陈鸽 我不喜欢争论，尤其不喜欢与其它福音派的基督徒打内战。但是，正如我这一系列、前几篇的博文中所表达的，当福音在有形的教会中受到攻击时，这样的论战就成了必须的。
旷古的争战
倘若教会内部的激烈分歧，似乎是常规而不是例外的话，那就证明因为从初期教会开始，那些声称忠于基督的人，一直就没有间断过对福音的猛烈炮轰。教会历史上，从来就没有出现过长期的“太平盛世”；忠贞者必须经常奋起为捍卫某些重大的圣经原则而大声疾呼、以警世人。
无风不起浪
我在前几篇文章中所描述的争议，都不是突然间冒出来的。例如，“基督是主”的争议，在我写《根据基督的福音》为之辩护之前的十多年，就有许多人看出它正在酝酿了。还有，“成功神学”扭曲的福音，也可以追溯到二十世纪的初期，它早就在五旬节运动中渐渐扎根了。在一般情况下，我们都可以看见暴风雨的前奏，并且预测下一次大侵袭的起源。
恶者的突袭
但偶尔，一场对这清晰基要福音的新的威胁，出乎意料之外，有如疾风骤雨，突如其来。当前的这一场关于“社会公义”和种族主义的争议，就是一个好例子。四年前，我根本料想不到：笃信圣经的福音派，有可能为种族歧视而分门别类。身为基督徒，我们同心合意地确认第二条最大的诫命：“……要爱人如己”。（利19:18）因此，我们也一心一意地抵挡一丝一毫的种族仇恨。
难抹的污点
种族主义是美国历史上的一大污点，遗留下多少的耻辱、不义、和可怕的暴力。奴隶制度和一场代价高昂的内战，留下了深刻的种族裂痕，使各方都怨恨不已。没有一个明智的人会以为，这些邪恶的痕迹可以被二十世纪中叶的民权运动完全抹掉。固然，民权的律法如今保障了所有美国公民的平等权益和合法地位，尽管如此，没有任何法律可以改变一颗充满苦毒和偏见的人心。
然而，值得庆幸的是，我们已有很大的进步。在世俗的美国，种族关系已不再像50年前那样的紧张。美国人的态度已经转变了。白人优越主义和所有其它故意或理念的种族主义的表现，都受到普遍的谴责。
难改的罪性
身为基督徒，我们知道人心的败坏，所以无疑还会有一些人暗地里仇恨异族的人种。但是，任何种族之间公然表达的非难、恶意、故意、或敌视，在当今美国主流社会的各个阶层，都必遭到众人的鄙视和坚决的抵制。
当然，至今世界各地的人民都仍倾向于忽视或无视异文化的习俗、传统、社团的价值观、和种族的差异。其实，文化冲突是个普世性的难题，而不是美国人特有的困境，并且不见得都是种族仇恨引发的。然而，因为如今的美国人对种族歧视恨之入骨，以至于反应往往过分激烈。即便是偶尔发生的民族纠纷或无意识的种族误会，也经常遭到“义怒填膺”反对种族主义般的待遇，甚至连一个不经意的失礼，也可能被视为一种狂傲或偏见。越来越多的人，深陷于民族的仇恨之中，以至他们似乎从任何与他们世界观不同的人身上，从他们的一言一行、一举一动当中，都可以找到种族歧视的证据。
福音的大能
我可以明白，堕落的世人，会以这种方式向别人发泄怨恨，但我难以理解，为什么相信圣经的基督徒也会纠缠进去。我从前以为福音派的教会，不分种族，在基督里都活出了真正的合一。当然，这一直是我所在的每一个教会中的经历，这也是我在更广泛的福音派圈子里所看到的事实。我不知道任何一个真正传福音的教会，那里的人会因为他们的种族或肤色而被排斥，甚至不受尊重的。就在上个主日晚上，我们“恩典教会”，按着每个月的常例，接待了大概100个新会员。这是神的大爱跨越一切种族界线的另一个见证，因为该群体是由西班牙裔、菲律宾人、中国人、乌干达人、尼日利亚人、蒙古人、韩国人、乌克兰人、亚美尼亚人、立陶宛人、俄罗斯人、奥地利人、阿拉伯裔人，以及美国黑人和白人所组成。
基督里合一
作为基督徒，我们已与神和好，与基督联合了，一旦明白了这个真理，我们就必然彼此和睦。这是圣经教训中所强调的一个重点：就是我们要彼此饶恕，像神饶恕我们一样。在一个多民族同居的环境中，基督徒不该因种族而分裂。我们是和平的使者；我们爱所有的人类。我们不以恶报恶；我们饶恕七十个七次。
越帮反越忙
然而，随着种族分化问题越来越成为世俗学院和新闻媒体关注的焦点，渴望参与文化的福音派人士也开始关注这个问题了。但不幸的是，许多在此问题上发言的人，没有藉着以福音为中心的方式来解决问题，反倒不假思索地借用了这个世界的智慧。因此，他们所发出的、那有关种族差异的仇恨言论，不但使福音黯然失色，更导致了教会分裂，甚至在那些自认为最“以福音为中心的基督徒”的福音派当中，也是如此。
开错了药方
如今，那些想要解决这个问题的基督教领袖，往往公开呼吁那些从来没有种族仇恨的人，去承认种族歧视的罪行，因为他们的祖先可能是种族主义者。这是很普遍的做法：他们要求白人基督徒结出悔改的果子，不是因为他们有种族歧视的实际行为，乃是因为他们拥有“白人特权”而受益。似乎，他们的肤色自动令他们对过去的种族仇恨责无旁贷。一位有影响力的福音派领袖，在一篇题为“我们等待着为刺杀金恩博士而忏悔”的文章中表示，白人基督徒必须承认他们与父母和祖父母共谋，“杀害一个只宣扬爱和正义的人”（指金恩博士Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.）。在此之前，他说，教会的种族和解，甚至是不可能开始的。
因此，根据这种“社会公正”的观点，一个人的肤色可能会自动要求他要公开认罪悔改，不仅为了他祖先文化的罪恶，而且还包括他本人不可能犯下的具体罪行。
这样的观点一点也不“公正”，当然也与耶稣基督的福音毫不相干。每一个人心中的罪恶的解决方法，不是去为别人可能犯下的错误而悔改，而是为我们自己的过犯悔改，包括我们的仇恨、愤怒、苦毒、或其它任何罪恶的心态或行为。
最好的解药
作为委身于圣经权威和福音真理的基督徒，我们拥有的答案，远比世界所能提供的任何方案都更有效，面对社会的种种罪恶：种族的偏见、世界的不义、人性的残酷、等等，我们有解决的办法、真正的答案，就是耶稣基督的十字架；我们更有圣灵在仁爱、喜乐、和平、忍耐、恩慈、良善、信实、温柔、节制中，引导我们不断地成长（加5:22-23）。
