As a Christian, we must be constantly reminded that the purpose of our life is not to be successful in our career, not to be a good friend, not even a good parent or a good spouse.
No, those are all good to have but those are not the purpose of our life.
The purpose of our life is to glorify the Lord who died for our sin on the cross so we can be saved.
The purpose of our life is to bear the witness of His saving blood so to bring the good news to the lost souls.
年紀越大,對於「國家」這個概念越加的感到失望。小時我們我都被教導過什麼「沒有國哪裡會有家」、「為民族為國家,奮鬥犧牲絕不怕」。現在則是覺得什麼復興中華、民族救星、國家至上,根本就是統治階級用來愚民和壓榨人民的藉口。共產黨把國民黨從中國大陸趕出去的時候打的口號是人民至上、將人民從國家的壓制下解放出來。誰知道自己坐上統治者的位置之後人民馬上就被國家大義給取代了。偶而歷史上出現一位真正以人民福祉為懷的統治者,人民馬上把他當做神明對待。結果就如英國的歷史學家John Dalberg-Acton所說的「權力使人腐化,絕對的權力使人絕對地腐化」(Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.)。於是歷史就這樣不斷的惡性循環。
剩下的,看看我們今天的政治人物就可以知道了。套句英文的諺語-the rest is history。
By the way,上帝講的還太保守了一點。現在有哪個國家抽稅只抽10%?我的薪水至少四分之一都繳給美國政府去了。
所以,結論一是當我們把希望寄託在上帝以外的人事物,那結果肯定是幻滅與失望,甚至是痛苦與死亡。其二,就我個人的愚見,避免權力的過度集中,也就是所謂的checks and balances(中文有人翻譯成分權制衡)是目前看起來最能有效防止權力被濫用的方法–不是完美,但是目前看來找不到更好的替代方案。
Many forms of Government have been tried, and will be tried in this world of sin and woe. No one pretends that democracy is perfect or all-wise. Indeed it has been said that democracy is the worst form of Government except for all those other forms that have been tried from time to time.…
Winston Churchill, House of Commons, 11 November 1947