《尤兰提亚之书》英文版自 2006 年起在全球范围内属于公共领域.
翻译: © 2015 Urantia Foundation
SIN, SACRIFICE, AND ATONEMENT
罪恶、祭献和赎罪
1955 89:0.1 PRIMITIVE man regarded himself as being in debt to the spirits, as standing in need of redemption. As the savages looked at it, in justice the spirits might have visited much more bad luck upon them. As time passed, this concept developed into the doctrine of sin and salvation. The soul was looked upon as coming into the world under forfeit—original sin. The soul must be ransomed; a scapegoat must be provided. The head-hunter, in addition to practicing the cult of skull worship, was able to provide a substitute for his own life, a scapeman.
2015 89:0.1 原始人将自身视作是亏欠鬼神的,并将自身视作是需要赎命的。在野蛮人看来,鬼神若出于公平或许本应将更多坏运气降到他们身上。随着时间流逝,这种观念发展成了罪恶与救赎的学说。灵魂被视为是在欠债的情况下而来到这个世界上 -- 即原罪。灵魂一定要得到救赎;替罪羊一定要提供。猎头人,除了实施头骨崇拜的迷信外,也要为自身提供一个替代物,即替罪人。
1955 89:0.2 The savage was early possessed with the notion that spirits derive supreme satisfaction from the sight of human misery, suffering, and humiliation. At first, man was only concerned with sins of commission, but later he became exercised over sins of omission. And the whole subsequent sacrificial system grew up around these two ideas. This new ritual had to do with the observance of the propitiation ceremonies of sacrifice. Primitive man believed that something special must be done to win the favor of the gods; only advanced civilization recognizes a consistently even-tempered and benevolent God. Propitiation was insurance against immediate ill luck rather than investment in future bliss. And the rituals of avoidance, exorcism, coercion, and propitiation all merge into one another.
1. THE TABOO
1. 禁忌
1955 89:1.1 Observance of a taboo was man’s effort to dodge ill luck, to keep from offending the spirit ghosts by the avoidance of something. The taboos were at first nonreligious, but they early acquired ghost or spirit sanction, and when thus reinforced, they became lawmakers and institution builders. The taboo is the source of ceremonial standards and the ancestor of primitive self-control. It was the earliest form of societal regulation and for a long time the only one; it is still a basic unit of the social regulative structure.
1955 89:1.2 The respect which these prohibitions commanded in the mind of the savage exactly equaled his fear of the powers who were supposed to enforce them. Taboos first arose because of chance experience with ill luck; later they were proposed by chiefs and shamans—fetish men who were thought to be directed by a spirit ghost, even by a god. The fear of spirit retribution is so great in the mind of a primitive that he sometimes dies of fright when he has violated a taboo, and this dramatic episode enormously strengthens the hold of the taboo on the minds of the survivors.
1955 89:1.3 Among the earliest prohibitions were restrictions on the appropriation of women and other property. As religion began to play a larger part in the evolution of the taboo, the article resting under ban was regarded as unclean, subsequently as unholy. The records of the Hebrews are full of the mention of things clean and unclean, holy and unholy, but their beliefs along these lines were far less cumbersome and extensive than were those of many other peoples.
2015 89:1.3 在最早的禁令中间,有关于女人及其他财产挪用方面的限制。随着宗教开始在禁忌的演进中发挥更大的作用,留在禁令下的物品被视为是不洁的,随后被视为是邪恶的。希伯来人的记载中充满了对洁物与秽物、圣物与邪物的提及,但他们顺着这些词句所形成的信仰却比许多其他民族的信仰要远为简单得多,范围远小得多。
1955 89:1.4 The seven commandments of Dalamatia and Eden, as well as the ten injunctions of the Hebrews, were definite taboos, all expressed in the same negative form as were the most ancient prohibitions. But these newer codes were truly emancipating in that they took the place of thousands of pre-existent taboos. And more than this, these later commandments definitely promised something in return for obedience.
1955 89:1.5 The early food taboos originated in fetishism and totemism. The swine was sacred to the Phoenicians, the cow to the Hindus. The Egyptian taboo on pork has been perpetuated by the Hebraic and Islamic faiths. A variant of the food taboo was the belief that a pregnant woman could think so much about a certain food that the child, when born, would be the echo of that food. Such viands would be taboo to the child.
1955 89:1.6 Methods of eating soon became taboo, and so originated ancient and modern table etiquette. Caste systems and social levels are vestigial remnants of olden prohibitions. The taboos were highly effective in organizing society, but they were terribly burdensome; the negative-ban system not only maintained useful and constructive regulations but also obsolete, outworn, and useless taboos.
2015 89:1.6 吃法不久也成了禁忌,由此产生了古代和现代的餐桌礼仪。等级体系和社会阶层也是古代禁令的遗留物。禁忌在组织社会方面极为有效,但它们却也极为繁重;这种否定式禁令的体系不仅保持了有益的建设性规则,而且也保持了众多陈旧过时的无用性禁忌。
1955 89:1.7 There would, however, be no civilized society to sit in criticism upon primitive man except for these far-flung and multifarious taboos, and the taboo would never have endured but for the upholding sanctions of primitive religion. Many of the essential factors in man’s evolution have been highly expensive, have cost vast treasure in effort, sacrifice, and self-denial, but these achievements of self-control were the real rungs on which man climbed civilization’s ascending ladder.
2015 89:1.7 然而,除了这些分布广泛、各式各样的禁忌之外,文明社会对于原始人也就无可厚非了,若没有原始宗教的支持认可,禁忌也不会持续如此久长。人类进化中的许多要素都是代价极高的,曾耗费巨大财富在努力、牺牲和克制方面,不过这些自律之成就却又都是人类赖以攀登文明之上升阶梯的真正梯级。
2. THE CONCEPT OF SIN
2. 罪恶之观念
1955 89:2.1 The fear of chance and the dread of bad luck literally drove man into the invention of primitive religion as supposed insurance against these calamities. From magic and ghosts, religion evolved through spirits and fetishes to taboos. Every primitive tribe had its tree of forbidden fruit, literally the apple but figuratively consisting of a thousand branches hanging heavy with all sorts of taboos. And the forbidden tree always said, “Thou shalt not.”
1955 89:2.2 As the savage mind evolved to that point where it envisaged both good and bad spirits, and when the taboo received the solemn sanction of evolving religion, the stage was all set for the appearance of the new conception of sin. The idea of sin was universally established in the world before revealed religion ever made its entry. It was only by the concept of sin that natural death became logical to the primitive mind. Sin was the transgression of taboo, and death was the penalty of sin.
