第34章 品格败坏的由来
§1
第34章 品格败坏的由来
§2
chap. 34 - Ways in Which Character is Ruined
§3
父母可能撒下毁灭的种子－－那些有错误的父母，他们正是给儿女施授那将来必显明是对他们有害的教训，也是为他们自己的前途种下荆棘。……儿女未来的福乐，大半操于父母的手中。那形成儿女品格的重大工作，是落在他们的身上。幼年时代所得的教导，会随他们一生的。父母是在撒种，这种子要长大并结出或善或恶的果子。他们能使儿女配得福乐或遭受祸患。（一）{CG 175.1}[1]
§4
Parents May Sow the Seed of Ruin.--Mistaken parents are teaching their children lessons which will prove ruinous to them, and are also planting thorns for their own feet. . . . To a great extent, parents hold in their own hands the future happiness of their children. Upon them rests the important work of forming the character of these children. The instructions given in childhood will follow them all through life. Parents sow the seed which will spring up and bear fruit either for good or evil. They can fit their sons and daughters for happiness or for misery. {CG 175.1}[1]
§5
由于太松或太严的管教－－孩子们往往从婴儿时期就被娇纵，养成了错误的习惯。父母们一直在拗折幼树。孩童的品格是由父母的训练所养成，或是畸形发展，或是匀称优美。有许多人犯了溺爱儿女的错误，但也有些人趋于相反的极端，以铁杖管教儿女。这两种人都在做一种可怕的工作，都没有遵行圣经的指示。他们是在模造儿女的心思，在上帝的日子，必须为他们做成这事的方式交账。永恒的岁月将显明今生工作的后果。（二）{CG 175.2}[2]
§6
By Indulgence or Iron Rule.--Children are often indulged from their babyhood, and wrong habits become fixed. The parents have been bending the sapling. By their course of training the character develops, either into deformity or into symmetry and beauty. But while many err upon the side of indulgence, others go to the opposite extreme and rule their children with a rod of iron. Neither of these follow out the Bible directions, but both are doing a fearful work. They are molding the minds of their children and must render an account in the day of God for the manner in which they have done this. Eternity will reveal the results of the work done in this life. {CG 175.2}[2]
§7
因没有为上帝而训练他们－－父母没有训练儿女持守主的道，遵行祂的吩咐，就是忽略了一项严肃的责任。（三）{CG 175.3}[3]
§8
By Failing to Train for God.--In failing to train their children to keep the way of the Lord, to do those things which He has commanded, parents neglect a solemn duty. {CG 175.3}[3]
§9
有些儿童被纵容任意而行，有些儿童则遭人挑剔和批评，很少对他们说鼓励，赞赏和嘉许的话。（四）{CG 176.1}[4]
§10
Some [children] have been left to do as they pleased; others have been found fault with and discouraged. But little pleasantness, and cheerfulness, and words of approval have been given them. {CG 176.1}[4]
§11
只要母亲们以智慧、从容和决心行事，训练和折服自己儿女属肉体的脾气，就有多少罪恶会防于未然，给教会省却多少麻烦啊！……由于父母忽视适当地训练自己的儿女，教导他们在幼年就顺服权威，许多生灵会永远沦丧。宠爱犯错的人和安慰发脾气的人并不是把斧子放在恶根上，而是证明了成千上万人的毁灭。父母们为这样可怕地忽视自己的职责要向上帝作怎样的交代啊！（五）{CG 176.2}[5]
§12
Oh, if mothers would only work with wisdom, with calmness and determination, to train and subdue the carnal tempers of their children, what an amount of sin would be nipped in the bud, and what a host of church trials would be saved! . . . Many souls will be eternally lost because of the neglect of parents to properly discipline their children, and to teach them submission to authority in their youth. Petting faults and soothing outbreaks is not laying the ax at the root of the evil, but proves the ruin of thousands of souls. Oh, how will parents answer to God for this fearful neglect of their duty! {CG 176.2}[5]
§13
因纵容他们与罪恶周旋－－现今需要空前警醒地管教和指导孩童，因为撒但正在争取控制他们的心思意念，赶出上帝的圣灵。现代青年的可怕情形已是我们生于末世的最有力兆头之一，但许多人的灭亡，可直接追溯于父母的管教不当。抱怨责备的精神，已经生根而且结出忤逆的果子。父母虽对儿女正在养成的品格不满，却看不出那使他们成为这种人的错误何在。……{CG 176.3}[6]
§14
