第84章 指导青少年对康乐活动的观念
§1
第84章 指导青少年对康乐活动的观念
§2
Chap. 84 - Directing Juvenile Thinking Regarding Recreation
§3
水准已降低——一般作基督徒的父母们，对于自己儿女爱好世俗的倾向正在逐渐让步。他们为各种娱乐开放了门户，而这些原是他们一度曾基于原则而加以禁止的。[1]
§4
Standards Are Being Lowered.--Christian parents are giving way to the world-loving propensities of their children. They open the door to amusements which from principle they once prohibited. {AH 526.1}[1]
§5
甚至连许多身为基督徒的父母们，也过于赞同爱好娱乐的风气。父母们已接受了属世的准则，依从一般的见解，认为儿童与青年的早期生活应该消磨于怠惰闲懒，自私的娱乐，与愚昧的放纵之中。如此便养成了渴求刺激的习性，而且儿童和青年更训练自己的心意，以欣赏刺激的表演为乐；这样他们对于正当有益的人生义务便产生了极端的厌恶。他们竟像毫无理性的禽兽一样度日。他们毫不顾及上帝或永恒的现实，却像生命短促的蝴蝶般到处翩舞。他们的举止行为丝毫不像具有理性，而可能享有与上帝同样恒久的生命，且要为自己所度的每一时刻而向他交帐的人。[2]
§6
Even among Christian parents there has been too much sanctioning of the love of amusements. Parents have received the worlds maxim, have conformed to the general opinion that it was necessary that the early life of children and youth should be frittered away in idleness, in selfish amusements, and in foolish indulgences. In this way a taste has been created for exciting pleasure, and children and youth have trained their minds so that they delight in exciting displays; and they have a positive dislike for the sober, useful duties of life. They live lives more after the order of the brute creation. They have no thoughts of God or of eternal realities, but flit like butterflies in their season. They do not act like sensible beings whose lives are capable of measuring with the life of God, and who are accountable to Him for every hour of their time. {AH 526.2}[2]
§7
母亲们当设计并指导康乐活动——母亲不但不宜打发儿女远离她的跟前，以免被他们的吵闹之声所打搅，或他们诸多的需求所烦扰，乃当觉得利用她的时间来安抚并指引他们不定而活泼的心意转向某些游戏或轻松而愉快的工作，乃是一件最有价值的事。母亲所作的努力，以及为自己的儿女设计游戏而用的时间，必得到丰厚的报赏。[3]
§8
Mothers to Invent and Direct Amusements.--Instead of sending her children from her presence, that she may not be troubled with their noise and be annoyed with the numerous attentions they would desire, she will feel that her time cannot be better employed than in soothing and diverting their restless, active minds with some amusement or light, happy employment. The mother will be amply repaid for the efforts she may make and the time she may spend to invent amusement for her children. {AH 526.3}[3]
§9
年轻的孩童们原是乐群的。大体而言，他们都不懂得享受独居之乐；因此在大多数情形之下，作母亲的应该觉得：当儿女在家时，使他们常在她自己所住的房间里是最适宜的。这样她最容易照料他们，随时听取他们的申诉，而为他们解决些无足轻重的纷争，并纠正不良的习惯，自私或忿怒的表现，而且也能导引他们的心志转向正确的方向。孩童们所感到兴趣的事物，他们认为母亲也一样会加以欣赏，而且当他们偶感困惑之时，便自然而然地会求问于母亲。因此作母亲的不该漠然置之不顾，或拒受这些琐事的搅扰而伤了孩子们娇嫩的心。在母亲的眼中可能是很小的事，但他们看来却是异常重大的呢。而一句合时的指导或警告的话语，往往具有无比的价值。[4]
§10
Young children love society. They cannot, as a general thing, enjoy themselves alone; and the mother should feel that, in most cases, the place for her children when they are in the house is in the room she occupies. She can then have a general oversight of them and be prepared to set little differences right, when appealed to by them, and correct wrong habits or the manifestation of selfishness or passion, and can give their minds a turn in the right direction. That which children enjoy they think mother can be pleased with, and it is perfectly natural for them to consult mother in little matters of perplexity. And the mother should not wound the heart of her sensitive child by treating the matter with indifference or by refusing to be troubled with such small matters. That which may be small to the mother is large to them. And a word of direction or caution, at the right time, will often prove of great value. {AH 527.1}[4]
