成熟帶來合一
不需要先知就能知道美國最近的風氣越來越極端，在媒體中尤其如此，其試圖以權柄來指定談話內容，而不單是報導而已。一些媒體工作者非常不成熟或不穩定，以致於他們只要看見任何人稍微偏離他們的角度，就視其為極端主義者，導致另一方更偏激的反應。此所營造出的勢力，使美國這隻老鷹的左右翼常被拉扯，若不停止，老鷹很快就會被撕裂。
很高興看見美國人夠關心才會爭論，我亦不介意看見基督徒這樣做─這遠比死氣沈沈、漠不關心的教會更好。即便如此，當我們長大成熟，我們應該超越爭論、真誠對話。如此的對話已從我們政治的談話中消失，這是我們在不成熟領導下所帶來的審判之另一個徵兆。我們必須停止將我們不認同的人妖魔化，成熟的人會先停止這麼做。
人們可能會為著對的理由而抱持著錯誤的立場，人們也可以對事情抱持著正確的觀點，卻有著錯誤的動機，所以這也不單是誰的動機比較好的問題。就像政治一樣，基督徒也常以這種方式分化。要擁有一個比較合一教會的辦法，就是記得對待主子民的方式，甚至是最小的弟兄，以及那些可能有一些錯誤教義的人，我們都要像對待主的方式來對待他們。無論我們看法有何不同，我們必須持守聖靈的合一。當我們都在基督裡長大成熟，我們會更親近彼此，我們會開始以祂的方式看事情，這可能會成為我們修正版的異象。
正如我們曾討論過，瞭解（understanding）這個字來自站在他人立場之下（standing under）。我嘗試用在一位朋友身上，他表達無法相信自由黨竟想讓政府成為每一個人需要的來源，特別是政府早已證明自己無能力妥善管理任何事。我要他思想倘若他不是基督徒，並不相信神，他會怎麼想。他想了幾分鐘，然後他認為若他不相信神，可能除了政府之外毫無盼望，他可能也會成為自由黨的支持者。
現在有些保守黨人士是無神論者，他們只因為看到政府管理上的無能才支持保守黨。也有一些基督徒成為自由黨員，正是因為他們的信仰。許多基督徒自由黨員相信自己是遵照基督的命令，例如照顧窮人。我欣賞他們的動機；雖然我在聖經中有看見照顧窮人的命令，卻沒在任何地方看見主將此命令賜給政府，反倒是給了個人。當善行變成制度化，而非個人對愛的表達，善行往往失去人性化，不但沒有將他們扶持起來，反而讓他們一蹶不振。
即便如此，我同意自由黨所提倡的，就算是冷酷、機構性的慈善團體，都好過讓人們餓肚子。爭論性在於安全網該撒在何處；然而，統計數字不會騙人。倘若自由黨的工作真是要幫助不幸的人，當自由黨政治人物必須出示他們的繳稅記錄，為何很少看到他們所捐的錢超過收入的百分之一？儘管不都如此，如巴菲特和比爾蓋茲試圖捐出他們大部分的財產。然而，以政治人物來看，自由黨和保守黨之間有極懸殊的差距，保守黨的政治人物相較下慷慨好多倍。有一些人可能自己並不想要很慷慨，卻想要用我們而非他們自己的錢來行善。
雖然需要一段時間才能讓大多數人瞭解此真相，但現在約有六成美國人瞭解。邱吉爾曾說：『你在二十歲若不是自由黨，你沒有熱心。你在四十歲若不是保守黨，你沒有腦袋。』當然，兩邊都有假冒為善的人，這才是何以我們需要不會騙人的數學統計。
歐巴馬總統在最近的競選演講中，一再說人人都當公平繳稅。我認為三成的美國人會同意這樣的說法，為什麼呢？根據美國稅收基金會，七成的美國人不是沒繳稅，就是繳的遠少於來自政府的福利。同一時間，約有百分之五的高收入戶繳納五成的所得稅，這公平嗎？就算從富人那徵收到更多的稅，甚至從高收入的美國人徵收百分之百的所得，都無法減少赤字。在其中反而傳達出一種信息，倘若你在美國努力工作，做得也不錯，你將為此受到極不公平的懲罰。然後他們才納悶，為何美國的頂尖商人都逃到外國。
這是網路協助來為主預備道路的一種方式，你可能以前從未聽過此，這卻是千真萬確。約翰胡司（John Huss）本應該是比馬丁路德更偉大的傳教者，胡司的信息深度實質上更勝一籌，但路德剛好在印刷術出現的年代發跡，使訊息的傳遞大為增加，就好像是我們這時代的網路。
當然，網路也被邪惡利用，但印刷術也是如此。讓我們以善勝惡，用此分享神要來國度的好消息。現在藉著網路，許多資訊可以讓人隨手可得，謊言卻可以很快曝光，其實是件好事。讓我們定意在所行的一切事上都致力於真理，無論其是否能為我們想要相信的事物提供證據。倘若我們要跟隨這位真理的主，我們一定要喜愛真理。
(摘自喬納 word for the week, Week 34, 2012)
Maturity Promotes Unity - The Path of Life, Part 27
Week 34, 2012
It does not take a prophet to tell that the tone in America has been becoming more extreme lately. This has been especially true in the media, which has been trying to take the authority to dictate the conversation, not just report on it. Some in the media are so immature or unstable that they see anyone who deviates a little from their position as an extremist, which causes more extreme reactions on the other side. This is creating forces that are pulling on both the left and right wings of our eagle and will soon pull the eagle apart if it is not stopped.
