神学中最难解的问题可能就是这个。 Perhaps the most difficult problem in theology is this.
神为什么允许邪恶存在？ Why does God allow evil?
如果神是全善、全知、全能的，为什么这个世界充满了痛苦和损失？ If God is all good, all-knowing, and all-powerful, why is the world so marked by pain and loss?
这些并非抽象的问题。 These are not abstract questions.
它们直指我们经历的核心。 They go right to the heart of our experience.
基督教提供的最终答案是耶稣的十字架，这是神亲自进入苦难，从内部改变邪恶。 The ultimate answer offered by Christianity is the cross of Jesus, which is God's entry into suffering itself, His transfiguration of evil from within.
所以我们已经看到了我们使用神这个词时的含义。 So we've seen what we mean when we use the word God.
我们看到了一些通向神的理性路径。 We've seen certain rational paths that lead toward God.
然后我们看了一些神的属性，即称呼神的方式。 We then looked at certain divine attributes, ways of naming God.
我们看到了反把握和反隐藏的名称之间的张力。 We saw the tension between the anti-grasping and the anti-hiding names.
现在我们转向我认为是神学中最难的问题，那就是神如何与世界产生关系？ Now we turn to what I think is the single most difficult question in theology, which is how does God relate to the world?
在这里我们讨论的是神的护理问题，特别是邪恶的问题。 And here we're talking about issues of divine providence, especially the problem of evil.
这就是事情变得非常复杂的地方。 This is where things get very complicated.
我认为，公平地说，无神论者最有力的论点就在于邪恶的问题。 And I think, to be fair, where the atheists have their strongest case is in regard to the problem of evil.
我想谨慎地探讨这些问题，因为我意识到它们是多么核心和重要。 I want to get at these questions with some care, realizing how central and significant they are.
我的出发点将是托马斯·阿奎那《神学大全》第一部分的第22问。 My point of departure is going to be question 22 in the first part of the Summa Theologiae of Thomas Aquinas.
我认为这是伟大传统中关于护理最好的分析之一。 I think one of the best analyses of providence in the great tradition.
托马斯首先问，护理是否适合神？ Thomas first asks, is providence fitting to God?
护理是神所做的事吗？ Is providence something that God does?
他回顾了传统的历史，看到了对此不同的回应。 Well, he looks at the history of the tradition, and he sees different responses to this.
哲学传统中有些人说，没有护理。 Some people in the philosophical tradition have said, there is no providence.
我的意思是，事情只是愚蠢地偶然发生。 I mean, things just happen dumbly by chance.
想想今天的混沌理论就接近这种观点。 Think of chaos theory today would be close to that.
事情就是愚蠢地发生了。 Things just dumbly happen.
有些人说，不，神是有护理的，但只是在他创造的一些重要领域。 Some say, well, no, God is providential, but just over kind of high important areas of his creation.
他不会深入具体细节。 He doesn't descend into particulars.
我想到了，我要暴露年龄了，但多年前我还是个孩子时 看每周比赛，还有乔·加吉奥拉，记得这个名字吗？ I think here of, I'll date myself, but years ago when I was a kid watching the game of the week, and Joe Gargiola, remember that name?
棒球解说员？ Baseball announcer?
一个球员走到打击板，在进入击球区之前画了个十字。 And a player got to the plate, and he crossed himself before he got in the batter's box.
乔·加吉奥拉说，得了吧，让神享受比赛吧。 And Joe Gargiola said, oh, come on, let God enjoy the game.
但他的观点是神不会深入这样的细节。 But his point was that God wouldn't descend into particulars like that.
我的意思是，也许神对重要领域有护理，但不涉及细节。 I mean, maybe God is providential over high important areas, but not particulars.
好，这是托马斯·阿奎那非常有趣的回答。 Well, here's Thomas Aquinas' very interesting answer.
他说，看，创造中一切美善都来自神。 He says, look, whatever is good in creation comes from God.
所以受造物的存在是美好的，受造物的活动是美 好的，但事物朝向其目的的秩序也是美好的。 So the being of creatures is good, the activity of creatures is good, but also the ordering of things to their end is good.
所以受造物不只是愚蠢地存在，而是一切都在朝着某个目的移动。 So creatures don't just dumbly exist, but everything is moving towards some purpose.
这种预先存在于神心中的想法就是我们所称的护理。 The idea of that pre-existing in the mind of God is what we call providence.
神知道事物应该如何被引导到它们的终点。 That God knows how things should be directed to their end.
他心中有这个想法，并将其置于受造物之中。 He has that in mind and places that within creatures.
因此，护理是适合神的。 And so providence is fitting to God.
现在，还有更多。 Now, more to it.
神不仅仅是个天上的总裁。你知道，一个只关心重要事务但不关心细节的总裁。 God is not just a celestial CEO. You know, a CEO that just worries about the high important matters but doesn't worry about particulars.
不，阿奎那说，神的护理延伸到细节。 No, Aquinas says, God's providence extends to particulars.
为什么？ Why?
因为神的因果关系的方式。 Because of the manner of God's causality.
