按：某位已畢業的學生（異教徒，但沒有強烈的信仰追求）問我幾個關於認識基督教的事，第一個問題很嚴肅：「在改信基督教的一開始會遇到哪些困難呢？」所以我認真地回覆了她。
改信仰不是容易的事，不然我也不會到43歲才受洗信主。
舉個例子：李登輝前總統原本也不是基督徒，他受的是日本教育，有武士道的信念，年輕時加入過共產黨，渴望革命改變世界，等到進入黨國體制後，才想認識一下基督教的信仰。他怎麼做？讀聖經+拜訪教會。
李前總統是博學之人，他不僅自己研讀聖經，還每週排定時程，一間一間的去拜訪教會，在拜訪教會時，會仔細聆聽牧師的講道。他不是抱著「看看」的心理去的，他在「認識基督教」，在「尋求真理」。最後，他受洗成為長老教會系統的基督徒。
你可以用「想理解基督徒＼男友」的角度去接觸基督教，這沒問題，但你自己信與不信，光靠別人的餵養是不夠的。你自己要對真理有「飢渴」，沒有這份內在的動力，基督信仰最終也只會是你書架上的一本書而已。
是的，飢渴。李登輝有，我也有。
先不要談到「改信」這一步，你先「接觸」。接觸的「客觀實體」有二：聖經+教會（不是建築物，是信主的一群人），但聖經也好、教會也好，都要指向同一個「絕對主體」：神（上帝）。你要信基督教，真正的檢驗是「有沒有真心想認識這一位神」。
從我的經驗來說，會遇到的困難有：
1.基督教教義上的「排他性」
這一點是讓我當年打死不肯信主的核心原因，我覺得基督教太霸道，只有自己的才是唯一真理，其他信仰都是假的。但這一點沒有別的解藥，只有自己親自去認識基督教的教義，才會有接受這一點的可能。
當初剛信主時，是印尼的唐崇榮牧師在佈道會上說出的「真理是絕對的，既然絕對，那真理就具有排他性」這一段話打醒了我，讓我更謙卑地去「認識」基督教，而非帶著既有的信仰內容去「檢視」基督教，因為我必須要正視一個問題：如果基督教「真的」是真理呢？
2.「價值系統整合」與「價值系統更換」
一般人可能只會在「生活習慣層次」上感到不便，例如吃素吃葷、拿不拿香、拜不拜廟、要不要把寶貴的週日去上教堂...等。
再來是「觀念層次」的衝突，例如眾生平等VS人是萬物之靈；殺生是罪過VS聖經說不帶血的就可以吃；拜神明VS拜偶像；唯一真神VS宗教都是勸人為善...等。
再來是「信仰層次」的對撞。以我為例，接受唯一真神，就必須視所有廟宇的神明為偶像，甚至必須去除（不是去燒廟啦，是要否定諸神具有神的資格）；接受原罪論，就必須放棄我過去相信的性善論；相信聖經「神允許肉食」，就必須放膽開葷，不再茹素（我以前教會有一對夫妻也是一貫道改信基督教，但他們仍然保持吃素的習慣）...等。
信基督教以前，我採取的方式是「系統整合」，也就是近乎「雜家」的方式，在各個宗教裡擷取所長，而我的價值核心，是「追求自我品格的提升與完美」，凡有利我品格成長、靈性成長的思想與宗教內容，我都會彙整起來，成為我信仰的價值。而這些都是經過我自己檢驗過的，並不是像一貫道一樣，把一整套宗教內容置入到自己的腦袋裡，所以這個系統整合只適合我自己，不適用於別人。
而這在婚後就遇到了問題。以前，我對「關係」的態度是隨遇而安的，來則聚，分則離，不看重關係的經營（就是比較道家一點），因為很花心力。這種態度對外人是可以的，但對親人就不行，很不幸的是，婚姻就是讓兩人從外人變為情人、再變為親人的過程，當成為親人，就不能不重視關係。所以我的「隨遇而安」，就會成為兩人關係的殺手，我自己覺得沒那麼嚴重，但師母卻深深被此所傷。這時我才理解：系統整合在「關係」中是失效的，我需要的，是「系統更換」。
那為什麼是基督教？因為基督教最顯眼的教義就是「愛」，如果基督教能讓我對愛有更深刻的理解與生命改變，那就是它了。在我漫長的信主過程中，其實就是「價值系統更換」的過程，這是很深層、很內在的領域。如果是為了某些「外在原因」（例如「我的結婚對象一定要是基督徒」）而信主，那麼我必須老實說，當外部因素消失（例如「與基督徒正式成為夫妻」），你就不再需要基督教，也就是說，你不再需要神了。
不知不覺講了太多。簡單彙整幾個重點給你：
1.改信基督教的一開始會遇到哪些困難呢？
答：如上。
2.怎麼樣會冒犯到基督信仰的人呢？
答：不在信仰中的人，這一點無解。台灣愛吃豬肉，就常常在這一點冒犯伊斯蘭信徒而不自知。所以去「理解基督教」是唯一解。
3.我不知道要怎麼確定這個宗教是真的、值得相信的
答：你的問題有一個盲點：不是別人告訴你的信仰內容有真有假，你只需要做「確認」的動作；而是你必須「親自進入、親自瞭解」才能去「確定」這個信仰內容是真是假。這就是我在前面會告訴你李前總統這個例子的原因。我如果不走進教會、不讀聖經，不跟教會的屬靈長輩質疑、請益，我也不會成為基督徒----而且我有「再也不會離開的確信」喔！
我知道我的措辭有點深，但仍希望對你有些幫助。
Changing one’s faith is never an easy matter. Otherwise, I would not have waited until the age of forty-three to be baptized and become a believer in Christ.