§11
不宜否定一切无害的娱乐——由于缺少时间或不加考虑，许多作母亲的有时不准自己的儿女参与某些无害的娱乐，而她们忙碌的双手与疲惫的眼睛却殷勤地从事装饰的工作，其作用至多不过使他们稚嫩的心中增长虚荣与奢侈的意念而已。在儿女逐渐长成之际，这些教训便结出了骄矜与道德卑劣的后果。作母亲的虽为儿女的过错而痛心，但是却没有体会到：她现今所收割的，乃是她亲手撒下的种子所长成的。[5]
§12
Do Not Deny Innocent Pleasures.--For lack of time and thought many a mother refuses her children some innocent pleasure, while busy fingers and weary eyes are diligently engaged on work designed only for adornment, something that, at best, will serve only to encourage vanity and extravagance in their young hearts. As the children approach manhood and womanhood, these lessons bear fruit in pride and moral worthlessness. The mother grieves over her childrens faults but does not realize that the harvest she is reaping is from seed which she herself planted. {AH 527.2}[5]
§13
有些作母亲的对待儿女的方式并不始终如一。有时她们放纵儿女，以至害了他们，而有时却不准他们享受那能使他们稚嫩的心极感愉快的无害娱乐。她们这样行便不是效法基督了；他是爱小孩子的；他了解他们的感受，也同情他们所有的欢乐与苦恼。[6]
§14
Some mothers are not uniform in the treatment of their children. At times they indulge them to their injury, and again they refuse some innocent gratification that would make the childish heart very happy. In this they do not imitate Christ; He loved the children; He comprehended their feelings and sympathized with them in their pleasures and their trials. {AH 527.3}[6]
§15
作者本人如何管束儿女——当儿女要求准许他们参赴这个宴会或那个游艺会时，就该对他们说：“孩子，我不能让你们去；坐下来，我要将理由告诉你们。我正在为永恒和上帝而工作。上帝已经将你们赐给我，要我照料你们。我的孩子啊，我在你们面前是代表上帝的；因此我必须卫护你们，犹如在上帝的大日必须交帐的人一样。你们是否要让自己母亲的名字在天国的案卷中被记载为一个不克尽对儿女所有的义务，任凭仇敌侵占那原应由我占领的范围呢？孩子，我要告诉你们哪一条是正路，而你们若自愿离开母亲，走入邪途，你们的母亲对此就不必负什么责任，而你们却必尝受自己犯罪的苦果。”[7]
§16
How Mrs. White Restrained Her Children.--When the children will beg that they may go to this company or join that party of amusement, say to them: I cannot let you go, children; sit right down here, and I will tell you why. I am doing up work for eternity and for God. God has given you to me and entrusted you to my care. I am standing in the place of God to you, my children; therefore I must watch you as one who must give an account in the day of God. Do you want your mothers name written in the books of heaven as one who failed to do her duty to her children, as one who let the enemy come in and preoccupy the ground that I ought to have occupied? Children, I am going to tell you which is the right way, and then if you choose to turn away from your mother and go into the paths of wickedness, your mother will stand clear, but you will have to suffer for your own sins. {AH 528.1}[7]
§17
这就是我对待自己儿女的方法，往往我的话还没有说完，他们就都哭起来了，并且说：“可否请你为我们祷告呢？”好的，我从不拒绝为他们祷告的。我跪在他们的身旁，和他们一起祷告。然后我自己又到别处去，整夜向上帝恳求，直到红日东升，希望可以克服仇敌的魔力，使我获得胜利。虽然这样做我必须付出一夜辛劳的代价。但是当孩子们搂着我的颈项，说：“妈啊，我们真高兴，因为当我们想到哪里去的时候，你不让我们去。现在我们才知道：要是我们去的话就错了”时，我感觉已经得到了丰厚的报尝。[8]
§18
This is the way I did with my children, and before I would get through, they would be weeping, and they would say, Wont you pray for us? Well, I never refused to pray for them. I knelt by their side and prayed with them. Then I have gone away and have pleaded with God until the sun was up in the heavens, the whole night long, that the spell of the enemy might be broken, and I have had the victory. Although it cost me a nights labor, yet I felt richly paid when my children would hang about my neck and say, Oh, Mother, we are so glad that you did not let us go when we wanted to. Now we see that it would have been wrong. {AH 528.2}[8]
§19
父母们哪，你们也当以这样的方式切实地工作。你们若指望拯救自己的儿女进入上帝的国，就必须认真地从事这项工作。[9]
§20
