第91章 批评负责任的人
§1
第91章 批评负责任的人
§2
Criticizing Burden Bearers
§3
教会正因缺乏无私的基督徒工人而蒙受损害。通常，如果一切不能抵抗试探而且太软弱以致不能自立的人，都能远离某地，那里的属灵风气就会纯洁得多了。有些人在别人的失败和缺点的废屑上生活，从邻舍的疏忽和短处上吸收不良的瘴气，使自己成为教会里捡破烂的人。他们对于自己所属的社会无益，是他们所属团体的实际重担。{1TT 489.1}[1]
§4
The church is suffering for want of unselfish Christian workers. If all who are, as a rule, unable to resist temptation and are too weak to stand alone would remain away from -----, there would be a much purer spiritual atmosphere in that place. Those who live upon the husks of others’ failings and deficiencies, and who gather to themselves the unwholesome miasma of their neighbors’ neglects and shortcomings, making themselves church scavengers, are no advantage to the society of which they form a part, but are an actual burden to the community upon which they inflict themselves.?{1TT 489.1}[1]
§5
教会所需要的，不是重担，而是恳切的工人；不是吹毛求疵的人，而是锡安的建造者。在工作的大中心实在需要布道士──就是能坚守岗位，犹如钢铁一般地忠心爱护上帝委派在圣工上为首之人的荣誉，并愿竭尽全力支持各部门圣工，若有需要，甚至不惜牺牲自己利益和生命的人。但我蒙指示见到有真理在其心灵中工作，能当得起上帝精细试验的人，真是凤毛麟角。有许多人已把持着真理，但真理却没有把持住他们，使他们的心地变化，清除一切自私之念。那些到某地来帮忙工作的人，以及许多老教友，在上帝面前所要交的账是很可怕的，因为他们专爱自己和不献身的生活使圣工受了阻碍。{1TT 489.2}[2]
§6
The church is in need, not of burdens, but of earnest workers; not of faultfinders, but of builders in Zion. Missionaries are really needed at the great heart of the work—men who will keep the fort, who will be true as steel to preserve the honor of those whom God has placed at the head of His work, and who will do their utmost to sustain the cause in all its departments, even at the sacrifice of their own interests and lives, if need be. But I was shown that there are but few who have the truth wrought into their very souls, who can bear the searching test of God. There are many who have taken hold of the truth, but the truth has not taken hold of them, to transform their hearts and cleanse them from all selfishness. There are those who come to ----- to help in the work, as well as many of the old members, who have a fearful account to render to God for the hindrance they have been to the work through their self-love and unconsecrated lives.?{1TT 489.2}[2]
§7
如果自称相信之人的品格与他们所表白的信仰不相符，宗教就没有救人的功效了。上帝已惠赐大光给祂在某地的子民；但撒但也要完成他的工作，在工作的大中心逞其最强的力量。他抓住那些自私而不献身的男女，派他们为哨兵，监视上帝忠心的仆人，盘问他们的言语，行为和动机，找他们的毛病，埋怨他们所发的责备和警告。撒但藉着这种人制造猜疑和嫉妒，设法削弱忠心之人的勇气，使不圣洁的人满意，并使上帝的仆人徒劳无功。?{1TT 489.3}[3]
§8
Religion has no saving virtue if the characters of those professing it do not correspond with their profession. God has graciously given great light to His people in -----; but Satan?has his work to accomplish, and he brings his power to bear most strongly at the great heart of the work. He seizes men and women who are selfish and unconsecrated, and makes of them sentinels to watch the faithful servants of God, to question their words, their actions, and their motives, and to find fault and murmur at their reproofs and warnings. Through them he creates suspicion and jealousy, and seeks to weaken the courage of the faithful, to please the unsanctified, and to bring to nought the labors of God’s servants.?{1TT 489.3}[3]
§9
【批评的后果】
§10
