時事與真理
Diagnosis: Greed
又有稅吏來要受洗，問他說：“夫子，我們當作甚麼呢？” 約翰說：“除了例定的數目，不要多取。” 又有兵丁問他說：“我們當作甚麼呢？” 約翰說：“不要以強暴待人，也不要訛詐人，自己有錢糧就當知足。” （路加福音 3:12-14）
他們離棄正路，就走差了，隨從比珥之子巴蘭的路。巴蘭就是那貪愛不義之工價的先知。（彼得后書 2:15）
我們必須盡最大的努力避免尋求自己的利益，可是我們的本性在這方面不能幫助我們，因為它總容易使人只愛自己，而不關心他人的利益。（加爾文《基督徒生活手冊》）
For a break from the news of the financial meltdown, The Times on Saturday offered a page one story about Dr. Charles B. Nemeroff, a prominent psychiatrist at Emory University, who violated federal research rules regarding conflicts of interest and made millions of dollars consulting for the pharmaceutical industry.
Yet the story of Nemeroff, who earned $2.8 million in fees from 2000 to 2007, and had at one point consulted for 21 drug and device companies simultaneously, wasn't really a departure from the news of the week – or of this whole benighted era – at all.
It was, rather, yet another iteration of the ever-unfolding saga of greed and how the deregulation of absolutely everything has brought our country to this painful season of reckoning. Because Nemeroff's story – which is hardly unique – belongs uniquely to this time in our nation's history.
Excerpts from Diagnosis: Greed, by Judith Warner, New York Times, October 9, 2008
A Christian View of the Economic Crisis
Is the economy really driven by greed?
手懶的，要受貧窮；手勤的，卻要富足。（箴言 10：4）
不勞而得之財，必然消耗；勤勞積蓄的，必見加增。（箴言 13：11）
殷勤籌畫的，足致豐裕；行事急躁的，都必缺乏。
用詭詐之舌求財的，就是自己取死；所得之財，乃是吹來吹去的浮雲。（箴言 21：5-6）
人有惡眼想要急速發財，卻不知窮乏必臨到他身。（箴言 28:22）
不要仗勢欺人，也不要因搶奪而驕傲；若財寶加增，不要放在心上。（詩篇 62：10）
The economy is a moral reality. Human beings actualize their moral selves in making economic choices and through participation in the economic system — and we are all participants.
Christians should look at the economy as a test of our values. The Bible values honest labor and dedicated workers, and so should we. The Bible warns against dishonest business practices, and we must be watchful. False valuations are, in effect, lies. Dishonest accounting practices are just sophisticated forms of lying. Insider information is a form of theft.
The Bible honors investment and thrift, and Christians must be wary of the impulse for short-term gains and pressure for instant profit. Over the long-haul, the entire economy must prosper if the vast majority are to do well and realize a responsible gain.
Source: A Christian View of the Economic Crisis, by Al Mohler, 9/29/2008. Al Mohler is president of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky.
The Heresy of Positive Thinking
耕種自己田地的，必得飽食；追隨虛浮的，卻是無知。（箴言 12：11）
耕種自己田地的，必得飽食；追隨虛浮的，足受窮乏。（箴言 28：19）
我未曾貪圖一個人的金、銀、衣服。 我這兩隻手常供給我和同人的需用，這是你們自己知道的。 我凡事給你們作榜樣，叫你們知道應當這樣勞苦，扶助軟弱的人，又當記念主耶穌的話，說：“施比受更為有福。” （使徒行轉 20:33-35）
... 要立志作安靜人，辦自己的事，親手作工，正如我們從前所吩咐你們的， 叫你們可以向外人行事端正，自己也就沒有甚麼缺乏了。（帖撒羅尼迦前書 4:11-12）
從前偷竊的，不要再偷；總要勞力，親手作正經事，就可有餘分給那缺少的人。（以弗所書 4:28b）
GREED — and its crafty sibling, speculation — are the designated culprits for the financial crisis. But another, much admired, habit of mind should get its share of the blame: the delusional optimism of mainstream, all-American, positive thinking.
As promoted by Oprah Winfrey, scores of megachurch pastors and an endless flow of self-help best sellers, the idea is to firmly believe that you will get what you want, not only because it will make you feel better to do so, but because “visualizing” something — ardently and with concentration — actually makes it happen. You will be able to pay that adjustable-rate mortgage or, at the other end of the transaction, turn thousands of bad mortgages into giga-profits if only you believe that you can.
