很多人感到憤慨或不悅，因為他們認為是遭受了不公正命運的打擊。這些感覺是因為受到喪慟、疾病、混亂的家庭或工作環境，或是看到別人遭受苦難的刺激而來。基督徒對這個問題的看法如何？
【Question
5】
Many
people feel resentful or unhappy because they think they are the
target of unjust fate. These feelings are stimulated by bereavement,
illness, deranged domestic or working conditions, or the observation
of suffering in others. What is the Christian view of this problem?
【C.S.
Lewis】
The
Christian view is that men were created to be in a certain
relationship to God (if we are in that relation to Him, the right
relation to one another will follow inevitably). Christ said it was
difficult for 'the rich' to enter the Kingdom of Heaven, referring,
no doubt, to 'riches' in the ordinary sense. But I think it really
covers riches in every sense — good fortune, health, popularity,
and all the things one wants to have. All these things tend — just
as money tends — to make you independent of God, because if you
have them you are happy already and contented in this life. You don't
want to turn away to anything more, and so you try to rest in a
shadowy happiness as if it could last for ever. But God wants to have
to take all these 'riches' away from you: if He doesn't, you will go
on relying on them. It sounds cruel, doesn't it? But I am beginning
to find out that what people call the cruel doctrines are really the
kindest ones in the long run. I used to think it was a 'cruel'
doctrine to say that troubles and sorrows were 'punishments'. But I
find in practice that when you are in trouble, the moment you regard
it as a 'punishment', it becomes easier to bear. If you think of this
world as a place intended simply for our happiness, you find it quite
intolerable: think of it as a place of training and correction and
it's not so bad.
Imagine
a set of people all living in the same building. Half of them think
it is a hotel, the other half think it is a prison. Those who think
it is a hotel might regard it as quite intolerable, and those who
thought it was a prison might decide that it was really surprisingly
comfortable. So that what seems the ugly doctrine is one that
comforts and strengthens you in the end. The people who try to hold
an optimistic view of this world would become pessimists: the people
who hold a pretty stern view of it become optimistic. ** C.S. Lewis
設想有一群人，全都住在同一棟建築物裡。一半的人以為這是個旅館；另一半的人以為這是個牢房。
那些以為是住在旅館的，認為住在那裡面實在是受不了；那些以為是住在牢房的，認為住在那裡是出奇的舒適。所以看來是醜陋負面的想法，到頭來，才是帶給你安慰和力量的。
試著以樂觀的看法來看這世界的人，會成為悲觀者；持有很嚴峻的看法的人，反而變得樂觀了。
【後語】
當年我的父親策動全家人移民美國，但是一直到他臨終前，總是抱怨著生不如死；他活了92歲。我的母親卻認為住在美國就像在天堂；她全身是病，只活了77歲。
*