撒但利用那些未受管教的儿女在他们父母的心思上大施魔力。疏忽父母职责的罪显然不利于许多遵守安息日的父母。爱说闲话和搬弄是非的精神，乃是撒但的特别工具之一，用以散布不睦纷争的种子，离间朋友，破坏许多在我们立场上忠实之人的信仰。弟兄姊妹们太容易谈论自以为别人身上存在的错误和过失，尤其是那些毅然宣传上帝所赐责备和警告信息之人的过错。{1TT 490.1}[4]
§11
【The Fruit of Criticism】
§12
Satan has had great power over the minds of parents through their undisciplined children. The sin of parental neglect stands marked against many Sabbathkeeping parents. The spirit of gossip and talebearing is one of Satan’s special agencies to sow discord and strife, to separate friends, and to undermine the faith of many in the truthfulness of our positions. Brethren and sisters are too ready to talk of the faults and errors that they think exist in others, and especially in those who have borne unflinchingly the messages of reproof and warning given them of God.?{1TT 490.1}[4]
§13
这些爱抱怨之人的儿女敞着耳朵听见和接受了不满的毒素。父母们就这样盲目地封闭了藉以达到儿女之心的通道。多少家庭天天在用怀疑质问调和着进餐啊。他们剖析朋友的品格，当作精美的点心给儿女吃。在饭桌上把一点诽谤的话当作美味传递，不但大人们批评，小孩子也批评。在这件事上，上帝被羞辱了。耶稣曾说：“这些事你们既作在我这弟兄中一个最小的身上，就是作在我身上了”（太25:40）。因此，那些诽谤主仆人的，也是把基督看轻和侮辱了。{1TT 490.2}[5]
§14
The children of these complainers listen with open ears and receive the poison of disaffection. Parents are thus blindly closing the avenues through which the hearts of the children might be reached. How many families season their daily meals with doubt and questionings. They dissect the characters of their friends, and serve them up as a dainty dessert. A precious bit of slander is passed around the board to be commented upon, not only by adults, but by children. In this God is dishonored. Jesus said: “Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these My brethren, ye have done it unto Me.”?Matthew 25:40. Therefore Christ is slighted and abused by those who slander His servants.?{1TT 490.2}[5]
§15
上帝所选仆人之名已被人侮慢不敬，有时某些本当拥护他们的人却对之绝对轻视。父母对上帝仆人所发的严肃警告和责备妄加鄙视的评论，孩子们都听到了耳中。他们既明白那不时传入耳中的讥诮轻蔑的话，就势必使他们在心中把那圣洁永恒的福利与世俗普通的事物相提并论。这些父母是在作何等的工作啊！竟在儿女还幼小的时候，就使他们成为无信仰之徒了！这正是教导儿女侮慢和反抗天庭斥责罪恶的方法。?{1TT 490.3}[6]
§16
The names of God’s chosen servants have been handled with disrespect, and in some cases with absolute contempt,?by certain persons whose duty it is to uphold them. The children have not failed to hear the disrespectful remarks of their parents in reference to the solemn reproofs and warnings of God’s servants. They have understood the scornful jests and depreciatory speeches that from time to time have met their ears, and the tendency has been to bring sacred and eternal interests, in their minds, on a level with the common affairs of the world. What a work are these parents doing in making infidels of their children even in their childhood! This is the way that children are taught to be irreverent and to rebel against Heaven’s reproof of sin.?{1TT 490.3}[6]
§17
这种罪恶存在的地方，灵性堕落之风自必流行。这等父母被仇敌蒙蔽，竟奇怪自己的儿女为何这么容易不信和怀疑圣经的真理。他们也诧异，为什么很难用道德和信仰去感化他们。如果他们有属灵的眼光，就会立刻发觉这种悲惨的情形，正是自己家庭影响的结果，自己的嫉妒和怀疑的产物。许多无信仰的人就是这样在那些自称基督徒的家庭中教养出来的。.{1TT 491.1}[7]
§18