想一想。 Think for a second.
再想一想。 Think for a second.
现在，我的因果影响是真实的，但非常有限。 Now, my causal influence is real right now, but very limited.
我的意思是我正在对你们所有人产生因果影响。 What I mean is I'm having a causal influence on all of you.
我在某种程度上强迫你们至少几个小时思考关于神的事。 I'm kind of compelling you for at least a few hours to think about the things of God.
几个小时后，我们都会各自离开，那时我对你们就没有任何因果影响了。 Now, in a few hours, we're all going to go our separate ways, and I'll have zero causal impact on you at that point.
我不会以任何方式影响你们的存在。 I don't affect your being in any way.
我只是在非常有限的程度上影响你们几个小时的注意力。 I'm affecting in a very limited manner your attention span for a few hours.
好的，这是因为我是一个非常有限的存在。 Okay, that's because I'm a very finite thing.
现在，考虑神。 Now, consider God.
神是存在本身，纯粹的存在行为，万物通过他而存在并维持存在。 God who is ipsum esse, the sheer act of to be itself, in and through which all things come to be and are maintained in being.
神的因果效力延伸到一切。 God's causal efficacy extends to everything.
托马斯在这里引用了智慧书。 Thomas cites the book of Wisdom here.
神的智慧甜美地安排一切，有力地从一端延伸到另一端。 God's wisdom orders all things sweetly and stretches from end to end mightily.
顺便说一句，神从一端延伸到另一端，甜美地安排一切，这是多么可爱啊。 It's lovely, by the way, that God's stretching from end to end, ordering all things sweetly, mind you.
不是侵入性地，不是打断性地，而是甜美地安排一切。 Not invasively, not interruptively, but sweetly ordering all things.
因此，神的护理存在，并延伸到细节。 And so God's providence exists, and it extends to particulars.
顺便说一下，每当我主持退修会时，我通常以那句话开始。 Whenever I give a retreat, by the way, I usually begin with that line.
我会说，你知道，我们此刻聚集在这个房间里的事实就是神护理的一部分。 And I'll say, you know, the fact that we're gathered right now in this room is part of God's providence.
哦，神不关心我们。 Oh, God doesn't care about us.
我是说，他在担心那些重要的事情。 I mean, he's worrying about high important things.
不，不。 No, no.
此刻，我们在这个房间里的所有人，都是神护理计划和行动中的一部分。 Right now, all of us in this room, we're ingredient in God's providential plan and action.
这就是阿奎那的观点。 That's Aquinas' point.
阿奎那用一个喜欢的比喻说，神就像一个艺术家。 Using a favorite trope, Aquinas says that God is like an artist.
这在这里真的很有帮助。 It's really helpful here.
比如，想想制作这些窗户的艺术家。 Think, for example, of the artist who made these windows.
他是一位来自密尔沃基的出色人物，他设计了这里的每一扇窗户。 He's a wonderful fellow from Milwaukee, and he designed every one of these windows.
看看所有的细节。 Look at all the detail.
人物和象征中的所有细节，色彩，设计，一切。 All the detail in the figures and the symbolism, the coloration, the design, everything.
嗯，他参与了所有这些。 Well, he was involved in all of it.
他计划了整个事情。 He planned the whole thing.
这些窗户的每个方面，即使是最微小的细节，他都关心。 There's no aspect of any of these windows, even the little tiny details, that he wasn't concerned with.
或者想想狄更斯的小说，你知道，庞大复杂，有数百个角色。 Or think of a Dickens novel, you know, sprawling and complex and with hundreds of characters.
但狄更斯直接亲自参与了那个故事每个方面的写作。 But yet Dickens was directly and personally involved in the writing of every aspect of that story.
所以，阿奎那说，神是一位艺术家。 So, Aquinas says, God is an artist.
他的画布是什么？ What's his canvas?
所有的空间和所有的时间。 All of space and all of time.
神对其中的任何方面都无动于衷吗？ Is God indifferent to any aspect of it?
不。但像一个艺术家一样，仔细设计和创造他所造的每一个细节。 No. But like an artist, carefully designing and creating every detail of what he's made.
这就是神护理的方式。 That's the modality of God's providence.
好的，一旦我们看到这一点，自然会出现反对意见， 托马斯特别考虑了两个我认为非常重要的反对意见。 Okay, so once we see that, objections naturally arise, and Thomas entertains two in particular that I think are very important.
首先，人们说，看，如果一切都受神的护理支配，每个细节 都是，你如何开始解释运气或偶然，或事情只是意外发生？ First of all, people say, look, if everything is subject to God's providence, every particular, how do you begin to explain things like luck or chance, or things just happening by accident?
这就是球弹跳的方式。 That's the way the ball bounces.
哦，不，一切都是神决定的。 Oh, no, everything's been determined by God.
那运气和偶然呢？ What about luck and chance?
好，这里是托马斯做出的一个非常重要的区分，很多东西都取决于此。 Well, here's a very important distinction Thomas makes, and a lot will hinge on it.
他说，就特定原因而言，我们可以也应该谈论意外、运气或偶然。 He says, in regard to particular causes, we can and should talk about accident, luck, or chance.
