陈鸽 写给 Z 牧师的一封公开信 (2014)
Z 牧师,你好,我需要给你写一封公开信,因不久前一个周五晚上,我在我们教会的布道会中为你翻译。你说:“我不肯定孔子是否得救了。” 你反复强调了两三次。当时,我没心理准备,措手不及,就为你翻了。但事后,我回想起来,认识到这是一个严重的教义上的妥协。因着为你翻译,我也在你的罪上有份。既然我是公开翻译的,我也得做出一个公开的声明,就是,我不同意你摇摆的立场;我不相信孔夫子可能得救。因为经上记着说:
徒 4:12 除他以外,别无拯救;因为在天下人间,没有赐下别的名,我们可以靠著得救。
提后 2:5 因为只有一位神,在神和人中间,只有一位中保,乃是降世为人的基督耶稣。
约 14:6 耶稣说:“我就是道路、真理、生命;若不藉著我,没有人能到父那里去。”
孔子生活在基督之前五百年,他在中国不可能听见基督,因此也不可能得救。若没有神的特殊启示与对基督的信心,就没有人可以得救。
Z 牧师,当你说:你不确定孔子永远的归宿时,你为基督十架之外救恩的可能性开了一道门。这是鲁益师(CS Lewis)与葛培理(Billy Graham)普救论的中国版本(注),这严重地妥协了唯独基督的福音。
在基督里,陈鸽 Larry Pan
注:Z 牧师的妥协与鲁益师(CS Lewis)类似,在他的代表作《返璞归真》(Mere Christianity)中,鲁益师说:“神正在奥妙地引导着一些异教徒,使他们专注于他们宗教当中与基督教相符合的部分,因此他们就不知不觉的归属了基督……例如,一个善良的佛教徒,可能蒙神引导越来越专研佛的慈悲,而将其它佛学的道理置之脑后(他可能仍承认自己是佛教徒)。基督诞生之前,有许多这样善良的异教徒,可能就处在这样的光景中。”(176-177页)
1997年,水晶宫大教堂的舒乐(Robert Shuller)牧师在美国电视上采访葛培理(Billy Graham)时,问他说:“请告诉我们,你认为基督教的前景如何?” 葛培理回答说:“……我想有一个基督的身体,是来自于世上所有的基督教团体和基督教外的团体。我想每个爱基督、认识基督的人,不论他自觉与否,都是基督身上的肢体……神正在呼召世人归入他的名下,不论他们来自于回教世界、佛教世界、基督教世界、或不信神的世界,他们都是基督身上的肢体,因为神已经呼召了他们。他们可能还不知道耶稣的名,但他们心中知道他们缺少一些东西,因此转向了他们所有的光,我想他们是得救的,他们会跟我们一起在天堂里的。”
舒乐追问说:“我是否听你说:既使一个人生长在黑暗中、从来没有机会接触圣经,也可能有耶稣基督进入他的心中、他生命中,是吗?我是否正确地理解你所说的话呢?”
葛培理回答说,“是的,因为我是这么信的。我遇到过世界各处、住在蛮荒之地的人,他们从未看过或听过圣经,也没听过耶稣,但他们心里头信有个神,也试图过一个出淤泥而不染、与周围社会分别为圣的生活。”
舒乐满脸微笑,说:“太好了!我真高兴听你说这样的话!神的怜悯真是广大啊!”
葛培理回答说:“是的,神的确心胸宽广。” (原录像:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YqdZgo4TlA8)
到底孔子、孟子、老子得救了吗?
容我再补充几句:也许有人说:“我不赞成葛培理(Billy Graham),也不同意鲁益师(CS Lewis)。我相信佛教徒、回教徒、无神论者都不可能得救。”
好,你既然这么肯定他们不得救,为什么却不肯定老子、孔子得不得救呢?是不是因为他们是中国人?或是圣贤?或有什么美德?不,若没有耶稣基督的救赎,不论中国人或外国人,或佛教、回教、天主教或基督教的“圣贤”都不能得救?唯独基督的福音才能拯救世人(罗 1:16,约 14:6)。
也许有人说:“这个问题不值得争辩。不要吹毛求疵、小题大做、伤了和气、破坏合一。”
不,这问题事关重大。若老子、孔子可能奇妙的得救,那么也许还有七千个隐藏的余民呢!若是这样,我们何必再传福音呢?让神自己动工吧!这样,岂不废了基督的福音吗?