Parents, this is the way you must work, as though you meant it. You must make a business of this work if you expect to save your children in the kingdom of God. {AH 529.1}[9]
§21
丁龄青年困扰问题特多——按今日社会上的情形而言，作父母的要管束自己的儿女，遵循《圣经》的正则来教导他们，实在不是一件易事。儿女们往往不服管束，并且希望随意自由出入，为所欲为。特别是从十岁到十八岁这段时期中，他们多数认为参赴青年人的属世集会并没有什么害处。但是有经验的基督徒父母都能看清其中的危险。他们熟悉自己儿女的特性，知道这一类的事情对于儿女的心志有何影响；而由于切望儿女一同得救的心愿，他们亟宜施予约束，不准儿女参加任何有刺激性的娱乐。[10]
§22
Problems of the Perplexing Teen Ages.--In the present state of society it is no easy task for parents to restrain their children and instruct them according to the Bible rule of right. Children often become impatient under restraint and wish to have their own way and to go and come as they please. Especially from the age of ten to eighteen they are inclined to feel that there can be no harm in going to worldly gatherings of young associates. But the experienced Christian parents can see danger. They are acquainted with the peculiar temperaments of their children and know the influence of these things upon their minds; and from a desire for their salvation, they should keep them back from these exciting amusements. {AH 529.2}[10]
§23
悔改之后更宜慎予防护——当儿女们立志放弃世俗的游乐，而作基督的门徒时，那谨慎而忠实的父母们的心中便可卸下何等的重担啊！虽然如此，作父母的仍不可中止他们的努力。这些青年不过刚开始认真地与罪恶及肉心的邪情作战，他们仍然特别需要父母的训勉与照顾。[11]
§24
Vigilance Is Especially Needed After Conversion.-- When the children decide for themselves to leave the pleasures of the world and to become Christs disciples, what a burden is lifted from the hearts of careful, faithful parents! Yet even then the labors of the parents must not cease. These youth have just commenced in earnest the warfare against sin and against the evils of the natural heart, and they need in a special sense the counsel and watchcare of their parents. {AH 529.3}[11]
§25
保守儿女不爱世俗引诱的秘诀——那哀叹自己无力保守儿女不离开家庭，而儿女也丝毫不爱家庭的父母何其多啊！在很小的时候，他们就喜欢和陌生人为伍；而一到相当年龄的时候，他们就挣脱自认为枷锁与不合理的束缚，全然不顾母亲的祈祷与父亲的劝告了。倘若加以追根究底的话，这一切罪过多数都应归咎于作父母的人。他们并未使家庭成为一个名实相符的所在——一个借着温言良语，和颜悦色，与真诚相爱而散布阳光，因此显得异常愉快可爱的所在。[12]
§26
The Secret of Guarding the Children From Worldly Attractions.--How many parents are lamenting the fact that they cannot keep their children at home, that they have no love for home! At an early age they have a desire for the company of strangers; and as soon as they are old enough, they break away from that which appears to them to be bondage and unreasonable restraint and will neither heed a mothers prayers nor a fathers counsels. Investigation would generally reveal that the sin lay at the door of the parents. They have not made home what it ought to be--attractive, pleasant, radiant with the sunshine of kind words, pleasant looks, and true love. {AH 529.4}[12]
§27
那拯救你儿女的秘诀，乃在乎尽力使你的家庭显得可爱而充满吸引力。父母的溺爱决不能将儿女与上帝或家庭系结起来；但借着坚定而敬虔的感化力，适当地培育并陶冶他们的心志，便能拯救很多的儿童免于沦亡。[13]
§28
The secret of saving your children lies in making your home lovely and attractive. Indulgence in parents will not bind the children to God nor to home; but a firm, godly influence to properly train and educate the mind would save many children from ruin. {AH 530.1}[13]
§29
作父母的都有责任须注意儿女的行踪。他们应该鼓励儿女谆谆地予以诱导，使儿女能被家庭所吸引，并使之看出父母乃是专以儿女的福利为念的。他们应该使家庭成为愉快喜乐的所在。[14]
§30
It is the duty of parents to watch the going out and the coming in of their children. They should encourage them and present inducements before them which will attract them at home and lead them to see that their parents are interested for them. They should make home pleasant and cheerful. {AH 530.2}[14]