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Americans did not start out as deluded optimists. The original ethos, at least of white Protestant settlers and their descendants, was a grim Calvinism that offered wealth only through hard work and savings, and even then made no promises at all. You might work hard and still fail; you certainly wouldn’t get anywhere by adjusting your attitude or dreamily “visualizing” success.
Source: The Power of Negative Thinking, New York Times, September 24, 2008
Disability or Dishonesty?
To understand what it’s like to work on the railroad — the Long Island Rail Road — a good place to start is the Sunken Meadow golf course, a rolling stretch of state-owned land on Long Island Sound.
During the workweek, it is not uncommon to find retired L.I.R.R. employees, sometimes dozens of them, golfing there. A few even walk the course. Yet this is not your typical retiree outing.
These golfers are considered disabled. At an age when most people still work, they get a pension and tens of thousands of dollars in annual disability payments — a sum roughly equal to the base salary of their old jobs. Even the golf is free, courtesy of New York State taxpayers.
With incentives like these, occupational disabilities at the L.I.R.R. have become a full-blown epidemic.
Virtually every career employee — as many as 97 percent in one recent year — applies for and gets disability payments soon after retirement, a computer analysis of federal records by The New York Times has found.
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And it is not just engineers, conductors or track workers seeking disability payments. Dozens of retired white-collar managers are doing it as well, including the former deputy general counsel, employment manager, claims manager and director of government and community affairs.
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Railroad officials say that as far as they know, most of the disabled workers were able-bodied until their early retirement, and only then filed papers seeking occupational disability payments.
“How is it that somebody is occupationally disabled the day after he retires when he wasn’t occupationally disabled the day before he retired?” asked Gary Dellaverson, chief financial officer for the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, the railroad’s parent.
The answer, according to government records and dozens of interviews, stems from a combination of factors, including highly unusual L.I.R.R. contracts that allow longtime workers to retire with a pension as early as age 50, federal rules that let railroad retirees claim disability for jobs they no longer hold, and an obscure federal agency called the Railroad Retirement Board that almost never says no to a disability claim.
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Walter Kueffner is one manager who didn’t say he was disabled, even though many others around him did.
“People claimed they had back problems and carpal tunnel,” said Mr. Kueffner, a former auditor at the railroad. “I am sure some really did, but a lot of healthy people were doing it.”
Disability awards were being handed out when he started at the railroad in 1968, and the numbers “got bigger as time went on,” he said. “They don’t reject too many for a disability, you know.”
Mr. Kueffner said that while he’s not “a saint,” the thought of claiming disability never crossed his mind for one simple reason: “I didn’t have a disability,” he said. “I was doing a job that people do everywhere. I worked at a desk and I retired in good shape.”
Source: A Disability Epidemic Among a Railroad’s Retirees, New York Times, September 20, 2008
How to Pick a President: Why Virtue Trumps Policy
... 王不可為自己加添馬匹，也不可使百姓回埃及去，為要加添他的馬匹； 因耶和華曾吩咐你們說：“不可再回那條路去。” 他也不可為自己多立妃嬪，恐怕他的心偏邪；也不可為自己多積金銀。 他登了國位，就要將祭司利未人面前的這律法書，為自己抄錄一本， 存在他那裡，要平生誦讀，好學習敬畏耶和華他的 神，謹守遵行這律法書上的一切言語和這些律例。 免得他向弟兄心高氣傲，偏左偏右，離了這誡命 ... (申命記 16:14-20a)
耶和華對撒母耳說：“百姓向你說的一切話，你只管依從；因為他們不是厭棄你，乃是厭棄我，不要我作他們的王。”
撒母耳將耶和華的話，都傳給求他立王的百姓，說： “管轄你們的王必這樣行：他必派你們的兒子為他趕車、跟馬、奔走在車前； 又派他們作千夫長、五十夫長，為他耕種田地，收割莊稼，打造軍器和車上的器械； 必取你們的女兒為他製造香膏，作飯烤餅； 也必取你們最好的田地、葡萄園、橄欖園，賜給他的臣僕； 你們的糧食和葡萄園所出的，他必取十分之一，給他的太監和臣僕； 又必取你們的僕人婢女，健壯的少年人和你們的驢，供他的差役； 你們的羊群他必取十分之一，你們也必作他的僕人。 那時你們必因所選的王哀求耶和華，耶和華卻不應允你們。”
百姓竟不肯聽撒母耳的話，說：“不然！我們定要一個王治理我們， 使我們像列國一樣：有王治理我們，統領我們，為我們爭戰。”
(撒母耳記上 8:7,10-20)
Virtue is a suite of values-soaked abilities that in active combination form a person's character and give shape to a life. Our choices and actions both reveal and reinforce our character. You cannot judge whether a person will be a good leader — a good President — without knowing and evaluating his or her character — how life has stamped or marked them. A President is, among other things, a decision maker. Decisions flow out of values and experience, that is, out of character. The classical virtues, embraced by Greeks and Romans alike, are prudence (practical wisdom), justice (fairness), fortitude (courage), and temperance (moderation). They not only thought these desirable and useful, but also believed you could not be fully human without them. Each of the four virtues makes the others possible, and a lack of any one of them renders the others ineffective. Courage without wisdom is mere foolhardiness. Justice not backed up by courage is mere wishing. And any of the other virtues is vitiated if one lacks the self-control found in moderation. Virtue involves the whole person—intellect, emotion, will, values, actions.