难道基督徒对“唯独基督”能拯救世人的福音漠不关心吗?(徒 4:12)难道我们只关心个人的荣辱、利益、得失,单为自己的一些琐碎小事嫉妒争竞,却不为他的“殿心里焦急,如同火烧”吗?(约 2:17)我们岂不当“先求他的国”(太 6:33),并为那“从前一次交付圣徒的真道竭力的争辩”吗?(犹 3)
求主帮助我们,以基督的心为心(腓 2:5)
参考:一个不信真道的“卫道士”:鲁益师(C.S. Lewis 路易斯
领袖如何,百姓也如何:http://larryltpan.blog.163.com/blog/static/80191256201342041121636/
AN OPEN LETTER TO PASTOR Z
Dear Pastor Z,
I need to write you an open letter because I translated for you in an evangelistic meeting in our church one Friday night. You made the statement then: “I am not sure whether Confucius is saved or not.” You repeated and emphasized it a couple times. I was put on the spot, with no preparation; I had no choice but to translate for you. But as I reflect upon it later, this is a serious doctrinal compromise. By interpreting for you, I also partake in your sin. Since I did it in public, I also want to make a public disclaimer that I don’t approve of your uncertain stance and I don’t believe Confucius can possibly be saved, for it is written:
Acts 4:12 And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.
1Timothy 2:5 For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus.
John 14:6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. ”
Confucius lived 500 years before Christ; he had no way to hear about Christ in China and therefore no way to be saved. Without God’s special revelation and faith in Him, no one can be saved.
Dear Pastor Z, when you said you are not certain about Confucius’ eternal destiny, you are making room for salvation apart from Christ’s atoning work on the cross. Yours is a Chinese version of CS Lewis and Billy Graham’s universalism (See notes) and a deadly compromise of the Gospel of Sola Christo.
In Christ, Larry Pan
Note: Pastor Z’s compromise is similar to that of CS Lewis. He wrote in his classic work Mere Christianity: “There are people in other religions who are being led by God’s secret influence to concentrate on those parts of their religion which are in agreement with Christianity, and who thus belong to Christ without knowing it … For
example a Buddhist of good will may be led to concentrate more and more on the
Buddhist teaching about mercy and to leave in the background (though he might
still say he believed) the Buddhist teaching on certain points. Many of the good Pagans long before Christ’s birth may have been in this position.” (Mere Christianity, pp. 176-177).
In a TV interview by Robert Schuller on May 31, 1997, Graham said, “….. I think there’s the Body of Christ. This comes from all the Christian groups around the world, outside the Christian groups. I think everybody that loves Christ, or knows Christ, whether they’re conscious of it or not, they’re members of the Body of Christ … I think James answered that, the Apostle James in the first council in Jerusalem, when he said that God’s purpose for this age is to call out a people for His
name. And that’s what God is doing today, He’s calling people out of the world
for His name, whether they come from the Muslim world, or the Buddhist world,
or the Christian world, or the non-believing world, they are members of the
Body of Christ, because they’ve been called by God. They may not even know the
name of Jesus, but they know in their hearts that they need something that they
don’t have, and they turn to the only light that they have, and I think they
are saved, and that they’re going to be with us in heaven.”
SCHULLER: “What, what I hear you saying, that it’s possible for Jesus Christ to come into human hearts and soul and life, even if they’ve been born in darkness and have never had exposure to the Bible. Is that a correct interpretation of what you’re saying?”
GRAHAM: “Yes, it is, because I believe that. I’ve met people in various parts of the world in tribal situations, that they have never seen a Bible or heard about a Bible, and never heard of Jesus, but they’ve believed in their hearts that there was a God, and
they’ve tried to live a life that was quite apart from the surrounding community in which they lived.”
SCHULLER: “I’m so thrilled to hear you say this. There’s a wideness in God’s mercy.”
GRAHAM: “There is. There definitely is.” (The Original video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hrf60-zHl9A)
WERE LAOZI AND CONFUCIUS SAVED?
Let me add a few words. Someone might say, “I certainly don’t agree with Billy Graham, nor see eye to eye with CS Lewis. I don’t believe that Buddhists, Muslims or Atheists can be saved.”
Fine, if you are so sure about that, why aren’t you sure about Laozi or Confucius? Is it because they are Chinese “saints”, possessing certain virtues? No,
apart from the redemption in Christ Jesus, no one can be saved, whether he be
Chinese or foreigner. No “saints” in Buddhism, Islam, Communism, Catholicism or
Christendom can be saved without the Gospel of Christ. He alone is the Savior
of the world (Romans 1:16; John 14:6).
Maybe someone thinks this is not worth arguing. You say, “Don’t make a mountain out of a molehill, or stir up a storm in a tea-cup, thus causing strife and division.”
No, this is a matter of life and death. If Laozi or Confucius can be saved mysteriously, then there may be 7000 more unknown remnants! That being the case, what’s the point for us to preach the Gospel? Why don’t we just let God do his sovereign work! In this way, we are cancelling out the Gospel of Christ.
Shouldn’t Christians be concerned about the Gospel of “Sola Christo”? (Acts 4:12) Should we only be concerned about our own reputation, ease and comfort, just fighting over some petty personal issues? Shouldn’t the zeal “for his house” consume us (John 2:17)? Shouldn’t we “seek first His Kingdom” (Matt 6:33), and earnestly
“contend for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints” (Jude 3)?
May the Lord help us to have the mind of Christ (php 2:5)!