When I was in high school, I read “The Dream of the Red Chamber”. I’ve forgotten most of the story by now, but two lines have stuck in my mind to this very day. The two lines say, “Falsehood is still false even when it pretends to be true. Nothing is still nothing even if it appears to be something.” If you had read the entire story, you’d probably realize that the author intended this to be a warning for Jia Baoyu not to fall in love with the present world because he belonged to another world. In a survey that he conducted, George Barna asked Christians to respond to the following statement, “The Devil, or Satan, is not a living being but a symbol of evil.” Forty-eight percent of so-called “born again” Christians that responded either agreed that Satan is only symbolic, or said that they did not know the real truth. Given that, I think we Christians may have a serious problem in understanding the Scriptures. From Genesis through Revelation, the Bible mentions Devil and Satan by name over 100 times, consistently telling us that Satan is a real living being that originates sin and tempts others to sin. It is one thing to make a mistake out of ignorance, but it is totally another thing to ignore what God has taught us explicitly in His holy words.  In order for us to cultivate true spirituality, we must build our whole life on the eternal truth which the Lord has given to us. The only world-view that we can accept is one that is consistent with the teachings from the Bible. If we fail to believe in Jesus’ teachings, we will become like those who have rejected Jesus. “You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father's desire. He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies.” (John 8:44)May we not be rebuked by Jesus in this important doctrine!

在高中的時候, 我讀過 “紅樓夢”. 故事許多的內容我都已經忘記了, 但是一直到今天, 書中有兩句話仍然保留在我的腦海裡面. 這兩句話是: “假作真時真亦假, 無為有處有還無”. 假如你也讀過這個故事, 你大概就知道作者是要用這兩句話去警告賈寶玉, 叫他不要愛上眼前的世界, 因為他是屬於另外一個世界的. 在喬治巴納的一項意見調查中, 他要求基督徒回應如下這句話: “魔鬼, 又叫撒但, 並不是一個活的生命, 只不過是邪惡的象徵而已.” 統計的結果, 有百分之四十八所謂 “重生” 的基督徒回應說撒但只不過是邪惡的象徵, 或是說自己並不知道真相如何. 如此來看, 我覺得我們基督徒在領悟聖經方面可能有一個嚴重的問題. 從創世記到啟示錄, 聖經提到魔鬼和撒但的名字超過一百次. 而且由始至終都告訴我們撒但是有位格的, 他是罪魁禍首, 並且也引誘人犯罪. 假使我們因為無知而犯錯, 這是一回事, 但是, 如果我們故意忽略上帝明確給我們的聖言, 那可就是完全另一回事了. 為了培養真正屬靈的品質, 我們必須把我們整個人生都建立在主所賜給我們永恆的真理之上. 我們只能接受合乎聖經教訓的世界觀. 如果我們不相信耶穌的教導, 我們就像那些拒絕耶穌的人一樣. “你們是出於你們的父魔鬼, 你們父的私慾, 你們偏要行. 他從起初是殺人的, 不守真理, 因他心裡沒有真理. 他說謊是出於自己; 因他本來是說謊的, 也是說謊之人的父. ” (約8:44) 盼望我們在這個教義上不會被主耶穌責備!