The other great source of virtues was Judeo-Christian, especially the virtues of faith, hope, and love. The medieval period inherited both traditions, kept virtue at the center of education, and embraced these seven as "the cardinal virtues."
The greatest fear we have regarding leaders is that they will misuse the power we grant them. The corrupting potential of power is well documented. But power need not corrupt and in a virtuous person it will not. Psychologist Erich Fromm distinguishes between power used for domination and selfish ends, and what he calls "potency" or "generative power." Such power is strength for others (a definition of virtue), and it motivates creativity and service. All the proper policies and ideology and technical competency in the world will not protect a leader from using power corruptly. In fact, the greatest temptation for a well-meaning leader is to use power corruptly in order to accomplish seemingly benevolent ends. The best insurance against corrupt power is to choose leaders with the combination of virtues necessary to use power well.
Source: How to Pick a President, Christianity Today, June, 2008
十萬觀眾，還是一位觀眾；黯然，還是安然
你禱告的時候，要進你的內屋，關上門，禱告你在暗中的父，你父在暗中察看，必然報答你。 (馬太福音 6:5)
我們成了一台戲，給世人和天使觀看。 我們為基督的緣故算是愚拙的，你們在基督里倒是聰明的；我們軟弱，你們倒強壯；你們有榮耀，我們倒被藐視。 被人咒罵，我們就祝福；被人逼迫，我們就忍受；被人毀謗，我們就善勸。 直到如今，人還把我們看作世界上的污穢，萬物中的渣滓。 (歌林多前書 4:9a，12b-13)
楊瀾：突然之間（奧運會）都結束了，人慢慢散去了，心裡是什麼感覺？失落嗎？
張藝謀：它還不是慢慢散去，它是嘩一下就過去了。失落。你睡覺起來，一想，哎這奧運會就過去了。我覺得這個感受有點像我們8月8日開會的時候，我對他們說：“你們最短的忙了幾個月，最長的忙了兩三年，我告訴你們，我忙這活我忙了7年多啊。”
楊瀾：（在開幕式上）這麼多人的運用是不是難度非常大？藝術跟人多有關係嗎？
張藝謀：“人”是很重要也是很難的，我覺得人多就會產生一種非常強大的磁場。我們集會、我們紀念、我們慶典，哪一個讓我們覺得熱血沸騰的瞬間，不是因為有10萬人在那裡？
Church in the Middle of the Marketplace
創造宇宙和其中萬物的 神，既是天地的主，就不住人手所造的殿，也不用人手服事，好像缺少甚麼；自己倒將生命、氣息、萬物，賜給萬人。(使徒行傳 17:24-25)
其實，至高者並不住人手所造的，就如先知所言： “主說：天是我的座位，地是我的腳凳，你們要為我造何等的殿宇？那裡是我安息的地方呢？ 這一切不都是我手所造的么？” (使徒行傳 7:48-50)
神果真住在地上么？看哪！天和天上的天，尚且不足你居住的，何況我所建的這殿呢？(列王記上 8:27)
... 神的殿是聖的，這殿就是你們。(歌林多前書 3:17b)
你們拜父，也不在這山上，也不在耶路撒冷。 時候將到，如今就是了，那真正拜父的，要用心靈和誠實拜他，因為父要這樣的人拜他。 神是個靈，所以拜他的，必須用心靈和誠實拜他。(約翰福音 4:21a,23-4:24)
The story of National Community Church (NCC) began twelve years ago when an optimistic pastor named Mark Batterson moved his family to Washington D.C. from Chicago to start a church. His plan was conventional: begin with a small group, then meet in a rented public school, and finally buy or build a permanent church facility. But Batterson's plans were dashed when the public school his small church of thirty-five was meeting in was closed for fire code violations.