By Negligence That Dallies With Sin.--Children need watchful care and guidance as never before, for Satan is striving to gain the control of their minds and hearts and to drive out the Spirit of God. The fearful state of the youth of this age constitutes one of the strongest signs that we are living in the last days, but the ruin of many may be traced directly to the wrong management of the parents. The spirit of murmuring against reproof has been taking root and is bearing its fruit of insubordination. While the parents are not pleased with the characters their children are developing, they fail to see the errors that make them what they are. . . . {CG 176.3}[6]
§15
上帝谴责那以罪孽不法之事为儿戏的疏忽，以及那迟于发现它在自称为基督徒的家庭中存在毒害的麻木不仁。（六）{CG 176.4}[7]
§16
God condemns the negligence that dallies with sin and crime, and the insensibility that is slow to detect its baleful presence in the families of professed Christians. {CG 176.4}[7]
§17
因不加约束－－因为他们没有适当地约束及指导自己的儿女，成千上万的人长大时有畸形的品格，废弛的道德，及甚少与人生实际义务有关的教育。他们被容许随心所欲地对待自己的欲望、自己的光阴，及自己的智力。这些才能被忽略，使上帝的圣工蒙受损失，可说是罪在父母门前。他们是上帝的管家，受托以神圣的义务，本应使所照管的人善用其一切才能来荣耀创造主，他们将要向祂怎样解释呢？ （七）{CG 177.1}[8]
§18
By Lack of Restraint.--Because they do not properly restrain and direct their children, thousands are coming up with deformed characters, with lax morals, and with little education in the practical duties of life. They are left to do as they please with their impulses, their time, and their mental powers. The loss to the cause of God in these neglected talents lies at the door of fathers and mothers; and what excuse will they render to Him whose stewards they are, entrusted with the sacred duty of fitting the souls under their charge to improve all their powers to the glory of their Creator? {CG 177.1}[8]
§19
父母以为自己爱儿女，却显明自己是他们最恶劣的敌人。他们已让邪恶脱缰。他们允许自己的孩子怀存罪恶，这就象怀抱宠爱毒蛇一样，不仅会咬伤怀抱它的人，也会刺伤凡与他接触的人。（八）{CG 177.2}[9]
§20
The parents have thought they loved their children, but have proved themselves their worst enemies. They have let evil go unrestrained. They have allowed their children to cherish sin, which is like cherishing and petting a viper, that will not only sting the victim who cherishes it, but all with whom he is connected. {CG 177.2}[9]
§21
因姑息明显的错误－－许多父母不是与那些负责的人合作，提高道德的标准，以敬畏上帝的心努力纠正儿女们的错误，反而安抚自己的良心说：“我的孩子并不比别人更坏。”他们设法掩盖上帝所憎恶的明显过错，唯恐得罪自己的儿女，使他们铤而走险。其实他们心中若有叛逆的精神，现在制止总胜过纵而不究，使之增强。如果父母们肯尽自己的责任，我们所看到的情况就大不相同了。但在这些父母中，许多已与上帝背道而驰。他们没有从上帝来的智慧，识破撒但的欺骗，避开他的网罗。（九）{CG 177.3}[10]
§22
By Overlooking Glaring Wrongs.--Instead of uniting with those who bear the burdens, to lift up the standard of morals, and working with heart and soul in the fear of God to correct the wrongs in their children, many parents soothe their own consciences by saying, My children are no worse than others. They seek to conceal the glaring wrongs which God hates, lest their children shall become offended and take some desperate course. If the spirit of rebellion is in their hearts, far better subdue it now than permit it to increase and strengthen by indulgence. If parents would do their duty, we should see a different state of things. Many of these parents have backslidden from God. They do not have wisdom from Him to perceive the devices of Satan and to resist his snares. {CG 177.3}[10]
§23
因溺爱和放任－－父母们往往宠爱娇纵年轻的儿女，因为这样似乎更容易管理他们。听凭他们随心所愿而行，比遏制他们心中激升的不羁倾向要平顺得多。然而这种做法是卑怯的。这样躲避责任是一件恶事；因为时候将到，这些儿女未受遏制的倾向已加强成极端邪恶的，就必使自己和家人受辱蒙羞。他们出外参加繁忙的生活时，没有应付试探的准备，不足以忍受困惑与艰难；暴躁、傲慢、没有教养，事事要别人迁就其心意，而且在达不到目的时，便以为自己是被世人欺负而转过来敌对别人。（十）{CG 178.1}[11]
§24
By Petting and Indulging Children.--Parents frequently pet and indulge their young children because it appears easier to manage them in that way. It is smoother work to let them have their own way than to check the unruly inclinations that rise so strongly in their breasts. Yet this course is cowardly. It is a wicked thing thus to shirk responsibility; for the time will come when these children, whose unchecked inclinations have strengthened into absolute vices, will bring reproach and disgrace upon themselves and their families. They go out into busy life unprepared for its temptations, not strong enough to endure perplexities and troubles; passionate, overbearing, undisciplined, they seek to bend others to their will, and, failing in this, consider themselves ill-used by the world, and turn against it. {CG 178.1}[11]