比如说，我们计划生篝火，但运气不好，下雨了， 雨水影响了木柴，我们不能生篝火了，真倒霉。 Let's say, for example, we're planning a bonfire, but bad luck, it rained, and so the rain interferes with the wood, we can't have the bonfire, bad luck.
托马斯说，只有通过另一个竞争原因的干预，一个原因的效力才会受到影响。 Thomas says, only by the intervention of another competing cause can one cause's efficacy be affected.
因此，我们可以也应该在有关条件事物的普通联系方面谈论运气和偶然。 And so we can and should talk about luck and happenstance in regard to the ordinary nexus of conditioned things.
然而，当涉及到终极原因，即宇宙存在本身的原因时，我们现在谈论的是神，我们就不 应该谈论运气、偶然或巧合，而应该将所有事物视为那终极原因的护理中的组成部分。 However, when invoking the ultimate cause, the cause of the to-be-itself of the universe, we're talking about God now, now we shouldn't talk about luck and chance or happenstance, but we should see all things as ingredients in the providence of that ultimate cause.
好的，我知道这很抽象。 Okay, I know it's very abstract.
让我试着用一个例子来具体说明。 Let me try to make it concrete with an example.
今天是个美好的日子，对吧？ It's a beautiful day today, right?
现在，在座的芝加哥人，你们知道汤姆·斯基林吧？ Now, Chicagoans here, you know Tom Skilling, don't you?
为了那些以后会观看的人，汤姆·斯基林是第9频道WGN的一位 出色的天气预报员。我总是把汤姆·斯基林看作是一个天气僧侣。 For the sake of those who'll be watching later, Tom Skilling is a wonderful weatherman on Channel 9, WGN. And I always think of Tom Skilling as like a weather monk.
你知道，他把一生都献给了天气，他热爱天气。 You know, he's just dedicated his whole life to the weather, and he loves the weather.
你知道，这太明显了。 You know, it's just so obvious.
我有幸在WGN遇到过他几次，他是个非常可爱的人，似乎热爱他所做的事，热爱天气。 I've had the privilege of meeting him a couple of times when I've been down at WGN, and he's just a very sweet guy and seems to love what he does, loves the weather.
好的，汤姆给出的是你能想要的最详尽的天气报告。 Okay, Tom gives the most thorough weather report you'll ever want.
所以，他今晚会出现解释为什么今天是个美好的日子。 So, he'll come on tonight to explain why it's a beautiful day today.
他可能会说到来自加拿大的高压气团。 And he'll speak of probably a dome of high pressure coming from Canada.
他可能会说到从墨西哥湾上来的某些东西。 He'll probably speak of something coming up from the Gulf of Mexico.
他会谈到急流。 He'll talk about the jet stream.
你知道，他会讲述所有造成这一天的原因。 You know, he'll go through all the causes that produce this day.
但我能站在汤姆·斯基林旁边说，我也想感谢神赐予这美好的一天吗？ But could I stand next to Tom Skilling and say, I also want to thank God for this beautiful day?
嗯，答案是可以。 Well, the answer to that is yes.
但现在注意，汤姆有一个区别。 But notice now, Tom has a distinction.
汤姆·斯基林不会说什么？ What wouldn't Tom Skilling say?
他不会出来说，嗯，今天天气很好是因为来自加拿大的高压，因为神，还因为急流。 He wouldn't come on and say, well, it's beautiful today because of the high pressure from Canada, because of God, and because of the jet stream.
看，我的意思是他不会正确地将神包括在条件原因网络中的一个竞争原因。 See, what I'm saying is he wouldn't include God correctly as one of the competing causes in the nexus of conditioned causes.
他会列举所有的条件原因。 He'd name all the conditioned causes.
神是被召唤的。 God is invoked.
现在想想那整个条件原因的集合。 Think now of that whole collection of conditioned causes.
现在，在那周围画一个大三角形，象征神的影响。 Now, put a great big triangle around that, symbolizing God's influence.
神对整个事情负责。 God is responsible for the whole shebang.
他负责地球的存在，负责急流的存在，负责这一切条件范围的存在。 He's responsible for the fact that there is a planet Earth, the fact that there is a jet stream at all, the fact that there is this range of conditions at all.
你如何制作樱桃派？ How do you make a cherry pie?
嗯，樱桃和黄油，我猜，或者其他什么，还有烤箱的热度，面包师的技巧。 Well, cherries and butter, I guess, or whatever, and the heat of the oven, the skill of the baker.
你现在明白我不是厨师了。 You're understanding now I'm not a cook.
但你会列出制作樱桃派所需的各种元素。 But you'd list the various elements that go into making a cherry pie.
你永远不会说，嗯，樱桃、烤箱的热度、神、面包师的技巧，对吧？ You'd never say, well, cherries, the heat of the oven, God, the skill of the baker, right?
但神是那些条件原因集合存在可能性的条件。 But God is the condition for the possibility of that collection of conditioned causes.
所以，再次，大家在这里看到了什么？ And so, again, what do you see here, everybody?