It’s good to see Americans care enough to argue, and I don’t mind seeing Christians doing this either—it’s better than the dead churches where they don’t care enough to argue. Even so, as we mature, we should rise above arguing to sincere dialog. Such dialog is disappearing from our political discourse, which is another sign we are under the judgment of immature leadership. We must stop demonizing others who disagree with us. The mature will be the first to stop this.
People can hold the wrong positions for the right reasons, and people can hold the right view on things but with bad motives, so it’s not just about who has the best motives either. Christians are often polarized the same way as in politics. One of the answers to a more united church is by remembering that the way we treat even the least of the Lord’s people, even those who may have some wrong doctrines or practices, will be considered the way we treated the Lord Himself. We must keep the unity of the Spirit regardless of our other disagreements. As we all grow up into Christ, we will grow closer together, and we will start seeing as He does, which will probably be corrected vision for all of us.
As we discussed earlier, understanding comes from the term “standing under” someone else’s position. I tried this on a friend who was expressing his disbelief at how liberals could think the way that they did in trying to make the government the source of everyone’s needs, especially considering the well-proven incompetence of the government to manage anything well. I asked him to consider how he would think if he had not become a Christian and had faith in God. It took him a few minutes, and then he saw that if he did not have faith in God, there would be no other place to hope in but the government, and he would probably be a liberal too.
Now there are atheists who are conservatives simply on the basis of seeing the incompetence of government management. There are also Christians who are liberals because of their faith, not in spite of it. Many Christian liberals believe they are following the mandates of Christ such as caring for the poor. I appreciate their motives, and though I see the mandate to care for the poor, I don’t see this anywhere as being given to a government, but rather to individuals. When charity becomes institutional instead of a personal expression of love, it becomes demeaning, dehumanizing, and does not lift people up but keeps them down.
Even so, I would agree with liberals that even cold institutional charity is better than letting people starve. The debate is over where the safety net should be. However, mathematics does not lie. If the true liberal agenda is to help the unfortunate, why is it that when liberal politicians have to release their tax records, it is rare to find one who has given more than 1% of their income? It’s not true of all, as some, such as Warren Buffet and Bill Gates are trying to give away almost their entire fortunes. However, with politicians, it seems that the difference is huge between liberals and conservatives, with conservatives being many times more generous personally. Some people may very well want to be generous, but they just want to do it with our money, not theirs.
It takes a while for most to understand this though, but Americans now are by about a 60% margin. Winston Churchill has been attributed as saying, “If you’re not a liberal at twenty you have no heart. If you’re not a conservative at forty, you have no brain.” Of course, there are plenty of hypocrites on both sides. This is why we need to go to the math that does not lie.
In recent campaign speeches, President Obama has repeatedly made the statement that everyone should pay their fair share of taxes. I think 30% of Americans agree with that. Why? According to The Tax Foundation, 70% of Americans either pay no taxes or pay less in taxes than they get back in benefits from the government. At the same time, the top 5% of earners pay 50% of the income taxes collected. Is this fair? Even though this is being promoted to get more from the rich, we can tax the top earning Americans 100% of their income, and it will not even make a dent in the deficits. What is happening is that a message is being sent that if you work hard in America, and do well, you are going to be penalized for it. Then they wonder why the top American businesses are fleeing to other countries.
This is one way that the Internet is helping to prepare the way for the Lord. You probably have not heard that before, but it’s true. John Huss was supposedly a much better preacher than Luther, and the depth of Huss’ message was substantially greater, but Luther just happened to emerge at the same time as the printing press, which made the dissemination of information multiply, just as the Internet has in our time.
Of course, the Internet is being used for evil too, but so was the printing press. Let’s overcome evil with good and use it for sharing the good news about the coming kingdom. It is a good thing that so much information is now available to so many people, and the lies that are being told to us get so quickly exposed. Let us resolve to be devoted to the truth in all that we do, whether it supports what we want to believe or not. If we are going to follow the Truth, we must love the Truth.