§25
因撒播虚荣的种子－－我们无论到什么地方，都会看到儿童被骄生惯养，姑息溺爱，滥予称赞。这就造成了他们的虚荣、大胆和自负。浅薄的父母和监护人夸奖和纵容自己所照管的青年人，不考虑后果，将虚荣的种子撒在人心中。刚愎和骄傲曾使天使变成魔鬼，被拒之于天门之外。可惜父母竟不知不觉、一步一步地将儿女训练成撒但的工具。（十一） {CG 178.2}[12]
§26
By Sowing Seeds of Vanity.--Wherever we go, we see children indulged, petted, and praised without discretion. This tends to make them vain, bold, and conceited. The seeds of vanity are easily sown in the human heart by injudicious parents and guardians, who praise and indulge the young under their charge, with no thought of the future. Self-will and pride are evils that turned angels into demons and barred the gates of heaven against them. And yet parents, unconsciously, are systematically training their children to be the agents of Satan. {CG 178.2}[12]
§27
因伺候自己的儿女－－许多父母筋疲力尽、鞠躬尽瘁，成了儿女的奴隶。儿女们接受这种教育和训练，在生活中专求自己的快乐和虚荣。父母在儿女的心中撒下了他们所不愿收获的种子。在这样的训练下，十岁、十二岁或十六岁的儿童都认为自己聪明过人，是神童，太聪明了，不必顺从父母；太高尚了，不屑于履行日常生活的职责。爱娱乐的心控制了他们。自私、骄傲与叛逆在他们的生活中结出了苦果。他们在撒但的奉承下培养了不圣洁的野心，要在世上大出风头。（十二）{CG 178.3}[13]
§28
By Becoming Slaves to Teen-age Children.--How many toil-worn, burdened parents have become slaves to their children, while, in harmony with their education and training, the children live to please, amuse, and glorify themselves. Parents sow the seed in the hearts of their children which yields a harvest that they do not care to reap. Under this training, at the age of ten, twelve, or sixteen, children think themselves very wise, imagine that they are prodigies, and regard themselves as altogether too knowing to be in subjection to their parents, and too elevated to stoop to the duties of everyday life. The love of pleasure controls their minds; and selfishness, pride, and rebellion work out their bitter results in their lives. They accept the insinuations of Satan and cultivate an unhallowed ambition to make a great show in the world. {CG 178.3}[13]
§29
因错误的溺爱和同情－－父母们可能为了纵容儿女而放弃对上帝圣律法的顺从。由于这种溺爱，他们容许儿女随从邪恶的冲动，回避上帝吩咐他们所当给予的教导与训练，从而悖逆了上帝。父母们这样漠视上帝的命令，就是在危害自己和儿女的心灵。（十三）{CG 179.1}[14]
§30
By Misguided Love and Sympathy.--Parents may indulge their affection for their children at the expense of obedience to Gods holy law. Guided by this affection, they disobey God by allowing their children to carry out wrong impulses, and withhold the instruction and discipline which God has commanded them to give. When parents thus disregard the commands of God, they imperil their own souls and the souls of their children. {CG 179.1}[14]
§31
在要求儿女顺从上软弱无力，以及错误的爱与同情——以为放任而非约束乃是智慧的错误观念——构成了一种使天使忧伤的训练方法；但这种方法是令撒但喜悦的，因为它把成千上万的孩子带入他的阵容了。这就是为何撒但使父母们眼瞎，麻木他们的感官，扰乱他们的思维的原因。他们看到自己的儿女不愉快，不可爱，不顺从，也不服照管；仍给家中增添人丁，毒害他们的生活，使他们的心忧伤，并且给撒但增添党羽，引人灭亡。（十四）{CG 179.2}[15]
§32
Weakness in requiring obedience, and false love and sympathy--the false notion that to indulge and not to restrain is wisdom--constitute a system of training that grieves angels; but it delights Satan, for it brings hundreds and thousands of children into his ranks. This is why he blinds the eyes of parents, benumbs their sensibilities, and confuses their minds. They see that their sons and daughters are not pleasant, lovely, obedient, and care-taking; yet children accumulate in their homes, to poison their lives, fill their hearts with grief, and add to the number whom Satan is using to allure souls to destruction. {CG 179.2}[15]