你看到了神的非竞争性因果关系。 You see the non-competitive causality of God.
神可以参与事物的整体，但以非竞争的方式。 That God can be involved in the totality of things, but in a non-competitive way.
所以我们可以说，是的，有这些特定的原因在起作用，但神是总体的或普遍的原因。 So that we can say, yes, there are these particular causes that contribute, but God is the overarching or universal cause.
这就是为什么若望保禄二世说，对于有信仰的人来说，没有巧合。 That's why John Paul II says, for people of faith, there are no coincidences.
这是一件非常有趣的事。 It's a very interesting thing.
对于理解神参与的有信仰的人来说，没有真正的巧合。 For people of faith who understand God's involvement, there are no real coincidences.
托马斯·阿奎那用山顶上的国王的形象，他命令一个仆 人往这边走，另一个仆人往那边走，执行不同的任务。 Thomas Aquinas uses the image of a king on the top of a hill, and he orders one servant to go this way, the other servant to go that way on separate missions.
他的最终目的是让仆人们可能相遇。 His ultimate purpose is the servants might meet.
但就仆人们所知，他们都有特定的任务。 But as far as the servants know, they both have particular missions.
他们不知道他们会在山脚下相遇。 They have no idea they'll meet each other, on the bottom of the hill.
他们说，多么美妙的惊喜。 And they say, what a wonderful surprise.
我们相遇真是个快乐的意外。 What a happy accident that we meet.
从他们的角度来看，这确实是真的。 And indeed, that would be true from their perspective.
然而国王一直知道他的目的是让他们可能相遇。 Yet the king always knew his purpose was they might meet.
这就是他举的例子，说明这件事是如何展开的。 That's his example of how this thing plays itself out.
这就是他对反对意见的回应。 And that's his response to the objection.
当我提到若望保禄，我的一个英雄时，我想到了我的另一个英雄，鲍勃·迪伦。 When I mention John Paul, one of my heroes, I think of another hero of mine, Bob Dylan.
鲍勃·迪伦有这样一句话，我们悬挂在一个完美完成的计 划的平衡中，就像每一只坠落的麻雀，就像每一粒沙子。 And Bob Dylan has this line, we're hanging in the balance of a perfect finished plan, like every sparrow fallen, like every grain of sand.
这正是若望保禄的观点。 It's exactly John Paul's point.
这正是托马斯·阿奎那的观点。 It's exactly Thomas Aquinas' point.
我们所有人都悬挂在一个完美完成的计划的平衡 中，就像每一只坠落的麻雀，就像每一粒沙子。 We're hanging in the balance, all of us, of a perfect finished plan, like every sparrow fallen, like every grain of sand.
这是一个对神的护理有感知的人。 That's someone with a sense of divine providence.
现在，对这种观点的第二个反对意见，即神对万物都有护理，把我们带到了神 学中最困难问题的核心，也如我所说，带到了对信仰神最有力的反对意见。 Now, the second objection to this view, that God is providential over all things, brings us to the heart of the most difficult question in all of theology, and as I suggested, to the most powerful objection to belief in God.
这就是这个反对意见的表述方式。 Here's the way the objection is framed.
一个明智的供应者会尽可能地排除他工作中的任何缺陷。 A wise provider excludes any defect from his work as much as he can.
我是芒德莱恩神学院的院长。 I'm the rector of Mundelein Seminary.
我的工作是尽可能地排除芒德莱恩神学院的缺陷。 My job is to exclude as many defects as I can from Mundelein Seminary.
如果我允许很多缺陷存在，我就是个糟糕的院长。 If I allow a lot of defects, I'm a bad rector.
但是，在创造的领域里存在许多缺陷。 But, there are many defects in the realm of creation.
因此，要么神无法阻止这些缺陷，但这似乎与他的 全能相矛盾，要么神并没有直接照顾他的创造。 Thus, either God's not able to hinder these, but that seems to fly in the face of his omnipotence, or God does not have immediate care over his creation.
顺便说一下，这是一个很好的论点。 It's a good argument, by the way.
这是一个非常好的反对意见。 It's a very good objection.
你知道在19世纪，英国哲学家约翰·斯图尔特·密尔写了一篇墓志铭。 You know how, in the 19th century, John Stuart Mill, the English philosopher, wrote an epithely.
密尔说，如果邪恶存在，而它确实存在，那么神就不可能同时是全知、全能和全善的。 Mill said, if evil exists, and it surely does, then God cannot be simultaneously omniscient, omnipotent, and omnibenevolent.
如果邪恶存在，而神具备这三个特质，那就说不通了。 If evil exists, and God is all three of those things, it doesn't make any sense.
如果他是全知的，他就会知道。 If he's omniscient, he'd know about it.
全能的，他就能做些什么。 Omnipotent, he could do something about it.
全善的，他就会想做些什么，对吧？ Omnibenevolent, he'd want to do something about it, right?
所以，如果这三个特质都存在，怎么可能还有邪恶？ So, if all three of those things obtain, how could there be evil?
因此，如果存在邪恶，就没有神。 Therefore, if there is evil, there's no God.