以后的日子里，我想接着讨论这些答案，特别是当我们面对不义的恶人、腐败的政权、凶狠的逼迫，遭到苦害和虐待时，应该如何回应。《新约》圣经对这些难题的解答一点都不隐晦，也不神秘。
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原文如下：
Is the Controversy over”Social Justice” Really Necessary?
by John MacArthur
Monday
August 27, 2018
I do not relish controversy, and I particularly dislike engaging in polemical battles with other evangelical Christians. But as my previous posts in this series demonstrate, when the gospel is under attack from within the visible church, such controversy is necessary.
And if it seems fierce disagreements within the churchhave been the rule rather than the exception, that’s because relentless attackson the gospel from people professing fidelity to Christ have come in anunending parade since the very beginning of the church age. There has neverbeen an extended period in church history when it has not been necessary forfaithful voices to mount a vigorous defense of one or more cardinal biblicalprinciples.
None of the controversies I’ve described in my previousposts sprang up suddenly. The lordship controversy, for example, was a conflictmany of us saw coming more than a decade before I wrote The Gospel According toJesus. The twisted gospel of the prosperity preachers has its roots in thePentecostal movement going back to the early twentieth century. Normally we cansee storm clouds brewing and anticipate where the next major assault is comingfrom.
But occasionally a new threat to the simplicity orclarity of the gospel seems to erupt with stunning force and suddenness. Thecurrent controversy over “social justice” and racism is an example of that.Four years ago, I would not have thought it possible for Bible-believingevangelicals to be divided over the issue of racism. As Christians we standtogether in our affirmation of the second great commandment (“You shall loveyour neighbor as yourself”—Leviticus 19:18). We therefore stand together against everyhint of racial animus.
Racism is a stain on American history that has leftshame, injustice, and horrible violence in its wake. The institution of slaveryand a costly civil war left a deep racial divide and bred bitter resentment onevery side. No sensible person would suggest that all the vestiges of thoseevils were totally erased by the civil rights movement of the mid-twentiethcentury. Civil rights legislation now guards the legal principle of equalrights for all Americans, but no law can change the heart of someone who is filledwith prejudice or bitterness.