1955 89:2.3 Sin was ritual, not rational; an act, not a thought. And this entire concept of sin was fostered by the lingering traditions of Dilmun and the days of a little paradise on earth. The tradition of Adam and the Garden of Eden also lent substance to the dream of a onetime “golden age” of the dawn of the races. And all this confirmed the ideas later expressed in the belief that man had his origin in a special creation, that he started his career in perfection, and that transgression of the taboos—sin—brought him down to his later sorry plight.
1955 89:2.4 The habitual violation of a taboo became a vice; primitive law made vice a crime; religion made it a sin. Among the early tribes the violation of a taboo was a combined crime and sin. Community calamity was always regarded as punishment for tribal sin. To those who believed that prosperity and righteousness went together, the apparent prosperity of the wicked occasioned so much worry that it was necessary to invent hells for the punishment of taboo violators; the numbers of these places of future punishment have varied from one to five.
1955 89:2.5 The idea of confession and forgiveness early appeared in primitive religion. Men would ask forgiveness at a public meeting for sins they intended to commit the following week. Confession was merely a rite of remission, also a public notification of defilement, a ritual of crying “unclean, unclean!” Then followed all the ritualistic schemes of purification. All ancient peoples practiced these meaningless ceremonies. Many apparently hygienic customs of the early tribes were largely ceremonial.
3. RENUNCIATION AND HUMILIATION
3. 弃绝与蒙辱
1955 89:3.1 Renunciation came as the next step in religious evolution; fasting was a common practice. Soon it became the custom to forgo many forms of physical pleasure, especially of a sexual nature. The ritual of the fast was deeply rooted in many ancient religions and has been handed down to practically all modern theologic systems of thought.
1955 89:3.2 Just about the time barbarian man was recovering from the wasteful practice of burning and burying property with the dead, just as the economic structure of the races was beginning to take shape, this new religious doctrine of renunciation appeared, and tens of thousands of earnest souls began to court poverty. Property was regarded as a spiritual handicap. These notions of the spiritual dangers of material possession were widespreadly entertained in the times of Philo and Paul, and they have markedly influenced European philosophy ever since.
1955 89:3.3 Poverty was just a part of the ritual of the mortification of the flesh which, unfortunately, became incorporated into the writings and teachings of many religions, notably Christianity. Penance is the negative form of this ofttimes foolish ritual of renunciation. But all this taught the savage self-control, and that was a worth-while advancement in social evolution. Self-denial and self-control were two of the greatest social gains from early evolutionary religion. Self-control gave man a new philosophy of life; it taught him the art of augmenting life’s fraction by lowering the denominator of personal demands instead of always attempting to increase the numerator of selfish gratification.
1955 89:3.4 These olden ideas of self-discipline embraced flogging and all sorts of physical torture. The priests of the mother cult were especially active in teaching the virtue of physical suffering, setting the example by submitting themselves to castration. The Hebrews, Hindus, and Buddhists were earnest devotees of this doctrine of physical humiliation.
2015 89:3.4 这些古时自律的观念,包括了鞭打及各种各样的身体折磨。母性崇拜的祭司们尤为积极教导身体受苦的美德,并通过令自身服于阉割来以身作则。希伯来人、印度教徒和佛教徒,都曾是这种身体蒙辱教义的热切信奉者。
1955 89:3.5 All through the olden times men sought in these ways for extra credits on the self-denial ledgers of their gods. It was once customary, when under some emotional stress, to make vows of self-denial and self-torture. In time these vows assumed the form of contracts with the gods and, in that sense, represented true evolutionary progress in that the gods were supposed to do something definite in return for this self-torture and mortification of the flesh. Vows were both negative and positive. Pledges of this harmful and extreme nature are best observed today among certain groups in India.
2015 89:3.5 在整个古代期间,人们曾试图以这些方式寻求在其诸神的自律账簿上获得额外的积分。当处于某种情绪压力之下时,发誓要自律和苦修曾一度是种习俗。适时,这些誓约采取了与诸神定约的形式,从那种意义上来说,它代表了真正的演变进步,因为诸神按理必将对这种自我折磨和身体禁欲施以某种明确的回报。誓约既有消极性的,也有积极性的。今日在某些印度族群中间,还可以极好地观察到具有这种有害且极端性质的发誓。
1955 89:3.6 It was only natural that the cult of renunciation and humiliation should have paid attention to sexual gratification. The continence cult originated as a ritual among soldiers prior to engaging in battle; in later days it became the practice of “saints.” This cult tolerated marriage only as an evil lesser than fornication. Many of the world’s great religions have been adversely influenced by this ancient cult, but none more markedly than Christianity. The Apostle Paul was a devotee of this cult, and his personal views are reflected in the teachings which he fastened onto Christian theology: “It is good for a man not to touch a woman.” “I would that all men were even as I myself.” “I say, therefore, to the unmarried and widows, it is good for them to abide even as I.” Paul well knew that such teachings were not a part of Jesus’ gospel, and his acknowledgment of this is illustrated by his statement, “I speak this by permission and not by commandment.” But this cult led Paul to look down upon women. And the pity of it all is that his personal opinions have long influenced the teachings of a great world religion. If the advice of the tentmaker-teacher were to be literally and universally obeyed, then would the human race come to a sudden and inglorious end. Furthermore, the involvement of a religion with the ancient continence cult leads directly to a war against marriage and the home, society’s veritable foundation and the basic institution of human progress. And it is not to be wondered at that all such beliefs fostered the formation of celibate priesthoods in the many religions of various peoples.
2015 89:3.6 弃绝和蒙辱派本应留意性满足是再自然不过了。节欲派作为战前士兵中间的一种仪式而发源;在后来时期,它则变成了“圣徒”的做法。这种派别只把婚姻默许为一种略次于奸淫的邪恶。这个世界的许多伟大宗教都曾受到这一古时派别的负面影响,但没有一个比基督教更为明显的了。使徒保罗是这一派别的信奉者,他的个人观点在其强加到基督教神学上的教义中有所反映:“男人不触碰女人是好的。”“我愿意所有男人都像我一样。”“因而,我对那些未嫁者和寡妇们说,她们像我一样就好。”保罗非常清楚这类教义并非耶稣教义的一部分,他对这点的承认可由其陈述所例示出来,“我说这话,原是准许你们的,不是命令你们的”。 不过保罗所领导的这一派别瞧不起女人。他的个人观点长时期影响了一个伟大世界宗教的教义,这一切是令人遗憾的。若这位造帐篷导师的建议受到切实而广泛遵从的话,那么人类将会有一个突然而又不光彩的终结。此外,一个宗教若与古老的节欲派别纠缠在一起,将会直接导致一场针对婚姻和家庭的战争,而后二者却是社会的真正基础和人类进步的基本制度。所有这类信仰都促成了各民族许多宗教中独身祭司阶层的形成,这也就根本不足为怪了。[16][17][18][19][20]
1955 89:3.7 Someday man should learn how to enjoy liberty without license, nourishment without gluttony, and pleasure without debauchery. Self-control is a better human policy of behavior regulation than is extreme self-denial. Nor did Jesus ever teach these unreasonable views to his followers.
