本帖最后由 青草地. 于 2014-1-28 12:05 编辑
最後讓我跟大家分享一個現代的知識份子,如何在一些凡夫俗子的影響下,找到基督。葛凡西(Francis S. Collins)是一舉世知名的科學家(註十八),他是第二位負責國家人體基因研究的主任。當他被挑選去繼承研究雙螺旋(Double Helix)的諾貝爾科學家沃森(James D. Watson)時(註十九),他是所有研究生物醫療和遺傳因子的科學家們所欣羨的。葛氏讀大學時物理和化學科的成績出眾,並在一九七四年輕易地完成了他在耶魯大學的博士學位。讀書期間,他都以無神論者自稱,拿到博士學位後,他看見醫學界中遺傳因子學的挑戰,於是進修醫科,並於一九七七年拿到他的醫學學位。之後他在一所醫院工作並研究遺傳因子學。八○年代後期,他當內科醫學和遺傳因子學的教授,直到一九九三年他接任人體基因研究主任一職為止。
葛氏在醫院實習時,常看見許多人在垂死邊緣,然而他發現那些自稱是基督徒的,在面對死亡時,是多麼有平安,跟一般人不一樣。一天,有個每天受盡病痛折磨,卻因信基督而滿有平安的老婦問他說:「你信甚麼?」那一刻來得尷尬極了,因為他只能回答:「我不太肯定。」當時廿六歲的他,已當醫生,擁有兩個博士學位,對生命、疾病和死亡應已有答案;然而當他被問及有關他自己永恆歸宿這最基本的問題時,卻是啞口無言(註二十)。之後他決心研究所有主要的宗教信仰,重新肯定他那無神論的立場。一天,當他在探訪鄰近一個循道衛理會的傳道人時,葛氏問他的信仰到底有沒有理性根據,其實葛氏早已心裡有數,頗肯定信仰只是心理作用而已。那傳道人沒有馬上回答他,卻給他一本小書:《反璞歸真》(註廿一),葛氏用了幾天時間去讀這本書,竟被這位出自牛津學府的超級理性大師,對基督教所提出非常合理的理性根據所折服。葛氏從無神論者變成不可知論者,最後接受了基督信仰。
這故事跟聖經中那猶太人的官夜裡找耶穌,為要找出一些終極問題的答案很相似。其實答案很簡單,若我們能放下自我,就能找到那條引到真理、平安和盼望的道路。筆者卅多年在加州理工大學工作,該校的格言正是耶穌所說的:「真理必叫你們得以自由。」
(作者是美國應用數學家、太空科技數學家,曾任職於美國國家航空暨太空總署噴射推進實驗室卅九年。本文註釋請看《中信》月刊本期網頁www.ccmhk.org.hk。 邱佩鳳編譯。Pictures provided are from NASA materials in the public domain.)