再说一遍，这是个该死的好论点。 Again, darn good argument.
我承认无神论者的观点，这是反对神存在的最好论点，就是邪恶的问题，苦难的问题。 And I'll give the atheists, it's the best argument against God there is, is the problem of evil, the problem of suffering.
托马斯·阿奎那对此怎么说？ What does Thomas Aquinas say to this?
这里，来自奥古斯丁的观点，是我们传统的经典回应，神是如此智慧、 良善和强大，以至于他允许某些邪恶存在，以带来否则不会存在的善。 And here, it's from Augustine, it's a classical response of our tradition, that God is so wise, good, and powerful that he permits certain evils to bring about goods that would not exist otherwise.
神是如此强大、良善和智慧，以至于他允许某些邪恶存在，以带出否则不会存在的善。 God is so powerful, good, and wise that he permits certain evil to bring out goods that would not otherwise exist.
现在，举个例子。 Now, example.
好吧，也许首先要澄清一下神允许邪恶存在的问题。 Well, maybe first a clarification about God's permission of evil.
这是一个非常重要的转折。 It's a very important move.
神不造成邪恶或创造邪恶。 God doesn't cause evil or create evil.
为什么不？ Why not?
因为邪恶不是一个实体。 Because evil isn't a thing.
奥古斯丁看到了这一点。 Augustine saw this.
邪恶是善的缺失，是对善的剥夺。 Evil is a privatio boni, a privation of the good.
它是本应存在的善的缺失或不在场。 It's a lack or an absence of a good that ought to be there.
想想牙齿中的蛀洞。 Think of a cavity in a tooth.
想想眼睛的失明，对吧？ Think of blindness in an eye, right?
它是本应存在的善的缺失。 It's the lack of a good that ought to be there.
因此，谈论某人创造邪恶好像它是一个实体总是不正确的。 And therefore, it's always incorrect to talk about someone creating evil as though it's a thing.
或者将邪恶视为与善对抗的力量。 Or seeing evil as a force opposing the good.
不，它总是寄生于善。 No, it's always parasitic upon the good.
它是善的缺陷。 It's a defect of the good.
这就是为什么我们谈论神允许它存在，而不是创造它。 That's why we talk about God's permission of it, not creation of it.
好的，但这仍然回避了问题。 Okay, but that still begs the question.
为什么神会允许这样的事情？ Why would God permit such a thing?
为什么神会允许他的创造中存在这样的缺陷？ Why would God permit such a defect in his creation?
为了带来否则不会存在的善。 To bring about goods that would not otherwise exist.
现在，让我给你举几个阿奎那的例子，然后我会给出一些我自己的例子。 Now, let me give you a couple examples from Aquinas, then I'll give some of my own.
托马斯谈到，我实际上之前提到过，狮子和羚羊。 Thomas talks about, I mentioned them earlier actually, the lion and the antelope.
现在想象，一只饥饿的狮子已经好几天没吃东西了。 Imagine now, a hungry lion hasn't eaten for days.
突然看到一只羚羊。 Suddenly sees an antelope.
如果他有像我们一样的思维，他会说什么？ What would he say if he had a mind like ours?
他会说，感谢神给我送来这只羚羊。 He'd say, thank God for sending me this antelope.
对吧？ Right?
现在你是那只羚羊。 Now you're the antelope.
你一直在四处游荡，突然有一只饥饿的狮子在看着你。 And you've been wandering around and suddenly there's this hungry lion looking at you.
如果羚羊有像我们一样的思维，它会说什么？ If the antelope had a mind like ours, what would he say?
为什么，哦神啊，你允许这种事发生？ Why, oh God, have you allowed this to happen?
你看，阿奎那的观点是在一个有限的冲突世界中，某些善不能脱离某些恶而存在。 You see, Aquinas' point is in a finite conflictual world, certain goods cannot exist apart from certain evils.
如果你愿意的话，这也表明了关于邪恶的某种相对性。 It's also signaling, if you want, a certain relativity in regard to evil.
我绝不是要贬低邪恶或说它不重要，而是要注意到善恶的 某种相对性，这取决于视角，是狮子还是羚羊的视角。 I don't mean in any way to denigrate evil or say it's not important, but to notice a certain relativity of good and evil depending on the perspective, the lions or the antelopes.
这是阿奎那的另一个例子，我知道这有点令人不安，但思考起来很有趣。 Here's another one from Aquinas, which I know is a bit troubling, but it's interesting to think about.
他说，没有暴君的残酷，就没有殉道者的美德。 He says, without the cruelty of the tyrant, there would be no virtue of the martyr.
想想我们正当地敬佩的殉道者。 Think of a martyr whom we admire legitimately.
想想这些窗户上的他们，那边的马克西姆·科尔伯 特，或者埃迪特·斯坦因，他们都死在奥斯维辛。 Think of him in these windows, Maxine Colbert over there, or Edith Stein, both of whom died at Auschwitz.
