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Sites of interests: http://www.cjcu.edu.tw/english/ (English)
http://www.cjcu.edu.tw/zh_tw/ (中文)
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God writes the Gospel not in the Bible alone, but also on trees, and in the flowers and clouds and stars.
- Martin Luther 1483 - 1546 German theologian, and iconic figure of the Protestant Reformation
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"God is in everything I see."
This explains why nothing is separate, by itself or in itself.
You are not a human on a spiritual journey
You are a spirit on a human journey.
- Unknown
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Reflections from Students of the School of Theology, CJCU
When I read the article entitled “Believing” on this blog site, some sentences caught my eyes... ‘When Jesus says that whoever believes “into” him shall never die... Eternal life is not the result of believing in. It is the experience of believing.’
Indeed, we have so many imaginations about “eternal life”, but if we did not get “into” Him, how could we say we are disciples of Jesus?
潘霍華 (Dietrich Bonhoeffer 1906~1945) 說：「當基督呼召一個人時，祂是來召他為祂死。」
If belief did not change our thought, our mind or any ideology, our lives are never renewed with God’s words. The words just got into our brain and stay as part of knowledge, but never sparkle in our life. And “logos” never root in our body. How could we then say: we receive Jesus as our Savior?
Right. That is cheating ourselves and our brains. We do a lot of services to show that we are Christians, but it’s not helping our eternal life.
永生，是從跟隨耶穌開始，效法他的一切所行、所言、所想，去在乎祂所關注的一切；當我們願意付上一切的代價而去實行時，這就是福音的實踐。
- 吳信達
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關於這篇 ”The Bible and I” 的 Blog，裡面提到：
「Faith is not just a course to be completed, but a life time journey. We are here not only to learn what to think, but how to think.」
人生就是不斷地在學習，信仰也是如此。像當你小時候看到某章經文感覺沒什麼，但當你經歷了一些風風雨雨後再回過頭看，發現聖經已經有了你想要的答案，而且奇妙的是每個人生階段都會有不同的感受，聖經真的是一本很奇妙的書。我很喜歡讀箴言，因為它裡面的智慧幫助我在對人事物的看法改變上很多，像我讀到現在，很多經文讀了幾遍還是會有新的領受，每次翻開箴言，我的腦袋就好像被開通似的很舒暢，智慧的言語使我身心感到一股甘甜。
- 葉加恩
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第一次的小組長時間，我們所要看的文章是關於「恩典」的，雖然在我自己的小組並沒有仔細的去看這個文章，但是從牧師所寄給我之後，我就在想我要寫這篇來回應我最近的體驗。
”Grace is something you can never get but only be given.”
恩典對我來說是付上很大的代價，我們卻只有「接受」這件事是可以做的。除了耶穌基督為我死在十字架上，賜給我永恆的、無價的生命外，祂的愛也透過其他的人給我恩典。在剛看這篇文章的時候，第一個反應就是，我們有時對身邊的事物太過於麻痺，所以也很容易忘記了許多許不清，每天都可以享受到的恩典。我們太習以為常，以至於對一些人的付出也視為應該的事...
讓我受到恩典的雖然都是親人，但是事實上他們沒有責任要做這件事，特別是他們都是付上很大的代價，而我單單只能接受。就像接受耶穌為我死讓我得生命的恩典，我無力償還，從親人而來的恩典，我也無力償還。不是我無法償還金錢，而是無法償還這背後所包含的一切。讓我最大的學習是，「凡事謝恩」、以及學習如何「接受恩典」。
- 陳安祺
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Jesus does not give recipes that show the way to God as other teachers of religion do. He is himself the way.
不同於其他宗教大師,在指出到達神的道路. 耶穌本身就是道路,
Joy is the simplest form of gratitude. 喜樂是表達感恩最簡單的形式.
Conscience is the perfect interpreter of life.
良心是對生命最具體完美的詮釋.
Faith in God's revelation has nothing to do with an ideology which glorifies the status quo.
在上帝啟示中得到的信仰, 不同於自我炫燿的意識形態.
Faith is never identical with piety. 信仰與虔誠是不相同的.
Grace must find expression in life, otherwise it is not grace.
生活中不能顯示出來的恩典, 不能視為恩典.
In the Church of Jesus Christ there can and should be no non-theologians.
在耶穌基督的教會中, 每個人都應該是神學家.
It is always the case that when the Christian looks back, he is looking at the forgiveness of sins.
當基督徒回首過往, 他所數算的, 是諸罪得赦免的恩典.
It may be that when the angels go about their task praising God, they play only Bach. I am sure, however, that when they are together as family they play Mozart.
當天使們讚美上帝時, 他們會選奏巴哈的樂曲; 但我相信, 當他們自家人在一起時, 他們演奏的是莫札特.
- Karl Barth (1886-1968) Swiss Reformed theologian
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Just as a candle cannot burn without fire, men cannot live without a spiritual life. 沒有火, 蠟燭不能燃燒; 沒有靈性, 人不能生息.