2015 89:3.7 终有一日,人类应学会了享受自由而无需许可,享受营养而无需暴食,享受快乐而无需放荡。自我控制是一种好于极端自我克制的人类行为规管方针。耶稣也从未向他的追随者们传授过这些不合理的看法。
4. ORIGINS OF SACRIFICE
4. 祭献的诸多起源
1955 89:4.1 Sacrifice as a part of religious devotions, like many other worshipful rituals, did not have a simple and single origin. The tendency to bow down before power and to prostrate oneself in worshipful adoration in the presence of mystery is foreshadowed in the fawning of the dog before its master. It is but one step from the impulse of worship to the act of sacrifice. Primitive man gauged the value of his sacrifice by the pain which he suffered. When the idea of sacrifice first attached itself to religious ceremonial, no offering was contemplated which was not productive of pain. The first sacrifices were such acts as plucking hair, cutting the flesh, mutilations, knocking out teeth, and cutting off fingers. As civilization advanced, these crude concepts of sacrifice were elevated to the level of the rituals of self-abnegation, asceticism, fasting, deprivation, and the later Christian doctrine of sanctification through sorrow, suffering, and the mortification of the flesh.
2015 89:4.1 祭献作为宗教奉献的一部分,像许多其他崇拜仪式一样,并没有一种简单而单一的起源。在权能面前卑躬屈膝以及在神秘临在中顶礼膜拜的倾向,可从狗在其主人面前摇尾乞怜中找到前兆。它只不过是从崇拜冲动到祭献活动的一个步骤而已。原始人通过他所遭受的痛苦来衡量其祭献所具有的价值。当祭献的观念最初依附到宗教仪式中时,所思忖的供奉无不是产生痛苦的。最初的祭献是诸如拔头发、割肉、断肢、敲掉牙齿及切断手指等行为。随着文明的进步,这些粗陋的祭献观念被提升到了克己、苦行、斋戒、守贫等仪式,以及后来通过懊悔、受苦和肉体禁欲而达到圣化的基督教教义所在的层次。
1955 89:4.2 Early in the evolution of religion there existed two conceptions of the sacrifice: the idea of the gift sacrifice, which connoted the attitude of thanksgiving, and the debt sacrifice, which embraced the idea of redemption. Later there developed the notion of substitution.
2015 89:4.2 在宗教演进的早期曾存有两种祭献观念:即表达感恩态度的赠与类祭献观念,以及包含了赎命观念的偿还类祭献观念。后来还发展出了替换的观念。
1955 89:4.3 Man still later conceived that his sacrifice of whatever nature might function as a message bearer to the gods; it might be as a sweet savor in the nostrils of deity. This brought incense and other aesthetic features of sacrificial rituals which developed into sacrificial feasting, in time becoming increasingly elaborate and ornate.
1955 89:4.4 As religion evolved, the sacrificial rites of conciliation and propitiation replaced the older methods of avoidance, placation, and exorcism.
2015 89:4.4 随着宗教的演进,安抚和解性的祭献仪式取代了古时的回避、抚慰和驱赶手段。
1955 89:4.5 The earliest idea of the sacrifice was that of a neutrality assessment levied by ancestral spirits; only later did the idea of atonement develop. As man got away from the notion of the evolutionary origin of the race, as the traditions of the days of the Planetary Prince and the sojourn of Adam filtered down through time, the concept of sin and of original sin became widespread, so that sacrifice for accidental and personal sin evolved into the doctrine of sacrifice for the atonement of racial sin. The atonement of the sacrifice was a blanket insurance device which covered even the resentment and jealousy of an unknown god.
2015 89:4.5 最早的祭献观念是一种由祖先鬼灵所发起的中性评估观念;赎罪观念只是后来才发展起来。随着人类远离了种族的进化类起源观,随着行星君王时代和亚当旅居时代的诸多传说渐趋式微,罪与原罪的观念变得广为流传,如此针对偶然性个人之罪的祭献,演变成了针对种族之罪的赎罪祭献教义。祭献类赎罪曾是一种无所不包的保险策略,它甚至掩蔽了一个未知之神的怨恨和嫉妒。
1955 89:4.6 Surrounded by so many sensitive spirits and grasping gods, primitive man was face to face with such a host of creditor deities that it required all the priests, ritual, and sacrifices throughout an entire lifetime to get him out of spiritual debt. The doctrine of original sin, or racial guilt, started every person out in serious debt to the spirit powers.
2015 89:4.6 被这么多敏感鬼灵和贪婪诸神所环绕,原始人要去面对这么一大群债主神祗;以致一生都需要所有祭司、仪式和祭献来令他摆脱鬼神负债。原罪或是种族罪行说,曾使每个人一出生便背上了亏欠于各种怪力乱神的沉重债务。
1955 89:4.7 Gifts and bribes are given to men; but when tendered to the gods, they are described as being dedicated, made sacred, or are called sacrifices. Renunciation was the negative form of propitiation; sacrifice became the positive form. The act of propitiation included praise, glorification, flattery, and even entertainment. And it is the remnants of these positive practices of the olden propitiation cult that constitute the modern forms of divine worship. Present-day forms of worship are simply the ritualization of these ancient sacrificial techniques of positive propitiation.
2015 89:4.7 赠礼和贿赂是给人的;但当它们被供给诸神时,则被描述为奉献、变圣,或被称作祭献。弃绝曾是消极的安抚形式;祭献则成了积极的形式。安抚的行为包括赞美、颂扬、奉承,乃至款待。正是古时安抚教派中的这些积极做法,构成了现代的诸多神圣崇拜形式。当今的诸多崇拜形式,不过是这些古代积极安抚类祭献手段的仪式化。
1955 89:4.8 Animal sacrifice meant much more to primitive man than it could ever mean to modern races. These barbarians regarded the animals as their actual and near kin. As time passed, man became shrewd in his sacrificing, ceasing to offer up his work animals. At first he sacrificed the best of everything, including his domesticated animals.
