770.如果你问一个牧师或平信徒，他们是否确信这些事，会出现什么情况呢？例如，大洪水前的人们，包括亚当和夏娃，和大洪水后的人们，包括挪亚和他的儿子，以及亚伯拉罕、以撒、雅各，连同所有先知和使徒，以及其他所有人的灵魂，要么还留在地球的最深处，要么在太空或空气中飞来飞去。问他们是否相信灵魂会再次披上自己的肉身，与它们复合，尽管事实上，他们的尸体早已被虫子、老鼠或鱼吃光，埃及的木乃伊早被人们毁掉，有的被太阳晒得只剩骨架，或化为尘埃。再问问他们是否相信那时天上的星体会落到地球上，尽管地球比它们当中的任何一个都要小。问问这些事是不是悖论，其理由本身都会消散，因为它所行的是一个矛盾。对此，有些人会无言以对，有些人则会说：“这是信的事，我们会使自己的觉知服从信”。有的还会说，不但这些问题，还有很多其它事都超越理智，但在神的大能面前，都是可能的。他们一提及信和大能，理智就被逐出，正常的理智要么消失，要么变得如同无有，要么成为一个幽灵，并被视为疯狂。他们还补充说：“这些事难道不是圣言说的吗？每个人不都得按圣言所吩咐的思考和言谈吗？”
770. 如果你问一个牧师或平信徒, 他们是否确信这些事, 会出现什么情况呢? 例如, 大洪水前的人们, 包括亚当和夏娃, 和大洪水后的人们, 包括挪亚和他的儿子, 以及亚伯拉罕, 以撒, 雅各, 连同所有先知和使徒, 以及其他所有人的灵魂, 要么还留在地球的最深处, 要么在太空或空气中飞来飞去。 问他们是否相信灵魂会再次披上自己的肉身, 与它们复合, 尽管事实上, 他们的尸体早已被虫子, 老鼠或鱼吃光, 埃及的木乃伊早被人们毁掉, 有的被太阳晒得只剩骨架, 或化为尘埃。 再问问他们是否相信那时天上的星体会落到地球上, 尽管地球比它们当中的任何一个都要小。 问问这些事是不是悖论, 其理由本身都会消散, 因为它所行的是一个矛盾。 对此, 有些人会无言以对, 有些人则会说: “这是信的事, 我们会使自己的觉知服从信”。 有的还会说, 不但这些问题, 还有很多其它事都超越理智, 但在神的大能面前, 都是可能的。 他们一提及信和大能, 理智就被逐出, 正常的理智要么消失, 要么变得如同无有, 要么成为一个幽灵, 并被视为疯狂。 他们还补充说: “这些事难道不是圣言说的吗? 每个人不都得按圣言所吩咐的思考和言谈吗? ”
770. I have asked the clergy and the laity whether they truly believe all that. Do they really believe that all those souls - the people who lived before the Flood, including Adam and Eve, and the people who lived after the Flood, including Noah and his children, as well as Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and all the prophets and apostles, and all other human souls - are still being stored in the center of the earth or are flitting around in the air or the ether? Do they really believe that all those souls are going to wear their bodies again and be reunited to them, even if their bodies were corpses that have been eaten by worms, rats, or fish, or were Egyptian mummies that people have taken as medicine, or were mere skeletons baked under the sun until they crumbled to dust? Do they really believe that the stars of heaven are going to fall onto the earth, even though the earth is much smaller than the stars? Surely all these thoughts are absurdities that reason rejects, just as it rejects any other thought that does not make sense.
To these questions some have no response at all. Others say that these are matters of faith, and that we need to hold our intellect under obedience to faith. Others say that these and many other things that transcend reason are accomplished by the divine omnipotence.
When they say the words "faith" and "omnipotence," reason is banished; by that point in the conversation sound reason either disappears and seems nonexistent or turns into a kind of ghostly apparition and is called insanity. To this they add, "Aren't our beliefs in strict accordance with the Word? Aren't we supposed to think and speak on the basis of what the Word says?"
