於2017-12-16發佈


宗教自由─啟示錄  

 現在讓我們來看啟示錄十二章13-17節:

龍見自己被摔在地上,就逼迫那生男孩子的婦人。 

於是有大鷹的兩個翅膀賜給婦人,叫她能飛到曠野,到自己的地方,躲避那蛇;她在那裡被養活一載二載半載。 

蛇就在婦人身後,從口中吐出水來,像河一樣,要將婦人沖去。 

地卻幫助婦人,開口吞了從龍口吐出來的水(原文作河)。

龍向婦人發怒,去與她其餘的兒女爭戰,這兒女就是那守神誡命、為耶穌作見證的。那時龍就站在海邊的沙上。 

在此研讀中,我使用了對啟示錄不同思想學派的洞見,但我多半使用普遍接受的新約版本,是以歷史觀點來看。我這麼做是因為我認為此觀點有其價值,但從1844年復臨運動以來,基本上就被遺忘與避免了(此時正在教義系統化,而啟示錄只與末世有關)。從啟示錄一開始就駁斥了此想法,因為老約翰說這些是『必要快成的事』。 

正統的歷史學家可能都會同意,基督徒在歷史上最大的逼迫是發生在歐洲中古世紀結尾宗教法庭期間。哈利聖經手冊(Halley’s Bible Handbook)與其他史學預估當時約有五千萬人殉道,因為他們拒絕向教皇跪拜。他們不單殉道,而且受到許多酷刑,正如我們讀到福克斯殉道者名錄(Foxe’s Book of Martyrs)與其他類似名錄,最荒誕怪異的酷刑都是在宗教法庭上被使用。魔鬼釋放了『極大的忿怒』最能合理描述此歷史上最可怕的時期。 

就在此逼迫來到顛峰之際,哥倫布發現美洲,地開口(照原義翻譯)吞了逼迫的洪水,正是對所發生之事的最好描述。幾乎歐洲的政治和宗教勢力立刻將注意力從滅絕『異端』,轉為聚焦在美洲的潛在財富與征服上。 

一些國家想要擺脫他們的非天主教居民,卻對宗教法庭殘忍與可怕調查感到驚駭,於是提議將他們送到新世界殖民。因此被逼迫的人逃到『新世界』成為殖民者,無疑應驗了這裡『飛到曠野』的描述。 

美國的象徵符號也變成老鷹,正如預言提到『大鷹的兩個翅膀』賜給婦人。因此這似乎是美國如何成為被逼迫基督徒避難所的最佳預言。 

正如預言所說,教會在美國被『養活』。在當時歐洲有許多地方,被抓到有聖經仍是非法,甚至要處以死刑。在美國,聖經與識字皆大大被提倡,因此美國教會在主裡與祂的話語中變得更強壯。此最終引領美國成為新基督徒運動中心,也恢復了合乎聖經的基督教。將近三百年之久,美國一直都是基督教中心,影響著全世界。 

正如上述的預言,魔鬼所吐出的洪水被吞了後,他仍忿怒不已,追趕著婦人其餘的兒女。數世紀以來,歐洲幾乎持續遭受宗教戰爭與逼迫。儘管宗教法庭惡魔般的殘忍沒有再重複發生,冷酷的宗教不寬容卻持續著。這讓逃離美國的人堅決投入於宗教自由與寬容,這也成為所有其他方面自由的房角石。 

 (摘自喬納 word for the week,Week45, 2017) 

 
Religious Liberty—The Book of Revelation

 Now we come to Revelation 12:13-17:

When the dragon saw that he was thrown down to the earth, he persecuted the woman who gave birth to the male child. 

But the two wings of the great eagle were given to the woman, so that she could fly into the wilderness to her place, where she was nourished for a time and times and half a time, from the presence of the serpent.

And the serpent poured water like a river out of his mouth after the woman, so that he might cause her to be swept away with the flood.

But the earth helped the woman, and the earth opened its mouth and drank up the river which the dragon poured out of his mouth.

So the dragon was enraged with the woman, and went off to make war with the rest of her children, who keep the commandments of God and hold to the testimony of Jesus.

         During this study I have used insights from several different schools of thought on the Book of Revelation, but I have mostly used the generally accepted Protestant version that is a historical view. I have done this because I think there is merit to this view, and it has basically been forgotten and avoided since the 1844 Advent Movement (this was when the doctrines were formulated that the Book of Revelation was just about the end of the age). Revelation itself refutes this at the beginning of the vision when John wrote that the things he saw would “shortly come to pass.” 

         There probably would not be a legitimate historian that would not agree that the worst Christian persecution in history came during the Inquisition in Europe at the end of the Middle Ages. Halley’s Bible Handbook and other histories estimate that as many as 50 million people who refused to bow the knee to the papacy were martyred during that time. They were not just martyred, but tortured. As we read in Foxe’s Book of Martyrs, and other such accounts, the most grotesque tortures were used in the Inquisition. The devil let loose with “great wrath” is an appropriate description of this most terrible time in history.

         Right at the peak of this persecution, Columbus discovered America. That “the earth opened” (literal translation) and swallowed the flood of persecution is an accurate description of what happened. Almost immediately the political and religious powers of Europe turned their attention from eradicating “heretics” and began to focus on the potential for wealth and conquest in the Americas.

         Some of the nations that wanted to get rid of their non-Catholic citizens—but were appalled by the cruelty and horrors of the Inquisition—offered to send those citizens as colonists to the new world. So the persecuted fled to the “new world” as colonists, which at the time certainly fulfilled the description of being a “wilderness.”

         The symbol of America was also to become the eagle, as the prophecy refers to “the wings of a great eagle” were given to the woman. So this seems to be an accurate prophecy of how America would become the refuge for persecuted Christians that it has became.

         In America, the church was also “nourished” just as the prophecy said. In much of Europe, it was still illegal, and even carried the death penalty, to be caught with a Bible. In America, both Bibles and literacy were widely promoted, and therefore the church in America became strong in the Lord and in His Word. This ultimately led to America becoming a center for new Christian movements and the recovery of biblical Christianity. For nearly three hundred years, America has been a center of Christian influence for the world.

         Just as the prophecy quoted above states, the devil was still enraged after the flood he had poured out was swallowed, and he went after the rest of the offspring of the woman. For centuries, Europe suffered almost continual religious wars and persecutions. Even though the diabolical cruelty and span of the Inquisition was never repeated, the brutal religious intolerance continued. This fortified in those who had fled to America a devotion to religious liberty and tolerance that is a cornerstone of all other freedoms.