1955 89:4.9 It was no empty boast that a certain Egyptian ruler made when he stated that he had sacrificed: 113,433 slaves, 493,386 head of cattle, 88 boats, 2,756 golden images, 331,702 jars of honey and oil, 228,380 jars of wine, 680,714 geese, 6,744,428 loaves of bread, and 5,740,352 sacks of corn. And in order to do this he must needs have sorely taxed his toiling subjects.
2015 89:4.9 有位埃及统治者在声称他祭献了以下物品时并非空口自夸:113,433名奴隶、493,386头牛、88艘船只、2,756尊金像、331,702罐蜜和油,228,380罐酒,680,714只鹅、6,744,428块面包、以及5,740,352袋钱币。为了做到这一切所需,他必定残酷盘剥了那些辛劳的臣民。
1955 89:4.10 Sheer necessity eventually drove these semisavages to eat the material part of their sacrifices, the gods having enjoyed the soul thereof. And this custom found justification under the pretense of the ancient sacred meal, a communion service according to modern usage.
5. SACRIFICES AND CANNIBALISM
5. 祭献和食人
1955 89:5.1 Modern ideas of early cannibalism are entirely wrong; it was a part of the mores of early society. While cannibalism is traditionally horrible to modern civilization, it was a part of the social and religious structure of primitive society. Group interests dictated the practice of cannibalism. It grew up through the urge of necessity and persisted because of the slavery of superstition and ignorance. It was a social, economic, religious, and military custom.
2015 89:5.1 现代人对于早期食人的诸多观念是完全错误的;它是早期社会习俗的一部分。尽管对现代文明而言,食人从传统上来说是非常可怕的,但它却是原始社会之社会和宗教结构的一部分。群体利益对食人习俗有着决定性的影响。它通过迫切的需要而逐渐形成,并由于迷信和无知的奴役而持续下来。它曾是一种兼具社会性、经济性、宗教性和军事性的习俗。
1955 89:5.2 Early man was a cannibal; he enjoyed human flesh, and therefore he offered it as a food gift to the spirits and his primitive gods. Since ghost spirits were merely modified men, and since food was man’s greatest need, then food must likewise be a spirit’s greatest need.
2015 89:5.2 早期人类是一种食人者;他喜欢以人肉为食,并因此将它作为食物赠与献给鬼灵及其原始诸神。由于鬼神不过是变化了的人,而食物又是人的最大需求,那么食物必定也是鬼神们的最大需求。
1955 89:5.3 Cannibalism was once well-nigh universal among the evolving races. The Sangiks were all cannibalistic, but originally the Andonites were not, nor were the Nodites and Adamites; neither were the Andites until after they had become grossly admixed with the evolutionary races.
2015 89:5.3 在进化类各族中间,食人一度几近是普遍性的。桑吉克族人都是食人的,但安东族人原本不是的,诺德族人和亚当族人也都不是;安德族人在与进化类种族大量混合之前也不是。
1955 89:5.4 The taste for human flesh grows. Having been started through hunger, friendship, revenge, or religious ritual, the eating of human flesh goes on to habitual cannibalism. Man-eating has arisen through food scarcity, though this has seldom been the underlying reason. The Eskimos and early Andonites, however, seldom were cannibalistic except in times of famine. The red men, especially in Central America, were cannibals. It was once a general practice for primitive mothers to kill and eat their own children in order to renew the strength lost in childbearing, and in Queensland the first child is still frequently thus killed and devoured. In recent times cannibalism has been deliberately resorted to by many African tribes as a war measure, a sort of frightfulness with which to terrorize their neighbors.
2015 89:5.4 对人肉的嗜好是逐渐形成的。经由饥饿、友谊、复仇或是宗教仪式而开始食人肉,它慢慢发展成习惯性食人。吃人是因食物短缺而起,虽然这很少是根本原因。然而,爱斯基摩人和早期的安东族人却很少食人,除非是在饥荒时期。红种人,特别是中美地区的,曾是食人者。原始人母亲杀死并吃掉自己的孩子以恢复分娩过程中所丧失的体力,一度曾是一种普遍做法,而在昆士兰,头生子仍因此而频遭杀害和吞食。在近来时代,许多非洲部落有意采取食人手段来作为一种战争措施,即一种用来威吓其邻族的可怕措施。
1955 89:5.5 Some cannibalism resulted from the degeneration of once superior stocks, but it was mostly prevalent among the evolutionary races. Man-eating came on at a time when men experienced intense and bitter emotions regarding their enemies. Eating human flesh became part of a solemn ceremony of revenge; it was believed that an enemy’s ghost could, in this way, be destroyed or fused with that of the eater. It was once a widespread belief that wizards attained their powers by eating human flesh.
2015 89:5.5 有些食人源于一度曾属优良血统的退化,但它大多流行于进化类种族中间。当人们对其仇敌产生强烈的怀恨之情时,吃人便出现了。吃人肉成了复仇庄严仪式的一部分;人们相信,一个仇敌的鬼魂能通过这种方式被毁灭,或是与啖食者的魂灵相融合。男巫通过吃人肉而获得其法力,曾是一种广为流传的信仰。
1955 89:5.6 Certain groups of man-eaters would consume only members of their own tribes, a pseudospiritual inbreeding which was supposed to accentuate tribal solidarity. But they also ate enemies for revenge with the idea of appropriating their strength. It was considered an honor to the soul of a friend or fellow tribesman if his body were eaten, while it was no more than just punishment to an enemy thus to devour him. The savage mind made no pretensions to being consistent.
2015 89:5.6 某些食人者族群只会吃自己部落的成员,即一种据称是强化部落团结的伪灵性的同系繁殖。但他们也会因复仇而吃掉仇敌,以为这样可以占有他们的力量。如果一个朋友或部落成员的身体被吃掉,那么人们认为对其灵魂来说是一种荣誉,而对仇敌而言,这样把他吃掉不过只是惩罚。野蛮人的头脑从不自命前后一致。
1955 89:5.7 Among some tribes aged parents would seek to be eaten by their children; among others it was customary to refrain from eating near relations; their bodies were sold or exchanged for those of strangers. There was considerable commerce in women and children who had been fattened for slaughter. When disease or war failed to control population, the surplus was unceremoniously eaten.