770. What happens if you ask a clergyman or a layman whether they believe all these things for sure? For instance, that the people before the flood together with Adam and Eve, and the people after the flood together with Noah and his sons, as well as Abraham, Isaac and Jacob together with all the prophets and apostles, and likewise all the rest of human souls, are all still stored in the bowels of the earth or flit about in the ether or the air. Ask whether they believe that souls will be clothed again with their own bodies and coalesce with them, despite the fact that their corpses have been eaten by worms, rats or fish, and in the case of Egyptian mummies consumed by people 1 ; when some have been reduced to skeletons burnt clean by the sun or have dissolved into dust. Ask too if they believe that the stars of the sky will then fall upon the earth, although the earth is smaller than a single star. Ask whether such things are not paradoxes, which reason can explode as it does contradictions. To this some will have no answer to make. Some will say that this is a matter of faith, 'and we keep our understanding subject to faith.' Some will say that not only these things, but much else that is beyond the grasp of reason, are possible to God's omnipotence. When they mention faith and omnipotence, reason is banished. Sound reason then either disappears, and becomes as nothing, or becomes like a spectre and is called madness. 'Are not these things,' they add, 'what the Word says? Surely everyone thinks and speaks as the Word tells us.'
Footnotes:
1. i.e., as medicine.
770. When a clergyman or a layman is asked whether he firmly believes all these things, as that the antediluvians together with Adam and Eve, and the postdiluvians together with Noah and his sons, and Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, together with all the prophets and apostles, as well as the souls of all other men, are still reserved in the bowels of the earth or are flying about in the ether or air; as also whether he believes that souls will be re-clothed with their bodies or be reunited with them, when yet these dead bodies have been eaten up by worms and mice and fishes, and Egyptian bodies as mummies have been eaten up by men, and others are mere skeletons dried up in the sun and crumbled to dust; also whether he believes that the stars of heaven will then fall upon the earth, which, however, is smaller than a single one of them; and whether these things are not absurdities which reason itself dissipates, as it does anything contradictory; to these things some will make no reply; some will say, "These things are matters of faith, to which we keep the understanding in obedience;" some that not only these but many other matters that are above reason belong to the Divine omnipotence. And when they mention faith and omnipotence, reason is exiled, and sound reason either disappears and becomes as nothing, or becomes as a specter, and is called insane. They add, "Are not these things in accordance with the Word? Must not everyone think and speak from that?"
770. What is the answer when clergy and layman alike are asked whether they firmly believe that the antediluvians with Adam and Eve, and the postdiluvians with Noah and his sons, and also Abraham, Isaac and Jacob with all the prophets and apostles, as well as the souls of all other men, are still reserved in the middle of the earth, or are flying about in the ether or air; and whether they believe that their souls will again be clothed with their bodies and enter into union with them, when yet some are corpses, eaten by worms, mice and fish, or are Egyptian bodies, mummified by men and destroyed in the process, or mere skeletons, burnt up by the sun and reduced to dust; and also, whether they believe that the stars of heaven will then fall upon the earth, which yet is smaller than any one of them; and whether these things are not paradoxical, which reason itself dissipates, as it does all things that are contradictory? Some will make no reply, some will say that such things are matters of faith, to which the understanding must be kept in subjection; and some again will argue that not only these but also many other questions that are beyond the scope of reason, are matters of Divine omnipotence. And when they mention faith and omnipotence, reason is banished. It either disappears like something which ceases to exist, or it becomes like an apparition, and is regarded as madness. To this they add: "Are not these things in accordance with the Word? Surely one must think and speak from it."
770. Cum interrogatur Clericus et Laicus, num omnia illa firmiter credant, ut quod Antediluviani una cum Adamo et Eva, et Postdiluviani una cum Noacho et ejus filiis, tum Abrahamus, Isacus et Jacobus una cum omnibus Prophetis et Apostolis, similiter ac reliquorum hominum Animae, adhuc reserventur in meditullio terrae, aut volitent in aethere aut aere; tum etiam Numeri credant, quod Animae reinduiturae sint corpora sua, et cum his coaliturae, quae tamen sunt cadavera exesa a vermibus, muribus et piscibus, et Aegyptiaca ut mumia ab hominibus exesa, et quaedam modo sceleta exusta sole et dilapsa in pulverem; et quoque Numeri credant, quod stellae Coeli tunc delapsurae sint super terram, quae tamen minor una illarum est; numne talia sunt paradoxa, quae ipsa ratio dissipat, sicut solet contradictoria. Sed ad haec quidam nihil respondent; quidam quod illa sint fidei, sub cujus obedientia captamus intellectum; quidam quod non modo haec, sed etiam supra rationalia plura sint Divinae Omnipotentiae; et cum nominant Fidem et Omnipotentiam, exulat ratio, et tunc sana ratio vel disparatur, et fit sicut nihil, vel fit sicut spectrum, et vocatur insania; addunt, suntne illa secundum Verbum; quis non ex illo cogitabit et loquetur.