註釋: 1. Khrushchev(前蘇聯總理)宣言was quoted in Soviet Press that “Gagarin(the 1st cosmonaut)flew into space, but didn’t see any God there,”article retrieved in Russian, posted on an Eastern Orthodox web site in 2006, http://www.interfax-religion.ru/orthodoxy/?act=interview&;div=73&domain=1。 2. Subatomic Particles亞原子粒子或稱基本微粒子– Encyclopedia Britannica, http://www.britannica.com/EBchec ... /subatomic-particle。 3. 月球播的聖誕信息–The Apollo 8 Christmas message, archived by NASA curator Dr. David R. Williams, http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/planetary/lunar/apollo8_xmas.html。 4. 月球上的聖餐 – Men From Earth by Buzz Aldrin and Malcolm McConnell. New York: Bantam Books, 1989。 5. 信心的跳躍–Kierkegaard, Soren, Danish philosopher, biography provided at http://www.answers.com/topic/s-ren-kierkegaard。 6. 愛因斯坦思維之研討–http://www.learnoutloud.com/Catalog/Biography/Scientists/Einstein-and-the-Mind-of-God/25697。 7. 愛因斯坦談到上帝的心思–Newsweek, 2007 Apr. issue, http://newsweek.washingtonpost.c ... he_mind_of_god.html, Wash Post & Newsweek, 2007-4。Special note by Edward Ng(伍煒國) on Einstein’s religious view – “Since he is such a famous person, obviously every religious and philosophicalcamp would like to claim him to be their ally. To the best of my knowledge, he was raised as a Jew, but never claimed Yahweh as his God. The closest we can identify him would be as a deist, someone who believes in a transcendental God who created the universe and left it alone. Thus some Christians are against citing him in any theistic or deistic discussions. However, I'm more open-minded on this, with the view that citing non-Christians’ belief in a Creator is a good corroboration of human awareness, deep down, that the Universe could not have emerged at random, as claimed by the atheistic evolutionists. This deep-down human awareness of a Creator is consistent with Biblical teachings such as Genesis 1, Psalm 19 and Romans 1:20. Also, we never dare to say categorically that a person was a non-Christian, because in his dying moments, he might have transformed through the Holy Spirit’s encounter, via some minister or priest as messenger. A most prominent example in the Bible was the thief on thecross. Thus there was the famous Western saying that ‘There is no atheist in a foxhole.’” 8. 楊振寧,「當代傑出學人文史、科技公開演講」系列錄像光碟。香港:香港公共圖書館,2003。Yang, Chen-Ning, lecture in the HK Public Library, Apr. 16, 2002. Series of Lectures by Distinguished Scholars published in VCD set in Mar. 2003 by the HK Public Library. 9. 愛因斯坦談科學與宗教 – New York Times Magazine, Nov. 9, 1930, pp. 1-4。 10. 陸希德(台灣譯)幼年在中國照 – Picture of Astronaut Shannon Lucid with her younger brother Joe, in Shanghai, published in NASA News Event on the occasion of Dr. Lucid's homecoming to China in 2006. http://www.nasa.gov/vision/space/features/shannon_lucid_prt.htm。 11. 陸希德於太空總署的官方履歷– NASA official biography of Dr. Shannon Lucid, http://www.jsc.nasa.gov/Bios/htmlbios/lucid.html。 12. 簡建堂,《外太空新世界》,時報書系#618。台北:時報文化出版公司,1985。 13. 戴保羅演講 – Prof. Paul Davis, Templeton Prize address,
[url=]http://209.85.173.132/search?q=cache:xsqdUwKqaBAJ:www.origins.org/articles/davies_templetonaddress.html
[/url][url=http://209.85.173.132/search?q=cache:xsqdUwKqaBAJ:www.origins.org/articles/davies_ ... +on+mind+of+God&;hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=2&gl=us]+newton+on+mind+of+God&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=2&gl=us[/url]。 14. 麻省理工學院專題討論會 – M.I.T. Seminar, http://silas.psfc.mit.edu/great_sci.html。 15. 劍橋大學法拉第科學宗教學院 – The Faraday Institute for Science and Religion, http://www.st-edmunds.cam.ac.uk/faraday/。 16. Lewis, C.S., The Abolition of Man . New York : McMillan Pub. Co.,1947。 17. McDowell, Josh, Evidence That Demands A Verdict . San Bernardino: Here's Life Publishers, 1979。 18. 葛凡西的官方履歷 – Francis S. Collins biography at the National Human Genome Research Institute home page, http://www.genome.gov/10000779。 19. James D. Watson, The Double Helix, A Personal Account of the Discovery of the Structure of DNA . New York : Athenaeum of Simon Schuster, 20. 葛凡西著:《上帝的語言》 – The Language of God , by Francis S. Collins. New York : Free Press, 2006。 21. 《反璞歸真》之英文原著為Mere Christianity , by C.S. Lewis. New York : McMillan Paperback Editions, 1960 。 |