[今日經文 Today’s Reading: 約翰福音 John 6-7]
7 世人不會恨你們，卻是恨我，因為我指證他們的行為是惡的。
約翰 John 7:7
7 The world cannot hate you, but it hates me because I testify about it that its works are evil.
耶穌並不尋求被人喜歡。事實上，世人恨耶穌，因為耶穌證明世人的行為是邪惡的。當教會尋求被世界喜歡時，她就失去了公開反對世界邪惡的勇氣和能力。教會對我們時代的邪惡保持沉默是當今最悲慘的悲劇。潘霍華傳記的作者埃里克·梅塔克薩斯在他的新書《致美國教會的信》中警告我們：
“1930 年代的德國教會在邪惡面前保持沉默；但我們是否要問這個時代的美國教會是否也犯了同樣的沉默？”
整整 505 年前的今天，即 1517 年 10 月 31 日，馬丁路德勇敢地發表了 95 篇反對教會和教皇的論點。 Chuck Colson 觀察到
“當我們無法命名或識別邪惡時，我們就失去了處理它的能力——最終我們加劇了它的致命影響。”
由於教會的沉默，我們現在看到了邪惡的致命影響。萬聖節是慶祝死亡是上帝的敵人，但許多教堂和基督徒都參加了這個異教節日的慶祝活動。當我們為最近在為首爾因許多年輕人死亡的悲劇影響的人們祈禱時，讓我們也被提醒，邪惡是真實存在的，教會需要在還來的及時候在它面前勇敢地“指證他們的行為是惡的”。
願潘霍華的話提醒教會：
面對邪惡，卻保持緘默，就是邪惡；上帝不會判定我們無辜。不說話也等於說話。不作為也是一種作為。
禱告：親愛的天父，我們祈求祢讓祢的教會有勇氣大聲反對當今世界上的邪惡，以使人們從邪惡中悔改，將他們的心轉向祢，並從認識祢中找到生命的真正目的，他們慈愛的造物主！奉耶穌的名，阿們。
Jesus did not seek to be liked. Actually, the world hates Jesus because Jesus testified about it that its works are evil. When the church seeks to be liked by the world, she loses the courage and ability to speak out against the evil of the world. The silence of the church concerning the evil of our times is the saddest tragedy today. Eric Metaxas, author of the biography of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, in his new book Letter to the American Church warn us,
“The German Church of the 1930s was silent in the face of evil; but can there be any question whether the American Church of our own time is guilty of the same silence?”
Exactly 505 years ago today, on October 31, 1517, Martin Luther courageously posted 95 theses against the Church and the Pope. Chuck Colson observed that
“When we cannot name or identify evil, we lose the capacity to deal with it – and ultimately we compound its deadly effects.”
Due to the silence of the church, we now see the deadly effects of evil. Halloween is the celebration of death which is the enemy of God, yet many churches and Christians participate in the celebration of this pagan holiday. As we pray for those affected by the recent tragedy in Seoul where so many young people’s lives were horrifically lost, let us also be reminded that evil is real and that the Church needs to speak out boldly against what God has said is evil – before it is too late.
May the Church be reminded by the words of Dietrich Bonhoeffer:
“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.”
Prayer: Dear Heavenly Father, we ask You to give Your Church the courage to speak out against what is evil in our world today, so that people will repent from evil, turn their hearts to You, and find life’s true purpose from knowing You, their loving Creator! In Jesus’ name, Amen.
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