關於死亡和災難
天嬰 | 英文翻譯：楊光(真理報加西版2005年2月號)
2004年的最後一個夜晚，我獨自坐在多倫多的地鐵上。對面，駛向市中心方向，準備去City Hall參加新年慶典的人們，歡喜雀躍，洋溢着對2005年的無限期盼。相比之下，駛向市區外的車廂顯得格外空曠和冷清，大概連我只有不到十位乘客，每個人都低着頭，顯得睏倦疲憊，心事重重。我絲毫沒有要趕去參加除夕聚會的迫不及待，整個腦海里浮現的，來回切換的，是兩幅印度洋海嘯的悲情畫面：一個小女孩，在忙亂的人群中，凌亂的頭髮讓人看不太清她迷茫的臉，她的胸前，“失蹤父母” 的字樣揪心地訴說着悲涼無助的故事；一支舉起，紋着圖案的，像健美運動員一樣強壯，像希臘雕塑一樣完美的手臂，在望不到盡頭的棺木行列中有節奏地傳送着悲歌......。想着想着，我突然有一種逃離除夕的痛不欲生：2003年12月26日，伊朗大地震，超過4萬人的記憶永遠停留在2003；2004年12月26日，印度洋海嘯，又有超過20萬人被塵封在2004。
一位在印度救援的工作人員，問一位在災難中失去孩子的母親：“我能為你作什麼”，那位母親回答說：“讓我的孩子生還”。面對這樣的請求，除了感嘆無助和渺小外，還能作什麼呢？
災害是殘酷的，死亡是無情的，無論好人壞人，富人窮人，都無法逃脫，就像所羅門王所感嘆的一樣:“凡臨到眾人的事，都是一樣；義人和惡人都遭遇一樣的事；好人，潔淨人和不潔淨人，獻祭的與不獻祭的，也是一樣”。
災難的意義是什麼？死亡的意義又是什麼？災難是破壞，是對 上帝創造的破壞；死亡是仇敵，是掠奪，使生者和死者隔離。生命是短暫和脆弱的，好象“一片雲霧，出現少時就不見了”。如果沒有永恆，死亡因生命終止就成為永遠的隔離，人生因虛空終結於毫無意義。但是，感謝主，我們的生命有救贖的盼望，不但只是在今生今今世。保羅告訴我們：“我們知道一切受造之物一同嘆息、勞苦，直到如今。不但如此，就是我們這有聖靈初結果子的，也是自己心裡嘆息，等候得着兒子的名分，乃是我們的身體得贖。”（羅馬書八章22-23節）
在災難和死亡面前，人們不禁要問:“為什麼”？我也日日茶飯不思地“問天”，我必須承認，我不知道。但是，我想到主，想到主耶穌的受難，想到那個人類歷史上最黑暗的時刻，想到十字架的羞辱，想到主耶穌被剝奪，被遺棄，被掩面不看；我也想到新天新地的應許，想到有一天，我們都要站在主的台埃娑怨宓納笈校幌氳皆諛搶錚輝儆興勞觶輝儆蟹擲耄輝儆斜矗倚鬧械謀弒惚煥醋蘊焐習參克諢３譴又饕盞目嗄芽慈死嗟目嗄眩嗄丫陀澇睹揮寫鳶福懷譴又饕盞乃攬瓷死塗喑罘塵捅鷂匏猓懷譴又饕盞母椿羈此潰讕屯耆揮幸庖濉?