2015 89:5.7 在某些部落中间,年老的父母会想方设法被自己的孩子吃掉;在其他部落中间,禁吃近亲则是一种习俗;他们的尸体被卖掉或是与陌生人的尸体交换。有许多妇女儿童的交易,他们被养肥了之后杀掉。当疾病或战争未能控制人口时,多余的人就会被随便吃掉。
1955 89:5.8 Cannibalism has been gradually disappearing because of the following influences:
2015 89:5.8 由于以下这些影响,食人渐趋消失了:
1955 89:5.9 1. It sometimes became a communal ceremony, the assumption of collective responsibility for inflicting the death penalty upon a fellow tribesman. The blood guilt ceases to be a crime when participated in by all, by society. The last of cannibalism in Asia was this eating of executed criminals.
2015 89:5.9 1. 它时常变成了一种公共典礼,即对一名部落成员施行死刑而集体分担责任。当全体成员及整个社会都参与时,杀人罪就不再是一种罪行了。亚洲最后的食人便是这种对受刑罪犯的啖食。
1955 89:5.10 2. It very early became a religious ritual, but the growth of ghost fear did not always operate to reduce man-eating.
2015 89:5.10 2. 它很早便成了一种宗教仪式,但鬼魂恐惧的发展并未总是起到减少吃人的作用。
1955 89:5.11 3. Eventually it progressed to the point where only certain parts or organs of the body were eaten, those parts supposed to contain the soul or portions of the spirit. Blood drinking became common, and it was customary to mix the “edible” parts of the body with medicines.
2015 89:5.11 3. 它最终进展到了这样一点,只有身体的某些部分或器官会被吃掉,即那些据称是含有灵魂或是部分鬼灵的部分。饮血变得普遍起来,将身体的“可食”部分与药物混在一起成了习俗。
1955 89:5.12 4. It became limited to men; women were forbidden to eat human flesh.
2015 89:5.12 4. 它变得仅限于男人;女人被禁止吃人肉。
1955 89:5.13 5. It was next limited to the chiefs, priests, and shamans.
2015 89:5.13 5. 它接下来被限于首领、祭司和萨满。
1955 89:5.14 6. Then it became taboo among the higher tribes. The taboo on man-eating originated in Dalamatia and slowly spread over the world. The Nodites encouraged cremation as a means of combating cannibalism since it was once a common practice to dig up buried bodies and eat them.
2015 89:5.14 6. 后来它在一些较高等的部落中间成了禁忌。食人的禁忌发源于达拉玛希亚,并逐渐传播到全世界。诺德族人曾鼓励火葬作为一种防治食人的手段,因为挖出尸体并吃掉它们一度曾是一种普遍的做法。
1955 89:5.15 7. Human sacrifice sounded the death knell of cannibalism. Human flesh having become the food of superior men, the chiefs, it was eventually reserved for the still more superior spirits; and thus the offering of human sacrifices effectively put a stop to cannibalism, except among the lowest tribes. When human sacrifice was fully established, man-eating became taboo; human flesh was food only for the gods; man could eat only a small ceremonial bit, a sacrament.
2015 89:5.15 7. 人祭为食人敲响了丧钟。人肉在成了上等人物、即首领们的食物之后,它最终被留下来供给更为上等的鬼神;由此人祭的供奉有效地终止了食人,除了在一些最低等的部落中间以外。当人祭完全确立时,吃人就成了禁忌;人肉只是诸神的食物;人只能吃一小部分仪式性食物,即圣餐。
1955 89:5.16 Finally animal substitutes came into general use for sacrificial purposes, and even among the more backward tribes dog-eating greatly reduced man-eating. The dog was the first domesticated animal and was held in high esteem both as such and as food.
2015 89:5.16 最终动物替代物广泛用于各种祭献目的,即便在较为落后的部落中间,吃狗肉也极大地减少了吃人。狗是第一种被驯养的动物,它作为祭品和食物而备受尊崇。
6. EVOLUTION OF HUMAN SACRIFICE
6. 人祭的演变
1955 89:6.1 Human sacrifice was an indirect result of cannibalism as well as its cure. Providing spirit escorts to the spirit world also led to the lessening of man-eating as it was never the custom to eat these death sacrifices. No race has been entirely free from the practice of human sacrifice in some form and at some time, even though the Andonites, Nodites, and Adamites were the least addicted to cannibalism.
2015 89:6.1 人祭既是食人的一种间接后果,也是治疗它的一种良方。向鬼灵界提供鬼灵护送者,也导致了吃人的减少,因为再没有吃掉这些死亡祭献的习俗了。所有民族都曾在某个时期实施过某种形式的人祭,尽管安东族人、诺德族人和亚当族人是最不沉溺于吃人的。
1955 89:6.2 Human sacrifice has been virtually universal; it persisted in the religious customs of the Chinese, Hindus, Egyptians, Hebrews, Mesopotamians, Greeks, Romans, and many other peoples, even on to recent times among the backward African and Australian tribes. The later American Indians had a civilization emerging from cannibalism and, therefore, steeped in human sacrifice, especially in Central and South America. The Chaldeans were among the first to abandon the sacrificing of humans for ordinary occasions, substituting therefor animals. About two thousand years ago a tenderhearted Japanese emperor introduced clay images to take the place of human sacrifices, but it was less than a thousand years ago that these sacrifices died out in northern Europe. Among certain backward tribes, human sacrifice is still carried on by volunteers, a sort of religious or ritual suicide. A shaman once ordered the sacrifice of a much respected old man of a certain tribe. The people revolted; they refused to obey. Whereupon the old man had his own son dispatch him; the ancients really believed in this custom.