Thankfully, however, much progress has been made. Racialrelations in secular America are not what they were even fifty years ago. TheAmerican attitude has changed. White supremacy and all other expressions ofpurposeful, willful, or ideological racism are almost universally condemned.
As Christians we know that the human heart is evil, soundoubtedly there are still people who secretly harbor animosity againstethnicities other than their own. But any open expression of acrimony, illwill, or deliberate antagonism across ethnic lines will be scorned andemphatically rejected across the whole spectrum of mainstream American lifetoday.
Of course, people everywhere still tend to be obliviousto or inconsiderate of customs, traditions, community values, and ethnicdifferences outside their own culture. Culture clash is a universal problem,not a uniquely American quandary—and it’s not necessarily an expression ofethnic hostility. But Americans’ contempt for racial bigotry is now so acutethat even accidental cultural or ethnic insensitivity is regularly met with thesame resentment as blind, angry racism—and even a simple social gaffe is likelyto be treated the same as bigotry. There are people—increasing numbers ofthem—so obsessed with this issue that they seem able to find proof of racism inpractically everything that is said or done by anyone who doesn’t share theirworldview.
I understand when fallen, worldly people filled withresentment lash out at others that way. I don’t understand why Bible-believingChristians would take up that cause. I thought the evangelical church wasliving out true unity in Christ without regard for race. That has certainlybeen my experience in every church I’ve ever been part of, and it’s also what Ihave seen in the wider evangelical world. I don’t know of any authenticallyevangelical church where people would be excluded or even disrespected becauseof their ethnicity or skin color. Just last Sunday night—as we do everymonth—we received about a hundred new members into Grace Church. It was anothertestimony to God’s love crossing all ethnic lines, as the group was composed ofHispanics, Filipinos, Chinese, Ugandans, Nigerians, Mongolians, Koreans,Ukrainians, Armenians, Lithuanians, Russians, Austrians, people of Arabicdescent, as well as black and white Americans.
As Christians we are reconciled with God and united withChrist. To understand that doctrine is to be reconciled with one another. Thisis a major emphasis in all the Bible’s teaching about forgiving one another asGod has forgiven us. Christians should not be the ones dividing over race in aracially charged environment. We are the peacemakers and the lovers of all men.We don’t seek vengeance. We forgive seventy times seven.
And yet, as the issue of racial division has become moreand more a focus in the secular academy and in the news media, evangelicalseager to engage the culture have taken up the issue. Unfortunately, many whohave spoken on this issue have simply echoed the wisdom of this world ratherthan addressing the issue in a truly gospel-centered way. As a result,rancorous discourse over ethnic differences has eclipsed the gospel and dividedthe church—even among those evangelicals who might be most likely to self-describeas “gospel-centered Christians.”
It’s quite common these days for Christian leadersaddressing this issue to call for people who have never harbored a racistthought to confess the guilt of racism because their ancestors may have beenracists. Expressions of repentance have been demanded of white evangelicals forno actual transgression, but because they are perceived to have benefited from“white privilege.” Supposedly, their skin color automatically makes themculpable for the racism of the past. One influential evangelical leader, in anarticle titled “We Await Repentance for Assassinating Dr. King,” suggested thatracial reconciliation in the church cannot even start until white Christiansconfess their parents’ and grandparents’ complicity in “murdering a man whoonly preached love and justice” (meaning Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.).
So by this view of “social justice,” a person’s skincolor might automatically require a public expression of repentance—not merelyfor the evils of his ancestors’ culture, but also for specific crimes he cannotpossibly have been guilty of.
There’s nothing remotely “just” about that idea, andcertainly nothing related to the gospel of Jesus Christ. The answer to everyevil in every heart is not repentance for what someone else may have done, butrepentance for our own sins, including hatred, anger, bitterness, or any othersinful attitude or behavior.
As Christians committed to the authority of Scripture andthe truth of the gospel, we have better answers than the world could ever giveto the problems of racism, injustice, human cruelty, and every other societalevil. We have the cross of Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit who grows andleads us in all love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,gentleness, and self-control (Galatians5:22-23).
In the days to come, I want to discuss those answers, andspecifically how Scripture says we should respond when we suffer wrongly at thehands of unrighteous people, corrupt governments, or hostile persecutors. TheNew Testament’s answer to that dilemma is not the least bit obscure ormysterious.
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