Let me offer an example. Former President Lee Teng-hui was not originally a Christian. He received a Japanese education and was deeply influenced by the spirit of Bushidō. In his youth, he even joined the Communist Party, longing for revolution and social transformation. It was only after he entered the party-state system that he began to take an interest in Christianity. How did he do so? By reading the Bible and visiting churches.
President Lee was a highly learned man. He did not merely read Scripture on his own; he also deliberately scheduled time each week to visit churches one by one. During these visits, he listened attentively to the sermons preached by pastors. He did not go with a casual or observational mindset. He went with the intention of understanding Christianity and seeking truth. Eventually, he was baptized and became a Christian within the Presbyterian Church tradition.
It is entirely acceptable to approach Christianity from the perspective of “wanting to understand Christians” or even “wanting to understand a Christian boyfriend.” However, whether you ultimately believe or not, relying solely on being spiritually “fed” by others is insufficient. You yourself must have a hunger and thirst for truth. Without this inner drive, the Christian faith will ultimately become nothing more than a book on your shelf.
Yes—hunger and thirst. President Lee had it. I had it as well.
Before speaking of “conversion,” let us first speak of “engagement.” There are two objective means of engagement: the Bible and the church (not the building, but the community of believers). Yet whether it is the Bible or the church, both must point toward the same absolute Subject: God Himself. To believe in Christianity, the true test is whether one sincerely desires to know this God.
From my own experience, the difficulties one encounters include the following:
1. The exclusivity of Christian doctrine
This was the core reason I stubbornly refused to believe for many years. I felt Christianity was too authoritarian—claiming itself as the only truth and dismissing other faiths as false. There is no shortcut to resolving this issue. Only by personally engaging with Christian doctrine can one possibly come to accept this claim.
When I first came to faith, it was a statement made by Pastor Stephen Tong (Tang Chong-rong) at an evangelistic meeting that awakened me: “Truth is absolute. And because it is absolute, truth is necessarily exclusive.” This statement humbled me. It led me to approach Christianity not as something to be examined through the lens of my pre-existing beliefs, but as something I needed to truly understand on its own terms. I had to face an unavoidable question: What if Christianity really is the truth?
2. ‘Integration of value systems’ versus ‘replacement of a value system’
For most people, the initial difficulties may appear at the level of daily practice: vegetarian versus meat-eating, holding incense or not, visiting temples or not, giving up precious Sundays to attend church, and so forth.
Next comes conflict at the conceptual level: equality of all beings versus humanity as the crown of creation; killing as sin versus the biblical permission to eat meat without blood; worshiping deities versus idolatry; belief in the one true God versus the idea that all religions merely teach moral goodness.
Finally, there is collision at the level of faith itself. In my case, accepting the one true God required me to regard all temple deities as idols—not in the sense of destroying temples, but in denying their divine status. Accepting the doctrine of original sin required me to abandon my former belief in the innate goodness of human nature. Accepting the biblical teaching that God permits the consumption of meat required me to cease my vegetarianism. (Even today, there are believers who converted from Yiguandao who remain vegetarian, and I respect that.)
Before becoming a Christian, I practiced what I would call “value system integration”—a syncretistic approach. I drew selectively from different religions, adopting whatever I believed contributed to my moral refinement and spiritual growth. The core of my values was self-cultivation and the pursuit of personal moral perfection. Everything I accepted had been examined and chosen by myself; it was not an uncritical acceptance of a complete religious system. This integrated system worked for me—but only for me. It was not transferable.
After marriage, however, this approach failed. Previously, my attitude toward relationships was one of detachment: if we come together, we come together; if we part, we part. I did not invest deeply in maintaining relationships—it required too much effort. This stance may be acceptable toward outsiders, but not toward family. Unfortunately, marriage is precisely the process by which two people move from strangers, to lovers, and then to family. Once someone becomes family, relationship cannot be treated lightly.
My “detached acceptance” became destructive to the marriage. I did not initially think it was that serious, but my wife was deeply hurt by it. Only then did I realize that system integration fails in the context of intimate relationships. What I needed was not integration, but system replacement.
Why Christianity? Because the most distinctive doctrine of Christianity is love. If Christianity could transform my understanding and practice of love, then this was the faith I needed. My long journey to faith was, in essence, a process of value system replacement—deep, internal, and fundamental.
If one believes for purely external reasons—for example, “my spouse must be a Christian”—then I must say honestly: when that external reason disappears (such as once the marriage is secured), Christianity will no longer be necessary. In other words, God will no longer be necessary.
I have spoken at length. Let me summarize a few key points:
1. What difficulties arise at the beginning of converting to Christianity?
Answer: As described above.
2. How does one offend Christians without intending to?
Answer: This is unavoidable for those outside the faith. In Taiwan, for example, the love of pork often unintentionally offends Muslim believers. The only solution is to truly understand Christianity.
3. I do not know how to determine whether this religion is true and worthy of belief.
Answer: There is a blind spot in this question. Faith is not something where others tell you what is true or false and you merely verify it. You must personally enter into it, personally engage with it, in order to discern whether it is true. This is why I mentioned President Lee’s example earlier. Had I not entered the church, read the Bible, questioned and sought counsel from spiritual elders, I would never have become a Christian—and now I have a deep conviction that I will never leave.
I know my wording is somewhat dense, but I sincerely hope it will be of some help.
沒有留言:
張貼留言