§33
因没有要求顺从－－如果给忘恩负义的儿女提供衣食而不纠正其错误，他们就会大胆地继续行走罪恶的道路。父母或监护人既这样宠他们，就与他们的恶行有份。这样的儿童与其留在基督徒家庭里败坏别人，倒不如任凭他们去与所选择效法的恶人共处。在这邪恶的世代，每一个基督徒都当站稳立场，谴责恶人和顽童的邪恶行为。不要视恶少为善良顺从的人，而当视他们为扰乱秩序和败坏同伴的人。（十五） {CG 179.3}[16]
§34
By Failure to Require Obedience.--If ungrateful children are fed and clothed and allowed to go uncorrected, they are emboldened to continue in their course of evil. And inasmuch as their parents or guardians thus favor them and do not require obedience, they are partakers with them in their wicked deeds. Such children might just as well be with the wicked, whose iniquitous course they choose to follow, as to remain in Christian homes, to poison others. In this age of wickedness every Christian must stand firm in condemnation of the evil, Satanic actions of wayward children. Evil youth should not be treated as kind and obedient, but as disturbers of the peace and corrupters of their companions. {CG 179.3}[16]
§35
由于任凭儿女随从自己的意思－－社会上所流行的风气就是纵容青年人随从自己本性的倾向。（十六）{CG 180.1}[17]
§36
By Allowing the Children to Follow Their Own Minds.--The prevailing influence in society is in favor of allowing the youth to follow the natural turn of their own minds. {CG 180.1}[17]
§37
他们以为满足儿女的心愿，让他们随自己的倾向而行，就可博得他们的爱。这是多么地错误！这等溺爱的儿女，自幼长大，就不约束自己的心愿,不压服自己的癖性，自私，苛求，及蛮横，结果就要危害自己及其周围的人们。（十七）{CG 180.2}[18]
§38
They [parents] think that by gratifying the wishes of their children and letting them follow their own inclinations, they can gain their love. What an error! Children thus indulged grow up unrestrained in their desires, unyielding in their dispositions, selfish, exacting, and overbearing, a curse to themselves and to all around them. {CG 180.2}[18]
§39
由于容许错误的态度－－童年时期所受的教训，是好或坏，都不会是徒然的。年轻时所养成的品格将使人为善或为恶。在家中也许会听到赞美和虚伪的谄媚；但在世上却是人人要凭自己的功劳站立。那娇生惯养，在家指挥大家的青年人，到了世上便要被迫屈服于人，每日受别人的羞辱。不少人在受过这样的人生实际教训之后，才学会自己应处的真正位置。由于挫折、失意和上司的直言，往往使他们发现了自己真正的水准，而虚心了解和接受自己当得的职位。然而这是一种严酷而不必经历的折磨，在年轻时接受适当的训练原可避免。{CG 180.3}[19]
§40
By Allowing Wrong Attitudes.--The lessons of childhood, good or bad, are not learned in vain. Character is developed in youth for good or evil. At home there may be praise and false flattery; in the world each stands on his own merits. The pampered ones, to whom all home authority has yielded, are there daily subjected to mortification by being obliged to yield to others. Many are even then taught their true place by these practical lessons of life. Through rebuffs, disappointments, and plain language from their superiors, they often find their true level and are humbled to understand and accept their proper place. But this is a severe and unnecessary ordeal for them to pass through and could have been prevented by proper training in their youth. {CG 180.3}[19]
§41
这些未受训练的人，大多数终其一生与世界格格不入；原可成功而却终归失败。因为世人不给他们谄媚安抚，他们就觉得应该怨恨世界，予以挑战报复。有时环境迫使他们装出言不由衷的谦逊；但这样的谦逊并不赋予他们自然的美德，早晚终必显露出其真相来。……{CG 181.1}[20]
§42
The majority of these ill-disciplined ones go through life at cross-purposes with the world, making a failure where they should have succeeded. They grow to feel that the world owes them a grudge because it does not flatter and caress them, and they take revenge by holding a grudge against the world and bidding it defiance. Circumstances sometimes oblige them to affect a humility they do not feel; but it does not fit them with a natural grace, and their true characters are sure to be exposed sooner or later. . . . {CG 181.1}[20]
§43
父母们为何这样教育自己的儿女，使他们与那些与他们接触的人处在交战状态呢？（十八）{CG 181.2}[21]
§44