災難和死亡可以奪取我們所愛的，卻無法使我們與愛的源頭隔絕。海嘯使我們學習舍己、分享、分擔、援助、愛。我們學習和悲哀的人同哭，學會體貼和饒恕。人活着不是單靠食物，唯有愛可以讓人在患難中堅持。我們該如何度餘下的年日？當有一天，我們和親人，朋友別離的時候，除了悲傷，我們是否還有悔恨的淚？我們的鄰居，我們的同事，每一位和我們相遇的人，在他們生命的最後一刻，我們的“不小心”是否會成為他人一生的傷害？去了的人， 神已讓他們明白了一切；留下的我們，應在悲痛中學習看重“愛的關係”，讓我們的生命成為一份祝福的禮物。
死亡不是結束，而是生命的轉化，“歸於天父”是無比超然的經歷。無論我們在地上的日子有多久，如果沒有永生，我們所有的年日都是虛空，都是捕風。“若死人不復活，我們就吃吃喝喝吧！因為明天要死了。”（哥林多前書15章32節）感謝主， 神不但賜我們生命的氣息，還賜我們不朽壞的、榮耀的、聖潔的、強壯的、永遠的、復活的生命。每當想到這莫大的恩典和應許，我的心就不再眼淚，不再恐懼。
願復活的主安慰在苦難中的人，願復活的盼望激勵痛苦中的人。
Of Death and Destruction
Tianyin | English translation: Linda
On the last night of the year 2004, I was sitting alone in a Toronto metro. Heading for the city centre were revellers planning to attend the New Year festivities at City Hall, all of them filled with the high hopes for 2005. In contrast, the trains heading for the suburbs seemed especially empty and desolate, carrying no more than ten passengers, including me, heads bent with fatigue, preoccupied. I did not have any desire to attend a New Year's Eve gathering. In my mind's eye, two images from the Indian Ocean tsunami disaster flashed alternately through my head. A little girl, standing still amidst a rushing crowd, her rumpled hair is covering her stricken face. A sign of "Missing Parents", hanging in front, suggests a heart-wrenching and helpless story. A tattooed, athletic arm raised up high, like the perfect arm of a Greek statue, pumps in rhythm to a funeral song, the melody passing over an endless line of coffins. Suddenly I wanted to escape the pain of New Year's Eves. On December 26th, 2003, an earthquake in Iraq left the memories of 40 000 people in that year. Exactly one year later, an Indian Ocean tsunami locked nearly 230 000 people within 2004.
A rescue worker from India asked a mother who had lost her child in the disaster, "What can I do for you?" She replied with, "Bring my child back to life." Faced with this impossible request, what can we do aside from feeling useless and small? The disaster was cruel; death is ruthless. No matter good or bad, rich or poor, no one can escape it. Just as King Solomon once expressed, "All share a common destiny-the righteous and the wicked, the good and the bad, the clean and the unclean, those who offer sacrifices and those who do not" (Eccl. 9:2).
What is the purpose for disasters? What is the purpose for death?
Disaster is destruction; it is a destruction of God's creation. Death is the enemy, is desolation, the barrier between the living and the dead. Life is short and fragile, like a mist, quickly disappearing. If there isn't eternity, death would be the end of life, the eternal end; life on earth would be empty and meaningless. But, thanks be to the Lord, our lives have the hope of salvation, and not just for this age only. The Apostle Paul tells us in Romans 8:22-23, "We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies."
In the face of calamity and death, people cannot help but ask "Why?" I, too, ask that question and admit I don't know. But I thought of Jesus, of the sufferings he bore, of the darkest moment in human history, of the shame on the cross, of Jesus stripped, abandoned, and forsaken. I also thought of the promise of a new heaven and earth, of the day when we will stand before the throne of God, facing his fair judgement, of a place where this is no death, no separation, no pain. Then, my heart's agony is assuaged by Heaven's comfort. Unless we look at the suffering of man through the suffering of Jesus, there will never be an answer for it. Unless we look at life through the death of Jesus, it would be meaningless aside from its hardships and sorrows. Unless we look at death through the resurrection of Jesus, it also would be pointless.
Death and destruction can take away what we love, but cannot break our ties with the Source of love. The tsunami taught us to learn to give, share, aid, help, love. We learned to cry with those who are grieving, learned to sympathize and to forgive. People need not only food to survive, but love to remain steadfast through trials. How should we live the rest of our lives? One day, we and our family and friends will be separated. Besides being sorrowful, would we also let fall tears of regret? Our neighbours, our co-workers, everyone whom we've encountered, in the last moments of their lives, would overlooking them cause them a life of pain? God has allowed the dead to understand everything. The rest of us, who are left behind, need to learn this bitter lesson of relating in love, so that our lives can truly be a blessing to others.
Death is not the end; it is a trans????ation. "To be with the Lord" is a supernatural experience. No matter how long our days on earth may be, without eternal life, they would be barren and futile. "If the dead are not raised, 'Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die'" (I Cor. 15:32). Praise the Lord that God not only gave us the breath of life, but also gave us an everlasting, glorified, holy, strong, eternal, and revived life. Every time I think of this enormous grace and promise, the tears of my heart are no more; my fears are no more.
May the resurrected Lord comfort those afflicted; may the resurrected hope inspire those in pain.