- Buddha 563 BC - 483 BC
Hope is a waking dream 懷抱希望是實踐夢想的第一步.
- Aristotle 384 BC – 322 BC
Miracles happen, not in opposition to nature, but in opposition to what we know of nature. 奇蹟不是反自然的現象, 倒是我們對大自然現象的無知. - Saint Augustine 354 - 430
Some people are always grumbling that roses have thorns. I am thankful that thorns have roses. 有些人總是抱怨玫瑰有刺. 我很感激,刺旁邊有玫瑰.
- Alphonse Karr 1808 – 1890
Determine that the thing can and shall be done, and then find a way. 首先決定能夠做,且必須做的事物, 然後再找方法去做.
- Abraham Lincoln 1809 – 1865
The man who does not read good books has no advantage over the man who cannot read them. 不讀好書的人, 就像文盲一樣可惜.
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Mark Twain 1835 -1910
Spiritual relationship is far more precious than physical. Physical relationship divorced from spiritual is body without soul. 靈命操練的重要性遠超過身體. 沒有靈魂的身體僅是一個骨肉空架.
- Mohandas Gandhi 1869 – 1948
One truth stands firm. All that happens in world history rests on something spiritual. If the spiritual is strong, it creates world history. If it is weak, it suffers world history. 真理立場明確. 世界歷史的關鍵取決於人的靈性. 靈性高, 創造歷史. 靈性軟弱, 傷害歷史.
- Albert Schweitzer 1875 – 1965
A life is either all spiritual or not spiritual at all. No man can serve two masters. Your life is shaped by the end you live for. You are made in the image of what you desire. 生命之別, 基於靈性. 人不能事奉二師. 你的一生取決於你生命所定的目標.
- Thomas Merton 1915-1968
Man has two great spiritual needs. One is for forgiveness. The other is for goodness. 屬靈有兩件要素: 寬恕和善行.
- Billy Graham 1918 -
The fact that I can plant a seed and it becomes a flower, share a bit of knowledge and it becomes another's, smile at someone and receive a smile in return, are to me continual spiritual exercises. 我撒種, 見它成長開花. 我與人共享知識和笑容, 獲得充分的喜悅. 這些都是我靈命操練的經歷.
- Leo Buscaglia 1924 - 1998
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“A man knows when he has found his vocation when he stops thinking about how to live and begins to live.”
“If a man is to live, he must be all alive, body, soul, mind, heart, spirit.” from “Thoughts in Solitude”
“In order to find God in ourselves, we must stop looking at ourselves, stop checking and verifying ourselves in the mirror of our own futility, and be content to be in Him and to do whatever He wills, according to our limitations, judging our acts not in the light of our own illusions, but in the light of His reality which is all around us in the things and people we live with.” from “No Man is an Island”
Thomas Merton (1915 – 1968)
Merton was also known as Father Louis; A poet, a monk and a world renown spiritual writer. He had studied at Cambridge University in England (1933) and Columbia University in the United States (1935). Merton was a keen proponent of interfaith understanding. He pioneered dialogue with prominent Asian spiritual figures, including Dalai Lama, Japanese writer D. T. Suzuki, and Vietnamese monk Thich Nhat Hanh.
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Precious Lord, Take My Hand (親愛主, 牽我手) - Sung by Elvis Presley 貓王演唱
Precious Lord, take my hand
Lead me on, let me stand
I'm tired, I'm weak, I'm lone
Through the storm, through the night
Lead me on to the light
Take my hand, precious Lord, Lead me home
When my way grows drear
Precious Lord, linger near
When my light is almost gone
Hear my cry, hear my call
Hold my hand, lest I fall
Take my hand precious Lord, Lead me home
When the darkness appears
And the night draws near
And the day is past and gone
At the river, I stand
Guide my feet, hold my hand
Take my hand precious Lord, Lead me home
Precious Lord, take my hand
Lead me on, let me stand
I'm tired, I'm weak, I'm lone
Through the storm, through the night
Lead me on to the light
Take my hand precious Lord, Lead me home
Music: George N. Allen (1812-1877)
Lyrics: Thomas A. Dorsey (1899-1993)
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Believing
Prepositions can be very eloquent. A man is “in” architecture or a woman is “in” teaching, we say, meaning that is what they do weekdays and how they make enough money to enjoy themselves the rest of the time. But if we say they are “into” these things, that is another story. “Into” means something more like total immersion. They live and breathe what they do. They take it home with them nights. They can’t get enough of it. To be “into” books means that just the sight of a signed first edition of Alice in Wonderland sets your heart pounding. To be “in” books means selling them at B. Dalton’s.
Along similar lines, New Testament Greek speaks of believing “into” rather than believing “in”. In English we can perhaps convey the distinction best by using either “in” or no preposition at all.
Believing in God is an intellectual position. It need have no more effect on your life than believing in Freud’s method of interpreting dreams or the theory that Sir Francis Bacon wrote Romeo and Juliet.