我知道，我不想让这听起来轻率，它可能听起来很轻率，但没有希特勒 ，就没有埃迪特·斯坦因，没有希特勒，就没有马克西姆·科尔伯特。 Now I know, I don't want this to sound glib, and it can sound glib, but no Hitler, no Edith Stein, no Hitler, no Maxine Colbert.
如果不是因为一个公认的大恶，那种特殊形式的善就不会存在。 That particular form of the good would not have existed were it not for, admittedly, a great evil.
这能解释希特勒，为希特勒辩护吗？ Does that explain Hitler, justify Hitler?
不，不，不。 No, no, no.
但也许这是神如何在允许某些邪恶中工作的一线光明。 But perhaps it's a ray of light of how God can work in allowing certain evils.
现在，我们有时能看到这一点吗？ Now, can we see this sometimes?
是的，我想是的。 Yeah, I think so.
有时我们能看到，你知道，如果那件坏事没有发生在我身上，我就永远不会，现在 填空，遇见他，遇见她，有这种经历，做这个或那个，意识到自己的这个或那个。 Sometimes we can see, you know, if that bad thing had not happened to me, I would never have, now fill in the blank, met him, met her, had this experience, done this or that, realized this or that about myself.
有时我们能看到这个原则在起作用，神允许苦难或邪恶存在，以带来否则不会存在的善。 Sometimes we can see this principle working, God permitting suffering or evil to bring about a good that wouldn't exist otherwise.
我们有时能看到它。 We can see it sometimes.
没有埃迪特·斯坦因和科尔伯特。 No Edith Stein and Colbert.
没有希特勒，就没有殉道者。 No Hitler, no martyr.
但是很多时候，大家，我们看不到它。 But very often, everybody, we can't see it.
即使我们承认这个原则的真实性，我们也看不到它是如何运作的。 Even as we acknowledge the truth of the principle, we can't see how it's working.
说到这里，我们转向伟大的约伯记。 And with that, we turn to the great book of Job.
我告诉我的学生，我希望牧者们能记住约伯记，因为它是旧约 中最伟大的挣扎，基本故事是约伯经历了每一种可能的苦难。 I tell my students here, I'd like pastoral people to memorize the book of Job because it's the greatest Old Testament wrestling and the basic story is that Job is visited with every possible suffering.
一下子，他失去了他的孩子、家庭、生计、事业、朋友、健康，一切。 In one fell swoop, he loses his children, his family, his livelihood, his business, his friends, his health, everything.
约伯的妻子，她做了一个伟大的单句客串出场，来 到现场说，你为什么不干脆咒诅神，死了算了？ Mrs. Job, who makes one of the great one-liner cameo appearances, comes upon the scene and says, why don't you just curse God and die?
她不会因为牧者的敏感度而赢得任何奖项。 She's not going to win any awards for pastoral sensitivity.
她的朋友们著名地来试图向他解释为什么这些事会发生在他身上，但他们无法说服他，约伯 驳回了他们，最后把神叫到被告席上，就像我们在面对巨大苦难时都会被诱惑做的那样。 Her friends famously come and try to explain to him why this has been happening to him and they get nowhere with him and Job dismisses them and finally calls God into the dock as we're all tempted to do in the face of great suffering.
这个问题今天在做什么，为什么，为什么，主啊，你为什么允许这样的事？ What this question is doing today, why, why, Lord, why would you permit this?
然后，我就读一点神著名的回答。 And then, I'll just read a little bit of God's famous answer.
顺便说一下，这是圣经中神最长的单独讲话。 By the way, the longest single speech by God in the Bible.
这是神在圣经中给出的最长的单独讲话。 The longest single speech that God gives in the Bible.
然后，主从风暴中对约伯说话。 Then the Lord addressed Job out of the storm.
一些译本用旋风。 Some translations have whirlwind.
看看科恩兄弟的电影《严肃的人》，它是如何以一场大旋风结束的。 Watch the Coen Brothers movie, The Serious Man, how it ends with a great whirlwind.
它是关于约伯记的。 It's about the Book of Job.
为什么神从旋风中说话？ Why is God speaking out of the whirlwind?
它就像沙尘暴，对吧，扬起你看不见的沙子，使人目盲。 It's like a sandstorm, right, which kicks up sands that you can't see, blinded.
你以为你明白了，但其实没有。神遮蔽了他的视线。 You think you've got it but you don't. God obscures his vision.
谁用无知的言语使神的旨意暗昧不明？ Who is this that obscures divine plans with words of ignorance?
你要如勇士束腰。 Gird up your loins now like a man.
我问你，你可以回答我。 I will question you and you tell me the answers.
然后神对约伯说，我立大地根基的时候，你在哪里呢？ And then God says to Job, where were you when I founded the earth?
你若有聪明，只管说吧。 Tell me you have such understanding.
谁定地的尺度？ Who determined its size?
你若晓得，只管说吧。 Surely you know.
是谁拉了准绳，安放了地的房角石？ Who stretched out the measuring line who laid the cornerstone?
你在世的日子，曾命定晨光，使清晨的日光知道本位吗？ Have you ever in your lifetime commanded the morning and shown the dawn its place?