2015 89:6.2 人祭几近曾是普遍性的;它曾持久存留在中国人、印度人、埃及人、希伯来人、美索不达米亚人、希腊人、罗马人及许多其他民族的宗教习俗之中,甚至到近来时代仍继续存留在非洲人和澳洲人部落中间。后来的美洲印第安人曾有过一种源于食人的文明,因此沉溺于人祭当中,尤其在中南美洲。迦勒底人是最早放弃在一般场合用人祭献而代之以动物的民族之一。大约两千年前,一位心肠软的日本皇帝引入了泥像来取代人祭。而这些祭献于不到一千年前才在北欧消失。在某些落后部落中间,人祭仍由一些自愿者所继续实行着,即一种宗教性或仪式性自杀。一位萨满曾命令某个部落备受尊重的老者做祭献。人们都奋起反抗;他们拒绝服从;于是这位老者让自己的儿子杀死了自己;古人实在是信从这种习俗。[24]
1955 89:6.3 There is no more tragic and pathetic experience on record, illustrative of the heart-tearing contentions between ancient and time-honored religious customs and the contrary demands of advancing civilization, than the Hebrew narrative of Jephthah and his only daughter. As was common custom, this well-meaning man had made a foolish vow, had bargained with the “god of battles,” agreeing to pay a certain price for victory over his enemies. And this price was to make a sacrifice of that which first came out of his house to meet him when he returned to his home. Jephthah thought that one of his trusty slaves would thus be on hand to greet him, but it turned out that his daughter and only child came out to welcome him home. And so, even at that late date and among a supposedly civilized people, this beautiful maiden, after two months to mourn her fate, was actually offered as a human sacrifice by her father, and with the approval of his fellow tribesmen. And all this was done in the face of Moses’ stringent rulings against the offering of human sacrifice. But men and women are addicted to making foolish and needless vows, and the men of old held all such pledges to be highly sacred.
2015 89:6.3 在说明古代历史悠久的宗教习俗与逐渐前进文明背道而驰的需求之间揪心争夺的记录中,再没有比希伯来人关于耶弗他和其独生女的故事更为悲惨可怜的经历了。按以前的习俗,这个好心人发了一个蠢誓,他与“战神”讨价还价,同意为克敌致胜而付出一定的代价。而这一代价便是当他返回家园时,最先从家里出来迎接他的人要做祭献。耶弗他原以为他的某个忠实奴仆会当时在场迎接他,但结果却是自己的独生女出来迎接他回家。就这样,即便在那一晚近时代,在一个所谓的文明民族中间,这名美丽的少女仍在为其命运哀哭两个月之后,经其父亲部落成员同意,由其父亲真的供做了人祭。所有这一切都是在摩西严厉反对供人祭的裁定面前执行的。但男女们沉迷于发下这类愚蠢而无用的誓言,古代人以为所有这类誓约都是极为神圣的。[25][26]
1955 89:6.4 In olden times, when a new building of any importance was started, it was customary to slay a human being as a “foundation sacrifice.” This provided a ghost spirit to watch over and protect the structure. When the Chinese made ready to cast a bell, custom decreed the sacrifice of at least one maiden for the purpose of improving the tone of the bell; the girl chosen was thrown alive into the molten metal.
1955 89:6.5 It was long the practice of many groups to build slaves alive into important walls. In later times the northern European tribes substituted the walling in of the shadow of a passerby for this custom of entombing living persons in the walls of new buildings. The Chinese buried in a wall those workmen who died while constructing it.
2015 89:6.5 将奴隶活着筑到重要的墙体中,长久以来曾是许多部落的习俗。在后来时代,北欧的部落用一个过路人的影子筑入墙体来取代这种将活人埋入新筑墙体的习俗。中国人则将那些筑墙期间死去的工人埋入墙中。
1955 89:6.6 A petty king in Palestine, in building the walls of Jericho, “laid the foundation thereof in Abiram, his first-born, and set up the gates thereof in his youngest son, Segub.” At that late date, not only did this father put two of his sons alive in the foundation holes of the city’s gates, but his action is also recorded as being “according to the word of the Lord.” Moses had forbidden these foundation sacrifices, but the Israelites reverted to them soon after his death. The twentieth-century ceremony of depositing trinkets and keepsakes in the cornerstone of a new building is reminiscent of the primitive foundation sacrifices.
1955 89:6.7 It was long the custom of many peoples to dedicate the first fruits to the spirits. And these observances, now more or less symbolic, are all survivals of the early ceremonies involving human sacrifice. The idea of offering the first-born as a sacrifice was widespread among the ancients, especially among the Phoenicians, who were the last to give it up. It used to be said upon sacrificing, “life for life.” Now you say at death, “dust to dust.”
1955 89:6.8 The spectacle of Abraham constrained to sacrifice his son Isaac, while shocking to civilized susceptibilities, was not a new or strange idea to the men of those days. It was long a prevalent practice for fathers, at times of great emotional stress, to sacrifice their first-born sons. Many peoples have a tradition analogous to this story, for there once existed a world-wide and profound belief that it was necessary to offer a human sacrifice when anything extraordinary or unusual happened.
7. MODIFICATIONS OF HUMAN SACRIFICE
7. 人祭的变型
1955 89:7.1 Moses attempted to end human sacrifices by inaugurating the ransom as a substitute. He established a systematic schedule which enabled his people to escape the worst results of their rash and foolish vows. Lands, properties, and children could be redeemed according to the established fees, which were payable to the priests. Those groups which ceased to sacrifice their first-born soon possessed great advantages over less advanced neighbors who continued these atrocious acts. Many such backward tribes were not only greatly weakened by this loss of sons, but even the succession of leadership was often broken.
1955 89:7.2 An outgrowth of the passing child sacrifice was the custom of smearing blood on the house doorposts for the protection of the first-born. This was often done in connection with one of the sacred feasts of the year, and this ceremony once obtained over most of the world from Mexico to Egypt.
1955 89:7.3 Even after most groups had ceased the ritual killing of children, it was the custom to put an infant away by itself, off in the wilderness or in a little boat on the water. If the child survived, it was thought that the gods had intervened to preserve him, as in the traditions of Sargon, Moses, Cyrus, and Romulus. Then came the practice of dedicating the first-born sons as sacred or sacrificial, allowing them to grow up and then exiling them in lieu of death; this was the origin of colonization. The Romans adhered to this custom in their scheme of colonization.
1955 89:7.4 Many of the peculiar associations of sex laxity with primitive worship had their origin in connection with human sacrifice. In olden times, if a woman met head-hunters, she could redeem her life by sexual surrender. Later, a maiden consecrated to the gods as a sacrifice might elect to redeem her life by dedicating her body for life to the sacred sex service of the temple; in this way she could earn her redemption money. The ancients regarded it as highly elevating to have sex relations with a woman thus engaged in ransoming her life. It was a religious ceremony to consort with these sacred maidens, and in addition, this whole ritual afforded an acceptable excuse for commonplace sexual gratification. This was a subtle species of self-deception which both the maidens and their consorts delighted to practice upon themselves. The mores always drag behind in the evolutionary advance of civilization, thus providing sanction for the earlier and more savagelike sex practices of the evolving races.