Spiritual declension can but prevail where such evils exist. These very fathers and mothers, blinded by the enemy, marvel why their children are so inclined to unbelief and to doubt the truth of the Bible. They wonder that it is so difficult to reach them by moral and religious influences. Had they spiritual eyesight, they would at once discover that this deplorable condition of things is the result of their own home influence, the offspring of their jealousy and distrust. Thus many infidels are educated in the family circles of professed Christians.?{1TT 491.1}[7]
§19
有许多人特别喜欢谈论思想那些在上帝圣工的机构负重责之人的缺点，不论其为真实或虚构。他们忽视这些人所作的善行，及其对圣工精忠苦干的善果，只是定睛注意某个显然的错误，某件已经作成而且已有后果的事，他们以为可用更好的方法做成，得到更好的结果；然而事实上却是，若在当初让他们去作这工，他们若不是因为困难重重而全然不肯进行，就必比那些按上帝明显天意而行的人更为轻率地从事。{1TT 491.2}[8]
§20
There are many who find special enjoyment in discoursing and dwelling upon the defects, whether real or imaginary, of those who bear heavy responsibilities in connection with the institutions of God’s cause. They overlook the good that has been accomplished, the benefits that have resulted from arduous labor and unflinching devotion to the cause, and fasten their attention upon some apparent mistake, some matter that, after it has been done and the consequences have followed, they fancy could have been done in a better manner with fairer results; when the truth is, had they been left to do the work, they would either have refused to move at all under the attending discouragements of the case, or would have managed more indiscreetly than those who did do the work, following the opening of God’s providence.?{1TT 491.2}[8]
§21
这等不守规矩爱空谈的人必要专注工作更不如意的方面，犹如藓苔紧附在磐石的粗糙面上。他们不断地留意别人的失败和过错，自己的灵性就发育不全了。他们在道德上不能明察善良高贵的行动，无私的努力，真正的勇敢精神和自我牺牲。他们在生活和希望上，没有变得更尊贵更高尚；在理想和计划上，也没有变得更宽宏广泛。他们不是在培养那应作为基督徒生活特色的爱心。他们日渐退化，在成见和眼光上越发狭隘。他们的素质渺小，他们周围的风气对于平安与福乐有害。（4T.193-196.1876年）?{1TT 491.3}[9]
§22
But these unruly talkers will fasten upon the more?disagreeable features of the work, even as the lichen clings to the roughness of the rock. These persons are spiritually dwarfed by continually dwelling upon the failings and faults of others. They are morally incapable of discerning good and noble actions, unselfish endeavors, true heroism, and self-sacrifice. They are not becoming nobler and loftier in their lives and hopes, more generous and broad in their ideas and plans. They are not cultivating that charity that should characterize the Christian’s life. They are degenerating every day and are becoming narrower in their prejudices and views. Littleness is their element, and the atmosphere that surrounds them is poisonous to peace and happiness.?{1TT 491.3}[9]
§23
基督徒都应谨慎自己的言谈。他们决不应把不利的传闻从一个朋友传给另一个朋友，特别是在他们知道彼此之间缺乏团结时！暗示暗指、含沙射影是很残忍的，好像你知道这位朋友大量的事或者熟悉别人不知道的事一般。这种暗示比毫不夸张地坦率陈明事实影响更深远，会造成更多不良的印象。基督的教会因这些事受了何等大的损害啊！教会成员表里不一、轻率不慎的行为已使教会软弱如水。同一个教会的成员彼此出卖，可是犯罪的人却不是有意行恶的。在选择交谈的话语上缺乏智慧已经造成了许多危害。{1TT 492.1}[10]
§24