然后神继续与约伯探讨这个物质宇宙的奥秘。 And then God goes on and on exploring with Job the mysteries of this physical universe.
它们是多么奇怪和难以解释。 How strange and inexplicable they are.
约伯对它们知之甚少。 How little Job knows about them.
现在的要点是什么？ What's the point now?
是为了解释掉这个问题吗？ To explain away the problem?
不是。而是要把约伯的苦难置于更广阔的时空整体背景中。 No. But to take Job's suffering and place it within an ever greater context of the totality of space and time.
记住，神的画布，神的小说是所有的空间和所有的时间。 Remember God's canvas, God's novel is all of space and all of time.
他在做什么？ What's he up to?
嗯，你必须掌握所有这些才能理解。 Well, you'd have to have a command of all of that to understand.
约伯看到的，我们看到的，是我们非常非常狭窄的时空范围。 What Job looks at, what we look at, is our very, very narrow range of space and time.
现在看这个，在神对约伯讲话的结尾部分。 Look at this now, toward the end of God's speech to Job.
我一直喜欢这个部分。 I've always loved this section.
他带约伯游览宇宙，展示它所有的奇妙和奥秘。 He's taking Job on a tour of the universe, all of its wonders and mysteries.
这是他的结论。 And here's how he concludes.
看哪，在你以外，我造了河马，它吃草如牛。 See, besides you, I made behemoth that feeds on grass like an ox.
现在，河马是谁？ Now, who's behemoth?
学者们有争议。 The scholars debate.
它可能是一条大鳄鱼或一只大河马。 It could be a great crocodile or a great hippopotamus.
它可能是一种动物。 It could be an animal.
约伯啊，我造它，如同造你一样。 I made him, Job, as I made you.
这很有趣，不是吗？ It's fascinating, isn't it?
我们倾向于纯粹从我们的角度看待我们的苦难。 We tend to look at our suffering purely from our perspective.
神看的是他创造的整体。 God looks at the totality of his creation.
我造河马如同造你一样。 I made behemoth as I made you.
看哪，它腰间的力量，肚腹的肌肉多么强壮。 Behold the strength in his loins, the vigor in the sinews of his belly.
它的尾巴好像香柏树。 He carries his tail like a cedar.
它大腿的筋像铁索。 The sinews of his thighs are like cables.
它的骨头好像铜管。 His bones like tubes of bronze.
它的骨架如铁棒。 His frame like iron rods.
我敢打赌，约伯，你从未想过这个生物，然而我造它如同造你一样。 I bet, Job, you've never even thought about this creature, and yet I made him as I made you.
它和你一样是我护理中的一部分。 He's ingredient in my providence as you are.
然后他继续描述第二种动物，可能是鲸鱼。 Then he goes on to describe a second animal, probably a whale.
你能用钩子钓上鲸鱼吗？能用绳子压住它的舌头吗？ Can you lead about Leviathan with a hook or curb his tongue with a bit?
你能用绳子穿它的鼻子吗？ Can you put a rope in his nose?
它岂会再三向你恳求，向你说柔和的话吗？ Will he then plead with you time after time and address you with tender words?
这就是那条大鲸鱼。 Here's this great whale.
约伯可能从未想过它。 Probably Job's never thought about him.
想想，此刻，一头鲸鱼正在太平洋中游弋。 Think of, right now, a whale making its way through the Pacific Ocean.
但它们也是神护理中的一部分。 But they're ingredient too in God's providence.
约伯啊，你认为鲸鱼会按你的意愿行事吗？ Do you think the whale's going to do what you want him to do, Job?
它岂肯与你立约，使你永远拥有它为奴仆吗？ Will he make an agreement with you that you may have him as a slave forever?
你能像玩鸟一样玩它吗？ Can you play with him as with a bird?
你看，神的讲话是在把约伯从某种自我专注中引出来，让他看到神创造的整体景象。 You see what God's speech is doing is he's teasing Job out of a certain self-preoccupation and opening him to a vision of the totality of God's creation.
无论发生在我们身上的是好是坏，都是一个更大更奇特故事的一部分。 Whatever is happening to us, good and evil, is part of a much bigger and stranger story.
好的，让我用两个图像来结束。 Okay, let me close with just two images.
这两个都来自我的牧养经历。 Both from my pastoral experience.
多年前，我常在周末在一个教区帮忙，在前排座位上，几乎每 周我都会看到这个家庭，她严重残疾，身体和精神都有障碍。 Years ago, I used to help out at a parish on the weekend and in the front pew, almost every week I was there, I'd see this family and she was profoundly handicapped, both physically and mentally.
她基本上被绑在椅子上，总是处于一种扭曲的姿势，看起来很 不舒服，她经常会变得焦躁不安，在弥撒期间会发出声音。 And she was basically strapped into her chair and she was always in kind of a contorted position, always looked very uncomfortable and she would often get restless and she'd vocalize during Mass.
所以我习惯了她的存在，也稍微了解了这个家庭。 So I became used to her presence and knew the family a little bit.