2015 89:7.4 性放纵与原始崇拜之间的许多特殊联系,也都源自于它们与人祭的联系。在古代,如果一个女人遇到了猎头者,她可以通过性屈从来赎回自己的命。后来,一个作为祭品而供奉给诸神的少女,可以通过将自己的身体一生都献给寺庙中的神圣性服务来赎回自己的命;她也可以此挣得自己的赎命钱。古人将与这样一个如此致力于赎命的女子发生性关系视为是极为提升精神的。与这些神圣的少女交合曾是一种宗教典礼,此外,这整个典礼还为常见的性满足提供了一种可接受的借口。这是一种微妙的自我欺骗类别,少女及其性伙伴都乐于自身践行。习俗总是落后于文明的进化发展,由此为进化各族更早、更野蛮的性行为提供了认可。
1955 89:7.5 Temple harlotry eventually spread throughout southern Europe and Asia. The money earned by the temple prostitutes was held sacred among all peoples—a high gift to present to the gods. The highest types of women thronged the temple sex marts and devoted their earnings to all kinds of sacred services and works of public good. Many of the better classes of women collected their dowries by temporary sex service in the temples, and most men preferred to have such women for wives.
2015 89:7.5 寺庙卖淫最终传遍了整个南欧和南亚。庙妓赚取的钱财在所有民族中间都被视为是神圣的 -- 即一种呈献给诸神的高尚赠礼。最高等类型的女人挤满了寺庙的性集市,并将其所得奉献给了各类神圣服务和公益业务。不错阶层的许多女人通过寺庙里的短期性服务来积累其嫁妆,大多男人更愿意娶这样的女人为妻。
8. REDEMPTION AND COVENANTS
8. 赎命和契约
1955 89:8.1 Sacrificial redemption and temple prostitution were in reality modifications of human sacrifice. Next came the mock sacrifice of daughters. This ceremony consisted in bloodletting, with dedication to lifelong virginity, and was a moral reaction to the older temple harlotry. In more recent times virgins dedicated themselves to the service of tending the sacred temple fires.
2015 89:8.1 祭献赎命和寺庙卖淫事实上都是人祭的变型。接下来出现的便是对女儿的假祭。这种典礼包括放血、献身于一生贞洁,它是一种对更古老寺庙卖淫的道德反应。在更为近来的时代,处女们将自己献身于照料寺院圣火的服务之中。
1955 89:8.2 Men eventually conceived the idea that the offering of some part of the body could take the place of the older and complete human sacrifice. Physical mutilation was also considered to be an acceptable substitute. Hair, nails, blood, and even fingers and toes were sacrificed. The later and well-nigh universal ancient rite of circumcision was an outgrowth of the cult of partial sacrifice; it was purely sacrificial, no thought of hygiene being attached thereto. Men were circumcised; women had their ears pierced.
1955 89:8.3 Subsequently it became the custom to bind fingers together instead of cutting them off. Shaving the head and cutting the hair were likewise forms of religious devotion. The making of eunuchs was at first a modification of the idea of human sacrifice. Nose and lip piercing is still practiced in Africa, and tattooing is an artistic evolution of the earlier crude scarring of the body.
2015 89:8.3 随后,将手指绑在一起而非切掉它们变成了习俗。剃头和剪发也成了同样形式的宗教奉献。阉人的做法最初也是人祭观念的一种变型。鼻子穿孔和嘴唇穿孔至今仍在非洲施行着,纹身也是较早期身体粗陋疤痕的一种艺术性演变。
1955 89:8.4 The custom of sacrifice eventually became associated, as a result of advancing teachings, with the idea of the covenant. At last, the gods were conceived of as entering into real agreements with man; and this was a major step in the stabilization of religion. Law, a covenant, takes the place of luck, fear, and superstition.
1955 89:8.5 Man could never even dream of entering into a contract with Deity until his concept of God had advanced to the level whereon the universe controllers were envisioned as dependable. And man’s early idea of God was so anthropomorphic that he was unable to conceive of a dependable Deity until he himself became relatively dependable, moral, and ethical.
2015 89:8.5 人类只有在其关于神的观念提升到将宇宙掌管者们设想为可信赖的这个层次时,他才能梦想与神灵订下契约。而人类早期关于神的观念是那样地拟人化,以致在他自身变得相对可靠、相对道德和相对有伦理之前,他是不可能构想出一位可信赖神灵的。
1955 89:8.6 But the idea of making a covenant with the gods did finally arrive. Evolutionary man eventually acquired such moral dignity that he dared to bargain with his gods. And so the business of offering sacrifices gradually developed into the game of man’s philosophic bargaining with God. And all this represented a new device for insuring against bad luck or, rather, an enhanced technique for the more definite purchase of prosperity. Do not entertain the mistaken idea that these early sacrifices were a free gift to the gods, a spontaneous offering of gratitude or thanksgiving; they were not expressions of true worship.
2015 89:8.6 但与诸神订立契约的观念终究还是到来了。进化性人类终归获得了这种道德尊严,使得他敢于与诸神讨价还价。就这样,供奉祭物的事务渐渐发展成了人类与神在哲学上的讨价还价。所有这一切代表了一种躲避厄运的新策略,或不如说,一种更为明确赢得昌盛的改良手段。不要怀有以下这类错误想法,即这些早期的祭献是对诸神的一种无偿赠与,一种充满感激或是感恩的自发供奉;它们并非真正的崇拜表达。
1955 89:8.7 Primitive forms of prayer were nothing more nor less than bargaining with the spirits, an argument with the gods. It was a kind of bartering in which pleading and persuasion were substituted for something more tangible and costly. The developing commerce of the races had inculcated the spirit of trade and had developed the shrewdness of barter; and now these traits began to appear in man’s worship methods. And as some men were better traders than others, so some were regarded as better prayers than others. The prayer of a just man was held in high esteem. A just man was one who had paid all accounts to the spirits, had fully discharged every ritual obligation to the gods.
1955 89:8.8 Early prayer was hardly worship; it was a bargaining petition for health, wealth, and life. And in many respects prayers have not much changed with the passing of the ages. They are still read out of books, recited formally, and written out for emplacement on wheels and for hanging on trees, where the blowing of the winds will save man the trouble of expending his own breath.