Why will parents educate their children in such a manner that they will be at war with those who are brought in contact with them? {CG 181.2}[21]
§45
因专注于社交的训练－－不要培养儿女专注于社交。不要将他们献给摩洛为祭，而要使他们成为上帝家庭的成员。父母应当充满基督的慈怜，从事拯救他们所影响之生灵的工作。他们的心不要专注于世界的时尚和习俗。不可指教儿女去参赴派对、音乐会和舞会，举办或出席宴会，因为这都是外邦人所做的。（十九）{CG 181.3}[22]
§46
By Training as Devotees of Society.--Children are not to be trained to be the devotees of society. They are not to be sacrificed to Molech, but they are to become members of the Lords family. Parents are to be filled with the compassion of Christ, that they may work for the salvation of the souls that are placed under their influence. They are not to have their minds all engrossed in the fashions and practices of the world. They are not to educate their children to attend parties and concerts and dances, to have and attend feasts, because after this manner the Gentiles walk. {CG 181.3}[22]
§47
因允许追求自私的快乐－－许多青年如果一开始就有导致成功的正确观念，原可造福社会，荣耀上帝的圣工。但他们没有受理智和正确原则的支配，反而受教育依从刚愎的欲望，放纵自私的享乐，只求满足自己，想这样获得快乐。然而他们没有达到目的，因为在自私的道路上寻求快乐，只能收获祸患。他们在社会和上帝的圣工中毫无用处，今生和来世的前途都非常黯淡，因爱慕自私之乐而丧失了今世和来生。（二十）{CG 181.4}[23]
§48
By Permitting Selfish Seeking of Happiness.-- There are many youth who might have been a blessing to society and an honor to the cause of God if they had been started in life with right ideas as to what constituted success. But instead of being controlled by reason and principle, they had been trained to yield to wayward inclination, and sought only to gratify themselves by indulging in selfish pleasure, thinking thus to obtain happiness. But they failed to attain their object, for seeking happiness in the path of selfishness will bring but misery. They are useless in society, useless in the cause of God. Their prospects both for this world and the next are of a most discouraging order, for by selfish love of pleasure they lose both this world and the next. {CG 181.4}[23]
§49
因家庭缺少虔诚－－在自称为基督徒的家庭里，父母应当殷勤研究圣经，了解上帝圣言中的每一细则和规章。如今的父母却明显地忽略遵从圣经的指示，没有按主的教训和告戒养育儿女。自称为基督徒的父母在家庭中没有表现虔诚。他们既满足于达到低标准，又怎么能在家庭生活中表现基督的品德呢？永生上帝的印记只能盖在那些品格上象基督的人身上。（二一）{CG 182.1}[24]
§50
By a Lack of Piety at Home.--In professedly Christian homes, where fathers and mothers would be supposed to be diligent students of the Scriptures, in order that they might know every specification and restriction in the Word of God, there is manifest neglect of following the instruction of the Word and of bringing up the children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. Professedly Christian parents fail to practice piety at home. How can fathers and mothers represent Christs character in the home life when they are content to reach a cheap, low standard? The seal of the living God will be placed upon those only who bear a likeness to Christ in character. {CG 182.1}[24]
§51
如果父母顺从上帝－－主不会为治家不善的父母辩护。今日数以百计的儿童在扩充仇敌的队伍，生活和行为与上帝的旨意相去甚远。他们没有顺服，不知感恩，也不圣洁。但这要归咎于他们的父母。基督徒父母们：成千上万的儿童正在罪中灭亡，因为他们的父母没有以智慧治理家庭。如果父母能顺服那位荣耀藏在云柱中的以色列大军看不见的元帅，现今许多家庭所存在的不幸也就消失了。（二二）{CG 182.2}[25]
§52
If Parents Were Obedient to God.--The Lord will not vindicate the misrule of parents. Today hundreds of children swell the ranks of the enemy, living and working apart from the purpose of God. They are disobedient, unthankful, unholy; but the sin lies at the door of their parents. Christian parents, thousands of children are perishing in their sins because of the failure of their parents to rule the home wisely. If parents were obedient to the unseen Leader of the armies of Israel, whose glory was enshrouded in the pillar of cloud, the unhappy state of affairs now existing in so many families would not be seen. {CG 182.2}[25]