用愛心去包容。
3. 那些真正邪惡的人,神自然會去處理。
4. 我們不會以耶穌基督為榜樣,因為他喜歡動刀兵。
5. 點解唔可以畀我舒舒服服咁信神?
6. 所謂「與主同行」,
就好像金庸武俠小說中那些跟隨宿老怪的徒弟們一樣,
唱唱聖詩,歌功頌德,搖旗吶喊:「你真偉大,何等偉大」。
如果是這樣說的話,
我們看見別人強姦時,是否應該袖手旁觀?
並且對他說:神在等待你悔改!
我們是否應該這樣想:
既然神和天使都拒絕出手,我們當然沒有資格插手,
而且在這件事上神也許有他的旨意。
第五類基督徒所信的,是否一位這樣的神:
一位看著魔鬼做壞事,一直袖手旁觀,
並且命令天使們一起袖手旁觀,等待魔鬼悔改的神?
或者一位利用邪惡去教導基督徒,
並且讓基督徒懂得對自己的不邪惡產生知足和感恩的神?
直到永遠,阿門?
所以在筆者刻苦揣摩之下,有些人是這樣定義「信仰」:
Patience with evil and waiting for GOD
to do His work is faith.
Whether we become victims or victors
as a result is God’s choice.
People who have faith believe that
everything will finally work out for the best.
一千多年前希臘人就已經懂得這樣思考:
Is God willing to prevent evil,
but not able?
Then he is not omnipotent.
Is he able, but not willing?
Then he is malevolent.
Is he both able and willing?
Then whence cometh evil?
Is he neither able nor willing?
Then why call him God?
( Epicurus 341~270 BC )
希臘人的說法是:
神想消滅罪惡,但沒有能力,
那麼他就不是全能。
或者神有能力消滅罪惡,但他選擇不去做,
那麼他就不是一位好的神。
如果神想消滅罪惡,而且有能力消滅罪惡,
那麼何來罪惡?
如果神沒有能力消滅罪惡,又不想消滅罪惡,
那麼為甚麼我們還稱他為神?
後來的哲學家,他們的問問題方式就比較持平:
If God exists, whence comes evil?
If he does not exist, whence comes goodness?
( Leibniz )
天主教不敢說神睡了覺,但就奪了神的話事權,
不再肯定「君權神授」,但就肯定「教宗權神授」。
不但由人授權教宗成為「神的代言人」,
更成立一個「無國界的國家」。
I have as much authority as the Pope.
I just don’t have as many people who believe it.
( George Carlin )
人數和「道/真理」,本來不應該有任何關係,
但在宗教方面,順服的羔羊的人數決定了教會的收入,
於是瑪門往往戰勝了真理,結果產生了一個奇異的吊詭,
就是教會的生存不是靠神的帶領,而是靠來自奉獻的收入。