2015 89:8.8 早期的祈祷很难说是崇拜;它是一种追寻健康、财富和生命的讨价还价式祈求。在很多方面,祈祷并没有随时代变迁而有多大变化。它们仍被从书中读出来,正式背诵出来,以及被写出来安放在经轮上及挂在树上,风吹将会免去人耗费自己口舌的麻烦。
9. SACRIFICES AND SACRAMENTS
9. 祭献与圣事
1955 89:9.1 The human sacrifice, throughout the course of the evolution of Urantian rituals, has advanced from the bloody business of man-eating to higher and more symbolic levels. The early rituals of sacrifice bred the later ceremonies of sacrament. In more recent times the priest alone would partake of a bit of the cannibalistic sacrifice or a drop of human blood, and then all would partake of the animal substitute. These early ideas of ransom, redemption, and covenants have evolved into the later-day sacramental services. And all this ceremonial evolution has exerted a mighty socializing influence.
2015 89:9.1 遍及玉苒厦(Urantia)宗教仪式演变过程的人祭,已从吃人的血腥事务提升到了更为高级、更为象征性的层次。早期的祭献仪式孕育了后来的圣事典礼。在更为近来的时代,祭司本身会吃一点人肉祭献或是饮用一滴人血,之后所有人都会吃动物替代物。这些早期的赎金、赎命和契约观念,演变成了后来的圣事服务。所有这一切仪式演变,施加了一种强有力的社会化影响。
1955 89:9.2 In connection with the Mother of God cult, in Mexico and elsewhere, a sacrament of cakes and wine was eventually utilized in lieu of the flesh and blood of the older human sacrifices. The Hebrews long practiced this ritual as a part of their Passover ceremonies, and it was from this ceremonial that the later Christian version of the sacrament took its origin.
2015 89:9.2 与墨西哥及其他地方的母神崇拜相关的是,一场包含了蛋糕和红酒的圣事最终被用来代替了更古老人祭中的肉和血。希伯来人长久以来践行这一仪式,作为其逾越节典礼的一部分,后来基督教版本的圣事便是从这一典礼中发源的。
1955 89:9.3 The ancient social brotherhoods were based on the rite of blood drinking; the early Jewish fraternity was a sacrificial blood affair. Paul started out to build a new Christian cult on “the blood of the everlasting covenant.” And while he may have unnecessarily encumbered Christianity with teachings about blood and sacrifice, he did once and for all make an end of the doctrines of redemption through human or animal sacrifices. His theologic compromises indicate that even revelation must submit to the graduated control of evolution. According to Paul, Christ became the last and all-sufficient human sacrifice; the divine Judge is now fully and forever satisfied.
1955 89:9.4 And so, after long ages the cult of the sacrifice has evolved into the cult of the sacrament. Thus are the sacraments of modern religions the legitimate successors of those shocking early ceremonies of human sacrifice and the still earlier cannibalistic rituals. Many still depend upon blood for salvation, but it has at least become figurative, symbolic, and mystic.
10. FORGIVENESS OF SIN
10. 罪恶之宽恕
1955 89:10.1 Ancient man only attained consciousness of favor with God through sacrifice. Modern man must develop new techniques of achieving the self-consciousness of salvation. The consciousness of sin persists in the mortal mind, but the thought patterns of salvation therefrom have become outworn and antiquated. The reality of the spiritual need persists, but intellectual progress has destroyed the olden ways of securing peace and consolation for mind and soul.
2015 89:10.1 古代人唯有通过祭献,才获得了取悦于神的感觉。现代人则必须要发展出新的手段来获得救赎的自我感觉。罪恶之意识持续存在于凡人心智中,但自此而来的救赎思想模式却已变得陈旧过时了。灵性需求所产生的实相存续了下来,但智性的进步已毁坏了往昔确保心灵平安和慰藉的诸多方式。
1955 89:10.2 Sin must be redefined as deliberate disloyalty to Deity. There are degrees of disloyalty: the partial loyalty of indecision; the divided loyalty of confliction; the dying loyalty of indifference; and the death of loyalty exhibited in devotion to godless ideals.
2015 89:10.2 罪恶必须要被重新定义为对神灵的蓄意不忠。有各种程度的不忠:犹豫不决所产生的部分式不忠;冲突抵触所产生的分裂式不忠;漫不经心所产生的完结式不忠;以及投身于无神观念所展现出的忠诚之终结。
1955 89:10.3 The sense or feeling of guilt is the consciousness of the violation of the mores; it is not necessarily sin. There is no real sin in the absence of conscious disloyalty to Deity.
2015 89:10.3 负罪感是违背习俗所产生的一种感觉,它未必就是罪恶。在没有对神灵有意不忠当中,不存在任何真正的罪恶。
1955 89:10.4 The possibility of the recognition of the sense of guilt is a badge of transcendent distinction for mankind. It does not mark man as mean but rather sets him apart as a creature of potential greatness and ever-ascending glory. Such a sense of unworthiness is the initial stimulus that should lead quickly and surely to those faith conquests which translate the mortal mind to the superb levels of moral nobility, cosmic insight, and spiritual living; thus are all the meanings of human existence changed from the temporal to the eternal, and all values are elevated from the human to the divine.
2015 89:10.4 对负罪感有所承认之可能性,是人类卓越秉性的一种标记。它并不标记着人的低劣,反而会令他作为一种有着潜在伟大和渐升荣耀的受造物脱颖而出。这样一种不配感是一种初始的激励,它应会快速而稳妥地导向那些信仰的赢得,它们会将凡人心智转变到具有道德尊贵、宇宙洞见和灵性生活的高超层次上;这样,人类存在的所有意涵便会得以从短暂转为永恒,所有价值也都会从人性层次抬升到神性层次。
1955 89:10.5 The confession of sin is a manful repudiation of disloyalty, but it in no wise mitigates the time-space consequences of such disloyalty. But confession—sincere recognition of the nature of sin—is essential to religious growth and spiritual progress.
2015 89:10.5 对罪恶的忏悔,是对不忠的一种勇敢弃绝,但它绝不会减轻这类不忠所导致的时空性后果。不过,忏悔 -- 对罪恶之本质的真心承认 -- 对宗教发展和灵性进步来说是必不可少的。
1955 89:10.6 The forgiveness of sin by Deity is the renewal of loyalty relations following a period of the human consciousness of the lapse of such relations as the consequence of conscious rebellion. The forgiveness does not have to be sought, only received as the consciousness of re-establishment of loyalty relations between the creature and the Creator. And all the loyal sons of God are happy, service-loving, and ever-progressive in the Paradise ascent.
1955 89:10.7 [Presented by a Brilliant Evening Star of Nebadon.]
2015 89:10.7 [由内巴顿(Nebadon)的一位闪耀昏星所呈献。]