The Wise Man Built His House Upon the Rock.  聪明人建房岩石上。

Perhaps some of you know it. Some of the words go like this:  也许你们当中有些人知道这首歌。其中有些歌词是这样的：

The foolish man built his house upon the sand.And the floods came up And the house on the sand went crash.  笨人建房沙滩上，风吹水涌起波浪，房倒屋塌遭祸殃。

Then in the same week, at a funeral,  就在同一个星期的一个葬礼上，

we sang the familiar hymn We Plow the Fields and Scatter,  我们唱起熟悉的赞美诗 我们犁田与播种，

a very English hymn.  一首非常有英国风格的赞美诗。

In the second verse comes the line, The wind and waves obey Him.  在第二节有这样一行，风和浪也顺从他。

Do they? I don't feel we can sing that song again in church,  果真如此吗？在海啸发生后，我感觉我们不能再在教堂

after what's happened.  唱这首歌了。

So the first big question is about control.  因此，第一个大问题是关于掌控。

Does God have a plan for each of us? Is God in control?  上帝是否对我们每个人都有一个计划？上帝是否在掌控中？

Does God order each moment? Does the wind and the waves obey Him?  上帝是否时时刻刻在安排这个世界？风和浪是否顺从他？

From time to time,  人们时常听到

one hears Christians telling the story of how God organized things for them,  基督徒讲述上帝如何如何为他们安排各种各样的事情，

so that everything worked out all right, 因此一切都最终顺利解决了。比如：

some difficulty overcome, some illness cured, some trouble averted,  困难克服了，疾病治愈了，麻烦避免了，

a parking space found at a crucial time.  在关键时刻找到了一个停车位，诸如此类。

I can remember someone saying this to me,  我还记得有个人在对我讲述这种故事时，

with her eyes shining with enthusiasm at this wonderful confirmation of her faith and the goodness of God. 她的眼中闪烁着热情的光芒，认为这是她的信仰和上帝的美德的伟大见证。

But if God can or will do these things,intervene to change the flow of events then surely he could have stopped the tsunami.  但是，如果上帝能够或者愿意做这之类的事情，干预改变事件的发生次序，那么毫无疑问他也应该能制止海啸的发生。

Do we have a local God who can do little things like parking spaces,  难道我们有的只是一个小区域的上帝，可以管停车位这样的小事情，

but not big things like 500 mile-per-hour waves?  却不去管时速 500英里的海浪这样的大事情？

That's just not acceptable to intelligent Christians,  只要是有头脑的基督徒都不能接受这个观点，

and we must acknowledge it.  我们必须承认这一点：

Either God is responsible for the tsunami,  要么上帝为海啸负责，

or God is not in control.  要么上帝失去了控制。

After the tragedy, survival stories began to emerge.  悲剧发生后，开始出现劫后余生的故事。

You probably heard some of them:  你们也许听说过其中的一些。比如：

the man who surfed the wave,  一名男子因为会冲浪而生还；

the teenage girl who recognized the danger because she had just been learning about tsunamis at school.  一个十几岁的女孩识别出了危险，因为她刚刚在学校学习了有关海啸的知识；

Then there was the congregation who had left their usual church building on the shore to hold a service in the hills.  一个教堂的会众没有使用他们平时用的在海岸边的教堂，而改在山上做礼拜，

The preacher delivered an extra long sermon,  牧师恰巧做了一个超长的讲道，

so that they were still out of harm's way when the wave struck.  因此当巨浪袭来时他们还在山上而幸免于难。

Afterwards someone said that God must have been looking after them.  后来有人说，一定是上帝在保佑他们。

So the next question is about partiality.  因此，接下来的问题是关于偏袒。

Can we earn God's favor by worshipping Him or believing in Him?  我们可以通过崇拜或信仰来赢得上帝的青睐吗？

Does God demand loyalty, like any medieval tyrant?  上帝是否要求忠诚，象中世纪的暴君一样？

A God who looks after His own, so that Christians are OK,  上帝是否只照顾信他的人，所以基督徒没问题，

while everyone else perishes?  而其他人要灭亡？

A cosmic us and them, and a God who is guilty of the worst kind of favoritism?  这个宇宙中有我们，他们，和一个犯有严重偏袒罪的上帝？

That would be appalling,  这是非常可怕的，

and that would be the point at which I would hand in my membership.  正是基于这一点，我辞去了我的教会职务。

Such a God would be morally inferior to the highest ideals of humanity.  这样的上帝在道义上甚至还不如最理想的人类道德。

So who is God, if not the great puppet-master or the tribal protector?  那么上帝是谁，如果他不是那个伟大的傀儡操纵者或部落保护者的话？

Perhaps God allows or permits terrible things to happen,  也许上帝同意或允许可怕的事情发生，

so that heroism and compassion can be shown.  以便让人们有机会表现英雄主义和同情心。

Perhaps God is testing us: testing our charity, or our faith.  也许上帝是在考验我们：考验我们的善心、我们的信仰。

Perhaps there is a great, cosmic plan that allows for horrible suffering  也许有一个伟大的宇宙计划，允许可怕的痛苦，

so that everything will work out OK in the end.  但一切都将最终顺利解决。

Perhaps, but these ideas are all just variations on God controlling everything,  也许吧，但这些说法都只是 上帝控制一切的变种。