但你知道什么总是让我印象深刻，就是她有个兄弟，一个10或11岁的 小孩，当她挣扎和遇到困难时，他会和她说话，会擦掉她嘴角的唾液。 But you know what always struck me was there was a brother of hers, young kid, 10 or 11, as she would struggle and she'd have difficulty, he would talk to her, he would wipe the saliva coming from her mouth.
小孩子，你知道小孩子通常是多么自我专注，但 他不是，他以一种深深的同情心关心他的姐姐。 Little kid, you know how little kids are usually self-preoccupied, he wasn't, he was very involved with his sister in a deeply compassionate way.
现在我已经失去了与那个家庭的联系，我早就离 开了那个教区，我不知道他们后来怎么样了。 Now I've lost touch with that family, I moved away from that parish long ago, I have no idea what happened to them.
我经常思考一些事情。 I've often mused about something.
那个11岁的小孩，他现在可能已经二十多岁了。 That little kid, 11 years old, he's probably, that kid now is probably in his mid-20s.
他会把那种同情心传给他的孩子吗？ Is he going to pass that compassion on to his children?
谁又会把它传给他们的孩子？ Who will pass it on to their children?
而其中一个孩子将在教会最需要圣人的时候成为圣人。 And one of those children will become a saint when the church most needs a saint.
你看神是如何在所有的空间和时间中工作的。 You see how God is working across all of space and all of time.
我们看到的只是其中很小的一部分，我们说这没有任何意义，神可能在做什么？ We look at our little narrow bit of it and we say it doesn't make any sense what might God be about?
现在，这能解释这个小女孩的苦难吗？ Now does that explain this little girl's suffering?
当然不能。 Of course not.
这能为它辩护吗？ Does that justify it?
当然不能。 Of course not.
但它是否为神可能的工作方式提供了某种启示？ But does it shed a kind of light on the way God might work?
这是最后一个，也来自我的牧养经历。 Here's the last one also from my pastoral experience.
一个年轻的父亲来找我，大约30岁。他有一个三岁 的小儿子，儿子患了病，他们不得不给他做手术。 A young father came to me, a guy about 30. He had a young son who was three and the son had a disease, and they had to do surgery on him.
严重的手术。 Serious surgery.
他说，神父，让我心碎的是，我在手术后去了医院 ，看到我的儿子正承受着大手术后的所有痛苦。 And he said, Father, what broke my heart was I went to the hospital after the surgery and there was my son and he was in all the pain that you're in after major surgery.
我甚至无法开始向他解释为什么他要经历这些，因为他根本无法理解。 And I couldn't begin to explain to him why he was going through this because he just wouldn't understand it.
但他知道我参与其中。 But he knew somehow I was involved.
我是他慈爱的父亲，而他的眼神在对父亲说，为什么你允许这样的灾难发生在我身上。 Here I am his loving father and why are you allowing this calamity to happen to me is what his eyes were saying to his father.
父亲说，这让我心碎，因为即使在原则上我也无法开始解释手术是怎么回事以及所有那些。 And the father said, it broke my heart because even in principle I couldn't begin to explain what surgery is about and all of that.
我记得当他告诉我这个故事时，我想，这对神与我们所有人的关系来说是多么美好的比喻。 I remember as he told me that story I thought, what a wonderful metaphor for God vis-a-vis all of us.
父亲无法解释，因为他自己的思维和儿子的思维之间存在巨大差异。 The father couldn't explain because of the huge difference between his own mind and the mind of his son.
现在，想想存在本身的心智，神自己的心智，它掌管所有的空间和时间。 Now, now, think about the mind of Ipsum Ese, the mind of God himself that commands all of space and all of time.
有没有可能神的心也会碎，因为他无法开始向我们准确解释为什么我们要经历这些苦难？ Is it possible that the heart of God breaks because he can't begin to explain to us precisely why we go through the suffering we go through?
因为它毫无意义吗？ Because it's meaningless?
不，不，不。 No, no, no.
从我们的角度来看，也许我们无法理解，而神无法向我们传达这一点，这让神心碎。 From our perspective perhaps we can't take it in and that it breaks God's heart that he can't communicate this to us.
这就是为什么，这超越了约伯记，存在本身做了什么？ Is that why, this goes beyond the book of Job, what does Ipsum Ese do?
神做了什么，不就是成为我们中的一员，精确地进入我们的苦难吗？ What did God do but became one of us and entered precisely into our suffering?
现在把十字架看作是无意义苦难的极限案例。 Think of the cross now as the limit case of meaningless suffering.
神的儿子，生命的创造者来了，而你们杀了他，我们听到圣彼得这样说。 The son of God, the author of life came and you killed him, we hear St. Peter say.
无意义苦难的极限案例。 The limit case of meaningless suffering.
这不是要消除它，而是用他的存在来改变它吗？ Is that not to take it away but to transform it with his presence?
我认为这是对约伯的最终答案，也可能是对苦难之谜的最终答案。 I think that's the ultimate answer to Job and that's probably the ultimate answer to this mystery of suffering.
神的护理充分体现在神成为我们中的一员并与我们一同受苦。 God's providence fully manifested in God becoming one of us and suffering with us.