Frustrated and uncertain about the future, Batterson was walking through the shopping mall at Union Station when he had an idea. He found the manager of the movie theater and asked for permission to conduct a church service there on Sunday morning. The manager agreed. Suddenly, Batterson found himself leading a church located at the center of the most visited destination on Capitol Hill.
After experiencing rapid growth NCC changed its strategy. Batterson no longer wanted a permanent church facility. Instead he saw the benefits of being in the middle of the marketplace. Today, NCC meets in four theaters located at Metro stops throughout D.C., and in 2006 the church opened its first permanent facility—a coffee shop. Ebenezer's, also located on "The Hill," is a popular, award-winning coffee shop that was previously the location of a crack house.
Source: A City Upon "The Hill", Leadership Journal, Summer 2008
On a pedestal! Between the Parishioner and God?
只有一位 神，在 神和人中間，只有一位中保，乃是降世為人的基督耶穌。 (提摩太前書 2:5b)
認識你獨一的真 神、並且認識你所差來的耶穌基督，這就是永生。 (約翰福音 17:3)
惟有你們是被揀選的族類，是有君尊的祭司，是聖潔的國度，是屬 神的子民， 要叫你們宣揚那召你們出黑暗入奇妙光明者的美德。 (彼得前書 2:9)
那召你們的既是聖潔，你們在一切所行的事上也要聖潔。 (彼得前書 1:15)
你們要聖潔，因為我耶和華你們的 神是聖潔的。 (利未記 19:2b)
不可心裡恨你的弟兄，總要指摘你的鄰舍，免得因他擔罪。 (利未記 19:17)
耶穌叫他們來對他們說：“你們知道，外邦人有尊為君王的，治理他們，有大臣操權管束他們。 只是在你們中間，不是這樣；你們中間，誰願為大，就必作你們的用人； 在你們中間，誰願為首，就必作眾人的僕人。 因為人子來，並不是要受人的服事，乃是要服事人，並且要捨命，作多人的贖價。” (馬可福音 10:42-45)
"Our clergy persons now have a much better understanding that they have the power," says Melton. "They stand between the parishioner and God in a lot of people's minds, whether the clergy person articulates it or not."
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When Sharon, a former director of Christian education for her church, was sexually mistreated by her boss, the senior pastor, she learned the dilemma victims face in coming forward with an allegation. "When I finally got up the courage to tell anyone what was happening to me at work, one response I got was, 'Don't say anything; it's a nice church.' Pastors are put up on a pedestal, and no one wants to believe that they could do anything like this," Sharon explains.
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Sharon quit her job, and for years following her ordeal, she stayed away from church. Gently, her old friends invited her back into fellowship. "I knew there wasn't going to be a perfect church out there," she explains. "All churches have problems. For me, I learned the hard way that I would need to be responsible for setting my own boundaries."
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A new study of self-described "active Christian women" shows more than a quarter personally experienced sexually inappropriate behavior, and one fourth of those that experienced it said it happened in a church or ministry setting.
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The survey shows a relatively low number of occurrences of sexual harassment in churches or ministry workplaces. Only two percent of respondents who work in a church or ministry setting say their employment was contingent upon dates or sexual favors. This number goes up sharply in the secular world: 22 percent of women reported "quid pro quo" harassment.
Source: Sexual Misconduct at Church, Your Church Magzine, July/August 2008
Links to Previous Stories
- Financial Discipline
- Biblical or spiritual principles Where They Do Not Belong?
- Presidential Advisor Caught Stealing at Publix!
- To Be Happy in Jesus
- What is the impact of divorce on children's religious lives?
- Dietrich Bonhoeffer
- Biotech and Human Dignity
- Career Move and Children
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