Christians should be careful in regard to their words. They should never carry unfavorable reports from one of their friends to another, especially if they are aware that there is a lack of union between them. It is cruel to hint and insinuate, as though you knew a great deal in regard to this friend or that acquaintance of which others are ignorant. Such hints go further, and create more unfavorable impressions, than to frankly relate the facts in an unexaggerated manner. What harm has not the church of Christ suffered from these things! The inconsistent, unguarded course of her members has made her weak as water. Confidence has been betrayed by members of the same church, and yet the guilty did not design to do mischief. Lack of wisdom in the selection of subjects of conversation has done much harm.?{1TT 492.1}[10]
§25
应当交谈属灵和神圣的事；但是人们却在谈别的。如果与基督徒朋友们的交往主要用来改善心思意念，就不会事后后悔了，回顾见面的情景还可感到愉快的满足。但如果宝贵的时间花在轻薄虚浮的闲谈上和分析别人的生活和品格上，这种交往就会显明是一种邪恶之源，你的影响力也会成为死的香气叫人死了。（2T.186，187.1868年）?{1TT 492.2}[11]
§26
The conversation should be upon spiritual and divine things; but it has been otherwise. If the association with Christian friends is chiefly devoted to the improvement of the mind and heart, there will be no after regrets, and they can look back on the interview with a pleasant satisfaction. But if the hours are spent in levity and vain talking, and the precious time is employed in dissecting the lives and?character of others, the friendly intercourse will prove a source of evil, and your influence will be a savor of death unto death.—1868,?Testimonies for the Church 2:186, 187.?{1TT 492.2}[11]
§27
我们不可让自己的困惑及失望侵蚀我们的心灵，使我们暴躁不安。应当除去纷争，邪思和恶言，免得我们得罪上帝。我的弟兄啊，如果你向嫉妒及恶意的猜测敞开心门，圣灵就不能住在你里面。应当寻求那在基督里面的丰盛。当在衪的一边工作。每一思想及言行都要彰显衪。你每天需要受爱心的洗礼。这爱心曾在使徒时代使大家同心合意。这种爱会带来身，心，灵的健康。应当让那能加强属灵生命的气氛包围你的心。应当培养信心，希望，勇气和爱心。要叫上帝的平安在你们的心里作主。（8T191.1904年）{1TT 493.1}[12]
§28
We are not to allow our perplexities and disappointments to eat into our souls and make us fretful and impatient. Let there be no strife, no evil thinking or evilspeaking, lest we offend God. My brother, if you open your heart to envy and evil surmising, the Holy Spirit cannot abide with you. Seek for the fullness that is in Christ. Labor in His lines. Let every thought and word and deed reveal Him. You need a daily baptism of the love that in the days of the apostles made them all of one accord. This love will bring health to body, mind, and soul. Surround your soul with an atmosphere that will strengthen spiritual life. Cultivate faith, hope, courage, and love. Let the peace of God rule in your heart.—1904,?Testimonies for the Church 8:191.?{1TT 493.1}[12]
§29
主活着并统治万有。不久祂将威严地站起，可怖地震动大地。现在有一项特殊的信息要传扬。这项信息将穿透属灵的黑暗，具有感服和改变人心的能力。要向住在罪中的人发出“你们赶快逃命吧”的呼吁。我们现在必须极其恳切，十分真诚。不可花一刻时间在批评指责中。过去曾这样做的人，应当屈膝祈祷，谨防以自己的话语和计划代替上帝的话语和计划。（8T36.1904年）{1TT 493.2}[13]
§30
The Lord lives and reigns. Soon He will arise in majesty to shake terribly the earth. A special message is now to be borne, a message that will pierce the spiritual darkness and convict and convert souls. “Haste thee, flee for thy life,” is the call to be given to those dwelling in sin. We must now be terribly in earnest. We have not a moment to spend in criticism and accusation. Let those who have done this in the past fall on their knees in prayer, and let them beware how they put their words and their plans in the place of God’s words and God’s plans.—1904,?Testimonies for the Church 8:36.?{1TT 493.2}[13]