Believing God is something else again. It is less a position than a journey, less a realization than a relationship. It doesn’t leave you cold like believing the world is round. It stirs your blood like believing the world is a miracle. It affects who are and what you do with your life like believing your house is on fire or somebody loves you.
We believe in God when for one reason or another we choose to do so. We believe God when somehow we run into God in a way that by and large leaves us no choice to do otherwise.
When Jesus says that whoever believes “into” him shall never die, he does not mean that to be willing to sign your name to the Nicene Creed guarantees eternal life. Eternal life is not the result of believing in. It is the experience of believing.
- Frederick Buechner “Whistling in the Dark: An ABC Theologized”, 1988
信仰 (摘譯)
英語介系詞的貼切使用,可以詞達意盡. 建築師和教師乃是人們選擇(in)的職業. 如果他們投(浸)入(into)某種興趣或愛好, 那將會是他們日夜擁抱, 呼吸的心態和生命. 猶如愛書的人看見一本難得的珍書, 心跳加速, 衝擊, 快樂無比!
新約希臘文所談的信仰, 不僅是選擇(in)的相信理念, 更是一種生命投入(into) 的信仰,信靠. 相信上帝也許只是一種知性的理念, 諸如相信弗洛伊德的釋夢理論, 未必導致生死大事. 信仰, 信靠上帝大大不同. 這可說是一個旅歷和關係. 就像有一天, 你發現有人真誠愛你, 那將會改變, 影響你的一生.
[相信地球是圓的] 是一種理性的思維.
[相信世界是一個奇蹟] 卻會激得你熱血沸騰.
相信上帝的理念可視為我們的選擇.
信(仰)靠上帝, 猶如我們與上帝面對面, 別無選擇.
當耶穌說,信(仰)靠他的人將永遠不死, 並不意味著耶穌將給予這人一張永生的證書.
永生不是相信的 ”結果”, 乃是信(仰)靠主的身受與經驗.
-- 畢克納 牧師 (神學教授, 作家)
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“I believe in Christianity as I believe that the sun has risen: not only because I see it, but because by it I see everything else.”
“Christianity, if false, is of no importance, and if true, of infinite importance.
The only thing it cannot be is moderately important.”
- C S Lewis 1898-1963
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“Christianity is one beggar telling another beggar where he found bread.”
“Authentic Christianity never destroys what is good. It makes it grow, transfigures it, and enriches itself from it.”
- D T Niles 1908-1970
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“Christianity does not remove you from the world and its problems; it makes you fit to live in it, triumphantly and usefully.”
- Charles Templeton 1915-2001
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"Dear God,
I am so afraid to open my clenched fists!
Who will I be when I have nothing left to hold on to?
Who will I be when I stand before you with empty hands?
Please help me to gradually open my hands
and to discover that I am not what I own,
but what you want to give me.
And what you want to give me is love,
unconditional, everlasting love.
Amen."
- Henri Nouwen 1932-1996
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"How can I be a great man - like you?"
"Why be a great man?" said the Master,
"Being a man is a great enough achievement."
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The Master's expansive mood emboldened his disciples to say,
"Tell us what you got from enlightenment. Did you become divine?"
"No."
"Did you become a saint?"
"No."
"Then what did you become?"
"Awake."
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It intrigued the disciples that the master who lived so simply would not condemn his wealthy followers.
"It is rare but not impossible for someone to be rich and holy," he said one day.
"How?"
"When money has the effect on his heart that the shadow of that bamboo has on the courtyard,"
The disciples turned to watch the bamboo's shadow sweep the courtyard without stirring a single particle of dust.
- Anthony de Mello, “One Minute Wisdom” 1985
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Every new born baby brings us a message that God still has not yet given up on humankind.
- Rabindranath Targore (泰戈爾) India - 1913 Nobel Prize winner for Literature
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The World Communion Sunday Special - Oct 2, 2011
And who, under the same circumstances, am I? Or what shall I prove to be?
It’s not as if I haven’t been warned. Jesus has spoken at least 3 times of his suffering and death – and fully as many times he’s declared that if I intend to come after him I must deny my self and take my cross and follow him.
“For those,” he said, “who would save their lives will lose them, and those who lose their lives for my sake and the gospel’s will save them.”
Who can forget such words? “Go, sell what you have, and come, follow me.”
Those words. And these: ”The cup that I drink – you will drink.”
The cup.
And I, with all his disciples, heard and agreed. “Yes,” we said, “we are able to drink that cup.” And I meant it! No, I was not lying. I would do anything for Jesus.
But that was during the period of words and learning, a sort of prelude, I suppose. Sunday school, confirmation, sermons, study, preparation. A time of pieties and promises.
Well – here comes the cup!
Here’s the real world, and the world’s at war! And my deeds are my words now, and the deeds don’t lie. Matthew 20:20-23
- Walter Wangerin, Jr, “Measuring the Days” 1993
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Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden.
And I will give you rest.
Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me.
For I am gentle and lowly in heart,
And you will find rest for your souls.
For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.
- Jesus, Nazareth
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