Twiddling Our Thumbs: 无所事事

GALATIANS 1
15 But when it pleased God, who separated me from my mother’s womb, and called me by his grace.

加拉太书 1
然而，当上帝喜悦时，祂从我母腹中分别我出来，并以祂的恩典呼召我，

16 To reveal his Son in me, that I might preach him among the heathen; immediately I conferred not with flesh and blood:
为要在我里面启示祂的儿子，使我能在外邦人中传扬祂；我立刻没有与血肉之躯商议：

TWIDDLING OUR THUMBS:
无所事事：

Now I know the subject of election is a sore point with some Christians and I understand some of you will disagree with me.
我知道拣选这个话题对一些基督徒来说是个痛点，我理解你们中有些人会不同意我的看法。

Scripture clearly teaches election, but it also teaches free will; there are two sides to any coin yes.
圣经清楚地教导拣选，但也教导自由意志；是的，任何事物都有两面性。

Whatever side you are on, let’s work together for the glory of God…Amen (please don’t write to me, disagree but in love please)
无论你站在哪一边，让我们一起为上帝的荣耀而努力……阿们（请不要写信给我，持不同意见但请以爱心表达）。

Paul says he was separated at birth by God; As Paul, those of us who belong to God are chosen by God.
保罗说他从出生就被上帝分别出来；像保罗一样，我们这些属于上帝的人也是被上帝拣选的。

Let me explain it in the best way I can.
让我以我能做到的最好方式解释。

When I married Helen, I chose her and she chose me, but we had our own free will to say yes to each other…Amen.
当我与海伦结婚时，我选择了她，她也选择了我，但我们都有自己的自由意志对彼此说“是”……阿们。

My main focus is verse 16.
我的主要焦点是第16节。

Why Did God choose us?
上帝为什么拣选我们？

What is the point of salvation?
救恩的意义是什么？

God saved us so that He may display to the world the riches of His grace through Christ.
上帝救赎我们，是为了通过基督向世界展示祂恩典的丰富。

Paul says that Jesus would be revealed in Him and that through Him the gospel would be preached to every nation and every tribe.
保罗说，耶稣将在他里面被启示，并通过他，福音将传遍每个国家和每个部落。

Now to fight and argue about things like election may seem justifiable to some, but consider this:
现在，为拣选之类的事情争斗和争论对一些人来说似乎是正当的，但请考虑一下：

There is a world out there which is dying; we talk of Nero who fiddled whilst Rome burnt to the ground, but are we fiddling with doctrinal issues, whilst the world is dying.
外面有一个正在死亡的世界；我们谈到尼禄在罗马烧毁时还在拉小提琴，但我们是否在世界正在死亡时，还在为教义问题争吵不休。

Let’s get over our differences and glorify Christ by declaring His gospel.
让我们超越分歧，通过宣扬祂的福音来荣耀基督。

An atheist once wrote a letter to Ray Comfort saying these words,
一位无神论者曾写信给雷·康福特，说了以下的话：

If you believe one bit that thousands every day were falling into an eternal and unreachable fate, you should be running the streets mad with rage at their blindness.
如果你相信每天有成千上万的人陷入永恒而无法触及的命运，你应该在街上疯狂地为他们的盲目而愤怒。

That’s equivalent to standing on a street corner and watching every person that passes you walk blindly directly into the path of a bus and die, yet you stand idly by and do nothing.
这就像站在街角，看着每个经过你的人盲目地直接走进公交车的路径而死去，而你却袖手旁观，什么也不做。

You’re just twiddling your thumbs, happy in the knowledge that one day that ‘walk’ signal will shine your way across the road.
你只是在无所事事，满足于知道有一天“通行”信号会为你亮起，指引你过马路。

Think about it.
想想看。

Imagine the horrors Hell must have in store if the Bible is true.
想象一下，如果圣经是真的，地狱里会有多么恐怖的景象。

You’re just going to allow that to happen and not care about saving anyone but yourself?
你就打算让这一切发生，而只关心救赎自己吗？

Let us spend each and every moment seeking to glorify Christ and reaching the lost…Amen
让我们每一刻都用来寻求荣耀基督和拯救迷失的人……阿们

Time to stop arguing over points of doctrine and start loving each other.
是时候停止为教义争论，开始彼此相爱了。

Jesus said, “All men will know that you are my disciples if you have love for one another.
耶稣说： “如果你们彼此相爱，众人就会知道你们是我的门徒。”

The world is dying and God is saying to his church…WAKE UP!!!!!
世界正在死亡，上帝对祂的教会说……醒来吧！！！

God Bless,
愿上帝祝福